House of Voices

Hi, my name's Jakob. I live in Norway in a pretty small town and I work in an orphanage not too far from here. Prior to being an orphanage it was a hospital during the war, and other than that, I don't really know much about it. The hospital was renovated immediately after the war, I don't know why it was so sudden because there was a lot of profit to be made... but I digress, it became an orphanage. During the latter renovation stages, I worked there to help to nannys and I worked there for quite some time after it was changed over. I enjoyed it there, but it took some time for me to realise that not all was right in the orphanage.

The place was owned by a wealthy Norwegian business man, and was ran primarily by his wife, but it was full of nuns who acted like they owned it - we all knew they didn't but if we ever stepped out of line they actually had power to kick us out. Anyway I keep going off track, so let me begin with this pretty weird story.

Part 1: Hired
It all started when I was hired on the sixteenth of February. I got a check for a fair amount of money, and I was able to come and go as I pleased. Overall it was a great deal. On my first day I walked around the orphanage. Most of the place had already changed over to the orphange but there was a large portion of the right wing and the back that was still the hospital, and there were sections that I was banned from going in. Boy, should you listen to what people tell you I went through the left wing and down a secret hatch that I was told not to go down. It led down to a large basement, or that's what I thought it was. There was an awful stench down there, cobwebs all over the place and large doors seperating this area from the next. Being curious, I decided to go through the doors. As I pushed them open, I was greeted by a stink of something... dead. Looking around I couldn't put my finger on where the smell came from, but soon enough I found out... and I wished I hadn't. The walls were lined with drawers, and inside those drawers were bodies - this was a morgue! The horrid stench wasn't even enough to put me off, but the corpses were. Why hadn't they been cleared out yet? I was an avid believer in the paranormal, and this shook me witless. I shut the drawer I opened and left quickly, bumping right into the matron.

"What are you doing, Jakob?" She wasn't pleased with me, and lets just say this didn't make my life any easier. I didn't think she knew what was down there, if she did then surely she'd take care of the matter. But anyway I was escorted to my room which overlooked a large section of grass and trees with a walkway through them. For the rest of the night I kept hearing things, little children. I fell asleep easily though, but woke up during the thunder storm at around 4 in the morning. My window was wide open, and that unnerved me as I clearly remembered shutting and locking my window. I didn't mind though, I just shut it, but as I closed it I saw a little boy in the grounds. Hastily making my way out of my room, down corridors and out of the building, I chased after the figure in black, but never catching up to it. I made a mental note of telling my boss the day after.

The second day, I told my boss about the boy, and he didn't seem to care, told me that it wasn't rare for children to break in at night to look at the old place. I shook it all off, reassuring myself. Each night after that, I heard little kids laughing in the hall ways. Each time I went out to see, and every single time? I was greeted by an empty hallway.

On the fifth night, I believe it was a saturday, or maybe even a Sunday, i went to the bathroom to investigate a giggling I had heard that kept me from sleeping. The taps were all on. Strange, what child would do this? I shrugged it off as I turned each of the taps off, washing my own hands on the last one. I stared into the mirror and saw a child behind me, which dark circles under her eyes and rugged, old clothing. Turning, i didn't see her again. But i heard her, coming from... inside the mirror. By this point I was determined to see what was behind the mirror.

Due to the renovations still happening, I would probably get away with opening up the tiles and peeking inside. So, i did. I didn't find anything too important. But what I ''did find, shook me. ''I found a small, cracked mirror and a child's doll. Besides it was a small collection of hard candy. How the fuck did it get there? Despite feeling quite unnerved I kept looking in. The feeling inside my gut grew more and more painful by the second, as I felt someone watching me, no, not someone, some''thing. ''And I knew there was more than one.

By the time I found a small opening in the back of the mirror, I was close to collapsing. I made my way back to the  room and fell asleep nearly instantly. Every night the voices got worse. They even got into my dreams, into my subconscious. Even though I tried to ignore it, I couldn't. Did you know they say something about the ringing in your ears when it's deadly silent? They say it's them trying to get out. And they say if you listen to them, they're free, and no amount of running can save you. Have you ever heard that?

Part 2: Curiosity killed the cat
Renovations had been finished on the nineth of September, but they had left a small part of the hospital untouched. They told me it was to ensure they didn't anger the old owner. Foolish, foolish me! I listened to them. I didn't know why but something told me they were wrong. The curiosity in me was not satisfied. I simply had to go and investigate the part that was untouched. Even though I kept hearing voices, I told nobody, and I was still curious. I believed I was being paranoid and that I was imagining things, but to this day I don't know why I fed myself that lie.

