The Nightmare on Cherub Street/Chapter 1
The Herbert family's station wagon passed through the gate of number 6066 Cherub Street and screeched to a halt outside the 19th century Victorian style house that stood alone atop a solemn hill. Billy peered out the window at the gaunt looking building with badly peeling green paint, unable to believe she'd been forced to leave her old home hundreds of miles away for this old dump.
"It's so ugly!" complained the 7 year old as she peered up at the filthy high arched windows. "I want to go home!" she protested, hugging her favorite stuffed unicorn tight to her thin chest. Billy was a small girl for her age, with bright blue eyes and straight blond hair that went down past her shoulders. Her fondness for brightly colored sundresses painted with things like rainbows and unicorns compounded the look of an even younger girl, as did her childish naivety. She was not happy about this move, as she'd had to leave behind her best and only close friend, Jamie.
"Now honey, give it a chance!" came the familiar tone of her father's voice from the driver's seat. "Your great aunt Gertrude left this historic house to your mother in her will." Billy's father, Norman, was a tall, lanky man with brown hair and gray eyes in his late 30's, with only a few gray hairs on his head. This move didn't seem to bother him very much since, as he often said, he was a doctor and could work anywhere there were people to be found.
Billy pouted, looking at her mom, Wendy, in the passenger seat. "Mom, is this creepy old place really gonna be our home?" Her mother turned back and smiled at her youngest child. "It will be alright, sweetie. This town really needs more doctors and your daddy has already found a much better job here. Since I'm a teacher I can work anywhere like your father, so it's not a big deal for me. I'm sure you'll adjust just fine to life here."
Billy sighed, resigning herself to her fate. Her parents didn't seem to understand how hard it was for her to make friends as she was very shy around anyone she didn't know. She glanced over at her brother in the back seat next to her. Peter was 5 years older than her, and at 12 was getting very lanky like their father. His short cropped black hair flopped down, framing his angular face and hazel green eyes. He was too engrossed in the video game he was playing on his phone to see her staring at him.
Downtrodden and homesick, Billy turned away from her brother and looked up at the roof. She was eyeing gargoyle statues when something in the third story window caught her eye. With a gasp of freight Billy felt a chill go down her spine as she saw a shadowed face peering down at her from inside the house.
As the girl locked eyes with the mysterious figure, something tickled the back of her neck and she screamed, whirling around to see her older brother grinning at her. "Peter, don't do that!" she scoffed for what felt like the thousandth time, giving him a push. Peter only snickered at his sister, and Billy turned back towards the window. The mysterious figure was gone. "Daddy, I saw a scary face in that window!" she said, pressing her finger against the glass of the car window to point."
"Billy, nobody is in the house. Your great aunt lived alone, remember?" Billy was sure she'd seen something, but if the house was empty then how could she have? She shook her head and decided to let it go - she'd never liked this old place the one time they'd visited their great aunt a couple years back - it creeped her out.
Billy opened the car door and stepped out, her rainbow unicorn light-up sneakers activating as her feet hit the rough cobblestones of the driveway. She shrugged her backpack on over her shoulders as the rest of her family got out of the car and grabbed their bags. "First one inside gets to pick their room!" declared Peter, bolting for the door. "No fair!" Billy shouted back, trying to race after him. "You're faster than me!"
"Kids, behave!" their dad called after them as Peter reached the door and turned the ornate metal handle. Peter slipped inside, flashing a grin back at Billy as he slammed the door behind him. Breathing hard, Billy made it to the door a few seconds later and wrenched it open, dashing inside.
Billy ran into the entrance hall, as her eyes fixated on her brother racing towards the grand staircase. Billy stopped in the foyer and doubled over, wheezing. There was no point - she couldn't beat Peter in a race. Instead of trying, Billy let him go and decided to take a look around the room instead.
The entrance hall was mostly as she remembered it - high ceilings, lots of old paintings lining the walls covered with extremely gaudy wallpaper. A layer of dust covered all the paintings and the wallpaper was peeling in places.
Peter disappeared to the left down the second floor hallway as Billy examined the room, never once looking back to see if he was being chased. It was only then that Billy felt some desire to look up and to the right. High up on the wall was a painting of a man wearing a ruffled collar that looked to be from sometimes in the colonial era.
Billy felt a shiver go down her spine as she looked at the painting, but she couldn't look away. The painting's color swiftly drained, and the man moved. He leaned out from the painting to stare down at the little girl with eyes turned black as death and skin turned white as marble.
The specter crooked a finger at the girl that had gone gaunt and bony, and beckoned. It was then that the little girl heard a bare whisper, faint and eerie: "Yyyyooouuuu'll dddoooo nnnniiiccceeelllyyyyyyy...!" it said in a voice that reminded the girl of nails on a chalkboard. Billy was paralyzed with fear, unable to move or do anything. It was only when she felt the hand touch her shoulder that she let out a scream!
Chapter 2: Inside The House