Chapter Two

“No… the sofa needs to go more to the left…” Matt muttered to himself, putting his full strength behind shoving the heavy beige piece of furniture once more. He took a step back and nodded. “Perfect…” The light above him flickered ever so slightly. Damn! He thought the electricity was fine. Matt walked over to the light switch and turned it off. Then pulled a chair over to underneath the light shade. He reached for the bulb, but jerked his hand back as he felt the heat of the glass. He shook his hand slightly, then brought his sleeve of his jumper up over his hand and tried again. The bulb wasn’t loose. Then why was it faulty…? Argh! Why didn’t anything of his seem to work in this house?!

“No… Stay away…” Matt snapped round. What the hell was that? He was the only one in the house. He knew it. “No! Leave me alone! Why are you doing this?!” There it was again. A young voice, female, by the sounds of it. But it sounded weird. Faded. Like a memory.

“Hello?” Matt asked. He hopped down off the chair and turned the light back on again. It was fine now, he noted. He headed to the door and looked round the frame. “Is anyone there?!”

“Leave me alone!! Didn’t you hear me?!” Matt could hear the distress in the voice. It also sounded like whoever it was was about to cry. He began to move along the corridor. “No! Stay there! Don’t come any closer! He’ll hurt you! He’ll hurt you like he hurt me!” Matt decided it was coming from the one room he hadn’t seen on the visit. It had been locked, apparently for years. He tried the handle. It opened. “I told you to stay away! Are you foreign or something?! Do you not understand English?!” The voice was getting more and more hysterical. Matt stepped into the room. It was a bedroom. A teenager, Matt would have guessed. There was a calendar on the wall, set to April 2000. Six years. That’s how long this room had been left. There was a girl curled up in the foetal position on the bed. She was, indeed, teenage. With big dark eyes, long wavy dark hair, pale skin, and a look of terror on her face. “You have to get out of here!” she was from Edinburgh, Matt could tell by her accent.

“Wh- What are you doing here?” he asked her, hardly believing the sight before his eyes. “Are you alive…?”

“I’m a zombie. Can’t you tell?” she commented sarcastically. “He killed me. He kills all who come through this house. And every ten years, one gets chosen to be trapped.”

“Trapped?”

“Trapped,” she confirmed. “You have to get out of here. Before he gets you too. Run. Get the hell away. He’s always watching.” She suddenly clutched her head, “No! Go away! You can’t control me! I won’t let you. NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!!” Matt jumped out his skin, and backed out the door, shutting it behind him.

“What the hell kind of house have I bought?!”