There was once a small family who lived in the rural side of West Virginia with arable land. They were looking for a fresh start after losing their son named Lucas. This was a traumatic event for them, and they felt that they couldn’t live in their house anymore with all the memories. Mark and Amy started looking for a new house. They found a house in the city of West Virginia and thought it would be a great idea to move there for a change. “Are we there yet dad?” said the daughter Elena. “Yes, we’re ten minutes away,” said Mark. “Are you sure this is a good idea, I mean we have lived in the countryside our whole life.” “It’ll be fine, this will be a good change in our lives. I’m sure Lucas will be proud.” Said Mark. “We’ll get used to the lifestyle don’t worry.” said the mom, Amy.

   The car approached the neighborhood of the new house. Street full of dead trees and plants, crunched up brown leaves on the sidewalk, and old mailboxes that looks like they are about to fall. Elena looking through the car window with disbelief “Wow, this place looks old. I was expecting the city to look fancier.” They arrive at the new house. While the family gets off the car, they stand and stare at the antiquated house. It was a banal two-floor house that had dark red bricks, with dark windows that seemed shattered, and dead grass that looks yellow. Above the windows there was one tiny circular window covered with a black curtain. “Hmmm I wonder what’s in there…,” said Elena. “That must be the attic.” said Amy. “Looks from a scary movie.” Elena says and chuckles.

   The family gets their belongings to enter the house and finds a note sticked to the front door. “Welcome home Collins Family” the note said. “Who put this note and how do they know our names?” Amy said. “Probably the neighbors welcoming us,” says Mark. Amy was still confused about how they knew their names already but just shrugged it off. The family headed to their rooms to unpack their stuff. The doorbell rings “Ding-Dong!” “I’ll get it!” Amy yells. She opens the door. It is a middle-aged woman with a basket of muffins. “Hi there! My name is Claudia, I’m your next-door neighbor.” “Oh hi! Nice to meet you I’m Amy” “So I see you just moved here!” “Yes! We came from the countryside of West Virginia.” “Oh, that sounds nice! Do you have any family?” “Yes, it’s me, my husband Mark, and my daughter Elena.” “Oh well tell them I said hi.” “Will do. Also were you the one that left us a note at our front door?” “No, but I do have these muffins for you!” “Oh” Amy stood lost. “Thank you, I appreciate it.” “Goodbye!” The neighbor walks away. Amy slowly closes the door confused on who left the note if it was not the neighbor. “Hey Mark! The neighbor didn’t leave that note at the front door.” “Oh well that’s weird” says Mark.

   They continue to unpack their stuff. Four hours later they got everything unpacked and in place. “That was exhausting. I am ready to go to bed.” Elena sighs. “Yes sweetie, go rest because tomorrow we’ll get our tv cables” said Amy with a smile. “Good night mom!” The whole family goes to sleep. There is peace and quiet till suddenly the stairs, wooden and old, start to creak. Elena immediately wakes up from it and goes check it. She goes into the hallway and looks at the stairs. There is nothing. “What was that sound?” Elena says confusedly. She ignores it and heads back to her room until banging sounds come from the attic door. The door pounding as if someone was knocking. Elena runs to her bed frightened and goes back to sleep.

   It is 9am and the alarm goes off “Buzz! Buzz!” Amy gets up and heads to the kitchen to make breakfast. She opens the cabinet to get reach the plates but finds a printed picture of her son Lucas. The picture looks like it was taken from outside his window without him not knowing. He was wearing the same clothes from the night he got murdered… Nobody still knows who killed him. “Mark! Come see this” Mark heads downstairs worried about what it will be about. He grabs the picture and looks at it. “Wasn’t this Lucas the night before he died?” “Yes!” Amy said in distraught. “How is this possible that it got here?” “The question is…who took this?” “It must have been Elena,” says Amy. Elena hears her parents and goes downstairs to see what is going on. Amy runs up to Elena “Did you take this?” “No why would I take that.” Mark and Amy look at each other concerned but would not tell Elena about what just happened to not worry her. “Mom, Dad, there’s something I should tell you….” says Elena nervously. “Yes Elena?“ says Mark. “Something happened last night…I heard the stairs creaking and went to check it, then the attic door started to bang from the inside.” “Probably a rat in there or something” says Mark. “No, it sounded something louder than a rat. It was loud banging.” “Let’s go check it out.”

