DARK, RESTRICTED ROOM!

As she walks into class, the strange guy of few days ago was seated not too far from the window. Of course, that was his regular position. She tried not to look and pretend he wasn't there at all, at least for once in her life. But her eyes would not cooperate, she failed herself as her eyes were constantly drifting and lurking around him, paying attention to every details about him.

When she accidentally made eye contact with him, she shivered with fright and averted her gaze as fast as she could. But the weird feelings in her heart were not exempted from this, It was as if time froze, trapping her in the ensnarement of those cold and ruthless eyes of his, like a spell.

In as much as she wanted to retain the beautiful memory of their eye contact locked in her head, she could vividly remember the dangers she saw in those eyes. That one contact, yet it was so piercing and domineering, like he intends to push her into his submission with those stares.

“He is always staring at me, but why is that? Does that mean he has a thing for me?” She asked inwardly. It has been two weeks, still nothing changed from the way he stared at her. Sometimes, she was forced to think there was a drool on her face or maybe, a piece of vegetable dangling on her teeth. Only that could attracts such unusual stares.

But it was just him doing the staring and it made her uneasy. As she was busy trying to satisfy the barrages of thought crawling inside her head, someone startled her, making her gasp in fright.

“Hi, my name is Joe” an average, light skinned guy smiled sweetly at her.

“Oh! hi, joe? am Lia” She smiled back, awkwardly.

“That is one nice name you have there, New huh?" He asks with a brief, but welcoming smile.

“Yes I am, I joined three weeks ago” she reciprocated with a short smile which faded almost instantly.

“Yea, I noticed! This is my friend Jackson and his girlfriend Taylor. Feel free to talk to us anytime. We’ve got your back, okay?” He said with an assuring smile that made her feel at ease.

“Sure, thank you Joe" He continued on his way while she turned to grab her books. Suddenly, he popped his head out from door and startled her again.

“I don’t know if you would love to hang out today? we are going for horse race by sun down, it would be totally fun, and even funner to have you there” He proposed persuasively.

“I think you just made that part up, even a third grader would know there's no such word as funner" She smiles at Joe who winks at her and added.

"Congratulations! This is a convincing proof that you actually passed third grade. But seriously, I would love to have you there" He said, falling back to his previous request.

"I think that would be great and funner" She stressed with a shrug and continued. "But i can’t come with you today. I have to hurry off to work, i hope you don’t mind?" She raised her brow questioningly.

“No! no! I don’t. Next time would be perfect, like you said. Catch you later Loner!" He says flirtatiously with a wink, before he dashed out, this time for good, She sighed in relief.

She wished she could hang out like every other normal young girls, instead of being workaholic all day long. She deserved it after all the stress of yesterday's noon. But she clearly spelt out to herself the clear meaning of work and fun. It was bluntly written there in the contract. A moment off without permission could attract a huge mark on her salary, and of course she has appended her signature to it. So, the mansion was now in her list of priorities, as she has always liked keeping her own end of the bargain in all things.

That day at the mansion, things turned out differently. She arrived four minutes earlier than the usual time. She needed to rush over things to meet up with the numerous schedules. Running her finger through the lunch time table, she whispered.

“Boiled potato and grilled fish? Hmm! I wonder who eats all these?” She mumbled, and in half an hour, it was ready. She served the table, changed the flowers, mopped the floor and cleaned the furniture.

“Done for the day!” she smiles excitedly and rules it off from her jotter.

She was getting use to the whole routine. It was becoming more fun with every day that went by. But the loud rumbles in her stomach spoiled her fun. She pats her stomach continuously trying to tame the hunger call, but it persisted.

"Of all things, why did you forget to pack your own lunch, who forgets such important thing, dumb head?" She cursed, gazing wildly at the table with the thought of devouring the neatly served meals. The more she tries to avert her eyes and thoughts from it, the more she was tempted to tamper the food on the table. But it was strictly against the rules of the contract to eat the food meant for the boss.

“It’s just a bite after all, he is not going to eat all these, right?" She asks rhetorically to comforts the need to eat from the already prepared food beckoning on her appetite.

She inspects the dining as if she was hoping to find someone staring or peeking at her. But as usual, the cold and rude silence in the entire mansion glared back at her.

With just a week of working in the mansion, she has noticed that as big as the it was, it had no CCTV cameras, apart from the one at the large gate, which was visibly dead and forsaken since God knows when. Obviously, she was the only one preserving the mansion from fading into permanent abandonment. Yet, she wonders where the daily supplies of fresh grains and vegetables comes from, if there was no one living inside.

