May 1st, 2020 at 05:09am
Orion quickly hurried through the side door of her farmhouse, suddenly distressed that her parents weren't home and wouldn't be for the rest of the night. Closing the door suddenly behind herself, she locked it quickly and turned away, rushing up the stairs towards her bedroom. All she had wanted to do was go for a walk, sneak a beer from the fridge while her parents were gone, and just enjoy herself. And she had been, she had left her home before the sun had set, just walking straight, knowing that her parents owned a couple of acres around their home. She must've been walking for longer than she realized because at some point she came across a little shack in the middle of the woods. Curiosity had gotten the better of the young girl and she had pushed the door out of the way. On the inside, there were shelves and shelves along the walls, all lined with jars filled with preserving liquid. Upon closer inspection, she noticed body parts. Eyeballs, tongues, hands, full heads, all around her. Even torture instruments. If she had stayed around long enough to inspect a bit more, she would've seen a trap door that led down into a basement level. But as quickly as she realized what she was looking at, she was bolting for the door. Orion had seen enough horror movies to know what would happen if she overstayed her welcome and she wasn't about to linger long enough to meet whoever owned all of this.
She had a pretty good idea. Their only neighbor was a young man, but he seemed too nice to do something like this..., but then again, maybe that was the perfect cover? When they had moved in a couple of weeks earlier, he had been one of the first people to welcome them. Coming over with a fresh loaf of bread he claimed to have baked from scratch. He seemed to be a confident alpha, his scent had been welcoming enough and the smile he kept on his face had been a brilliant one. Charming, that was the word she was looking for... He had been charming. Rushing through the trees back to her home had been terrifying on its own, but now that she was home, all alone... stuck in place... she felt like she couldn't breathe. Like she was being watched.
Ignoring the feeling in her gut, Orion moved into the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. "Just relax... forget all about what you saw..." That seemed like the best option. The last thing she wanted was to start any trouble for her family or endanger herself. The best idea seemed to be the simplest one: just forget about it. Turning to the pantry, Orion pulled out a bag of popcorn and threw it in the microwave before heading into the living room to find a movie to put on. Anything to distract herself.
Knock! Knock!
Orion almost jumped out of her skin. Or vomited. Or both. Her whole body seemed to freeze and it felt like a chore to force herself to look towards the front door. Who would be knocking at this hour? It was almost ten... Swallowing, she moved away from the couch, flinching each time she heard a kernel pop in the kitchen. Placing her hands against the door, Orion moved onto her tiptoes to look through the peephole. Of all the people she'd expect to see, which technically was no one, she certainly was shocked to see Henry standing on the front porch. What were the odds... Orion tried to tell herself that he might not even know about the shack... That was only an assumption. Still, she didn't feel safe answering the door. Keeping the chain lock on the door, Orion slowly cracked the door open.
"Hello?"