Lina crossed this neighbourhood every morning during her morning run. One particular house always piqued her interest. It was what one would call an upper-middle-class region. All the houses were huge, with beautiful lawns, spreading backyards, high ceilings, and various bedrooms. However, this house was quite different from the others. It did not look like it was from around there. The paint was chipping off the outer walls, had broken windows, and there were no flowers on the lawn. Nobody had lived there for a very long time. Somebody owned it; no one knew who. No one ever went there. She always wondered what it would be like on the inside. Every time she passed it, she thought of knocking on the door.
This particular Saturday morning, her curiosity got the best of her. She mustered up all the courage she had and knocked on the door. No one answered. Against her best judgement, she opened the door and walked right in. "Why was the door unlocked?" she thought to herself. What she saw upon entering was nothing like she had expected. Someone was living there. Suppressing her rational thinking, she decided to explore further into the house. It looked generic, just like any other house. The living room had a couch and a television, and the kitchen had cabinets and a sink with dishes. She felt a little underwhelmed. At least her curiosity would not keep her up at night anymore, thinking about all that could have been. She began walking out when her stomach sank. There was a picture of her in this house!
She had so many questions running through her head. "Why does this person have a picture of me in their house?" "Where did they get it from?" All those nights, thinking about this house, she never imagined THIS. Her brain told her she had to leave. She could be in grave danger. Her heart told her to investigate. She saw a flight of stairs leading to the bedrooms. With shivering steps, she climbed up. There were only two bedrooms; one was empty with no bed. The other looked like someone lived there; the bed was unkept, there were posters on the wall, a laptop was charging in the corner, and a pile of clean, folded clothes was in the centre of the bed.
Her face turned pale when she saw all the other photographs. Pictures of her family; her mother, her father, her brother. There was even one old photo of her with her older sister, who had died when Lina was thirteen. It was the last straw for her. She had to leave. Whoever this person was, had pictures of her and her family. Her mind went numb, and she started to feel light-headed. She decided to leave the house and go to the police.
As she descended the stairs, she heard the door creak open. Her whole body froze. She did not know what to do. "Should I run?" "Should I hide?" "Should I attack?" she thought. But when she saw who entered through the door, she knew her life would change.
It was her sister, the one who had died when Lina was thirteen.
Great story!