The empty house

Lucy stood in front of the house with a heavy weight on her chest. She had been wandering in the forest for almost an hour when she found shelter under a shed. She had a bad feeling in her guts, there was something mysterious about this shack in the heart of the forest, isolated from every form of life and without any lights on. But outside it was pouring, and she was already soaking wet, so, however bad the feeling, the house was a true blessing. With cautious knocks on the door she entered the house without waiting for an answer. The hallway was dark and cold, the walls had peeling paint and damp spots and the carpet stank of mold. Lucy proceeded slowly until she saw a flimsy light coming from afar. Following the glimmer she arrived In the living room, utterly different from the hallway. There was a fireplace with a big silky red armchair in front of it, a big persian carpet on the floor and the walls were covered either in bookcases, full of books and dust, or scary portraits. The room smelled of wood and maple syrup and there wasn’t any trace of mold on the ceiling. The wet clothes were making the girl shiver hard, so she quickly decided to sit on the chair, immediately feeling relieved by the heat of the fire. She slowly began to close her eyes, lingering in the warm sensation and lulled by the muffled sound of the rain crashing on the roof. 
A loud noise coming from upstairs woke Lucy up. Still stunned from the nap, she clumsily stood up, feeling a bit anxious, walking at a fast pace towards the stairs on the right of the exit door of the room. She cursed herself for falling asleep without waiting or searching for the owner of the house. She didn't want to be thrown out in the rain. Lucy carefully listened for any sounds and she slowly went on to climb the stairs. 
When she arrived on the second floor, all the rooms seemed deserted. She then visited every single one of them to check if anyone was in there, but every room looked as if it hadn’t been used in years. The house was empty. 
She then entered the main bedroom, probably belonging to the owner, with a canopy bed, covered in green sheets made of silk, matching the forest green of the walls. The bed was undone and a book had been left open on the night table, as if someone for some reason had had to leave in a hurry. A round mirror, in front of a huge window adjoining a balcony, was reflecting the slim beam of the moon, almost covered by the black clouds. Outside it was still raining. 
A shadow glittered for an instant in the mirror making Lucy scream in fear. Everything in the house was making her uncomfortable. The girl standing in front of the mirror was studying her image, trying to catch her breath, when a sudden shiver ran down her spine. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw a glittering object flying through her and then, in a blink, all became black. 
The mirror was now covered in blood, the corpse of the lady lying still on the carpet and the image of her killer engraved in her eyes. 
Sitting on the chair, in a corner of the room, lit by a moonbeam, there was the ghost of a young man, cleaning the knife just used to kill the innocent girl, waiting for his next victim to appear.

Lisa Checchetto