A.N.: To prevent future confusion because I know it may work differently in some countries. The ground floor is the first floor. The floor above it is the second (or that's how it'll go in this story because that's how I'm used to things here in America
The second day in the house, Piper was left alone for the first time as Jason took the girls to their check-up at the doctor's office. She offered to stay home to work on the house, to hang pictures and finish unpacking all their clothes. When she was done with that she went up and began to work on the girls' room, sweeping all the dust up and organizing their things so it didn't look like everything was packed away.
The room they had picked for the girls to share was a medium sized bedroom that had been empty besides the rocking chair in the corner and the faded purple wallpaper that clung to the walls. The chair freaked Piper out a little but she kept it in the corner, setting up some of the kids' stuffed animals on it. It didn't move by itself and seemed pretty sturdy, and looked to be handpainted. It was actually one of Piper's favorite things about the house.
"There, that looks better," Piper muttered to herself, wiping her moist forehead with the bottom of her shirt. It hadn't taken long to set their room up but it seemed to be more work than she was used to. Back at the apartment she cooked and cleaned and watched the girls (which proved very tiring), but never actually did physical labor much except for cleaning up after the girls. There wasn't much they were allowed to work on. The landlord had made it known that they weren't allowed to install anything or change the apartment up one bit. So it had been pretty simple and carefree.
Nothing about this new house was simple. It was large and old, with enough space for the kids to run off and get lost in. Not to mention that slightly...off feeling. It felt like it wasn't her house to live in.
A large thud from above her shook her out of her thoughts and caused her to start slightly. She hadn't even peeked into the third floor yet, knowing she would never need it for anything as long as they lived there.
Piper almost wrote it off as the wind before it happened again, this time louder. It almost sounded like someone was jumping with all their weight, trying to get her attention to them. It didn't sound like an animal or something had fallen, but as if a person was up there waiting to strike.
A person...in her house.
"There isn't even money to take." Piper looked around before quietly walking to her room, getting Jason's gun out of the bedside table. It was one of the first things they unpacked, loaded and ready to fire at will. As long as the girls couldn't reach it, Piper enjoyed having it. It made her feel safe (no offense to Jason, but she liked being able to rely on herself).
Piper made her way to the staircase at the end of the hallway, holding the gun out with shaking hands. She knew how to shoot it and to aim well but didn't necessarily like the idea of killing anybody. That's why she had taken that class at her college. She knew where to shoot to hurt but not kill, to disarm and to disable. It turned out to be pretty easy.
The stairs leading to the third floor had the same red carpet on them but didn't creak as she ascended them. They seemed less used but more kept up, the wood clean besides dust and not stained. She hated stains in wood, especially the one on the kitchen floor.
Piper got to the top of the stairs and looked around the shadowed hallway, frowning at the new layout this floor held. It seemed like a new hallway branched off every couple of feet, filling the space with a never-ending amount of doors. The hallways up here were decorated differently also, with benches here and there and large paintings of who Piper assumed to be the first owners. Sometimes, a tapestry hung from the ceiling to the floor.
"Who's here?!" Piper yelled, strangely calm besides the circumstances. "We've got no money if that's what you're trying to find. Hell, I'll look with you."
Nothing made a noise, not even the birds that seemed to never shut up outside. After a minute Piper took a step down the main hallway, trying to make her presence known. "I have a gun. I suggest you make your way towards the exit with your hands in the air. Now."
The thud came again, louder this time. Piper followed the noise as fast as she could to a back hallway, eventually getting to a corner with no windows and very faded light. Old holders for candles clung to the walls and dust covered every inch of material. It felt like she had just stepped into something of the Midevil times.
"Who's here?! Maybe you lived here when it was vacant, but it's not vacant anymore! This is my family's house and you're damned well mistaken if you think I'm going to let you live here any longer!" Piper ran when the next sound came, smirking in victory when she got to the door it was coming from. It was closed but looked too old for a lock to still be intact, a soft glow leaking through the crack at the bottom.
Throwing the door open, Piper held the gun up. "Got yo-... That doesn't make sense." Breathing out in confusion, Piper looked around the empty room. There was nowhere for anyone to hide and no doors for anyone to escape through. The room was just as empty as the day as it had been built.
The sound had come from in there, she was sure of it, but nothing was there to have made the noise. Not even a book to have fallen or a window to have created a draft.
Later that day, Piper was making dinner while Jason worked on the basement with Leo. She could see her girls in the backyard through the many windows, them having been allowed out there under two ground rules: someone had to be watching and they couldn't step foot in the forest. When it came to safety, Piper was more strict then she liked to admit.
