"And so you just both acted like it never happened?" Mare screeches, ruining my poor ear drums.

My feet lay across the coffee table in the living room and my body halfway off the couch, with my computer on my lap. It was my one day off from reading to the kids and the one day of the week that Mare would video call me so we could catch up.

"Right? She didn't even say anything after I thanked her. God, Mare, I was a mess in that forest, "Mrs.Lean just so happened to be taking a walk in the woods when she found me, blubbering and yelling in the forest. I still can't believe she 'just so happened to be walking by'. Those woods were thick and terrifying, even during the daylight. She wasn't even dressed for a walk; with her simple blue jeans, heels, and t-shirt. Mare tried to convince me that she was just old and wore whatever she wanted, even to walk, but even now she seemed more off to the idea it was a coincidence.

"Even if she was just walking by, why do you think she was walking so close to your grandma's house? Isn't it like, hidden? "I giggle at his facial expression as he twirls a piece of his long blue locks with his finger. Somewhere between a scene kid and a bookworm, Mare landed on the 'weirdo' spectrum without a question.

"Yeah, that's what makes me feel uneasy. And then when she said I was far from home? I haven't even told her where I live."

" Maybe those soccer moms from town hunted you down and they're all in a conspiracy to kill you, "I roll my eyes at his crazy accusation. There was no way those moms would work their asses off to come to find me in this house, my loud music extremely annoying or not.

"Please, I have a haunted house to deal with."

"You're still hearing noises? I'm telling you, you gotta have some mice in those walls. Set some peanut butter traps tonight and prove me right," Mare was impossible with his theories and impossible ideas that always backfired on him or me. That's just what I get for being friends with him. I laugh at what he says and take the computer off my lap to set it on the table. As I set the computer down, a sinister bang sounds through the living room. It makes me jump back on the couch, my back landing on the remote which scared me more.

"Shit, what was that? "Mare asks in a loud and demanding voice. I stare down at him as my chest rises and falls and feel the heat rise up to my cheeks as I see my hair sticking up through the video-call reflection.

"I. . . - I don't know," I manage out and grasp the material of my sweater. My shaky hands are barely able to grip the material. My heart was faster than a racing horse as I sit up and place my elbows on my knees, staring at my best friend.

"This has not happened before, not this loud," I say. Mare gives me a look of absolute despair.

"Crap, I should go investigate, something of my grandmas might be broken!" I groan, earning a booming denial from Mare.

"Are you an idiot? It could be an alien up there, ready to abduct you!" Mare screams, starting to fondle with things in his massive desk drawer below him. I scoff and stand up from the couch.

"I'll call you back later, alright?" I say, grabbing the computer and scrolling over to the end-call button.

"I need to send you my anti-alien spray-" I end the call and shut the screen down. Walking into the kitchen, I place the thin metallic device on the counter next to the coffee machine I rarely used and grab the apple I placed earlier before Mare called. I never got a break from anyone, it seemed.

Biting the apple, I make my way up the bold steps. The red carpet that lined the steps was fraying at the ends and the red had dulled under the years of neglect from my room-ridden grandma. She stayed that way after my parents stopped coming out to visit her during the summers, leaving me to camps and relatives. I can still smell the nail polish my aunt would paint thick layers on her nails. So intoxicating, so diluted.

A part of me told myself to call the police, drive out of the driveway and never return to that house. I'd been waiting for an opportunity to be on my own and have my own life, that the other part overwhelmed my sense of logic. No matter how I felt, I would never go back home to that house. That house that trapped me even when I was gone. Even if there was something in the house, my mind would not let me let that self-promise of having my own life go.

I creak open my bedroom door first, making sure there was not anything out of place or a heavy object on the floor. I could have just left something like a book on the edge of my table or something like that. Nothing but my messy thoughts were on the floor.

The next room was the guest room next to mine, which I used to store clothes and anything I didn't want in my room. Just as messy as the last room, but with a thick layer of dust covering the shelves and spiderwebs in the corners. The bedspread hadn't been changed since the 1900s and the pillows were as deadly as laying your head on a rock. I scrunch my nose up at the small spiders that run across their webs as I walk near them, checking for anything that looked wrong. It was hard when everything looked wrong in the first place.

The other two guest rooms stayed locked because I never used them and I did not want the heat to go into rooms that I would not use. As I pass by the last guest bedroom door, a crisp and cold breeze swipes across my face. My eyes trail over to the wooden door, right to the copper-colored door-knob and the sunlight seeping from the crack under the door. I wouldn't have noticed the small sliver the door was opened if the breeze wasn't off.

