Pd.+2+--+Group+1

 “Why are you doing this?” cried out Abby, “Please let me go. I can’t see!” “Shh, shh, just wait and be patient. Five minutes and you’ll understand...” said her brother. His muscular arms could lift anything and he lifted her small figure in one swift motion as he brought her up the two concrete steps and pushed open the big blue door. As it slowly revealed what was inside, he moved his hands from her eyes. “It’s all yours.” “Oh my gosh Chad. For me? I...I can't believe it! Thank you so much! Wow it’s really ALL mine?” “Yep, no more of your brother and his big ol’ family bugging you in the basement. It’s all yours. I'll come by later this week to see how you like it, but right now I have to go pick up Andrew and Haley from their swimming class.” Chad was Abby’s brother and as much as he loved her in his house, he could see that she needed her space. So he got her a small house of her own so she could concentrate on writing her story. He could see that with six kids and two adults up and going all the time, it was beginning to distract her. His wife and he threw together some of their money, took his parents money from their will, and put it all towards a nice two story cottage in the middle of a quiet neighborhood just for Abby.  Houses were cheap in the year 2039 especially in that neighborhood. She was only 26 at the time, and she was 19 when her parents died. She was a very athletic girl with brown hair to the bottom of her neck and almond colored skin that she got from her mother. Chad was only four years older than her, but acted like her father after their parents had passed away. When their parents died, he took Abby under his wing and into his house. Although they fought sometimes she was greatly appreciative of him. Chad was her big brother, and that’s exactly why she looked up to him. His hair was not too short, but not too long, and he had a perfectly chiseled jaw. She loved him but she was glad she was now in a house of her own. Abby was finally going to be able to write her book that she had started seven months ago. That’s exactly what Abby did. She immediately began writing. She wrote and wrote and after four hours, she got bored of writing and wanted to explore her new house. The house was small, not easy to get lost in but big enough for just her. There was two bedrooms upstairs each with beds that looked as if they’ve never been touched. A porcelain bathroom with everything she would need. She walked into her closet and thought “Wow this will be perfect for my shoes...” As she wandered downstairs, she saw paint that was brighter than the other paint. "Pictures must have been there," she thought. As she was walking into the kitchen, she tripped over a kitchen table chair leg and hit her head hard on the floor. For a flash she saw her brother at the dinner table arguing with her and for an instant she felt the same way she had felt the day of the fight. After a few seconds everything became perfectly clear and then she was back to her senses, lying on the cold linoleum floor of her house. She wondered what had just happened but wasn’t sure so she put it in the back of her mind, but not completely forgetting it. As she got up, her stomach rumbled and she realized she hadn't eaten since the night before. As she walked towards the refrigerator she realized that the house was new and there was probably nothing in there. She walked over to check and just as she had suspected, not a even crumb. Abby picked up the telephone and dialed 411 for the closest pizza parlor. "Pizza planet... how can I help you?" asked a monotone voiced teenager. “Hi, may I have a medium pepperoni pizza? Oh and also an order of bread sticks and um, some Pepsi please?” asked Abby politely. “Lady, this is the 39’s, are you serious? “Pepsi” stopped selling 20 some years ago because of some outbreak I think. Shouldn't you know? Anyways, don’t you want vitamin water or monster or something?” “Sorry…I sometimes forget about that. I’ll have vitamin water please. It doesn’t matter what kind. How much will it be?” “Yeah uh, whatever lady. It’ll be $23.50 including the tip. Uh, what’s your address?” “452 Hackberry Drive in Crystal Pine Farms, the zip code is...” “Uh well um sorry lady we just...we can’t deliver to that neighborhood. Have a nice day.” “Excuse me? Why not?” “See, well, I don't really know but rumor is that one time a guy went there and he never came back. I’m not going there, it's not happening. Peace lady.” That was all she heard on the other side of the receiver before she could say anything as he had hung up. Abby was angry. "So why won't they deliver? Did I abduct their stupid pizza man? This is ridiculous. How am I supposed to get food?" For a couple more minutes she mumbled under her breath. She walked back over to the refrigerator to get a cup of ice water and there she saw a note on the fridge. “Packed it full! Love Chad.” That was weird; she didn’t recognize that as Chad's handwriting or see any food in there when she first looked. Just to make sure, she opened the fridge again. