a challenge! and an answer.

important business first.
100th blogpost! oops, this is also codename for i have no life. whops.


anyway.
so someone requested here that a horror story should be written. and while i have absolutely no experience at writing horror (see the perspectives post for more fail), i shall try. to the prompt of "OCD: Wear slippers when you leave the bedroom - otherwise your personality will be overwritten by anyone else who has walked on that carpet. If you scrape against something, you must sweep the bit of your soul that got caught off of it and rub it back into the tear."


answer:
as violet pads into the old dreary mansion, she notices bloodstains on the ground. strange, because number one--nobody's lived here in years and number two--the only other person that should be in here besides her is her younger brother, robert.


"robbie?" she calls. her voice echoes around the high ceilings of the foyer, bouncing back into her ears. a sudden creak grabs her attention, and she accidentally brushes against the nearby windowsill. pain shrieks through her arm. "what the--?" as she turns to look at the offending bruise, she notices that the piece of her where she hit the wood is gone. completely gone. not gone in the sense that there's a cut, but completely and utterly gone. violet is about to scream in surprise when a strong, warm, familiar hand clamps over her mouth. 


"quiet, little girl, let me help you with that," a voice hisses, rough and slimy to violet's ears. another hand (along with an arm) carefully sweeps a bit of something off the windowsill and starts rubbing it back onto her arm. "there, there. you'll be okay now." 


but, of course, violet is now the farthest thing from comforted. as she pries herself from her assailant's grip, she spins around. 


"who are yo--robert?!" 


her brother (or what seems to be her brother) cocks his head jerkily.


"who's robert?" the unfamiliar voice asks, the words falling off of his tongue. 


violet pales. 


"if you're not robert, then who are you?" 


robert's body cracks it's knuckles before the voice answers again. 


"i'm gladys. i killed the last resident of this house before hanging myself on that chandelier." 


robert's finger points up to the ornament. violet's gaze follows, and she jumps when she notices a skeleton dangling from the lights.


"i don't have a body anymore, but since your brother insisted on taking off his socks and shoes, i kindly took his place." gladys uses robert's left hand to gesture at his now bare feet. "if you'd like to join in with the fun, you can take your shoes off too." 


violet slowly shakes her head. 


"sorry, gladys, i can't agree to that. can you... bring my brother back?" 


a cackle leaps out of his mouth, bouncing around the eerie foyer. 


"no can do, violet dearie. you see, whenever someone walks barefoot on the carpet in the lapelle mansion, their sense of self oozes out through their feet and the last person to walk on the floor fills that body with their own personality. frightening, isn't it?" 


there's a silence. violet can only hear her thumping heart. she inches towards the door. 


"i... i have to go." 


"no, no violet, please stay!" 


violet swings the door wide open before robert's body sails across the room, slamming the door resolutely shut. 


"i said, stay." 


violet sinks to the ground, quivering. 


"what... what do you want from me?" 


gladys smirks, distorting robert's usually handsome face. 


"your body." 


violet shakes her head vehemently. 


"no."


gladys growls, the most frightening sound that violet has ever heard. she still lets her hand drift quietly up towards the door handle. she keeps her gaze fixated on gladys to attempt and distract her from the movement.


"what are you waiting for?! take of your shoes!" gladys hisses. she tries to flash a smile, but once she notices violet's hand on the doorknob, her expression turns murderous. suddenly producing robert's pocketknife, she stabs it into violet's hand, pinning it to the door. violet screams. gladys laughs. "please don't leave, violet, i'm so lonely!"