Fourth Wall
As promised, the house’s wall were upright, bricks met neatly the floors were firm and it was quiet in Hill house- quite and filled with shadows.
They were stealthy those shadows, they followed me from room to room like a loyal dog trailing at it’s master’s heel.
I opened doors and walked into and out of rooms crammed with porcelain figurines twisted and painted to resemble flowers and animals, There were books on every table surface and portraits in heavy gold frames hung from the walls.
The chairs and couches and were ornate and solid and did not invite you to rest or sit.
They were as solid and uninviting as the house they were kept in.
I ran my hand along plastered walls as I wandered aimlessly through corridors- they were endless in this house and when I came to closed doors I would open them and watch them swing shut.
I left the doors alone and I began to walk hard from heel to toe and with each thump my smile became a grimace, my eyes narrowed just a bit and I dropped my chin so slightly towards my chest.
I came across her outside of one of those doors that led into one of those rooms stuffed with dark furniture and dark paintings.
She wanted to stay here she cried into the door with her back towards me, she slammed her hands against the door and pleaded to stay.
I came up behind her, the shadows fled from me, and I took her by the hair on the back of her head and rammed her face over and over again into the door.
When I was done the door swung open and I let her fall into the room.
I pushed her legs with my foot over the threshold and the door swung shut and the tumblers in the lock clicked obediently into place.
” I walk here and I walk alone ” I said from the bottom of my dark soul to the shadows as they slithered down from the ceiling where: walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; (and)silence lay (once again) steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House.