Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

A half smile fr om Henr y indicated that he knew I w ould never call him by his fir st
name.
"Yes, Rose. This is a r esident post. You'll stay her e w hile you w or k her e."
I didn't r eply. Simply nodded timidly and smiled.
The fir st night I stayed ther e it was dar k and quiet. Soft r ain patter ed on the
w indow s. I was situated on the top floor , w ith gr eat view s over the busy Mile End
Road. My r oom had one w indow and a w r iting desk in fr ont of it, w her e I placed
my diar y and pen.
After settling in, I tr ied to sleep, but couldn't. Betw een the r ain hitting the
w indow s and the sound of a low scr atching noise, I was too ir r itated to dr ift off. My
imagination r an w ild and my mind began to w onder about all the other r ooms in
the vast house; and now that I'd seen mine, I felt implor ed to explor e the r est.
Fir st, I took a look in some of the r ooms on my floor but they all looked the same
as mine. Consider ing the size of the r ooms and the types of w indow s they had, I do
believe that at some point the house must have had plenty mor e ser vants to
manage the upkeep. Now it was just me ? a scar y thought r eally.
I then descended the old w ooden cr eaky stair s cautiously to the second floor. This
is w her e Henr y slept. I decided to go in the opposite dir ection of his bedr oom to the
other end of the hall.
One of the r ooms I enter ed was untouched and stunningly beautiful. A four -poster
bed was dr aped in deep pur ple silks, fit for r oyalty. Por tr aits cover ed the walls
depicting families, soldier s and w ealthy mer chants fr om w hat I believed to be the
18th-centur y. A golden dr essing table sat by the w indow , over looking a pitch-black
gar den. I was in aw e -
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