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Juice, milk, vitamin water, and all kinds of energy drinks filled up the side of the refrigerator. There were cartons of eggs and boxes filled with tangerines. Lunch meat filled the retractable drawers. Abby was freaking out and looked around to see if someone was in the house. Goose bumps covered her arms. How could it be the fridge had been empty and now was full? It was too weird. Was it possible that while she was exploring the house Chad might have stopped in to fill the fridge up? Still unsure of what was happening, she sat down at the table and gazed out of the sliding glass door. She again thought to herself, “I was pretty sure it was empty a few minutes ago, what's going on here?” While staring into space, she saw a blur swiftly moving past the first window -- and then the second. Abby jumped and stared with intent. After a long few minutes she gave up and groggily walked up the stairs to her bedroom. It was already late. As Abby got ready to go to bed she thought she heard whispers and creaks through the house as though someone was walking between the walls. She was still a bit dazed from when she knocked her head and shrugged it off. She turned her TV on. "Ugh" she thought, "more of these NEW shows. Ooh they're so cool, with their amazing hover cars, ugh they make me sick!” Flipping through the channels, she saw that "The Notebook" her favorite childhood movie was on ABC Family. It reminded her of her parents and it always made her miss them. She watched for about 20 minutes but quickly dozed off during the commercial breaks. During the night she tossed and turned dreaming about pain and suffering. She woke up at 4:53AM in a cold sweat not able to go back to sleep and wondering why she had just dreamed about that. She had an odd desire to see her brother so she sped down the stairs and grabbed her car keys off of the counter before heading for the door to the garage. The knob was jammed and she wasn't strong enough to move it. She tried the sliding glass door. As she tugged and tugged, she saw a woman in a robe on the other side of the glass door. Her face was old, pale, and tired. The woman looked as if she was depressed and dead. Seemingly locked in the house and unable to leave, Abby thought perhaps this woman could help her in some way. Abby ran over to the refrigerator and quickly wrote "PLEASE HELP ME!" on a note pad in large, bold letters so the woman was sure to see them. She ran over to the glass door and put it up only to realize the woman was no longer right there, but she was in a house two streets up, staring holes into Abby's eyes. There was a smug grin on the old woman’s face. Abby shivered and yelled, “Nice try old lady, but it’s not going to work. I’m not an idiot!” She wasn’t sure why those words came out. Although the woman could not hear her, she nodded and instantly vanished into thin air. Abby stood, dumbfounded, with her jaw open as far as it could extend. She tried the sliding glass door again but gave up, running to the front door pulling and twisting it as hard as she could. It finally opened and she ran through without thinking. But it was like she had never actually left the house. She kept going and going through an endless amount of doors. She felt as though she was in a big mind game, and eventually she was too exhausted to go through any more doors. Abby did not give up though. She ran up the stairs and opened up her bedroom window. She kicked the screen out and sat on the windowsill gathering courage to jump onto the blooming garden below. All of the sudden she heard someone; no she heard the house say “Good luck, you’re going to need it.” That startled her and she fell backwards. She closed her eyes and landed on something soft, and familiar, her new bed. “What is HAPPENING?” she cried. She glanced quickly at the window and sure enough the screen was intact and the window was closed. She was smart enough to realize that this was going nowhere and gave up quickly. “WHY!” she screamed and shouted repeatedly until she was red in the face and felt her lungs were going to explode. “Are you done now? You know why; because, you want to leave me. No one ever leaves me.” A mechanical laugh rumbled through the house. “I will provide you everything you need; you will need nothing more than what I can give you. I can give you food, water, shelter. I am here to talk to you if you need someone to talk to. I am the future, I am your future.” “No, no, no this can’t be happening. This is fake right? I’m on a game show. Very funny Chad. What kind of house is this? I knew it was too good to be true. So where are the cameras? Where’s the crew? Houses don’t talk. That’s ridiculous. There are speakers in the walls. The joke is over, I've figured it out!” Giggles went through the house like ripples in the water. Sounds of an excited audience roared through the hallways and the sound of clapping echoed off of every wall. It was repeating over and over again in an unchanging tone, “Ha...Ha…Ha…Ha...Ha...Ha.” Abby spun around in terror trying to find what was terrorizing her and she couldn't see anything. A portrait of cockatoos hung on the wall and a bureau stood tall with old jewelry dangling off of it. Nothing in the house seemed to be disturbed by the mechanical voice but her. Minutes, hours passed as she stood there thinking of how she could wake up from this nightmare; but nothing crossed her mind. All of the sudden it hit her. Everything had been fine until she had hit her head. She had to figure out how to fall again. Abby bolted out of the room and ran recklessly around the house trying to find something to stumble upon. A chair leg, a bag, anything would do it. Then it caught her eye, her writing briefcase. She ran towards it