Chapter One

Fear is a fickle bitch and right now I am at her mercy.

Silently, I struggle to remain still. A hard task to achieve when I am quite literally vibrating internally from the sheer terror that has crept within my skin and blanketed my bones. As I lay within the confines of the makeshift hatch beneath the floorboards I hear footsteps approaching. As the steps close upon me I can her the wooden slabs creak and crack in a symphony of terror. The tune begins to slow in a matter of ritardando until the footsteps have ceased just above my head. I hear the resonance of paced guttural breath and in that moment I can feel my panic peak and I want nothing more than to burst out of my skin and float away. I close my eyes and soundlessly exhale the remaining breath I have trapped inside my lungs. I hold myself in that manner, breathless, in an attempt to make myself somehow smaller.

The screetch of an alarm snaps my eyes wide open and abruptly closed again. I jolt in a fashion that somehow remains noiseless. I hear a voice so raspy and dull it likens itself to ashes and gasoline, “Good girl,” the voice says and I can hear the smile in his words, “ you may just win this yet.” The voice’s footsteps retreat and I remain still. “Four down, three to go”, the voice trails on and I hear the front door open in a long drawn out spectacle. “This game with you is my favorite so far.” The door slams shut and I immediately take in a breath, albeit shaky, and breathe out bringing with it the pent up hysteria I have suppressed. I wait in a lobby of trepidation before finally hoisting my elbows from my sides and begin to push above me repeatedly in an effort to knock the loose board out of place. This climactic era of this fucked up game I was currently siting in was my fault alone. Had I known now what I knew those many months ago I would have never stepped foot inside of Mulligans Manor. The Manor in which I came face to face with the Bogeyman.

(After a bit of feedback of whether the opening is complete trash or not, I will continue on.)