The Aeron House

Section Seven

You open the door and take a step into the room, but immediately trip, landing hard on your stomach.

The door swings shut behind you.

Looking up, you shake your head in annoyance.

Who puts stairs right by a door?

You stand and brush the dust off of your clothes, then survey the room.

From what you can tell from the small lamp to your left, the room belongs to a young child. The walls are faded blue and the wall paper is peeling. Above the bed, you see words carved into the wall. Squinting, you can just barely make them out; "Elija's Room". A broken picture frame lays shattered below the lamp. Curiously, you make your way toward it and brush aside the glass to see a photograph of a less than happy family. They all wear frowns or blank expressions. There are three women to the left and to the right, five men. One of the women is obviously pregnant, as she rests one hand on her swollen belly. The man beside her stares at the camera, as if all of his tasks and responsibilities for that day are meaningless. In front of them, there stands a young boy with blue eyes and dark brown hair. There are dark circles under his eyes. His arms are at his sides, and his fists are clenched. Beside the boy, there is a little girl. Her fiery red hair is in a loose braid and dangles over her shoulder. Her pale yellow dress appears to be tattered and in her arm, is clutched a worn teddy bear. Her expression appears to be very empty, as if she has never known any emotion.

Before you notice anything else about the family, you hear soft sobbing coming from the opposite corner of the room.

You squint, but don't see anything in the darkness.

The sobbing becomes louder.

Despite your better judgement, you make your way closer to the sound and the hair on your arms and the back of your neck stand up.

The source of the crying is a little boy. His hair is unkempt and his clothes are ragged. He's facing the corner, but even though you can't see his face, there's an overwhelming heaviness in the air around you. Fear creeps up your spine.

The sobbing stops, as if he's aware of your presence.

Slowly, the boy turns to face you.

A scream freezes in your throat. Your eyes widen in terror.

His skin is the same sickly blue of a corpse. There are no eyes in the hollow sockets of his skull, yet you somehow know he's looking at you. Black veins spider across the area under his eyes and across his forehead. His jaw is dangling by one side and is dangerously close to falling to the floor if he moves too fast. Yellow, rotting teeth are bared in a silent growl, and his tongue is hanging limply to the side. His body is stick thin; If you were to concentrate, you could count every protruding bone. His bony hands are clenched into fists. Anger, loneliness and hatred radiate from him. He suddenly lets out a gut wrenching shriek, before his neck begins to twitch oddly. It cracks as his head turns a full 360 degrees and he throws himself at the wall, digging his fingers and toes into it, then crawls up the wall, much like a spider, then jumps to the corner on the opposite side of the room. He disappears into the darkness.

You want to run, but find yourself unable to move.

Shuffling comes from the corner and he emerges, slowly making his way toward you.

You realize that he's toying with you. He's taking his time to instill as much fear in you as possible before he-

Before he what?

Just as he is about to reach you, he suddenly stops. His body begins to jerk in odd directions, before he ultimately collapses to the floor and is completely still.

You force yourself to move, searching desperately for a way out of the room. There is a pale yellow door, but when you get to it, you hesitate. What if there's something else behind the door? What if it's a dead end?

Your attention turns to the window. Grabbing the lamp from beside you, you draw your arms back and then hurl the lamp at the grimey glass, which sends shards flying in every direction.

Wasting no time, you climb through the window and find an empty room. It's only half painted and there isn't any furniture besides a small crib. Behind the crib, you see another pale yellow door, and next to it, a blue door.

(To go through Yellow door, go to Section 9.)
(To go through Blue door, go to section 10.)