Chapter 1

Marcos lay on the floor of a three story house in a state of sleep, of a new beginning. He was a man of a medium height with blue hair and eyes, if they were open, the color of magenta. He was shadowed in the darkness this house made.

His eyes started to flutter just slightly. He seemed to be having a nightmare of sorts. "Don't wanna go…" he whispered. " It is… it is too…" his eyes started to flutter faster and faster, until all at once his eyes sprung open and he had the look of a man that had just gazed upon the sight of a phantom monster.

He looked around the house he was in, and started to chant to himself the word "no". He started to shake uncontrollably with fear. He knew not why he feared this place, but he knew that this place was not good. He got up from his position on the floor and started looking for a way to get out of the house. He shook the knobs on every door he saw, and every window he could touch. He started to breath faster, his hands became clammy and started to shake, he had the feeling like he was going to die, and in a way he welcomed it. The symptoms progressively got worse as he heard footsteps on the stairs behind him. He started to feel sick, and very very cold. Then he became hysterical.

He started looking for the kitchen. He seemed to go through corridor after corridor. When he found it he started looking through the drawers. But there was nothing in any of them. He kept on looking, a desperation rising from the need to protect himself from the footsteps. He had almost given up; when he got the feeling that he needed to look through the drawers a second time. He got to the fifth drawer he had looked through, and found what he needed, a kitchen knife that was sharp enough to inflict the pain he desired. His breathing got faster and faster as each footstep got closer. His heart beat to the sound of the footsteps, as well as its own orchestra.

Bump-ba dump(step). Ba-dump(step) ba-dump ba dump(step) ba dumpbadumpba(step)dumpbadumpbadump… wham.

Marcos sunk the knife into the owner of these footsteps, and looked in the face of an angel. The angel gasped in pain, and sunk to the floor. He had hit her in the area between her collarbone and her neck. She was in an all white robe, which was now tainted with the red of her blood. She had fair skin, and brown hair the color of wheat. Her eyes held no color, but not in a way that would scare you, but in a way that would calm you. She smiled at Marcos.

He couldn't believe he had done such a thing. " I am so sorry" He cried "I didn't know… I didn't know" he began to sob.

" You have no need to cry Marcos, I am not going to die" said the woman as she tore the knife from her body. She gasped in pain as her nerve endings were cut even more "I would be dead long ago if I were to be dead at all." She rasped. She smiled at him once more, and he felt at peace. Marcos looked at her with amazement. He looked in awe of her as her wounds slowly started to heal right before his eyes. "But-but that isn't possible, people can't heal that fast" he exclaimed.

"According to who, might I ask" she gingerly taped at her wound to see when the healing was done.

"According to everything. According to science and logic everything that dictates how we understand our world" he said logically

"Well dear boy, we aren't in Kansas anymore now are we" she cringed as a slight pain emanated from her wound.

"no, no we are not." He looked at the ghostly house, with its falling wall paper, and its ominous air and recalled how afraid he had been when he had first gotten here. It was then that he realized that he felt completely at peace with her near him. But why?

"What is your name?" he asked

"Hmmm?" she sat feeling her wound to see when the pain would stop

"I said what is your name" He waited for her to turn to him, and show that she had understood his question. She looked up with a blank stare. "my name is what you want?"

"Yes… yes I do want that"

"My name… is Selene," she said. She kept on feeling her wound, and once she was satisfied it was healed she gave her full attention to the boy. "I am the one that greets all the new 'people' that enter this house, and you are not the first to pull a knife on me" she winked at him

"How is it that you can heal so fast?"

"Everyone can heal in this house, some faster than others, depending on how much power you hold in this household"

"There are others?"

"Oh yes, there are many. You will meet them as you explore more of the house, which is affectionately called Einstein." She smiled broadly as she spoke.

Marcos noted that Selene did not seem to react much when she talked. Almost like a recorded message that was repeated many times before. Her face seemed strained, as if she couldn't wait to get away, but couldn't leave if she wanted to.

"Is there anything fun to do around here?"

"oh, lots of things, like walking around in the green house attached to the house, and playing games in the game room. We have chess, and monopoly, and any other games you could possibly think of. There is also the pool on this floor that is just over there." She pointed to a door just to the right of them.

Marcos could almost not believe that this could be real; this run down old shack of a place had an indoor pool? But one thing kept nagging at him.

"Is there anything we can do outside of the house?"

