1 The Noise

I was lying in bed nursing my wound when suddenly there came a tapping as someone gently rapped at my bedroom door.

"Come in," I said as I sat straighter up in bed and winced at the sharp pain that flowed on the side of my stomach.

"Hey, there are some cops here to ask you some questions about that day," Mother explained as she allowed the cops into my space.

"Good morning, Amber. It is good to see you recovering from your injuries. We just have a few questions to ask you, as your mom stated," one of the police officers said. I nodded my head in understanding at the police officers.

"Okay, first I want you to tell me everything that happened from the beginning," The second police officer said as he held a notepad and a pen in his hands ready to write down everything, I tell him.

Flashback

I was walking through the town's special day parade when a loud, suspicious scream came from a house near me. My legs moved on their own as if they had a mind of their own, I stood in front of the front gate but was stopped by the digital keypad. Shit, I cursed under my breath and walked around the house. I noticed a big hole that could only have been dug up by an animal. I didn't stop to think if there was a vicious animal in the backyard.

I crawled under the gate where the dug-up hole was but was snagged back when a sharp part of the fence pierced my shirt. Ouch, I whispered to myself. I placed my hand on the side of my stomach and when I brought my hand back towards my face, crimson ran down my arm, I looked towards my wound where there was a big red circle stain on my white tank top. Tears flowed from my eyes as the realization hit me, the fence deeply pierced my flesh. I struggled with the fence, trying to wiggle this and that way to get it out of me, but I was stuck. The hearts on the back of her neck stood up as a low growling noise sounded from the right of me, When I turned around, I noticed a not-so-friendly rottweiler snarling at me with saliva dripping down its mouth.

I held out both of my hands in front of me. "Shhh... it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," I said with a trembling voice. This was a bad idea, a really bad idea, I thought to myself as tears streamed from my eyes faster. The rottweiler ignored my plea and ran up to me and bit hard into my hand. I screamed and tried to get away from the dog, but I was still stuck with this fence still in my flesh. Quickly with my other hand, I grabbed a chocolate bar from my back pocket and shoved it into the dog's mouth.

The dog stopped chewing on my hand and walked away from me to eat the chocolate bar. With my bleeding hand, I struggled with the fence, but I was finally able to get it out of my flesh. I crawled the rest of the way into the backyard. I walked up to the back door that looked like it hasn't been tended to in years with leaves growing and covering the walls of the house, dead leaves laying on the porch untouched and forgotten, and even the back door had a crack in it like it's been sliced.

I started to feel uneasy, but I continued in search of a way in when I spotted a cracked, brown flowerpot left to the side of the back door. I slowly, with shaky hands, lifted the flowerpot and found a purple key underneath it. This is too easy, I thought to myself, feeling even more uneasy as she looks at the key suspiciously. She stands back up, holding the key. I sniffed the air as an earthy, musky, and fresh scent drifted up to my nose, and then the rain came pouring down. My shaking hand that was holding the key slowly placed the key into the key holder. I turned the key and the door unlocked. My heart started to flutter rapidly as I pushed the door open slowly.

The door screeched loudly, almost deafening as it slowly opened, and I held my breath with each second that passed, then a swarm of bats flew all around my head. They used the claws of their feet to pull at my hair, I was frantically trying to swat them away, but there were too many of them. I quickly ran into the house and closed the door, I locked most of the bats out and was still fighting off the ones stuck to my hair. There was a broom standing in the hallway, which I grabbed and started swatting at the bats. The bats all fell to the floor after I hit them with the broom. My breathing came in and out rapidly.

No sound came from inside the house. As I nervously stepped further inside with sweat dripping on the side of my face, tiny goosebumps jumped out from my arm as a chill moved past me. I rubbed both of my arms to warm myself up, but it was no use.

"Hello?" I yelled with a quivering breath as she spoke.

"Hello?" The air echoed back to her. Amber jumped at the sound of her own voice, still rubbing her arms she walked further inside but abruptly stopped when she came across a skull resting on a cabinet stand. A scream Pierced the hallway and I jumped. There is still time to leave, just walk back outside and leave, I thought to myself, but my legs once again started moving on their own, toward where the scream came from.