In the dead of night, I made my way to the tower that was not renovated. It was a building near the forests, and on my way I swore... I could hear things behind me, chasing me. Sticks would crack, wind would sound like voices pleading with me, and again that god damn child's laughter! It wouldn't leave me alone! All I could hear by the time I got to the building was the sick laughing. I pryed the lock open with a crowbar near the cellar I picked up, and went in. There was nothing there. It was damn cold, damp, and again there was that stench of decay. Ignoring it, I managed to find a stair way with a label "To 2B", I walked up, finding rows and rows of cells, was this a jail? Where was I? I didn't know the answer to any of that. It was terrifying, but I swallowed down my fear and kept walking. I found more cells. More cells. And more cells. I turned backwards when I hit the end of the cells and made my way back down the stairs.

I knew I could hear chains rattling lightly in the distance, as though one of the convicts or prisoners or whatever were still there. I went up the other says labelled "Theatre". What? This was going to be some surgical shit, I just knew it. I opened the two plastic doors. There was a metal surgery bed in the middle of the room, and it was very small, like the size for a child. Besides it was was metal table full of surgical tools and instruments such as scalpels and prongs. There was a row of needles and jars, I can't even tell you what was inside those jars, no, I just can't. It was horrid. I... I don't know anymore.

I kept hearing the voices, I kept hearing the small pitter-patter of footsteps beside me, I kept hearing those fucking chains. I swore I was going mad by this point but I kept on anyway.

On my way out, I saw someone, big and burly, with broad shoulders. He was holding chains with a grin distorted to reflect his insanity. His breathing was deep, his eyes completely blackened. "Who are you?"

"Welcome to our house..." his voice was deep, and sounded cruel and menacing, it made hairs stand up on the back of my neck as I turned and ran as fast as I could. I felt his arms grabbing me, the harsh metal chains digging into my torso as I writhed and kicked and screamed to no avail... within moments I had blacked out and all I remember was lying on that small surgery bed with that man looming over me with a scalpel and needle. Something was making me unable to move, making me drowsy. Everything was blurry as I still heard that fucking laughter! I felt something very sharp in my eye... but that was when I fell back to sleep.

I woke back up in my bed, drenched in sweat with blood over my face. Going to my bathroom I washed my face and realised my eye was blue. Strange. i had green eyes. Oh well. Wait. What the fuck!? I remembered that man. Must have been a dream if I woke up here. I shrugged it off again, knowing that ghosts can't hurt me.

Part 3: Going mad
I couldn't remember the things I did or felt. Everything merged into one. What the fuck was going on? Was I mad? What happened? It all started the night after that dream and after I got one blue eye. I kept seeing kids. Everywhere. Even telling people didn't help, they put it down to the kids breaking in. Hahahahaha, but I knew better. Yes, yes I did. I wasn't blind, wasn't oblivious! No, I won't let them be the death of me! Now the children were telling me things at night. Instead of just hearing them laughing, they spoke to me, told me things.

Wanna know what I learned? Well, they told me about when they escaped the madness by hiding behind a mirror. In the bathroom. Because the warden had an obsession with blue eyes. They said he was a Nazi who escaped the regime but kept the stigmata, kept the propgana ideals, believed that blue eyes were perfection. So he experimented on the children... Now it was my turn. Because I went into the experiments! How fun! I felt like this whole game was passing me by.

Oh, and the renovations were done by that point, and I was helping out with the children as they came and went. One girl reminded me of someone I knew, but didn't know all at the same time. Her name was Amanda, and she had long blond hair and bags under her eyes with a scruffy dress. I liked her the most. We spoke a lot, she seemed to know me more than I knew myself. Every night I heard the voices.

Are you still reading? I'm sorry
If you're still reading, you now about the kids. You know about everything else. Well I'm writing this right now, because everything else has already happened but this hasn't. The voices are telling me strange things, now. I can't answer them because if I do I have no idea what might happen. They tell me that everyone hates me, because I ''know the fucking truth. ''They probably do. I know more than them.

Everything they say has been a lie.

The reason they kept that old part of the hospital was because the warden was there. He still had a lust for childrens eyes, still had that... habit. And now I'm part of this crazy shit. I don't want to be. I'm ending it. Tonight will be a red night and I'm fucking ready to die!!!!

If you ever look into the mirror at night, be sure to look carefully. Be sure to focus on all sounds. Because maybe your house has a child too. Maybe you'll go crazy. Maybe you'll be like me. I hope your mirror isn't close to you. I hope you don't end up like me. I hope they aren't behind you. Right now. Staring at you, smiling as they prepare to take over you. I hope they don't talk to you tonight.

And if they do, I hope you don't let them in. I can only hope.