and flung herself at the bag but nothing happened. She hit the ground with a hard thud and wailed, beating the ground until the mechanical voice screamed at her, “Stop it this instant!” Her eyes opened wide with fear and warm tears slid down her cheeks. She got up, feeling defeated. Her eyes were blurry and she couldn't see two feet in front of her and that’s when it happened. Abby felt a sharp pain in her left foot and before she knew it she was falling quickly to the ground. “Please stop hurting me, please I’m sorry if I offended you just don’t hurt me anymore!” she cried. “What? What’s wrong? Abby why are you crying, did somebody hurt you?” Chad asked sounding edgy. Abby looked around. She was now somehow at Chad's house. She was lying on his kitchen floor confused and recognized the smell of her brother's spaghetti and garlic bread in the air. He was nervously looking at her, biting his fingernails. It was his only bad habit. “Chad! Thank goodness it’s you. It’s really you!” Abby said tears rolling down her cheeks, she got up and threw herself into her brothers arms. “What? Of course it's me, why wouldn’t it be me?” “I had this terrible dream Chad, that you gave me this evil house and it wouldn’t let me out and I tried everything and nothing worked and the house was hurting me and they wouldn’t deliver pizza to me and there was this old pale woman …” “Abby just calm down…an evil house you say? I bet it was just a bad dream. It’ll all be over soon Abby. You'll forget it in two days. Now let’s sit down and eat or something. Why don’t you write about it? Get it all out of you.” “Okay, okay I will. I'm not feeling that hungry, but thanks Chad. Can I stay in the den for tonight?” “Sure Abby. Hey, I’m sorry about everything lately…I know you need your space.” “It’s alright. I’m just glad to be back.” “I love you sis, just know that.” She walked away with a smile on her face into the den. She began to write and everything just started to flow out of her head like a waterfall and soon she was done. As she looked up, the maroon walls of her brother's den started to crumble. Everything became too familiar. She let out a scream of terror. The big untouched bedroom was in front of her once again. “Welcome back, Abby.” You couldn’t see the robotic voice but you could hear a smile crack in his tone of voice. “You let me out, why would you bring me back! I was there. I touched him, I hugged him. I saw him there, I talked to him. Please don’t do this to me!” “Like I said before, no one ever leaves. You are mine now. Chad signed the paper for the sale of the house. He doesn't love you anymore. Your precious Chad has wanted you out of his house for the longest time. He loves his family; you were just a nuisance, a chapter in his book. Now you're gone and he's happier than ever.” Anger filled Abby and she threw dusty books at the walls and the ceiling fan. When she turned to throw another, everything was back to normal, every book untouched. As she gasped for breath, she realized that this wasn't a dream she was in, it was real. “You're lying! I know you are,“ Abby yelled. “He would never say that about me. He would never do that, he loves me!” “Think what you want, just remember I know the truth Abby, I know everything about you.” There was the sound of a hushed snicker through every corridor. “I give up, I am done trying. You can have anything you want, you can have me!” Abby exclaimed sobbing. “Good, what would you like for breakfast? You'll starve if you don't eat soon.” “Nothing from you.” Abby walked into the closet. There was nothing there and this madness had to end. “Oh well, I know what you’re thinking! I know what you want. I told you I can give you anything you want!” shouted the house, making sure Abby could hear him. A noose fell from the ceiling, a razor dropped next to it. Soon pills were scattered along the floor. Abby didn't know what to do, it was running through her mind and the opportunities were all in front of her. She could not just pass up this chance. She turned around trying to get the thoughts out of her head but they would not leave and she heard a loud thud on the thick carpet. Slowly she turned around not wanting to face reality as she saw a shiny handgun on the ground. She stayed in place, frozen. All of the sudden a crackling noise came from the voice and slowly she could make out voices. She realized that it was her and Chad a few months ago when they were fighting. “Abby, why can’t you ever do anything right! Come on, when are you going to publish that damned book of yours?” “Chad you aren’t being fair, I've sent it in. I’ve done everything I can. They rejected it. I'm starting a new book. Please stop! Chad, I.. I don’t know what to say, I’m sorry. Please stop yelling at me.” cried Abby. "How could this be possible?" she thought. This was months before. Abby and Chad were fine now. A faint sound of footsteps left the room and a door quietly closing sounded just like yesterday to her. “Scarlett are you listening?” Scarlett was Chad's wife. “I want Abby out, this is the last time I am listening to her excuses. I wish she would just drop dead or at least get out of my house!” “Chad aren’t you being a little bit harsh on her. She’s your sister…you love her. Just think about what you said. Forgive her and forget it Chad!” The noise faded out and Abby’s cries got louder and louder "So Abby, what will it be? Fast, faster, fastest, or the