"Okay, you said you heard a scream. Where did the scream come from?" The police officer asked.

"It came from up the stairs," I said while my hand touched my aching wound.

'What did the scream sound like?" Asked the Officer. Flashback A horrifying, hysterical, panic scream pierced the hallway, my heart quickened as I jumped at the frightening scream. Despite my inner voice trying to convince me to leave the house, my legs moved on their own accord, ignoring all my instincts to leave. I knew whatever was going on wasn't anything good, the skull on the stand was a real human's skull placed there like a trophy, but my feet ignored that too and kept walking up the stairs. My heart jumped out of my chest every time my foot hit the next stair up.

As I walked up the stairs slowly, I would hear some rustling, as if two people were struggling with one another. My heart kept beating out of my chest, the stairs in the back of my neck rose, and overall, I really wanted to run back down the stairs, run out of the house and never look back, but my feet had other plans. I reached the last step; I drew closer to the rustling and grunting noises of a man. I knew I should run, but I must know what is going on. I stopped abruptly and fished out my phone.

I called 9-1-1 and put my phone back in my pocket. I continued to walk up to a door and saw...

"What did the man sound like?" One of the police officers asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked in return, not understanding his question.

"Did he have a deep voice? Was he breathing hard like he was struggling with something?" The officer asked if he was writing every detail of my story in his notepad.

"Oh, um, maybe, I don't really remember. A lot happened that day," I said while rubbing my arms.

"Oh no, of course, I apologize. Can you continue with your story, please?" The first officer asked. I gave a slight nod and jumped back into the story.

Flashback

I approached a door that was left wide open, and the rustling and grunting noises were next to me now, through the door. I breathed in deeply, trying to convince myself to move into the room towards the rusting and grunting sounds. Now my feet don't want to move. I gave in one big breath and stepped into the room. My eyes grew wide in shock as the scene in front of me came into view. A man was standing over a woman who seemed unconscious.

The man was covered in blood, he held up a bloody knife, and before I could stop myself, I gasped. The man looked at me, and I started to run away back down the stairs as the man was now chasing me. I screamed when the man grabbed me, and we both went tumbling down the stairs. Once my body fell from the last step, I untangled myself from the man and tried to run away, but at this point, my right leg was broken. I panicked and tried to drag myself out of the house, but the man was quick. He took hold of my broken twisted leg and dragged me away from the door. I screamed in pain, I tried to claw myself out of his hold, and I scratched him a few times, although not sure if I left any marks on his body. The man then got frustrated with me, took his knife, and...

"Okay, that is all, we can paint the rest of the picture," the second officer said as he pointed to the two wounds I held and my broken leg.

"Thank you for your time, Miss Amber, we really appreciate your cooperation," the first officers said. They both stood up, gave me worrying smiles, and left my room. My mom left with them and closed my door.

"I suggest putting your daughter in a mental hospital," one of the officers told my mom, as I overheard the conversation outside of my bedroom door.

"Why do you say that?" My mom asked worriedly.

"Because the description of that house doesn't even exist, not on the street name she gave us. We checked out the location, and nothing was there. No house, no man, and no dead woman, just one big empty lot," one of the officers said. Tears streamed down my eyes while I placed my good hand over my mouth in shock.

"But she has a broken leg and two stab wounds. How could she have gotten those injuries if nothing she said was true?" Asked my mom.

"We believe that Amber harmed herself and told the story she told so she wouldn't get into trouble or be judged," said one of the officers. There was silence after, then I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and toward my room. My mom opened my door again, worry deep in her eyes as she looked at me, then I saw the man who attacked me that day in that house, come into my room, dressed in those white nurse uniforms, he came in with another man. My eyes grew wide as I recognized my attacker. He smiled connivingly at me, and both men took hold of both of my arms and dragged me out of the house. I went kicking my good leg and screaming, I screamed at my mom and at the cops that he was my attacker, but no one believed me.