Chapter 4- The Confrontation

Natalie’s broken leg had been set and bandaged.

She had been given some medications, and the kind female doctor had even signed the discharge papers, but the last thing the young woman wanted to do was go back to that house.

Not until her parents had clarified everything for her at least.

And definitely not until they had found out who was lurking around in there!

“Dad, did you find out who that was? And did you find the letter I told you about?” She asked, getting right to the point as soon as her father stepped into the ward, her mum in tow.

They had stayed back to help the police investigate her claims, and to be honest, the whole situation just had Phil worried for both his daughter and his wife.

Of course she had told him about what she claimed had happened to her!

For the middle aged man, it was obvious that his wife and daughter were dealing with some serious case of paranoia and hallucinations.

Well what else was it if it wasn’t exactly that?

He was willing to bet his last dollar that all this was probably a result of the stress of packing and finishing up in just one day.

But if that was the case, then how the fuck was he going to explain his own near death experience?

You see, Phillip Sanders had known he had no idea about anything concerning electricity, and he had also known how dangerous and fatal any wrong mistake could be, so it was no surprise that he had stayed clear off the main switch, heading over to the patio instead to check if their neighbors had power, just like he had promised his wife.

If only he had known how bad an idea that was!

He had felt it when it was almost too late;

Something, snaking up his body… climbing and climbing until it had circled up to his neck,

An electrical wire!

The poor man had barely had time to make sense of what was happening, for the electrical wire begun to tighten around his neck, gradually cutting off his air supply. He had struggled to get the damned thing off his neck, but nothing he did had worked.

Things unfortunately decided to take a turn for the worst.

Phil had had no idea what he had done… perhaps his struggle with the wire had loosened a few parts. Or perhaps, whoever— or whatever— was messing with him had decided to up their game a little further, for he could suddenly feel electric current surging through him. His body had danced to the rhythm of the powerful force, and a million thoughts had raced through his mind in that moment;

Thoughts like how in hell was he still alive?

Thoughts like would his family be okay when he’s gone?

Thoughts like what if the supernatural was involved in what was obviously going to be the cause of his death?

Philip had had no idea what had happened… all he remembered was saying what sounded close to a prayer, and just like that, fucking just like that, the whole thing had just stopped. The man had turned around frantically, searching for the wire— or at least something… anything— that would convince him that he had not been imagining things,

But he had found nothing.

He had noticed the burns and the static in his hair much later on, when his wife had come outside to seek him out.

“Dad? Dad!”

Phil snapped out of his thoughts, his attention coming back to his daughter. “Sorry honey, what was it you were saying again?” He asked absentmindedly.

“The letter? I was asking if you found it? It was on my dresser, right next to the diary you guys got for me?”

“There was no letter, Nat—”

“But there was, Dad.” The teenager insisted. “It must have blown away or something, did you check the entire room? It was written with blood red paint, it said you guys were lying to me about something, Dad.” Natalie’s attention shifted to her mum who hadn’t said a single word since she entered the ward. “Mum?”

Lynn raised her head to look up at her daughter. “Yeah?”

“What is going on? Tell me, please.” Natalie begged, but her mother didn’t say anything. Instead, her attention shifted to her husband, her eyes spelling out a thousand words, saying things that Natalie couldn’t understand.

Tell her, or I will.

It wasn’t a threat, but a promise, for you see, Lynn and Phil Sanders had not been entirely honest with their daughter, and Lynn was done keeping it a secret. They had told her that the old woman had died from natural causes, when they knew that it was anything but.

Phil’s head hung in shame. “I’m sorry, Natalie… but we haven’t been entirely honest with you honey,” He whispered.

“Okay? What exactly haven’t you been honest about?” The girl pressed.

“Great aunt Martha did not die of natural causes, Nat. She committed suicide.” He took a deep breath. “We believe that one of the neighbors is trying to play pranks on us as a result of that, and the police think so too.”

Natalie sat there, suddenly numb, taking it all in. She didn’t know, but ever since this house came into their lives, it was suddenly as if she didn’t know who her parents were anymore.

They were lying to her now for fuck’s sake!

“Who are you guys? Cos I feel like I don’t know who you two are anymore.” She accused. “So when were you planning on telling me this? Keeping things away from me and all that shit, telling me that this move was all in my best interests, when you clearly don’t give a fuck about what is best for me.”

“It’s not like that, honey.” Lynn tried, but she was silenced immediately.

“Oh isn’t it? If you both cared about me, and wanted me to fit in like you claimed, the last thing you would have done was bring me to a live in a place where something as crazy and as fucked up as this happened. You know what? Take me home. I’m done having this conversation.” She ordered, sinking into her signature silence.

******

For one whole week, Natalie didn’t talk to her parents.

Of course, with her broken leg, she had to depend on them for certain things— especially her mum— but she made sure that they didn’t get too cozy or anything like that.

She also couldn’t go to college with the broken leg, and actually had permission to completely recover before beginning lectures. This partly had to do with her parents’ many connections and the fact that she was herself a certified grade A student.

But this meant she was just lounging alone at home, with no one to talk to, since the only people she spoke to were currently pissing her off at the moment.

And so she buried herself in her books, her mind occasionally drifting to the strange diary sitting atop her dresser. Her parents had said they didn’t get it for her, but Natalie was convinced that they were lying.

Cos if not them, then who?

She was pretty sure they were doing it because they didn’t want her thinking she was so pathetic that a diary was probably the only thing close to a friend that she was ever going to have.

For some reason, as thrilling as writing in the diary could be for her, Natalie always stopped herself. She didn’t have anything worth remembering to write down, so she promised herself that if her life started getting more interesting, she would perhaps give the book a chance.

Nothing unusual had gone down since that very weird night, thank God, and Natalie was taking the whole settling-in thing quite well.

The silver haired teen sat in their beautiful garden today, lounging… her cast foot resting on a low table as she read a romantic novel.

She was flushed, her heart thumping very fast, her thighs clenching unconsciously at the extremely smutty scene she had gotten to. Being a virgin, this was kind of the only way she got to get her adrenaline high— taking it second handedly while pretending to be the hotheaded heroines in the many books she read.

So deep was she into the book that she didn’t hear the little sound of throat clearing at first.

A loud fake cough caught her attention this time around, causing her to look up in shock. A soft gasp escaped her lips;

For before her stood the most beautiful man she had ever seen.