Narcissistic Cannibal

“It's almost noon, mom,” Violet stated out of boredom, looking over at the grandfather clock in the room.

“I know,” Vivien replied with a heavy sigh, keeping her eyes on the girl who had died the night before. Her ghost was still laying curled up on the floor, looking as if she were just sleeping. “You don't have to wait around. Go out,” she suggested to her daughter.

“Don't kid yourself, mom. What am I going to do?” Violet sighed as well, leaning her back onto the sofa that her mom was sat on, while sprawling her legs out on the floor in front of her, looking down to her lap.

“Get out of this house for the one day you can,” Vivien spoke in a mater of fact tone, looking away from the girl to her daughter.

“If I leave, you guys will just freak her out,” Violet pointed out, looking over to her mother then, before looking at Moira as well. Ben had already left with their son that morning, not wanting to be around for his failure.

“She'll be freaked out anyways. Go out and try to enjoy yourself,” Vivien stated. There wasn't much arguing to be done on the subject, Halloween was the only day the ghosts were allowed out of the house. Only a handful dared to stick around and brave another year.

“I'll walk you out,” Vivien then suggested, realizing that the girl wasn't waking up any time soon. “Moira, come with,” she spoke, standing up with her daughter.

“Of course,” Moira spoke, standing from her seat as well, leaving the girl unattended s the three walked out the front door and onto the street, though the two women stayed at that point while Violet wandered off, promising to be back before sunrise.

With Sophia left unattended in the room where she died, another ghost crept over to her. They crouched next to her, staring into the girl's face before pushing on the girl's shoulder.

“Wake up,” they simply stated, though it didn't work. They shook the strange girl now, asking again, “Wake up.” Feeling impatient, with a sigh to prove the fact, the ghost pushed the girl onto her back before roughly smacking her.

Sophia's face flew to the side, her eyes opening wide as she heard a voice nearly yell at her, “Wake up!” She took in a sharp, startled breath, before looking up at the face of whoever had hit her, recognizing them instantly.

“Hey bitch,” the woman smiled, nothing genuine about it, as her heavily lined eyes stared down at Sophia.

Sophia blinked rapidly, feeling her eyes water from the rough slap before she attempted to sit up, her arms feeling wobbly and weak. “Wh-what–?” She began to ask, looking around at the strange house she had found herself in, her mind racing to remember the events of the previous night.

“What are you doing here?” Hayden guessed at the girl's question. “I dunno, you tell me. What compelled you to get wasted in a strange house at an overcrowded party then just decide you never wanted to leave?”

The response she got from the familiar woman confused her, while she vaguely remembered the party last night. “I don't know...” Sophia's head began to pulse as she thought hard on the subject. She was at the party with her friends Di and Caitlin, and her boyfriend Mayer. Last night was Devil's night, and the party was thrown at an abandoned mansion that was supposedly haunted. Sophia couldn't break anymore barriers down in her mind. “What time is it?" she asked quickly, realizing that she was supposed to be in school today.

“'Bout noon,” Hayden spoke casually, moving to sit in a more comfortable position with the girl. “Why?”

“I've got class!” Sophia said, struggling to get herself up. She couldn't afford to be suspended from school for two weeks, and her parents were going to murder her.

“You've got absolutely no class,” Hayden spoke, laughing as Sophia struggled to get up. “You're not going anywhere honey,” she stood up quickly as Sophia got to her feet as well.

“What do you mean?” Sophia asked, a whole new fear washing over her face. Was she kidnapped last night? By this psycho bitch?

“If you hadn't noticed by now, you're lacking a pulse,” Hayden stated, folding her arms over her chest. Sophia began to shake, not understanding the woman's words, and fought to keep her hands at her side instead of checking for a pulse on her neck or wrists. “You're dead as the braincells you killed last night,” Hayden continued, a sinister smile forming over her lips.

Feeling panic begin to flood her bloodstream, Sophia broke out into a sprint, crashing into a wall before making it out the front door, scared for her life. She promised herself that she would never party again if she lived through this situation. Oddly enough, the woman wasn't pursuing her while Sophia made it down the front path. Sophia nearly laughed at how easy this was for her to escape before realizing there were two more women, older than the first, walking into the yard from the front gate. At first they looked startled to see her before quickly advancing towards her. Sophia almost fell down as she began to run back to the house, slamming the door behind her as the two women called out for her to stop.

Hayden was waiting in the middle of the entrance room when Sophia ran back in, laughing still. Much to Sophia's dismay, she suddenly disappeared, her laughter echoing throughout the house as the front door opened back up for Sophia's pursuers. She didn't even have time to think that she was crazy before making her way through the house, ending up running down to the basement. She looked around the darkness, quickly running into a room and hiding in the corner, hearing the two women run down the stairs after her.

“Oh no, where did she go?” She heard one of them ask, before hearing the other reply.

“She can't have gone far. We need to stop her before she leaves. She doesn't know that she can't.”

Sophia felt hot tears sting at her green eyes, though she clasped a hand over her mouth so she wouldn't he heard by the two. She shut her eyes tight and waited until she heard their footsteps disappear before opening them. What she saw was an even bigger horror than being chased. There was a woman in front of her, sitting with her back facing Sophia, her blonde hair done up in an intricate old fashion around a gaping and bloody hole in the middle.

Sophia's breath hitched, staring wide eyed at the woman with her hand still clamped over her mouth. The woman turned around, and Sophia also recognized this woman from the party, while she was wandering around dazed and confused. Sophia remembered the woman saying that the party goers were in her house.

“Who are you?” she asked sharply, sorrow in her voice. “What are you doing in my house?” Sophia continued to stare in shock, at this woman being able to speak let alone be alive from the gaping wound. Half of her brain must be gone. “Get out,” she said suddenly, standing up. “Get out of my house!”

