The bed is way too large, and has a luxury mattress with pastel covers. Pastel pink pillows and curtains are impressive.
Lily looks at Monica, and catches her looking at her, like they've been thinking about the same thing. "We can share it," both of them said at the same time. Lily ends up laughing with Monica, falling onto the bed. She remembers her grandmother. That pale and wrinkled, yet beautiful face and her warm smile. Just three weeks ago, she was with her and her mother. Lily used to massage her hair, and her grandma would tell her stories about her childhood. With a soft smile tugging up at the corners of her lips, Lily closes her eyes, a faint fragrance lingers in the air. She inhales deeply, taking in the fresh air, that's when she feels something near her feet. Slowly, something cold as ice, grabs onto her feet, sending chills down her spine. Lily sits up immediately, like a startled snake. She looks at her feet, but sees nothing.
Startled by her sudden reaction, Monica looks at her. "Are you okay?"
Lily wonders if there was actually something near her feet, or she's just hallucinating, completely unaware of what Monica has just said to her.
"Lily," Monica is now sitting up, looking at Lily with wide eyes.
Monica's voice registers in her mind. "Something was... touching my feet," she mumbles more to herself, but Monica hears anyway.
She sees Monica glancing at her feet. "What?"
Then something catches Monica's eye. She tells Lily to put her feet on the bed. Lily also sees it. There are marks on her feet. "It's like someone had just grabbed your feet but," Monica touches the red marks,"so powerfully that it caused blood to gather here," she traces the red area where blood has accumulated. The mark resembles a hand, fingers reaching from one to the other side if her feet.
A throat clears, making them jump. Mrs. Morris is standing at the partially open door, with two bowls of steaming ramen in her hands. She smiles before gestures towards the door. Monica rushes to fully open the door and lets her in, guiding her to the bed, before thanking her for the food and setting the bowls on the dressing table.
"What were you girls talking about? You seem worried," says Mrs. Morris, now sitting on the bed before Monica, and Lily who now has her chin resting on her knees.
Lily wonders if she should tell her about this, but then brushes it off, not wanting to consider the fact of something grabbing onto her feet from under the bed. Not now, at least. "Ah, we were just talking about the beauty of this room, Mrs. Morris."
"Oh," the lady's attention shifts to the food,"I made this ramen, I hope you'll like it. You must ne hungry, no?" The old lady smiles very genuinely, her short, curly gray hair fall into her eyes as she speaks. Incredible beauty, Lily thinks. But something feels off. Despite her genuinely kind behavior, Lily still feels something wrong about Mrs. Morris.
---
After having supper, Lily and Monica decide to explore the house. They enter the second room, welcomed by a fresh minty scent. "Ahh, it feels so refreshing and cool here," Lily says. She wonders if Mrs. Morris sprays perfume in the rooms daily.
"Well, it is strangely cold," Monica mutters, her eyebrows furrowed.
Lily considers what Monica has just said. The room is really cold. She crosses her arms, rubbing herself. "Yeah," is all she says, looking up at the large room.
Lily traces the walls. Something feels odd about this house. Everything is so perfect, so presentable. She sees Monica pressing her ear against the wall after the dressing table near the bed, trying to hear something. Without making any noise, she nears the wall too, and presses an ear against it, meeting Monica's eyes. "There's something behind the wall," Monica whispers.
"A... a flickering bulb," Lily looks at Monica, and who clears her throat at the words.
"Right," Monica mumbles, her eyes on the floor.
This may be something related to the previous room. Lily starts towards their room absentmindedly, Monica follows. To their surprise, the old lady is sitting in the room, on the rocking chair. A warm atmosphere welcomes them. Lily and Monica share a quick glance, before turning to the lady who's apparently knitting.
She looks up at them,"Oh dear, I thought knitting would be a good idea,"
smiling gently. This smile reminds Lily of her Grandma, oh, how she misses her. Her eyes starts get wet at the mere resemblance of her, and she walks towards the lady, trying to hold back tears. She takes the yellow woolen fabric in her hands, examining the size and design of the cute little sweater, yet to be finished.
"You're just like my Granny," she says, her voice soft and eyes warm.
"I knew her for a long time," Mrs. Morris says after a pause. "She was a very sweet lady."
"Yes. She was," Lily says, while Monica watches them from a distance. Lily feels like something has taken over her, her Grandma's memories occupy her mind, and her eyelids suddenly feel heavy, and then fully shut, her head feels heavy, and her legs feel like noodles. She eventually begins to stumble, and Monica rushes to hold her. They're both now on the floor, Monica trying to wake her, before everything goes black and Lily becomes unconscious.
---
Everything feels blurred, her head feels heavy, like a stone is put in the back of her head, or she's been hit with a heavy object. Lily realises that she's lying on a cold, marble floor. Unable to fully open her eyes, she slowly moves her right hand to the back of her head, and a sharp pain jolts through her body, making her cry out. She finds her voice hoarse and raspy from crying, warm tears streaming down her face. She tries to move her other hand, but soon realises that it's handcuffed to the ground. Another cry escapes her mouth, and she tries to open her eyes, succeeding this time.
Before her eyes is something big, dark. It's a bed. She turns her head to her right side. Fade moonlight enters the room through a glass window, falling on the floor beside her.
She pulls her left hand in hope to set it free, but it has a lock. She has to find the key. She looks all over her right, left , near her, but there's nothing. Then she reaches for the bed, picking on the bedsheets. She traces the bed back and forth with her hand, finding nothing. She stretches her body more and more, her left hand struggling under the handcuff starts bleeding. Lily cries out loud and extends her hand, finally something cold and metal touches her fingers, and she clasps it, and lies back on the floor with a sigh, panting hard.
After unlocking her hand, she carefully drags herself from under the bed, looking fearfully around the room to check if someone is watching, before standing up. The room is not familiar. It is a small, dark room with two windows letting moonlight slide in. She nears the wooden door, clicks it open a little, and looks outside with an eye. The hallway is clear.
She leaves the door open, taking soft steps, avoiding making any noise. In front of her is a long hallway, a window straight ahead on the wall, with it separating into two ways. She slowly nears the window, looks to her left, then right. Mist begins to appear from the right narrow passage, slowly following her.
Lily runs to the left passage, glancing over her shoulder once in a while, in between running to find a way out.
At the end of the passage, there is a door. Lily looks behind, the mist is coming, and with it are coming faint screams. She looks as the door, thinking if she should open it or not, finally opening it and closing herself in the dark room. She sighs, taking a look at the atmosphere. The room is incredibly dark, lacking any window or light except for the only bulb hanging in the middle if it, above an old wooden table between two chairs on each side.