Susan sat up abruptly, heart racing before the contents of the room became clear. Christmas decorations covered the walls top to bottom and the floor was filled with colourful bits of red tinsel and a few decorations that weren't so fragile. "CHRISTMAS!" shouted Susan setting her heart racing again as she bottled to the door and straight onto the stairs.
Sliding down the railing, she stumbled a bit at the bottom but managed to keep her feet underneath her as she arrived in the living room where her family were waiting for her with gifts. "Took you long enough," huffed her older sister Hannah from the corner while her younger system Amy sat on the couch half asleep.
Her parents both smiled and waved but didn't really say anything until they all got stuck into the presents. Opening them up one after another. When Amy got to one particular box, Susan happened to glance over to see her pulling something out. "What have you got there?" asked Susan.
"A knife!" shouted Amy in her cute voice and the room burst into laughter. Susan found herself laughing so hard that her side was starting to hurt a bit and there were tears in her eyes. Her lungs were burning and it took her some time to compose herself but she managed it eventually. Wiping away the moisture from her red face Susan went back to opening presents though none in particular stood out.
Once the presents had been open Mum said, "Feel free to go play with your new toys but make sure you're ready for lunchtime,"
Susan nodded and sprinted off, back down the stairs and into her bedroom. She giggled to herself, looking over the contents of the room, nearly tripping on some of the mess but eventually throwing herself back into the bed and pulling her Nintendo Switch out of its red case to play some games.
"LUNCHTIME!" yelled her mother from downstairs, nearly causing Susan to drop the device in panic.
"I didn't think it'd been that long…" mumbled Susan as she put the console away and made her way across the floor to head out and downstairs straight into the kitchen. The food was placed all around the table with various dishes that looked interesting. Her family, Mum, Amy, and Hannah were all gathered around the table already with an open space left for her.
Sliding into her chair Mum said a few words before cutting into the chicken in the centre of the table. The bones crunching under the knife didn't surprise Susan. It had happened before and getting good use out of the marrow was something that Mum's Mum had taught her apparently, so it was all done cleanly, if a bit nasty on the ears.
Passing out the food Susan wasn't really sure what to eat. Trying bits and pieces none of it tasted great… but her mother had TRIED and that was important. It wasn't often she went to such lengths and Susan wasn't going to be the one to complain about it. Hannah had a frown on her face but didn't say anything when Susan glared at her.
"Ouch" hissed Susan. Glancing down she noticed the blood staining her hands and realised she'd managed to cut herself at some point. She tried to wipe it off but the nearest thing had been the table cloth and not it was stained with blood. Glancing around, Mum looked angry but she didn't say anything. Hannah was pointedly looking away.
Lunch ended up being sort of quiet and awkward so Susan left as soon as she could. Dragging Amy away with her and down the stairs to her bedroom. The pair were soon wrapped up in a bundle of blankets and were back to playing games.
"Dinner's ready!" called out Hannah.
Susan frowned, and looked over at Amy who was already on her way out the door. It couldn't be dinner time right? Susan glanced out at the window and showed that the sky was dark already so she followed after Amy, down the stairs once again and onto the back patio were the meal had been set up.
Amy had found herself a seat and was looking around while Hannah stood at the end in front of the barbeque with a knife in hand and a smile on her face. There was no food though. Susan glanced around some more but in a blink Amy was chewing on some noodles. Rubbing her eyes Susan found that there was a plate of noodles in front of her as well, and Hannah had already started eating.
Shrugging off the concern Susan ate dinner without complaint. Susan was careful, making sure not to cut herself this time but couldn't bring herself to eat much. The plate wasn't even half empty when she made an excuse and left the room, heading downstairs to her bedroom and threw herself onto the bed with her eyes closed.
A loud crash sounded from down below. Susan felt a familiar pain in her side as she glanced around. There were more crashes as she carefully left the soft confines of her sheets and carefully made her way to door. The sounds had stopped but something still felt wrong as she carefully opened the door and made her way downstairs. A slight bit of watering on her eyes as fear gripped her heart.
Tip toeing down, one step at a time Susan found herself in the basement and she saw a figure there. It was just Hannah.
