A House Filled With Night

For a long time after the brothers kicked Runa out of the dining room, she couldn’t bring herself to do anything but stare at the heavy wooden door in front of her. The thud of the door as it had closed echoed in her mind, but the room itself practically buzzed with silence. Something would have to happen soon. Wouldn’t it?

When the curiosity became unbearable, she dared to approach and press her ear against the wooden panels. No sound escaped, but somehow, she felt compelled to shiver. Runa quickly retreated and did not approach the door again.

In between wandering around (but never too far, because the house was terribly bizarre), Runa sprawled onto the sofas, counted the colors of tiles on the floor, and imagined herself as a duchess living in a magnificent palace. On several occasions, she entertained the idea of running away, but could not shake the fear that the Sons of Midnight may walk in through the door any second. It was too risky.

As she finally settled into a sofa, she heard a small patter against the tiled floor. Turning, she found a tiny, fluffy, white puppy approaching. It stopped at the sofa, licked Runa’s toe, hopped up onto the seat with her, and demanded attention. She scratched the animal’s ears absently. At least she had a companion now.

The wait became agonizing, then troubling, then tedious. Hours passed, and the day began to fade to dusk once more. When the doors finally opened, she couldn’t help but feel relieved to see Torin walk in. He shuffled over to her, eyes downcast.

The puppy barked once, a high-pitched chirp.

“Oh, I see you found Lala.” He glanced up for a moment, only to look away again.

"She found me. But it was nice to have someone to wait with.”

“Yeah, I’m...sorry about that.” He kept scratching the back of his neck for no reason. “Something came up. We had to do some...things. In the future, we won’t leave you so suddenly.” He cleared his throat. “They want me to take you to your room now. Don’t worry, it’s your own room. Just for you, by yourself.”

He was still avoiding Runa’s eyes. She wanted him to look up at her. Somehow, in that strange place, his familiar face made him seem like an old friend.

“Torin...”

He finally lifted his head. “Oh, that reminds me. Does it bother you that I talk to you so casually? I should probably call you ‘Miss Runa,’ right? That sounds more polite. Although, I don’t mind if you just call me Torin. You could call me anything, for all I care. You could call me—” He blushed a little. “Never mind.”

“I don’t mind if you call me Runa. And I wanted to say, you shouldn’t feel sorry to me. I think it’s just awful of your brothers to blame you for what they did. It’s not your fault, and I don’t blame you.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“But it is. That’s why I feel so ashamed. I did want to see you again. I hate myself for it, but I can’t sincerely tell you that I’m only angry at what they’ve done. A part of me is happy. Happy to see you here, even against your own will. You shouldn’t forgive me for that. And what they said about—”

He caught a glimpse of Runa’s wide-eyed expression and trailed off. “Forget it. I probably sound ridiculous.” Gently, he took her by the wrist and tugged her away from the sofa. Lala’s ears quirked up, but she remained on her sofa cushion. “Come on, you must be very tired by now.”

Runa followed him quietly, wondering if he was even aware that he held onto her. She wanted to say something, but what? Like Torin, a part of her was glad to see him again. Also like Torin, although for an entirely different reason, she knew it was foolish to feel this way. He might be the kind, but there was something off about him—him and all of his brothers. Especially his brothers. Besides that, she didn’t want to be captured, she didn’t want to be terrorized by a bunch of crazy men, and she didn’t want to be a prisoner in this horrifying house.

“Does it ever scare you? Living here, I mean?”

Torin glanced at her, surprised she had spoken again.

“Yes.”

“And your brothers?”

Torin opened the next door for her, and they passed through.

“They don’t love it, but they’ve grown accustomed to it like I have.”

“No, I meant, do they scare you? Your brothers, and all the...things they can do. You know what I mean.”

He was silent for a moment before answering quietly, “I scare myself more.”

Runa puzzled at what he meant by this, but the grave expression on his face made her somehow afraid to ask. She chose a different question. “Why don’t you just leave?”

“We can’t. We don’t belong anywhere else.”

He had stopped in front of a pale-yellow door.

“This is your room,” he said, opening it.

She peered inside. It was as large and extravagant as the rest of the house.

“My room?”

A grin broke out on Torin’s face. He couldn’t help it. She looked so excited, peeking over the doorframe like a little girl spying into a toy shop at Christmastime.

“Yup, all yours.”

“Wow.” She blinked up at him. “It’s beautiful! And it’s as big as a house.”

