The house itself seemed normal enough, doors, window, sturdy foundation, bricks.. But as soon as we stepped from the car, the air was just... Thick. There was something dark, almost sinister about the house. I wanted to leave then, but of course, my father, man of science he is, shook his head solemnly, urged me onward.

"But dad."

"This is home now, Sia." he said calmly, in that authorative tone that adults use to talk to their children when they feel they're being 'irrational'.

"Dad. I'm not a baby. It's just creepy."

"Sia, there are no such things as ghosts, or anything like that. I'm sure once we've started to settle in, everything will right itself. Now grab your bags, and get inside. The storm looks like it's about to set in, and when it does, I don't want to have to run back and forth, grabbing boxes. You know how your mom gets when her stuff gets wet or dirty."

I rolled my eyes, and looked upward to the turret at the top left of the house, the highest point on the roof. And if I wasn't already paranoid enough, when I saw the curtain move, I just had this bad feeling sweep over me. Like this house wasn't just creepy.

It was pure evil, and it was about to awaken. It had people to torture living within it's walls again. I laughed at myself, and then muttered, "He's your dad. Of course he's right. You're just being silly, Si."

If I could go back and know what I know about the house now, about the events that took place there in the past, now, I never would have been as calm or as quick to dismiss that initial feeling of complete danger, evil that enveloped me then just as soon as I'd stepped through the doors, into the entry way.

But, sadly, I didn't. And that's how I wound up in the fix I'm in right now. But I suppose I should start at the beginning before I give it all away. This isn't easy to talk about, so if I choke up or something, or go quiet.. Just bear with me. It needs to be said, I need to get this out, off my chest.

After all, everyone thinks I killed them. All of them. And I didn't, I swear to God, I didn't. Why would I kill my own family, or any of the friends I did manage to make here, for Christ's sakes? That's just.. It's insane. I'd never do that..

CHAPTER 1

The car pulled to a slow and easy stop at the foot of the long and winding gravel driveway. Sia gaped at the 3 story Tudor house they'd be moving into. She tried to ignore the uneasy feeling she got when she looked up at it's windows, the darkness of the house and the sky behind it doing nothing for her already overactive teenage imagination.

Her father looked at her and then said calmly, "Home sweet home. I still don't know why your Great Aunt Marta left this house to me, I mean, I barely knew her. Well, we're here, Si.. Let's get out, start unloading the furniture before your mom and your brother get here."

Sia looked at her father, brow raised. "Dad.. I don't like this place. It's creepy." she finally said quietly, and watched as her father dismissed her fears then said "There are no such things as ghosts. I'm sure it's just because the house is in the woods, and the lawn needs tending.. With a little tlc, this house will be home."

Sia rolled her eyes and got out, not wanting to anger her father. The family had been under a lot of stress lately, her parents had been fighting all the time almost, and her recent trouble in school certainly wasn't helping out. The last thing she wanted was to start off their first night in a new house, fighting with her father.

So, she took what he said, and she drilled it into her head like a mantra. After all, her father was the adult, surely, he wouldn't move them without researching the place first. Not with him being the way he was, intelligent, slightly overprotective and dilligent.

Not with his entire family standing the possibility to suffer if he moved them to an unsafe house and something happened.

"It's just my imagination." she said once again as she heaved the last box for her room and started into the house, just as the storm really picked up the slack, and lightning lit up the sky in jagged, bright bolts.

She stood in the entry way of the old house and turned around, looking up at the chandelier, amazed and in awe. She was home now and she may as well get used to it.