Page 6 of Eldritch

Welcome. Welcome.

Sybil took in the immense house. Discomfort prickled along her skin. This place looked alien. She was an astronaut that had ventured out of the spaceship and found a world twisted and disturbingly subversive.

Wrong.

That was the word.

A tingle raced over Sybil’s skin. She shivered in delight. Everything pleased her in a distorted way she couldn’t understand. Twisted and so very interesting.

Pauline took several steps forward. “How many bedrooms does this have again?”

“Six on the second and six on the third floor. Each with their own ensuite bathroom. Those are more recent additions built in the 1970s with renovations in the 90s.” Sybil held up her left hand and ticked off rooms. “Ground floor we have a dining room, kitchen, pantry, cloak room, parlor, office, dining room, and great hall. I think that’s it.”

“And let’s not forget the creepy cellar and attic,” Letisha said as she rolled her gaze in a silly expression.

Maria groaned. “I don’t believe in creepy stuff. It’s all crap.”

Letisha cleared her throat. “You sure? I mean, you read Stephen King.”

Maria’s nose wrinkled. “Reading horror isn’t the same as believing in ghosts. The ghost stuff is entertainment, that’s all.”

“Huh,” Letisha said, which Sybil knew was Letisha speak for when she didn’t agree but didn’t care to belabor the point. “Maria, you should be the first person to clean out the attic tomorrow when we get started. It’ll be infested with spiders, and who knows what kind of nasty stuff. I mean, when is an attic ever filled with good things? But you can handle it.”

Maria puffed up the slightest bit. “Yeah, I’m sure I can.”

Sybil’s memory flashed to the time law enforcement came into her childhood home and searched from top to bottom, including the attic and the basement.

No, there weren’t good things in basements.

Unease trickled through her again, threatening to steal the excitement that strummed in her veins. She took tried to disregard the memory of those tumultuous childhood years.

Better to forget it. No need to go there. None at all. That was a long, long time ago. You’re not there anymore.

On certain days, it didn’t even feel real. The memory had softened; the edges blurred. Still, she knew it had happened, and the fear always seemed to linger in her cells. The trauma seemed to have left a genetic imprint on her forever, making it difficult for her to get over it. Oh, she wanted to forget. On some days, so much she made herself sick. Instead, she drew yet another deep breath. In. Out.

Ground yourself, Sybil.

“Sybil?” Letisha asked.

Sybil snapped back to the present and caught her friend eyeballing her with concern.

“Nope.” Sybil sighed. “Never anything good in an attic or a basement.”

Maria smirked. “Okay, okay. I’m a semi-new girl. I get the nasty jobs first. I can take it.”

“Damn straight. The newest crew receives the crappy jobs,” Pauline said. “We all had to do it. I remember when–”

“Wait.” Sybil held up one hand. “Is this going to be something like when I was a kid I had to walk uphill to school both ways in a blizzard?”

Pauline shifted her feet and threw an impatient look toward Sybil, and Sybil felt it like a punch. Sybil often picked up people’s emotions, sometimes as strong as her own. This time, the emotion was harsh. Judgmental.

You piss people off. That’s why they don’t like you. Who is being judgmental now?

Okay, that could be true.

You are so stupid. Get over it.

Yeah, yeah, she wanted say just that to her ego. The part of her that insisted on haranguing her regularly and worked hard to bring her back into the fold. Dragging her back into the darkness. Where all the screams lived.

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