   They head upstairs and find the attic door. Mark tries to open it, but it is locked. “Seems like there’s a lock” says Amy while looking up. “Well, where’s the key?” says Mark. Amy goes to the kitchen and checks every drawer and cabinet to look for a key. “No key Mark. I should call the previous owner of the house” “Good idea” says Mark. Amy gets her phone and finds the contact number of the latest owner” *Phone ringing* “She’s not answering.” Amy says stressed. She calls the salesperson and asks about how to contact her. “Hi this is Amy the person who just bought the new house, I was wondering if you know where I can contact the latest owner.” “And what for?” “Well, you see there’s this attic door we found with a lock, and I wanted to ask her where I can find the key for it.” “Sorry ma’am, but I can’t contact her for you because she has been missing…” “Missing?!” “Yes, after she moved out, she ended up missing and nowhere to be found... Sorry I can’t help you” *Hangs up*.

   The cable guy ends up coming. *Doorbell rings* “Hi is this, Amy?” “Yes, come in, follow me.” Amy and the cable guy head upstairs to the master bedroom to install the tv cable. *Yelling comes from upstairs* Mark and Elena run to the master bedroom and look at the floor. There is red paint smeared on the floor spelling “Lucas.” “What is going on!” Mark yells. “I don’t know who did this! and how they know about Lucas…” “Ok that’s it! I am installing cameras outside of this house!” Mark yells. “First the attic, then the picture of Lucas, now this?! Mom, I don’t feel safe here anymore.” “It’s okay Elena, I’m sure with the cameras it’ll be over. I don’t know who is playing these pranks on us and how they had a picture of Lucas, but this must stop.”

   Mark buys cameras from the store and comes back home to install them. “Okay now I feel safer” Mark sighs. “It should be fine now, no need to be scared anymore” Mark says while hugging Amy and Elena. It is 10pm and the family is getting ready for bed. “Hey mom, I’ve been meaning to ask you a question.” “Yes Elena?” “Has the cops found out yet about who killed my brother?” “No Elena” Amy says upset. “Don’t worry dear, they’ll find his killer. We just got to have hope.” “Yes mom” Elena smiles faintly. “Good night mom” *Kisses her goodnight on her cheek*. Elena heads to her room nervously. She hopes to not hear any noises this time. She hears quiet footsteps coming from the attic above. Elena gets worried. “It must be the rats” Elena chuckles nervously.

   It is the next morning. Elena gets up and brushes her teeth. She seems happy that nothing scary happened to her last night. Amy walks by the bathroom “Did you sleep well last night?” “Yes.” Says Elena while smiling. “Any noises?” “No, just some rats in the attic, that’s all.” “Good.” says Amy with a smile. The family feels relieved that nothing unfortunate happened at night. They finally have hope that this home will turn out all right. “Elena, you want me to make you some pancakes?” “Sure!” Amy heads downstairs with a big smile on her face ready to make breakfast for her family. She walks toward the kitchen and her smile fades. The kitchen is on fire, glass shattered all over the floor, plates and cups destroyed. The fire ascended like a growing tree. *Amy yells* “Mark help! Call 911!” Mark rushes downstairs and sees the fire on the kitchen table. “Amy, Elena, get out the house now!” He calls 911. Everyone runs out the house while the firetruck gets here. Felt like a living hell house.

   The firefighter puts out the fire and asks what happened. “I don’t know I just went downstairs and saw the table on fire!” yells Amy upset. “At least it was a small fire, but still dangerous. Glad y'all are okay.” “Thank you, sir.” “There is also something we found by the fire. It’s a note.” The firefighter hands Amy the note and walks away. Amy reads the note aloud “First it was Lucas, now it will be you…look out on what’s coming…” Amy runs up to Mark frightened. “What’s wrong honey?” “Read this!” Amy holds the note showing it to Mark while shaking. “We have to get out this house now!” yells Mark. “Elena, go pack your stuff up now!” “Why Dad?” “Just do it!” The family packs up all their belongings. “Dad, you have not told me why yet! What is going on?’ “We aren’t safe here anymore.” “Where are we going Dad?” “Anywhere but this place.” Mark says upsettingly.

   The moving truck gets here ready to load the boxes up. The family takes one last look of the prison house and leaves out the front door relieved. Mark locks it up and they start walking towards the moving truck. Elena pauses and realizes “Oh I forgot the last box!” “Go get it hurry.” Mark says while unlocking the front door. Elena runs upstairs to her room and gets her box. As she walks out her room, she looks up and notices the attic door is open...with a note... Elena slowly grabs the note nervously and reads it aloud “Don’t think you can hide from me…I will follow you…”