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Sins of the Past

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Chapter One

Strange.

I see a moving van approaching my home. I can hardly remember how long it's been since I've last seen one. 12 years, perhaps?

I see a teenaged girl spring out the back of the truck before the thing even stops, and I catch a glimpse of her face as she turns to marvel at the house that stands before her. I don't understand why she looks so starstruck. I've really let the place go over the years.

Hmm, red hair, green eyes, freckles all over. Kinda cute. I'd guess that she's about 19?

Already she's bounding up the steps to the front door, and upon arrival she knocks a catchy little jingle. I'd like to hear that again sometime.

I instinctively move towards the door, my hand phasing through the doorknob as I reach out to turn it.

Sigh. Right.

You'd think you'd remember after the first few hundred times.

Oh well.

I float myself up through the living room ceiling into my room, and flop myself onto my old dusty bed. As per usual, the dust refuses to acknowledge my existence.

I hear the redhead shouting below me. Something about a coat.

I sigh again, and begin my time-old ritual whenever someone new moves in. It's a fun little game, called "Guess How Long You'll Get To Have Company Before You're Alone Again." I haven't really had the time to think of a snappier name.

Well, that's not true. I have all the time in the world I could ever need. I just plain don't care.

Regardless, I'm feeling hopeful today. I guess 8 days.

Most people leave by 5.

"Mom! Where're the darn house keys? I thought you said they're in your coat!"

"They are in my coat sweetie! Have you checked my inner left pocket?"

Oh. Duh.

The door swings open, and —man it's cold in here— I'm greeted by what an old friend of mine would call a sore sight for sad eyes (he's always trying to play around with old idioms, silly English majors).

The floor is caked in a layer of dust, and there are cobwebs strewn about everywhere. Some of the rotted wooden furniture is in desperate need of replacement and—Jesus almighty is that a dead mouse?

Mom poked her head through the front door and whistled.

"Well, the real estate agent did warn us."

I hummed in agreement. "At least we're practically paid to live here, right?"

"$50 per month. Didn't believe it when I first saw it, still don't to be honest. She actually started laughing when I asked about the safety deposit."

"I guarantee that there's more to this house that she didn't tell you. This place is massive for such a small price tag."

"Well sweetie, despite all the deep dark secrets that are screaming to be discovered in here, I'm going to start cleaning up. Why don't you go exploring? You could pick out your room at the very least. Expect lunch in an hour."

"Sounds good, see ya Mom!"

I raced up the stairs, two at a time. The layout of the house was nothing special, just a few rooms with a shared bathroom in the middle. The first room showed clear signs of abandonment, as in it looked the same as everything else in the house. As did the second bedroom, and the third, and the fourth..

Yeah, I think I'll let Mom have those.

Having fully explored the four previous rooms, and having completely wasted 20 minutes of my time, I now stood in front of the fifth and last bedroom. I pushed open the door and was delightfully surprised to find that this room actually showed some personality.

It's still really darn dusty, don't get me wrong, but here the walls are painted a soft light blue instead of the drab beige found everywhere else. The furniture was also of actual good quality for once. There was a nice big desk with an accompanying office chair, and a rather large ornate wardrobe sat next to the bed.

Curiosity overcame me, and I peered inside the wardrobe to find some rather well-preserved clothing from.. what, the 19th century? This stuff must be ancient.

Eugh, moth balls smell terrible.

I knelt down to pull open the bottom drawer, and inside I found a little treasure chest.

Locked, of course.

I stood up, taking a glance at myself in the mirror built into the inside of the wardrobe door and—what the hell?

Staring back at me, from behind, perched on top of the bed was a distinctively human shaped gray apparition. It must've noticed my shocked expression, as it.. smiled at me..? And abruptly melted into the bedsheets.

I spun around faster than I knew possible and immediately fell prone beside the bed.

Nothing but dustballs.

I crawled under the bed, calling out: "H-hello? Anyone there?"

I heard what I swore to be a wispy chuckle coming from.. above? I immediately banged my head on the underside of the bed in my haste to crawl out.

Cursing, I looked up at the bedsheets to find...

Nothing.

Cursing again, I spun around back towards the wardrobe, its doors still hanging open. I took another look into the mirror to find the.. thing.. floating out the bedroom door and into the hallway.

I immediately gave chase, but when I arrived there was nothing to be seen. I peered over the staircase railing, looking for the mysterious intruder.

Still nothing. I growled in frustration.

I heard my mom call out. "Sweetie?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing? You're stomping around like a madman up there."

What was I doing? Chasing a ghost? "Nothing much, mom."

"Whatever you say sweetie. On a side note, I've been battling the grime on this kitchen counter for a while and I think it's winning. Do you want to eat out today instead?"

I was far more interested in further exploring the house, now that my interest was soundly piqued, but my stomach nosily overruled me. I had skipped breakfast today.

"My god, I heard that from all the way over here. Get your sorry butt in the car sweetie, we're heading into town."

Hello there.

I've been reading a lot of supernatural-themed books lately, and I wanted to try my hand at it.

It seems that the community here has lessened over the months, but as long as even one person wishes me to then I will endeavour to continue writing. I have a general gist of what I'd like happen for this story this time, so I will likely be able to finish this.