Brandy's POV
I sat down with the scene from yesterday playing over and over again in my head. Right now I was still trying to make sense of it and the logic I was coming up with didn't help. Last night I was up till 3 AM, trying to decide if it was better to fake sick so I could recuperate. But quickly I knew Mom wouldn't buy it, we had just moved and being sick could mean I didn't want to go to school. To be honest I loved the school already, the teachers were attentive and the students were kind to me. I really appreciated the warm welcome and now there were already more pressing matters than school.
Mindlessly, I dug my fingers into the piece of toast on my plate. It made crunching sounds as my fingers entered, scattering crumbs all over the table. I couldn't believe that video, why would Gloria film the death of her family? They didn't seem like that bad of people from the video, if fact they seemed to be very happy. Something that was rare in this time and age since families seemed to fall with people giving in to their dark desires. I didn't understand it? Maybe she did it because somebody forced her to do it? It seemed like the most solid answer because nobody in their right mind would film their family dying. If anything, a film like that would create nightmares. Especially for a kid like Gloria considering she was only 9. Gloria didn't act like she was 9 sometimes, there were times were she talked in a more mature way. I actually admired it sometimes because she seemed so calm in certain situations where as I couldn't hide my horror at things.
I wasn't paying attention to the toast becoming a mess on my plate. I wasn't hungry anyway so it didn't seem important to me.
"Brandy?" My mom said. In my head it was muffled, I didn't hear it as figuring out the video was very important to me. I wanted to know why Gloria did it. I wanted to know if she felt guilty about it or if she truly thought the video was something good because she seemed to present it to me that way. If that was the case, I had stumbled on something truly terrifying. If I could I would back out it. Hopefully Gloria would leave me alone if I decided that.
"Brandy honey." I shot up as my mom placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. My gasp was a small shudder, barely noticeable. She placed her other hand on my toast wrecking one, pulling it back gently. "Honey how are you going to eat your toast now? Look at it." She pointed out the pile of crumbs on my plate, not resembling the square shape it once was.
I shrugged, I didn't want the toast and I had no intention to eat it at all.
She frowned at my blank expression, I was trying to figure out what to think right now. I didn't know how to handle things right now.
Softly, she brushed the crumbs off my hands with a napkin. "Are you okay? You seem distant." She commented. Silently, Carly, Matthew, and Riley kept their heads down. They wanted no part of this conversation.
Once again I shrugged because I didn't know how else to reply. Telling my mom about the video would make her think I was crazy or over imaginative and I didn't need that right now. I needed to be taken seriously.
"Is it something that happened at school yesterday?" She asked me in her careful voice. At that moment, I kept my eyes from rolling. She thought she was treading on risky waters when it really wasn't that complicated. The school wasn't the problem and I couldn't believe she would assume something like that. "No, school was great." I turned to her, giving a genuine smile. That would comfort her, especially considering how dazed I appeared a few minutes ago. She smiled back at me, happy to receive a response in actual words. I usually used actions to reply because they were easier to do. Finding the right words were complicated. "Did anything good happen?"
I nodded, thinking about the school day instead of the video. "For half of the day I danced then the other half I did school stuff." I swallowed as the tone in my voice turned to excitement. "We have a recital in a month and the teacher said I could be in it as long as I keep my hard work up. She told me I'm a hard worker." I could feel a grin slide over my teeth, it was easy for me to be joyful about this.
"Really?" My mom appear surprised. "In excited to see you perform honey, I'm sure it will be amazing."
Normal POV
"Bye Jessica thanks for the ride!" Carly called out at the open window of her new friend's car. Jessica and her started talking today and Jessica kindly offered to take her home. All the juniors at school were let out early after taking the ACT, a hard test that decided what colleges would accept them, so basically their entire future. Personally, Carly had already given up on getting a good score. It was always her dad who helped her with homework and now that he was gone. There was nobody to make sure she got good grades. Her mother was too busy with other things to help so Carly decided to not study at all. She thought she was screwed and almost all the questions on that test were confusing. While she wanted to have a good future she knew that was not possible for awhile especially with the family life she had. At times, she felt hopeless.
She entered through the garage, casually punching in the code. The door opened very slowly, taking its time. Carly waited impatiently with her right foot tapping the ground at a quick beat until the garage door was completely up. As soon as she reached the smaller door and opened it she threw her backpack onto the nearby couch. "All by myself, I got the house all to myself." At this time she could do anything, she could throw a house party if she wanted. Especially considering her mother wouldn't be home till 2 in the morning. Really though, she wouldn't do that because parties before the nighttime were pretty lame. Who wants to come to a day party when all the fun happens at night? At least, that was her reasoning. She didn't know what the other students thought about parties.
She slipped her laptop from the desk top then settled in comfortably by her backpack on the couch. Curling her legs to her left side, she relaxed against the armrest as she started to pull herself into the mindless internet. It was really parts of the internet that would make her laugh, but also parts she didn't have to think about, they were just there for amusement. As she scrolled through the pages she lost track of time. Simply going through things because it felt good.
A loud thump echoed from down the hallway, startling her into the real world. Curiously, she looked down to see what it was. Were there already rats in the house? More quietly, the same thump sounded. She came to her feet to investigate what it was.