Slowly, Runa tip-toed inside. Torin just smiled from his place at the doorframe for a while before speaking up again.

“If you need anything, come and get me.” He pointed. “I’m just down the hallway. It’s the blue door.”

Runa nodded.

“I really mean it, though. Even if you feel a little uncomfortable, or if you’d just like some company. Come and find me.”

She nodded again. He lingered a little longer before speaking one last time.

“I...I know you don’t want to be here. And I’m sorry it all happened this way. But I hope you can be happy. I hope, even though you may hate me right now, that maybe you can...maybe you can forgive me one day.” He turned around before she could respond. “Good night,” he said quickly, closing the door behind him.

His words left her a somewhat dazed, and for a few seconds after he left, she just stood there, staring into space. She shook herself. This was no time for wandering thoughts. Running to the door, she pressed her ear against it and strained to hear any footsteps in the hallway. They had already grown distant. She waited until they disappeared entirely before running over to the window. Through the darkness outside, she could make out a large courtyard and a tall stone wall with a gate. It made her feel like she was in a castle, rather than a house.

Tracing her hands along the lines of the window, she searched for a latch. At the bottom, her fingers wrapped around something like a handle. She gasped in delight. While she had been sincere in saying she did not blame Torin, that certainly didn’t mean she wanted to stay in this horrible house. She pulled with all her might. It did not budge. She would need to find something to pry it open, or else find another exit altogether.

Another exit.

Runa felt cold just looking at her bedroom door, imaging what it would be like to go back through the house once again. At least she was familiar with some of its rooms by now. Undoubtedly, it would be less terrifying to explore while the Sons of Midnight slept. Wouldn’t it? The darkness itself was nothing to be afraid of, if nothing hid in its fold.

This is what Runa told herself as she crept away from the window, toward the bedroom door. Should she wait longer, to ensure all the brothers were asleep? No, they must be. She hadn’t even seen them while Torin walked her to the room.

She breathed in, then out again. She grasped the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door.

As soon as she entered the hall, Runa could not help but notice how different it appeared after so short a time. While she was with Torin, it had seemed rather bright, the walls lined with many candles of warm, orange light. Now, the hall had grown dim, and the lights of the candles radiated an almost bluish hue. The difference struck her so much, she almost turned back around and retreated to her room immediately. But this was no time for fear. There were worse things she could meet by staying in the house forever.

Now, which way was it? Runa racked her brain to remember where she had come from. Although she still had not encountered an exit in all her wanderings, it seemed safest to first retrace her steps. Surely, starting in a more familiar location would help her map out the convoluted twists and turns of the house.

Was it the eerie glow of those cursed candles? Or had the hallways grown longer? Runa could almost swear that she and Torin hadn’t walked this long before reaching the bedrooms. Her eyes strained to see the exit at the end. They peered into nothing but a deep blackness, which neither lessened nor decreased no matter how long she walked.

As she trudged on, Runa began to perceive another unnerving change in the hallway. The room seemed to be slowly turning uphill, then almost sideways. She slowed down, then stopped altogether. Ahead of her, the hall twisted into a spiral, swirling into a dark vortex of nothingness. Her blood ran cold. It was time to turn back.

Upon turning around, she found that the hall looked exactly the same behind her as it appeared ahead.

What is happening?

Desperately, she turned to the first door she could find and flung it open. Two steps, and she was scrambling along the ledge of a precipice, flailing her arms as she peered into an ocean of flashing, iridescent waves. They crashed against the stone walls of the room, sending tiny droplets flying into her face. She steadied, wobbled, nearly steadied again, and then slipped—down, down into the depths of the roaring chasm below.

—

When Runa awoke in her bed, her heart was beating like hammer and her forehead was beaded with sweat. Was it a dream? No, that could not be possible. She had not even sat down to bed the night before.

She sat up and put her head in her hands. Hair fell down along her neck and face. It was soaking wet. Not wet with perspiration—drenched, as if she had just come out of a bath. Rather than slowing, her heartrate continued to pound faster, until she felt that she could barely breathe.

Something was horribly, horribly wrong with this place.

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~ A/N ~

Half of me says, “wow, that must be a really scary and uncomfortable experience.” The other half of me says, “man I really wish I could run down a twirly-whirly hallway too.” What about you?

Also, thank you to those of you who took time to leave a comment! Even the teeniest tiniest comments really encourage me to keep going with the story.

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~ COMMENT OF THE WEEK ~