I creak open the door and reveal the room that used to belong to my mother. She never talked about grandma's house, but I knew it was her room from the faded pictures on the walls. Highschool queen-bee with her blonde hair and slim waist contrasted the college graduate with dull eyes. It was not before my eyes were on the broken window that I even noticed the source of the noise. The apple rolls from my hand and over to the horrid scene before me. The putrid odor invades my nose triggers the gag reflex I hated. The carcass of what was left of a gray-striped cat lay mangled on the floor, it's dripping blood into the mauve carpet and across the wood floor to where my feet were. I quickly stomp backward from the animal and hit the doorframe behind me. It was disgusting, the way its bones were snapped and sticking out of it's head like bunny ears. The shards of glass that stuck in its body from being thrown in glimmer in the sunlight and reflect around the room, highlighting my mother's past.

I choke back the bile creeping up my throat and lay a hand on my fast beating heart. I had to call someone, not just anyone. I needed someone I could trust.

//

"Oh dear. Sticking out of its head you say? "Ms. Lean asks me, setting the cup of milk tea in front of me. My leg bounces up and down and up and down as my still shaky hands settle around the warm porcelain cup. I nod at her question and she sets her pale hands on the breakroom table. After I gathered myself, I practically left everything at the house and rushed over to the library. Ms.Lean was just about to close up since no one came on the days I was not there to watch the kids when I burst through the doors with a red face.

"No one knows me in this town, no one knows where I live or what I do when I leave here. It was so scary, I was so scared, "I breathe out, sipping more of the warm tea. It was slightly rose scented, which my taste buds were thankful for. Her lips pursed as she stares at her hands on the table. The awkwardness from our encounter in the woods had almost completely dissolved at this point, as there was something way worse on my mind now.

"That's very odd, Acacia. Are you sure no one knows where you live? " Except for you, I wanted to say. It crossed my mind that she was the only person who knew where I lived, but it also exited as soon as it came across. There was no way she would do that to me, besides. Even if she secretly hates me, there was no way that she could have thrown that into my house and get back here to the library in enough time. She would have been getting out of her car by the time I was thrown into a tight hug when I first arrived.

"Can I stay here? Just for the night or maybe tomorrow? "Ms.Lean looks up at me with a pleasant smile.

"Here? My sweet, I don't live here. I'm sure it was something much more simple than what you're saying. How about you stay with me for the night?"
She smiles at me and places her hand on my own. The shaking stopped by this time and now I was left with the racing thoughts in my head. It sounded great to get away from the creaking house and the animal carcass. Fuck, I left an animal carcass to rot in my house.

"Now, how about you take me over to the house and we clean that animal up. Grab yourself some necessities and you can stay with me until you feel like you will be safe. Who does that sound, love? "

"That sounds like the best plan I've heard all day."

//

The house was silent. It was too silent for the events that had just happened. Ms.Lean went in first and I followed closely behind her, still creeped out but less afraid to be in the house at all. She scans the messy living room and looks back at me, still smiling.

"Where is that pesky animal?" She asks and I point to up the stairs. She nods and grabs my hand, tugging me towards the steps. I quickly rip my hand away, making her deeply frown.

"My friend! I told him I would call him back and I never did! It's almost going to get dark soon too, he's probably going to be mad and me for not answering, "I dash into the kitchen and look around for my computer. Had not I left it there when I went to go check the noise? I swore I left it up there.

I walk back into the living room, Ms.Lean halfway up the stairs to go look for where I said the cat was. I look around the living room for my computer and my eyes leave my head empty-handed. I was not crazy, I left it right there on the counter. I remember grabbing my apple and placing it there to go look, I was not crazy.

I go up the steps, this time ignoring the voices in my head telling me to run run run run. My computer was all that mattered to me at the moment, the fear was on the backburner. Ms.Lean stands in the middle of the hallway, staring into the room that the cat was in. Her face was expressionless and her hands were held to her mouth. I go up to her and stare into the room, expecting to see the horrible creature. Instead, I saw something worse.

My mother's pictures were torn off the walls and the entire room looked like it had a knife taken to it. The walls had scratch marks, the bed sheet was in tatters. The worst was my computer. My computer was broken into small pieces, incredibly small pieces to form words on the carpet.

Don't leave me.