As she came closer down the hallway, the sound seemed to get faster and quieter, coming to its fastest beat as she stood in front of a vent. She kneeled down, peeking into the vent to see what creature was trapped, but was met with pitch black. It appeared almost impossible for anything to be there as the black looked like a wall.
She wiggled the vent cover, feeling it come loose in her hands so she could pull it off. Quickly, shivers ran down her back. What if somebody was hiding in here? While that was unlikely since their house was locked the idea still gave her the creeps. An unknown person in their house was horrifying.
Quietly in the hallway, a tall dark figure watched her go in. Yes, she would discover something hiding in there, but things were already too late because everything was in motion. The the dark figure reached towards her then disappeared.
She shook off the idea then reached into the vent, finding it went farther out. Considering how big the vent was she could probably fit, it was perfectly safe.
Carly crawled in using her hands as her guide by patting forward to feel what was on the vent walls. It felt bare for the most part with a lot of dust all over. She began coughing as she reached forward to touch a box object. She patted it more roughly a few times, feeling perplexed about why it was there? Did the previous owners leave it? Or was it there since the house was built? Either way, there was no info about the previous owners. The only thing the retailer told them was that the owners died in the house. There was no info for how it happened or why, but Carly assumed it was probably an accident. It wasn't like any big murder plot or otherwise the house wouldn't sell.
She dragged it out into the hallway, quick to open the box and see what she would find. In the box sat a camera, a very old one. As far as she recalled from her film class last year it was an 8mm camera which was strange. The house wasn't that old to have this in here. Next to the camera sat some cases of film. Each nearly identical to each other except for the names. She pulled the first one out, reading the title out loud to herself. "Rooftop Garden '97?" She frowned, all the titles appeared to be some sort of family video thing. She was curious to see what was on them as it probably showed the previous owners doing everyday things.
She wanted to see it and there was really only one way to do that.
Carly began to set up using the information she learned from her film class. She pulled a sheet off her bed, hanging it with some thumb tacks from her school supplies. She moved a coffee table to a spot near the center of the room to project a somewhat clear image from the camera. Then she placed the camera down, getting it into a good position. Carefully, she pulled the film from its case. Getting it set up so she could watch the entire video.
When that was all done, she pulled the blinds closed so it was dimmer then pushed the switch to start the film. As the image popped up. The camera seemed to be catching some scenery that was pretty recognizable. It passed by the Statue of Liberty hinting to her this was from New York City. It moved across the horizon, passing the sun and many skyscrapers before pausing to focus on the rooftop. There was a whole garden set up with healthy brown dirt. A mother and her two little girls were tending to a cluster of already grown tomatoes. They dropped the ripe ones into a metal bowl. One of the girls giggled as she stuffed a mini red tomato into her little mouth. Bliss filled her expression as the taste filled her mouth. Her mother tickled her side then moved back to the tomatoes.
An older man walked down the dirt digging small holes as his son followed behind him placing seeds in the empty spots then filling the holes back up. The man pushed some sweat off his grey brow then took a sip of water from the bottle he was carrying. One of the little girls hopped up, running towards him.
Like that, within a snap the scene changed. It was very dark, still the roof top, but now it was nighttime. The camera was focused on the ground, it came up slowly to the edge of the roof where there were four people. Both of the little girls and the parents laying on their sides, dangerously close to the edge. Carly's eyes widened as she straightened up. Each family member had their ankles tied together and their wrists bound behind their back. There was a strip of fabric blinding their eyes and another piece gagging their mouth so they would stay silent.
"No." Carly whispered in horror.
The camera came close to each person as they were pushed off the edge, falling to their deaths. Carly covered her mouth as the camera peered over the edge at the bodies lying broken on the ground. As a group of people began to gather the film ended.
Carly flinched as the door swung open and Brandy jumped onto her lap. The little girl smiled, it was obvious she had a good day at school especially since those days were rare.
Brandy glanced at the camera then hugged Carly. She became stiff as she looked at the doorway to see Gloria standing there. Just as she was about to ask Carly where she found the horrible camera. Gloria held up one finger to her lips to let Brandy know what happened was supposed to be a secret. She stayed silent, deciding to be in the moment of a great hug.
Donna's POV
I shuffled through my card deck, today I didn't have the night shift, but with the stress of the move I thought I deserved some fun that didn't happen often. So I told the kids I was working late. The game I was playing was getting difficult, I was so close to winning, yet nobody really knew what the outcome would be. You had to be smart for things like this or you would loose all your money in one stupid round.
I sighed as I began to gather my courage, I was going to do this and destroy these people. Quickly I pulled the shot glass to my lips, gulping down the strong whiskey. I winced then pushed all my poker chips forward, it was time. I was going to beat them all "Alright, I'm all in."
Hi guys! This is Taliyatwo I just thought I would take some time to leave a note. Thank you for reading my story I really appreciate it and thank you to those few reviewers. Anymore reviews are welcome. I came up with this idea after watching Sinister 2 and I thought it would be a great story. Tell me what you think about this chapter and thanks for reading, see you the next chapter!
