Chapter 6: 'Wake Up Text'

Gabriel felt more terrified in this moment than ever before. He jumped up and out of bed and ran for the front door. He didn't even think of getting dressed or doing anything else except for sprinting to Luna's house. He sprinted so fast and so much that it started to hurt, badly. This didn't stop him though, he still pushed himself harder than ever before.

In the next moment, he was in the street of Lunas' house. There was one problem though, he didn't know which house Luna lived in. He went door to door, knocking on each and every one of them but was unlucky with the outcomes.

The doors of the houses were either not answered or the residents chased Gabriel away. One house however was very useful in telling Gabriel what he wanted to know. Coincidentally, the one household that spoke to him properly belonged to the school principal, Ms. Keller.

"Gabriel? What are you doing here at this time?" she asked, sounding very confused.

Gabriel responded in a hurry. "I'm looking for a friend that may be in trouble. Do you perhaps know where Luna stays?"

"Luna Skye?" Ms. Keller asked. "The girl that I've seen you spend time with at breaks and sometimes after school?"

Gabriel nodded, "Yes ma'am."

She stays at number 5, three houses down to your right. As she pointed in the direction Gabriel ran off. After he took off Ms. Keller just watched him, she didn't stop him because she could see that he was in a huge rush. She contemplated going after Gabriel but ultimately decided to close her door and go to sleep as she had to go to the school early for the next school day.

As Gabriel bolted down the street, getting closer and closer to the house, his anticipation and determination to check on Luna grew intensely and before he knew it he was standing in front of the door.

Luckily, logic took control and he decided not to knock on the front door despite the rush of adrenalin that he was experiencing. Another factor for this was the large, dried-up pool of blood on the floor that was seeping through the bottom of the front door. It was obvious that it was cleaned up a bit but clearly not that sufficiently.

Gabriel decided to step away from the front entrance and look around the house for another possible entrance. The left side of the house had a blacked-out fence that was locked with one of the thickest locks and chains that he had ever seen. He couldn't see through it since it was blacked out and the way it was secured aroused his curiosity even more.

But he didn't spend too much time there as he didn't want to waste any time.

He walked over to the right side of the house and noticed a normal fence on this side. This fence also had a lock on it but it wasn't locked up. The fence was slightly open, which was very convenient for Gabriel but it didn't make sense to him. He thought to himself, "Why would one side be locked and secured like it was private property that belonged to the government but the other side of the house was unlocked? Is it a trap? Did the owner forget to lock it? Or is there another, more sinister explanation to explain what's going on here?"

He didn't spend too much time thinking about it though and proceeded to walk through.

As he stepped through the fence gate he got a strange feeling inside him. Similar to what he had felt before, something was pulling him back outside the property. He fought this feeling and cautiously stepped further inside the property.

The overgrown pathway that was laid out along the side of the house led to a backyard. This backyard wasn't the most appealing site out there. There were a few dry patches of yellow grass that was growing out of the driest soil that he had ever seen. There was also an empty pool that had paint on the sides that was peeling off and the liquid inside it was the nastiest stuff that he had seen in a long time. It was dark so he couldn't really see well, but luckily, there was a street light that reflected on the backyard. He saw that the liquid had a dark red colour but also had certain areas that just looked pitch black. He had no clue what to think about it.

He moved on as he didn't want to know what that liquid consisted of and walked through the backyard that looked more like an abandoned prison.

He slowly walked along the back wall of the house, hoping to find a door but couldn't see one easily as both the wall and the door was made of old wood that was in the process of rotting away.

When he eventually found the door, the handle was skew and wasn't even screwed in properly. The only thing that was holding the rusted handle in place were two fragile screws that looked like they were about to give in anytime soon.

He put his hand on the handle to attempt to open the door. As he applied pressure the sound that was created was horrible. It screeched all the way down until Gabriel could finally open the door. The hinges were so rusted and ineffective that the door was shaking badly as it was opening. It was also very noisy because of all the rust.

When the door was open wide enough he just stood there, staring inside at the dark and dingy hallway that stretched out all the way from the back door where he was standing, to the front door that he couldn't get access to.