"NO!!" yelled Selene, her face getting rather dark and angered " you are NEVER to leave this house, do you understand me you little…." Selene gasped as she broke out of the spell she had been in, and looked around rather shocked at where she was. She whimpered before she ran through a corridor and to a room that was the third on the right, from what Marcos could see anyways.

Marcos sat on the floor in shock. What had that been? He tried to stand, but his legs were completely numb. He tried to stand again, but he just fell back down. He started to shake slightly, for he was alone yet again in this house. But it was a more subdued shaking then it had been when he had first woken up. His hands had little feeling in them as they became clammy.

"Selene!!!" he yelled up the stairs in desperation "Selene what just happened?!?" he got no response except the slight catch of the sounds of a girl's sobbing, or a mouse squeaking. "I can't feel my legs." He mumbled more to himself than anyone else. He did the only thing he could think of; he started rubbing his legs to try and get some feeling back in them, but to no avail. His hands started to prickle with the feeling of his nerves coming awake. "SELENE! Can you please he-…" his sentenced died on his lips as he gazed upon the sight of a rather rabid looking animal, looking down at him from the top of the stairs with its orange colored eyes. The eyes seemed to pierce through his very being and take hold of a part of his soul. He felt completely boxed in as he remained staring at those eyes. They told him a story, a sad, and angry story… but he just couldn't make out the details of the meaning. He came out of his trance after the animal growled ferociously at him, wakening his nerves to the point where they were screaming with the need to run.

"Oh Jenkins, don't be such a meanie. It is his first day. Give him a break…" said a sugary sweet voice from the second floor. Marcos couldn't see her, but he heard that clacking of her heals as she was walking towards the top of the stairs.

"… at least for now" she said with a smirk as she turned the corner and came into full view of Marcos. She petted the animal called Jenkins on the head and proceeded to step… no more like glide down the stairs, so she could get a better look at her new play thing.

She seemed to be stalking her prey as she walked towards Marcos eyeing him from top to bottom, while he did the same thing to her. She was slender and tall with brunette hair, and eyes the color of the Rosetta stone. She had her fake smile on as she went around him in a tight circle. She looked down at him with a mix of malice and in an acquisitive manner.

"You ruined my daily ritual you know." She whispered close to his ear. "And that is a big no-no around here bumpkin" she stopped in front of him in a pose almost reminiscent of a sergeant. "See, if you had known better, I would have already ripped you limb from limb. But seeing as you don't seem to understand the ways of this house I will just have to educate you."

Her sickly smile turned into a sneer as she grasped Marcos around his throat. She slowly raised him off the ground to be eye level with her. He started gurgling for air and at that moment Marcos' whole body had gone into shock. "Now, sweetie, the rules are you don't make any ruckus from the time the sun rises," she put her long nail on the top of his forehead and pushed. "till the time it sets."

She grazed her finger across his cheek as she aimed to put her nail on his chin. Marcos trembled in her grip as he tried to break free of her grasp, "or unless otherwise told to do so. You see my ritual normally takes all day, and if one moment of it is missed, I get very," she thrust Marcos into the wall behind himself with force. Marcos gasped with a need for breath and from the pain this action caused him. "very, angry. And you may fear me now, but this is me playing nice." She said in suger-sweet tone. She chuckled to herself as she dropped the boy on the floor.

Jenkins snarled from his perch on the step. "Oh jenkie, don't worry…" said Helga as she crouched next to the gasping Marcos "… he has learned his lesson" She kissed Marcos on the forehead, then shoved him down on the ground. Marcos gasped with the impact the shove had on him. "Aren't you cute" she giggled menacingly to herself.

She started to strut to the stairs again, when she turned as an afterthought came to her. "Oh how rude of me, my name is Helga." She was back to being the sweet hostess. "I live on the second floor of this house, and if you value your hide" she seethed "you will stay away from it. That is my Domain, and any trespassers feel my wrath. I hope you got the message the first time… little addendum." She turned on her heels again and walked up the stairs in triumph. "til next time" she yelled over her shoulder as she reached the top of the stairs and turned to where she came from. Jenkins followed suit.

Marcos lay on the floor still gasping for air.

Marcos tried to calm himself down, but the day's events kept running through his head. The terror, the threats, the confusion, all mingling in his head and making him feel completely overwhelmed. Eventually he couldn't take it anymore, and completely gave up to his needs. He welcomed the blackness as it took him over. It made him feel safe. It made him feel like he couldn't be harmed. It gave him peace from his new hell.

For a little while at least.