Chapter 1:welcome to my nightmare

Metallic dampness clung to Nancy's nostrils as she walked down the hallway, this was unfamiliar this wasn't how home smelt this was a new dangerous aroma that made all the hairs on her body stand on end. Her quiet feet crept slowly forward pulling her body with them, the darkness obscuring her vision the only noticeable light came at the end of the narrow hallway through a chink in the door. The closer she got the more the metallic smell grew until she could taste it, she stifled a her breathing as her foot hit a wet patch on the floor but with the next step so came more liquid oozing through her toes, she began to shake her hands still clasped firmly over her mouth. Why was the house so silent it was normally full of noise from her two younger sisters Sally-Ann and Bess arguing with their older brother Nicholas, the smell of her mothers cooking and fathers pipe smoke would have hit her as soon as she set foot through the door, but not tonight as soon as she's opened the door she knew something was wrong. As she slowly got closer to the door she used the light to see where the water on the floor was coming from, but looking down she froze in horror there was no water, the cold wooden floor was covered in a blanket of claret, her feet and the edge of her dress stained red with what she now knew to be blood. She now understood the lack of noise; there was no one to make any noise. She pushed the door open slowly her entire body trembling from mingled shock and fear, she would never forget the sight inside that room. Her parents and siblings bodies torn apart everyone one of them unrecognisable covered in a red glaze each hanging by a thick rope from the ceiling, limbs were missing, internal organs had been removed, and looks of sheer terror remained on faces that hadn't been slashed to pieces, every inch of the walls were splattered and glistening, the floor was coated in a thick layer of blood the room seemed to glow red and the metallic taste in the air was stronger than ever. Nancy stood rooted to the spot, struggling to take in the horrific sight in front of her, but something pulled her back from shock, the feeling that she was not the only one still breathing in this house, she turned intending to run but instead noticed now that the hallway lamps had been lit. The hallway shared the same red glaze as the kitchen blood was sprayed and splattered everywhere she couldn't stand it any longer, her legs seemed to find life again and she ran sliding and skidding in the blood as she did but she was stopped in her tracks, a tall man in black his face obscured by a hat and scarf stood blocking her freedom from the torment, her breath was coming in quick pants there was no other way out she began to panic as he began advancing on her his steps large and his pace quick. She tried to move but her body had given up on her she fell to the floor and found her voice she screamed as loud as she could before a blood soaked glove stifled her, the man was holding her close his breathing heavy and hot on her neck he stank of decay as he dragged her back into the room slamming the door behind him.

Nancy shot up in her bed panting and shaking, the same nightmare that had haunted her for 8 years ensuring she never slept and that a day didn't go by without her remembering the horror of that night, she stood up her feet hitting the cold floor she was soaked in cold sweat her hair clung fiercely to her neck and face. She opened the curtains the sun was rising as she wiped a cold cloth over her face, she looked at herself in the mirror, she was pale and her eyes were bloodshot,

'It's been 8 years dear are the nightmares still as bad as ever?' Nancy looked up to see her aunt Margaret standing in the now open doorway.

'Some nights are worse than others'

'You were screaming dear, gave us all quite a fright', her aunt crossed the room and took Nancy's face in her hands,

'You've never screamed before darling', her aunt's eyes were filled with concern,

'I'm fine aunt Maggie, just a particularly bad night'

'We all worry about you, it should never have been you that found them…' she trailed of towards the end of her sentence pain etched across her face, anger in her tone,

'Well I'll go start breakfast, it's going to be a lovely day', she said forcing a more cheerful tone as she spoke, leaving Nancy alone in the room again.

Nancy sat back down on the bed the nightmares were becoming worse, so much more vivid now than she could ever remember, but she couldn't tell aunt Maggie or uncle Harry that she refused to worry them anymore than she already did after everything they'd done for her. She had occasionally spoken to her uncle's closest friend Hugo Styck (pronounced stick), he had seen his fair share of horrors in war and on his travels, he was able to understand a bit better, but she had stopped sharing her nightly horrors with him for a while now, he was an old man he didn't need her terrifying past burdening him on top of his own.

She looked out of the window into the quiet, peaceful countryside, she'd come to live with her aunt and uncle after the events of the night that haunted her, they had no children of their own and had showered her with love and caring from the second she'd arrived giving her a safe place to live. Shortly after she'd arrived her uncle's friend Hugo had joined them after he grew tired travelling and never settling. And so she had spent 8 years away from London and the past it held, she'd grown from a quiet, terrified 13-year-old girl to a more confident and intelligent 21-year-old woman. But as she pulled down the left sleeve of her nightgown and stared at the scar above her breast, the only sign that physically haunted her of that night, she knew she would never lay the past to rest staying here trying to forget.