Her eyes did go off the girls multiple times, however, when she forgot to watch out for them. Working the stove took all her attention for a good ten minutes as she tried to figure out how to work it, and then another ten when she started boiling the water and preheating the oven. It filled the room with the smell of gas and would raise their gas bill beyond belief, but that was all they had at the moment. They didn't have enough money to get a new stove and had been lucky to get a refrigerator from Leo. They didn't have anything else to put into the house.
When she finally looked back into the yard to check on Katie and Maddie, her heart stopped when she only saw Maddie sitting there with her dolls. Katie was nowhere in sight and her voice couldn't be heard over the raging winds that had decided to come in.
"Katie!" Piper ran from the house and into the yard, picking Maddie up into her arms. "Baby, where did Katie go? Tell me where Katie went, Maddie."
The toddler confirmed her suspicions as she pointed towards the forest, her chubby finger shaking from the sternness in Piper's voice. "I sorry-"
Piper sat her down before she could finish speaking and ran into the forest, her heart racing faster than the sounds of the woodpeckers that seemed to fill the forest. The dirt trail that she followed seemed old and abandoned, overgrown with twigs that ripped at her pants and some plants that were probably poisonous. When she was busy looking down to try and find her daughter's footprints, she ran right into said girl with a dull thud as they crashed to the forest floor.
Piper laid there for a minute as she tried to catch her bearings, her head aching now against the dirty ground. A mound of brown hair filled her vision and stuck in her mouth, tasting like the strawberry shampoo she always used on her girls.
"Ow!" Katie's gasp of pain brought her back to reality. "Get off me!"
"Katie!" Piper dragged her legs off the small girl and brought her onto her lap. "Katie, are you hurt?"
Katie shook her head as she let Piper look her over. When Piper was sure there was nothing worse than a few bumps and bruises, she put her forehead against Katie's. "Katie...remember the rules I told you?"
Tears started to pool from Katie's eyes. "Don't go in the woods."
"Then why did you? You scared me to death!" Piper wiped Katie's tears off her face. "You could have gotten lost or killed! Anything could have happened!"
"I'm sorry!" Katie yelled, her gasps of breath turning into sobs. "I'm sorry! I just wanted to play!"
"In the forest? There's nothing safe to play with in here, Katie. You should have just stayed with your sister." Piper instructed. "Never go in here again. You hear me?"
"But my friend lives in here!" Katie protested. "I just wanted to play with my friend! She said she'd keep me safe, mommy. She said she'd keep me safe..."
Piper stood from the ground while keeping Katie in her arms, her legs shaking beneath her. "Let's finish this conversation inside, Katie. We've left Maddie alone long enough."
"But I never said goodbye!" Katie laid her head on Piper's shoulder and looked into the forest mournfully. "She has no friends...I wanted to be her friend."
"We'll talk more about this, I promise." Piper made her way down the path towards the house. "We need to go inside, now."
"Am I in trouble?" Katie asked.
"Your dad's probably gonna ground you," Piper admitted. "You need to know to never go in this forest. It's dangerous."
"But mom! My friend!" Katie sobs started up again. "I like playing with her!"
Piper didn't say anything as she got back into the backyard, scooping Maddie up also before going in the house. Once she was sure the door and windows were locked, she set the girls down and grabbed a notebook. "Katie, tell me about this...this friend you keep wanting to see."
"Why?" Katie pouted.
"Because, or you'll never be able to play with her." Piper sat on the kitchen floor by her daughter and crossed her legs. "So tell me what she looks like and how old she is."
Katie's frown turned into a smile. "I'll be able to play with her?!"
"Maybe," Piper sighed. "Just please tell me, Katie. This is really important."
"Her name's Octavia." Katie grabbed one of Piper's pens and doodled on the notebook Piper had brought. "She's a whole year older than me. She lives in the lake with her mommy and daddy and annoying little sister."
Piper's heart stopped momentarily. "In the lake?"
Katie nodded. "And her dog. All their skin is blue." She looked up at Piper and crawled on her lap, bringing her mouth to Piper's ear to whisper. "I think they're Smurfs."
"Smurfs...right." Piper kissed Katie's head. "Go play. Inside. I have to talk to your father."
"Don't tell him!" Katie quickly protested. "I don't want to get in trouble!"
Piper ran a hand through her hair, trying not to let Katie see how much she was shaking. "Fine, okay. Go play. Dinner is almost done."
She could have sworn she heard someone agree with her, but no one was in sight as Katie ran towards the living room.
