Nothing lived in the house; no one had ever stayed for more than two weeks, and we knew it. I knew it. We were a family of four, and despite hearing the rumors about the house, we still bought it.

 

What other choice did we have when the house was calling to us, asking us to buy her? She was less expensive, costing only five thousand bucks; there was no way we could let such an opportunity go to waste.

 

The house was large and stood tall in the magnificent compound. We didn’t need to make our own garden; the previous owners already did it. It was said that the previous owners all died in the building, and according to the rumors, the house was haunted. Although the death of the previous owners only happened thirty years ago, and they were mentally ill.

 

I had always thought they were mentally ill until the day we moved into the house. The house had been warm and welcoming at first, and then there was a chill, a cold breeze that would pass by me and set fear running through my spine.

 

I shook it off; no one other than me noticed it. I was only hallucinating; ghosts weren’t real. There was no way they were. The first day we moved into the house, it was evening. Before we could unpack, my little sister fell asleep in the attic.

 

She was twelve.

 

When we were done unpacking, it was 12 am. I searched everywhere for my sister, called her so many times, but she didn’t respond. After several searches, I went up in the attic and found her there, sighing in relief. I picked her up and took her to her new room.

 

My parents were already asleep; they hadn’t even thought about finding Emily with me. They went to bed. After that day, my sister was no longer the same. She would give me creepy smiles whenever I glanced at her. She would watch me have my bath through the crack of the slightly opened bathroom door. I have tried to close the bathroom door many times, but I still find that little crack, with my sister’s eyes watching me from the other side.

 

She would also stay in my room all day if I was around. It had only been three days since we were living in the house, but it felt like ages.

 

Every morning, my parents would leave for work, and I would have to stay with Emily. We hadn’t been enrolled in a school yet, and that meant we were always inside the house.

 

On the sixth day of our stay, I was playing a game in my room at 12 am, and there was a light music coming from the screen. My room was empty, and I was all by myself. I was sure Emily had fallen asleep, including my parents.

 

“You know you shouldn’t make so much noise,” I heard my sister’s voice beside me.

 

I flinched and jumped off my bed in fright; I glanced at Emily, who was staring right at me. Her green eyes held a look I had never seen before.

 

“You scared me,” I laughed, trying to hide my fear, but she just stared right back at me.

 

“I am not making noise, and does it seem to be bothering you?”

 

“The man hates noise, and if he hears one more noise, he is going to kill us both.”

 

That was what she told me back then. I never believed her, but not to upset her, I turned off the device. She should have just told me it was bothering her than saying what she said.

 

“The man lurks in the corners of our house,” she muttered in a sinister voice. “He says he is going to kill you first because you sleep in his room.”

 

I didn’t realize that it was going to be my last day in the house because after I went to bed, a tap on the angles woke me up. I sat up and surveyed the room. I was alone; it was quiet and dark. I was about going back to sleep when I saw someone sitting next to me on my bed. I was about to scream for my parents when I felt a hand around my mouth, and then a sharp pain hit my belly.

 

He pulled out the knife and slammed it into my chest. I let out a low groan. My heart raced, and I couldn’t help but think about Emily, whose room was next to mine. The man pulled out the knife and slammed it into me again. I can’t tell who he was or what he was, but for some reason, I had a thought that he might be the one Emily spoke about. He released me, and I clutched my belly; I could feel life fading away from me, and I could do nothing to stop it.

 

He loomed over me, and just when I was fading out of unconsciousness, I heard the unmistakable voice of my sister.

 

“Is he dead? I told him you were going to kill him first.”

 

“Whom do you want to sacrifice next?” The man asked in a long drawl. “For this soul, you will get all the things you want.”

 

My eyes widened; I had to warn my parents, but I couldn’t move. It didn’t last three minutes before the darkness consumed me. My sister was in some sort of bargain with the mysterious man, and I was not the only one she wanted. The laughter of my sister echoed in my memory, and who she wanted to sacrifice next.

 

Our father.