Surprise:

The house was eerily silent, not just quiet, but silent and it made Jack’s heart race against his chest to the point he could imagine how the thumping of his heart replaced the silence of the dark room he stood in. “Robert? Hilary?” He whispered.

Jack’s body reacted when something fell on his head. It was something light, but it clearly was something. He brought his right hand up to his head, feeling the top of his head. It was wet and sticky, rubbing it between his thumb and index and middle finger, but it was too dark to see what it was. Jack took a deep breath before he moved towards the wall, searching with both hands for a light switch. He stopped in his tracks when he heard a drip splattering on the floor, and again, and again.

Quickly, he continued his search and finally felt a switch, switching it on and instantly, the room was brightened by the light that hung in the middle of the ceiling. Jack had to protect his eyes from the brightness with his right hand, covering it. It was then that he noticed the red that coated his thumb, his index and his middle finger. “Fuck…” He looked up, his eyes scanning the ceiling and found a growing red spot, dripping down onto the floor.

He couldn’t stay here, it wasn’t safe, he needed to get out! For a few seconds he remained where he stood before he turned on his heels to sprint towards the hall, but as he turned the corner, he walked into someone, into something. He then noticed who stood before him. “H-Hilary…”

“Hello, Jack…”

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Suspense:

Hilary stood on the second floor, staring out of the bedroom window, looking down at the figure who she presumed to be Jack. She had given him a call only ten minutes earlier about vaguely hinting him about something she had done, luring him to the house. Not her house, but the house of a young man around Jack’s age, a little older than Hilary.

She looked down at the body between her feet once she saw the silhouette outside disappear into the house. A pool of blood spread over the wooden floor, seeping through the cracks and making its way down to the floor below. It was an old house, so she had to be careful where to place her feet. With her light weight the chance of making a sound was a lot smaller, even smaller still as she was making her way back to the hall on her socks, leaving dark, stained footprints as she slowly and carefully made her way down.

Jack should have known better, but he was worried about Robert, especially after the vague conversation he had with Hilary. She must have figured out what happened between him and Robert, why else would she be so… creepy? The front door was ajar, another hint that nothing good was about to happen, but for Robert he entered the darkened house anyway. He found the switch in the hall, but there was a small spark that lit the hall only for a split second before darkness took over again. “Shit.” He took a few steps into the hall, heading to the living room and along the way he heard the crackling of glass underneath his shoe. She must have smashed the light bulb somehow.

“Robert? Hilary?” His voice just over a whisper, but no one responded to him. “Anyone here?” He was met with silence again. Not just quiet, but silent. It made his skin crawl, his heart pick up a beat, a few beats and the palms of his hands turned clammy.

He entered the living room, not even bothering to try and turn on the light, assuming she had broken that one as well. Carefully, Jack shuffled his feet through the room, avoiding to pump into anything. There was a faint light beaming into the house from outside, but that light wasn’t enough to cast the shadows away.

Jack felt something fall on his head, it made him look up and tucked his head between his shoulders when he felt it again but this time on the bridge of his nose, rubbing his fingers over it but couldn’t see what it was. Without thinking, he moved toward the light switch, bumping his sheen against the small coffee table, cussing.

Once the light was turned on, he let his eyes fall on his hands and saw that the fingers of his right hand was coated in a thick, sticky, crimson colored substance. His mind had trouble register it, but once he did, he turned around and made his way back to the hall.

Hilary waited at the corner toward the front door, waiting for the right moment to jump at Jack. He had to pay for seducing her fiancé, just like she made Robert pay for falling for this pathetic home breaking man. She held a chef’s knife on chest height, the blade pointing forward. What Hilary didn’t expect was for Jack to run into the blade himself and since Hilary was quite a small woman, it struck Jack just below his chest.

Jack looked down at his stomach, not seeing still, but he noticed the glistening of the blade. A pain welted up somewhere below his chest, warmness spreading around it and he could feel something running down from the wound. He then looked up, with widened eyes, panting, his heart skipping a few in horror. “H-Hilary?”

“Hello, Jack… You can join him in hell…”

Sharona Koch

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