My palms skim across slick tiles, every second in this darkness feels like I’m drowning.
Finally, I touch the wooden door, and my fingers find the cold metal lock, then the knob.
An eerie, instinctive of dread twists tight in the pit of my stomach, heavier than any bruise he left on me tonight.
Don’t open it.
The voice in my head is small and terrified, but I have no choice, I’m much more petrified of the dark. I turn the lock gently, the soft click sounding frustratingly loud in the silence.
Then, I turn the knob and pull the door open.
“Law…?” I whisper-shout, but there’s no answer.
I start creeping through the hallway with wet, bare feet, one hand touching the wall, so I don’t get lost.
“Law? Where are you?”
Once I’ve reach the top of the stairs, I start going down them, holding the banister tight, until halfway down, lightning flashes bright through the windows.
When I see a tall silhouette is standing at the bottom of the stairs, staring right up at me, A shriek escapes me, and I jump hard, falling back against the marble, my hand still tightly gripped on the banister.
“Law?”
As everything plunges into black again, I stay froze. But when another flash of lightning comes, nothing is there.
I shake my head with fear and doubt, knowing I must be just imagining things and clearly losing it because of how scared I am.
After pulling myself up by the railing, I continue going down the stairs, legs wobbly.
“Law?” I call out again, louder now. “Law, please… just say something.”
As soon as I reach the bottom, that’s when I start hearing the whispers, and they come from all around me, quiet and fast, but I can’t tell where they’re coming from.
Then there’s footsteps, quick footsteps moving everywhere. Behind me, beside me, down the hall, completely circling me.
“Law?!” I cry out, voice breaking. “Stop it! Please stop messing with me!”
I slap my hands over my ears and squeeze my eyes shut tight as I mumble to myself, “Stop, stop, stop. Please just stop.”
“Go to bed.”
Law’s firm voice cuts through the dark right behind me, and my whole body jumps hard before I spin around, pulse hammering
“It’s just a fucking power cut.” He finishes.
I stare at the tall outline of his frame, standing there in the blackness.
“But the whispers… the footsteps…” I murmur, a single tear sliding down my cheek. “I heard them. Is it really you?”
I reach out with trembling fingers, wanting to touch his face, to feel that it’s actually him and not another trick.
But lightening suddenly bursts through the glass panels of the front door, illuminating the foyer for a split second.
Law stands there, cold eyes locked on mine with no kindness or comfort. Just that empty, cruel stare that makes my stomach drop.
Then everything plummets back into darkness.
A small gasp escapes me, and I snatch my hand back like I've been burned. Within a second, his footsteps move past me without hesitation, heading toward the living room.
