Obscura Fabula (Dark Shorts)

Ghosts and Steps

Ghosts and Steps

"Why don't you come with me upstairs?" My boyfriend asked me in a playful tone.

"No way! I would die if your parents come and find us... You better go and take a cold shower! I'll wait for you here." I replied and giggle, blushing.

"Ha! Ha! You want to be the good girl now... We know you are not! Come on... We can take that shower together!" He grabbed my waist tenderly.

"Don't tease me Mike! Don't be like that because you know I'm weak and pushing me forward won't make you no good... Go, seriously. I'll wait for you down here."

"A quicky."

"Go or I'll throw you with this book." I mimicked with the book in my hand and glowed him a crooked smile.

"All right, all right. But you'll regret it later... You'll beg me." And Mike left the living area to the bathroom in the second floor of his parents' house.

"Okey, let's read." I told myself and walked to the kitchen.

It was a huge house. My boyfriend's family had moved there only a month ago. For some reason it gave me goosebumps in the nights. No matter how big and pompous the furniture was or the amount of artwork displayed on the walls, it seemed to me that the mansion had some whimsical frightening feeling. The space appeared endless... empty, cold.

The only light on the first floor was the one in the hall by the kitchen. So there I was going to sit and read. I sat by the granite countertop and read.

I was immersed in the story when I heard the wooden stairs making a screeching sound. The wood on the steps cracked as if someone was climbing up or down them. I gave it no importance. It was not the first time the oak steps produced that noise. My father in law said it was product of the humidity and tropical weather. The house was closed for so long before they decided to buy it.

I returned to my lecture. Suddenly the light bulb in the hall began to flicker, sizzling for a few seconds. I looked around everywhere. Now I wasn't liking the situation at all.

I straightened up. When I was about to close my book I felt a cold breeze that made me shiver. -All the windows were closed in the first floor.- I remained still quiet. I knew something was about to happen, and waited. In that moment I heard a deep and sonorous breathing behind me. The air puffed on my neck. The space filled with an acrid smell of moistened soil and roses. A cold current stung my spine and my eyes watered. I knew I was not alone in the kitchen... And it was not Mike.

I closed closed the book. Whatever it was produced and intangible whisper. I couldn't decipher the language, but she spoke. It was a she, definitely.

'Whatever you do, don't look back.' I repeated myself in my mind.

I still could hear the loud and laborious breathing. My heart was beating at an unimaginable speed. But I couldn't look back.

I stood up slowly from the bar stool. "Okey." I told her. " I'm going. You were here before I was, so I'll leave you alone."

Quickly I began to run to the stairs. A second set of iron steps was closer than the wooden ones to the kitchen, so I opted to take those. As I ran I heard her steps behind me too. I climbed immediately the spiral staircase and a second set of footsteps resonated heavily in the back.

It was a few seconds after when I reached the second level. The bathroom was the second door to the left. I knocked and knocked persistently.

"Wait!" Mike responded from inside.

I still didn't look back. My eyes fixated on the bathroom door. Mike opened the door. I pushed him and closed the door behind me.

"I told you that you would regret." Mike teased me.

"Shut up! We must go! There's something out there!" I cried.