The Girl in the window

Amanda unlocked the door and gave it a push. The hinges from that old door creaked when it opened, and Emily was now even more afraid than before. She did look at her mom and said. " I'm afraid to go into the house. It is so scary here."

Her mom didn't understand why her brave girl suddenly acts like a little child. She told Emily, eventually, she needed to go inside.

"So why don't we go inside together? She replied.

"You have to pick out your room."

Amanda tried to calm her child down. She took Emily's hand and said:" Come on sweetie."

The teen had no choice and nodded.

Both stepped into the entrance hall at the same time. The place was huge, and she was wondering how her mom would be able to pay for a house of that size. In the end, they had to leave their home in the city because her mom didn't have the money to pay the bills. She agreed with her mother.

Emily's heart was beating so loud she was able to hear it and took a deep breath to calm herself down. 

"Oh my God, mom! Do you smell this too?"

There was a terrible smell in the air. It smelled like old, rotting meat.

Her mother shook her head. "No, I don't smell anything, she said.

"It's time to explore the house now. What do you think, Emily?"

Her daughter was not enthusiastic about the idea, but she had no choice.

She looked around and realized how huge the entrance hall was.

In the middle of the room was a long, curved wooden staircase that led to the second floor. " That's probably where all the bedrooms are." 

On the left were two-rooms. There were the kitchen and the dining room. On the right side were a family room and a slightly smaller living room. 

Emily decided to check out the kitchen first. Her mom went to the family room.

She was bored, hungry, and just wanted to finish already. Emily walked toward the kitchen and stopped in the kitchen entrance. She was able to see the whole kitchen. It all looked normal to her. Nothing was in the kitchen that she had to be afraid of. Emily wanted to take a closer look at the kitchen and carefully walked toward the refrigerator. She was almost there as she saw dirty dishes in the sink. "What the heck? How rude is that?" she thought. 

The dishes were covered in dust, and all kinds of insects ran over them. The disgusted girl needed to let her mother know, but first, she had to go and look into the dining room. Emily didn't walk into the room. She only peeked around the corner. 

She couldn't believe what she saw. There was a fully set dining room table right in front of her. Emily couldn't believe what she saw. She panicked and ran into the family room, where she saw her mother last. Amanda wasn't in there anymore. She had left to look at the living room. Emily had no clue where her mom went. She looked around and saw all the pictures hanging and standing everywhere. There were hundreds of old photographs of families. The girl went from one wall to the next. She felt as if she knew the people. 

But that wasn't even possible. Some pictures were more than 70-years old. But Emily seemed to be magically drawn to a picture of a little girl. The girl in the photograph was maybe 10-years old and had long dark hair. Emily started suddenly to cry. A sadness came over her as she had never experienced before. 

Suddenly she remembered. It was that girl from earlier. The one she saw in the window. The sadness that Emily first felt turned into fear and horror. 

When she suddenly heard someone calling her name. She knew right the way that it was not her mother. The voice came from a little girl. She tried to move and scream, but she couldn't. Her heart was pounding so loud that she could hear it. Emily was scared to death.

" Please don't hurt me. I haven't harmed you." That was all she was able to say. 

Then she heard the voice again, calling her name. 

The terrified girl wanted to get out of this room. She gathered all her courage and slowly turned around. Nobody was there, and Emily ran as fast as she could, screaming out of the family room. 

Amanda winced when she heard her daughter screaming. She ran out of the living room and pounded right into Emily. The Teenager was outside herself. 

"What happened? Are you alright?" Amanda asked her distraught child.

Emily was so upset that she couldn't get a word out. Her mom grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her lightly.

" Calm down, Emily, and tell me what's going on." Amanda got loud with her. 

Emily took a deep breath and told her mother what she saw.

" What ?" Shouted Amanda. 

Someone must have broken into the house since I was here the last time."

"I am going to call the police. Amanda said while she was digging around in her purse to find her phone.

Emily got even more upset and screamed at her mother.

"No, Mom. There are dirty dishes in the sink and the dining-room 

the table was still the dishes. That stuff must have been in there for years. Come and see dor yourself.  Emily grabbed Amanda's arm and pulled her towards the kitchen. "Convince yourself, Mother." 

"Ok! Emily. Now tell me. What's wrong with the kitchen?" Amanda asked.

Emily was confused for a second, and when she turned around, she understood why her mother asked.