Sophia didn't wait to be told twice before blindly running out of the room, a sickening snarl now chasing after her. Sophia didn't dare turn around to find what it was as she tore through the basement, eventually finding the door that lead up to the backyard.

As she sprinted towards the exit she suddenly tripped, falling over and scraping her arms badly as she caught herself.

“Ah! Fuck, dude,” a man spoke, being the source of Sophia tripping. She crawled back to her feet, shaking as she stood and briefly took in the man's sleepy appearance before continuing to run out the door. “What the hell?” she heard him call after her as she made her way to ground level outside. The door slammed behind her as she stopped, frantically looking around for an escape or a safer place to hide.

Her chest began to ache from how fast her heart was beating, while she desperately searched the yard. She found an oddly placed Gazebo in the yard and without thinking, dashed for it. When Sophia reached the structure she fell to the floor, collapsing with her knees pulled up to her chest and sitting against one of the sides, feeling too exposed for her liking. She suddenly realized it was a horrible hiding spot, the gazebo was very open and most of the walls were made of lattice. Also, she wasn't the only occupant.

She took in a sharp breath, noticing her company too late when she saw the teenager staring at her, his dark eyes as wide as her own from her sudden appearance. He moved slowly, from lounging on the walls of the gazebo, so he would be standing before her, looking wary as he moved. Sophia watched him, unable to move herself. They stared at each other for another moment, wordlessly, before the guy suddenly looked away, hearing one of the doors to the house open.
Sophia gasped when she realized that he was no longer in front of her, he was nowhere. He had vanished in an instant, disappearing into nothing and leaving Sophia alone.

A bloodcurdling scream tore from her throat as she grabbed at her black hair, continuing to scream as loud as she could, before hitting herself repeatedly, desperately trying to wake herself up from this realistic though hellish nightmare.

“Stop her, quickly!” one of the woman's voices spoke as the two from before found her in the gazebo, efficiently loosing her mind. Her arms were quickly restrained behind her while she continued to scream. Another hand clasped around her mouth and Sophia couldn't even think to close her jaw, to bite down and tear the woman's palm from her hand. She was so shocked from everything, she felt as if she couldn't even move.

“Let's slowly move her back into the house,” the redheaded woman, wearing a maid outfit, spoke calmly to the other blonde woman, who was keeping Sophia from screaming further. “Slowly... slowly.”



The girl sat in an armchair, sitting with her knees pulled to her chest and her face pressed to her knees, crying. She hadn't stopped for nearly an hour after Vivien and Moira had got her back in the house. They had tried speaking to her to calm her down, but the two women weren't quite sure the girl could hear them. They weren't even sure if the poor girl knew she was dead.

“Honey,” Vivien spoke, trying to get a reaction from her again. “We aren't going to hurt you, we just want to explain what happened. We won't hurt you,” she spoke softly, sitting across from the girl in a separate armchair while Moira busied herself with cleaning around the room.

After that attempt failed, Vivien sighed, remembering what her daughter had said. This girl definitely had freaked out. Horribly.

“Am I dreaming?” Vivien heard, not quite sure at first if the girl had actually spoken or if it was her imagination.

“No... no you aren't dreaming,” Vivien spoke, unable to see the girl's face through her dark hair. She instead, looked over to Moira, who was also staring at the girl.

“Was what she said true?” the girl then asked, confusing the women.

“Who?” Vivien asked, and the room remained silent for a moment before Moira spoke in reply.

“Hayden. She's the only one who would care,” the maid said wisely, earning a deeply etched scowl form Vivien.

“What did she tell you?” Vivien turned back to the girl in front of her.

“That I'm dead...” The girl sounded so pathetic it broke Vivien's heart.

“Yes. That's true, we're all dead here. You died last night in the fire,” she answered calmly, ending with a small sigh. A strangled cry came from within the girl and she hid her otherwise pretty face once more.

“I want to go home,” she spoke meekly, her face still hidden and her voice muffled.

“You... can't,” Vivien spoke in the same clam tone.

“Why?” the girl cried, looking back up with pleading eyes. Vivien looked over to Moira for help in this answer.

“You can only leave the house on Halloween, otherwise none of us can leave the property,” she spoke, coming into the girl's view.

“Why are you keeping me here?” the girl rushed her next question, visibly shaking.

“We aren't keeping you here. Its this house. If you die here, you can never leave, you can never cross over. We've all been stuck here, same as you.” Vivien's words didn't seem to comfort the girl any.

“I wanna go home,” she cried again, holding her legs tighter to her chest.

“Whats your name?” Vivien asked.

“Sophia.”

“Sophia,” she repeated the girl. “Sophia, promise me that you will come back to this house before sunrise. I don't want you to find out what happens if you don't,” Vivien spoke sternly, sitting back in her seat and crossing her legs.

Sophia looked between her and Moira, before nodding. “Okay,” she spoke, slowly standing up form her chair. Of course she hand no intentions of returning to the house, she didn't even believe that she was dead. This was just some horribly sick joke being played on her by these people. She slowly made her way out of the room before running to the door, leaving it wide open this time as she ran to the gate, soon the whole house was behind her and the sun began to dip below the Californian horizon.

“She won't come back,” Moira stated watching the girl leave as Vivien stood as well to watch her run away. “Not by her own will, anyways.”

“We can't keep her here against her will, she'll be frightened for years,” Vivien stated, both the woman turning away from the open front door to exchange their words. After Vivien's sentence, however, the door quietly clicked shut in front of them. Both woman gave the door a look of concern, hoping that whatever ghost had gone after Sophia, it wasn't Hayden.