Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

"What ar e you doing, Rose?" Henr y said.
"I was - just - I'm sor r y, Mr. Chilter n, I -"
"It w ould be best for you to stay away fr om this r oom, okay, Rose?"
"Yes, of cour se, Mr. Chilter n," I said as I left, and he shut the door abr uptly
behind me.
And so, I stayed away fr om then on. Cleaning ever y r oom in the house, except that
one.
One par ticular night I was w r iting a letter to my par ents. I stopped to look out of
the w indow , gather ing my thoughts, w hen suddenly I spotted a gr oup of people at
the gar den gate looking str aight back up at me. It was my univer sity fr iends. I
jumped up and waved to them. They didn't r espond. They star ed, conver sed, but
didn?t r espond. How could they not see me? I thought. I was r ight ther e, waving
pr ofusely.
Refusing to not be hear d, I opened the w indow w ith gr eat effor t, to a gush of fr esh
air and the heavy noise of the main r oad. I shouted. No r eply. I waved and shouted
louder. Still, no r eply. My last shout like a dying piano note. And then it star ted to
r ain. The w eather made my fr iends shr iek and laugh befor e they left and
disappear ed into the distance. Distr aught, I closed the w indow , blew out my candle
and w ent to sleep.
The next time I was at univer sity I spoke to my fr iends, Sar ah, Mar y and Agnes,
asking them w hy they did not r espond to my calls fr om the w indow.
"Oh, w e saw you, Rose, and it was you w ho didn't r espond to us," Agnes said.
"But I was calling out to you. Fir st, I waved, and then I opened the w indow to-?
"Rose, ser iously, w e watched you the w hole time,? Mar y said. ?You sat by the
w indow and didn't look up once to r eceive us. We thought it r ather r ude,
37