For the records, she could swear she was the only life existing inside this incredibly large and intimidating building. Apart from her own voice complaining or singing joyfully as she worked, the only sound keeping her from completely going insane was the neighs of the horses and nature, beautifully caressing the environment with her sun rays. "Good radiance!" She smiled and opened the bowl of grilled fish to take a pinch, when she heard some noises coming from the stairs.

“Who is there?” she boldly asks, wearing her courageous look which was not enough to mask the fears in her heart. In spite of the fears, she forcefully grabs an orange knife from the dining table and points it to the direction where she heard the noise. For a moment, it stopped, leaving an eerie suspense lingering in the air.

Then, a masculine figure appeared in the dark, restricted corner, the same she had seen earlier when she first came to the mansion. She was curious and walked closer to take a clearer view, but stopped when the shadow moved forward. Her hunger quickly disappeared as she held on to her chest which was pounding heavily out of her ears.

She had guessed right, this building was truly haunted. She quickly picked up her bag and hurriedly leaves, slamming the door behind her as hard as she could. As she ran for her dear life, she got this weird feeling that there was something close behind, trailing after her. But when she turns, it was nothing. Perhaps, her frightened mind was playing a trick on her? She resolved.

As soon as she was convinced she was safe and far away from the scary building, she quickly grabs her phone which trembles repeatedly from her grip, and calls Mr Sebastian.

"Hello, Mr Sebastian?" She calls on the phone as soon as she hurried outside the gate of the mansion.

"Hello" he replies from the other end of the phone. She hesitates for a while before speaking.

"This is Dahlia Michaelson. Just few weeks ago, you gave me your office card in case I want to call or report anything?" She said choosing her words carefully.

"That's correct, how are you?" He asks.

"Am fine sir, but not entirely! I may have a problem, one I would rather refer to as severe!" she said boldly, with her heart still trembling from fear of her previous encounter with the dark figure.

"Is there a problem in the payment or the mansion's upkeep?" He inquired, suggesting where her difficulties may have sprouted.

"Non sir, it's umm... Quite different from what you would regard as a minor problem, it is more sophisticated actually" She said stammeringly. "It is about the mansion itself, I mean the rooms precisely. I think there is something living inside, something alarming!" she tries to explain what she possibly thought was insane. Or was she the one insane and weird, like Katy previously said?

"You might want to speak more specifically Miss Michaelson, so i can better address your complaints" Mr Sebastian said in a calm manner, trying not to flare up the already flared up lady.

"I thought I saw something in the dark, it's frightening. The way it moved and stood right there as if it was daring me, and enjoying the satisfaction of seeing me succumb to it's pressure and cringes. I don't know sir, but I've been seeing things, like a man's figure or worse!" She explains, trying to sound accurate and not deviate from what she was actually explaining.

"I want you to rest assured that there is nothing to worry about. The mansion is like a fortress guarded so sensitively. I doubt if someone could have sneaked inside without being caught. You might have been stressed and as a result, you think you saw something. But never mind, I will put together a team to inspect the mansion before tomorrow and make sure there is nothing of harm inside" He reassured her.

"Okay sir" she replies, simply putting up every possible effort to sound relieved by his assurance. But deep down, she melted with fear and anger. Does he not even believe her for a bit? Why would she make up scary stories to report?

As she lay on her bed trying to calm her nerves, she pondered over her conversation with Mr Sebastian and found it rather amusing. He did claim that the mansion was heavily guarded. "By what exactly?" She wondered. For all she knew, there were no CCTV cameras or security systems. Only a mighty gate that opens randomly to strangers. As she thought, an idea suddenly struck her.

"Why don't you fish out this ghostly figure and prove to him just how right you were, and how wrong he was for not believing you?" A small convincing voice whispered to her ears. She gladly welcomes the idea.

Her plan was to equip herself with a poisonous gas spray and a knife. With that, she can easily fight off what ever it is that has been hiding inside that dark restricted room.

After a day, she gets a call from Mr Sebastian reassuring that nothing of harm was found, and that she was safe to resume work.

She huffs and rolls her eyes as soon as she hangs the call. She knew herself too well, she only believed in angels not ghosts and demons. But now, her instincts tells her there is more to that mansion than she knows.

"It looks like the Dracula kind of house anyways" she shrugs and gets up from her bed to her laptop where she types.

"Things to fight Dracula and monsters with" After searching random sites, she bumps into a list of stuffs which she considers useful. "I think this will do!" She exclaims and grabs her coat and purse and journeys to the nearby shop to get the ingredients needed for her new plans.