Freewrite Prompt: Mask

Continuing from yesterday's fiction freewrite on bulb:

Then she heard footsteps. They were getting closer, closer and CLOSER... Then, there was a knock on the door and some chuckles again!

"Darling, you may want to shut the window. I think a storm is coming!"

The bulbs flickered again.

Charlotte was having chills down her spine by then. This was nothing she expected of since coming to the city. Maybe it was just her imagination. Or is it?

"I didn't do anything wrong, whatever or whoever it is, it may leave me alone, " she tried to comfort her shaky heart. "Look, the landlady just shouted and asked me to close the windows. I will just go and check with her." With trembling hands, she turned the door knob open.

Eeeeeeek The door screeched. It startled Charlotte a bit. The whole stairway looked dimmer than before.

She walked all the way down to the kitchen to find the landlady. She was baking or cooking something in the oven. For whatever reason, she must had sprayed some fragrance around the place as the whole place now smelled like lavender. Maybe she did that to mask a stench because Charlotte could still smell something foul in the air that could not be missed and the landlady was wearing a facial mask and a mask while cooking. Who does that while cooking?

"Oh, I didn't see you coming," the landlady almost dropped her tray. "How was your first night?"

"Hi, Mrs. Bennett. I was just wondering if the bulbs flicker in the room I am in. Did you come knocking on my door earlier?" Charlotte tried to sound calm but wanted an explanation for the happenings.

"Yeah that was me. I wanted to remind you about the windows. A storm can be here any minute. Oooh the lights! We haven't had a tenant for some time, I bet the bulbs need some fixing. I will get Mr. Bennett to do it tomorrow and change new ones for you. Don't you worry, dear, " Mrs. Bennett smiled.

"Erm... I heard some children laughing. Do you have children yourself?"

Mrs. Bennett's face turned pale. She looked a bit ill for a moment but she quickly recollected herself. "Oh, that must have been from the neighbours. The children are rather loud, don't mind them!" she tried to just laugh it off. "Now, if you can excuse me, I gotta finish this up!"

Charlotte knew she had to go then. That night, she went to bed holding her cross, hoping nothing weird happen again.

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Freewrite is a prompt writing initiated by @mariannewest and @improv to write a free-flow post without correcting or editing. I checked out her post to really get what it is before I jumped on the bandwagon. Basically, there is no right or wrong, just let the mind and fingers do their work, to find our creative self and let it come out of us.