easiest? Your choice." said the house in a cool, calm, and collected voice. “Fine. I’ll give you what you want!” Everything was running through her mind and her conscious was ringing in her ears screaming, telling her not to do it, as she stepped onto the chair and put the rough rope against her neck. “You wanted me gone Chad and now I am.” She kicked the chair out from under her and as she struggled for air, she ran out. She was dead. Her body just hung there limp, motionless with no emotion in her once soft face. She had struggled for three long hours in the evil house as the digital clock by her bed read 8:02 a.m. Evil laughter made the house boom. The phone rang two seconds later. Brrrrrring, brrrring, brrring. “Hey! You’ve reached Abby’s house. Can’t come to the phone right now, leave a message!” “Hey Abby…it’s Chad. I got this funny feeling about something. It’s probably nothing. I just wanted to talk to you for a little and see how you are doing. I can’t come over anytime soon…soccer practices, dance classes, and swimming lessons are so time consuming. How’s the new house? I know you want your space and I saw you yesterday but I sure do miss you. I love you sis call me back, you know how to reach me!” Days passed and Chad heard no call from his deceased sister. The phone rang once again. “Hey! You’ve reached Abby’s house, can’t come to the phone right now, leave a message” The machine repeated. “Hey Abby…it’s me again. It’s been four days and you haven't returned my call. Are you mad at me? Is everything alright? I’m coming over I want to see you.” The machine clicked as Chad hung up. No more than half an hour later, the door bell rang. Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong. Chad was impatient and there was still no answer. He remembered he had brought the spare key that he gave himself just in case anything like this had happened. He slid it into the keyhole and turned it to the right. He shook it a little and pushed it in with all of his strength. The house seemed deserted, like his sister had never resided there. He walked forward into the kitchen and saw nothing but a plate with a half-eaten moldy sandwich on the table. He turned back around, face full of disgust. He was angry at his sister for not taking care of what he had given her. He walked slowly up the stairs not wanting to smell what his nose was breathing in. He took in the scent of something rotten. There was no way to explain rotting flesh, all he knew was that he didn’t want it to be true. He walked into the first bedroom and saw nothing but an untouched bed and a small bedside table. As he rounded the corner walking to the other bedroom he took a deep breath and pushed open the door. His eyes filled with tears and sorrow as he saw his sister lying there on her bed, her skin as purple as a lilac. The TV was still on ABC Family. Chad laughed quietly; she loved to watch reruns of old movies when she couldn’t go to sleep. Chad found Abby, her eyes were shut and she looked so peaceful although days before she was letting herself fall to her death. Chad picked up the receiver to call the police. "I need an ambulance, my sister has passed away. I'm guessing it was a few days ago, she needs to be taken to the morgue." “Would you like a reward or something? People die everyday. We'll pick her up in a week or so,” replied the person on the other line. “What are you talking about, She…she needs to be taken to the morgue, sir.” “So will you. You’re never going to get out alive.” Chad threw the phone in shock and watched as it bounced off of the pale blue carpet and flew back to the phone post as if it was being pulled by a magnetic force. "No need to be so rough, you could have been a good boy and walked it over! Your sister obviously takes after you." laughed a robotic voice. "Who are you! What did you do to Abby?" shouted Chad. "I did absolutely nothing to her. She did it to herself, I can promise you that. All you need to know is that I will provide for you. You need nothing more than what I can give you. I can give you food, water, and shelter. I am here to talk to you if you need someone to talk to. I am the future, I am your future." "She would never do something like that, I know her. She was happy; S..s..She just died in her sleep..." his voice said shakily. As Chad turned to run out of the bedroom an image appeared of his sister hanging from the noose just like a rag doll. It came and went in the blink of an eye, like a glitch in a video game. As he held his stomach and tried to hold back from throwing up, something caught his eye; a glimmer off of a piece of metal. He pushed the nightstand out of the way and saw it. It was the gun. He thought about what he had just saw, and what he was had lost. Chad was sure he couldn't live without his sister and what he had just witnessed was never going to leave his memory. As he raised the gun and put his fingers steadily over the trigger, "Yes that's right I know what you're thinking, just do it, it's all your fault. You did this to her..." the house kept repeating. "It's all my fault," Chad said to himself. With one muscle movement and a bang he was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. The carpet turned a deep purple as the voice spoke for the last time to him, "Ha ha ha ha, nobody ever leaves me. Alive." The mechanical voice faded out into the halls for the last time.
 * Be Careful What you Wish for**