HIDE AND SEEK

'Eighteen ... nineteen ... twenty' counted seventeen year old Ellen while covering her eyes and standing in a corner of the family home living room as her younger brother and two younger sisters gather themselves in their hiding places, '... Ready or not, here I come.'

Ten-year-old Benny decided that he was going to try to be clever. He hid behind the living room curtain hoping that his eldest sister would pass him right by. This would not quite be the case for Ellen was wise to what Benny may be up to, for one of Benny's shoes stuck out under the curtain, though with Benny just being ten years old, Ellen would play along somewhat.

'Where could everyone be?' she quietly asked while expecting to hear a bit of a giggle from Benny.

There was no giggle, there didn't seem to be any movement either. Ellen had expected to see him squirm at least a little as she got closer and closer to the curtain.

'I think I know where someone is hiding' she sings in jest.

When she gets close enough, she pulls back the curtain quickly and she straight away is surprised and confused for Benny is not there. She had been one hundred percent sure he was right behind that curtain. Alright so, Benny was not where it had been thought he was ... this is a little odd though Ellen would move on and continue with the game.

Out from the living room and into the hallway, no real places here worthy of being good hiding spots and no obvious signs of there being any attempts to hide here, so on Ellen does go as she creeps her way into the kitchen. Before Ellen can even step into the kitchen, she hears gentle sobbing. This sobbing seems to be coming from somewhere within the room and from one of Ellen's sisters too. Ellen looks right around but cannot see either of the girls.

'Mary Sue, are you in here? I can hear you. Where are you?'

The sobbing stops and still there is no sign of Mary Sue, there is no sign of the other sister, Jane, either, same can be said for Benny. He is also not hiding anywhere within the kitchen. Despite the strangeness of what had just happened, Ellen moves on with the game and heads upstairs.

'Ready or not, I am a coming' Ellen speaks out loud as she begins her ascent up the wooden staircase.

'Why Ellen? Why?' speaks a voice from just beyond the top of the stairs.

'Jane? What's wrong? Where are you?' asks Ellen while not being able to see her sister.

It was her voice, Jane had just spoken to Ellen, Ellen is sure of it but there is no sign of her sister. Ellen begins to hurry and soon become frantic in the search for her siblings. She cannot find any of them, anywhere. A knock comes to the front door and Ellen moves back to the top of the stairs. When she gets this spot, she can see that the front door is already open and that a police officer has entered the house.

'Can I help you?' she asks.

'Miss, I am going to need you to stay right where you are' comes the reply as the officer raises a hand.

It is at this moment that Ellen can see it. Blood ... there is a lot of blood, it's everywhere. There is blood on the walls and on the wooden staircase. There is a lot more blood right next to where Ellen stands, and it is also all over her person and her hands. She has no idea as to how any of this can be. There is a lot more blood in the kitchen as well as in the living room, especially right by the curtains where one of Benny's shoes rests. All three of her siblings are dead.

There is panic and mayhem as Ellen's parents arrive home. Her mother upon stepping into the home drops to her knees and begins to struggle to breathe. Horrible images begin to flash through Ellen's mind, images that relate to her siblings and as to what may have happened to them. It drives her crazy and it takes her some time to calm down.

What had happened? Did Ellen do this? If she did then why can't she remember? Had there actually been a game of hide and seek at all? ...

ASYLUM

Fifteen years may have passed though Ellen begins doing what she does most every day over and over only this time would be somewhat different, it would be very different. She stands in a corner of the common room within Mountain View Psychiatric Hospital and counts.

'... Eighteen ... nineteen ... twenty ... ready or not, here I come.'

She turns with a smile on her face though that smile quickly disappears for there is a boy standing no more than twenty feet away from her. The boy is no ordinary boy. Two reasons in particular ensure that he is no ordinary boy, one being that he is void of all colour except for two, and the other is that Ellen knows just exactly who this boy is. The boy is her brother Benny.

Benny was ten years old when he died. There is no way that he can be right here right now. He would be twenty-five years old right now if he had not died the day an unexplainable family tragedy occurred. Everything about Benny in the here and now is almost grey. His hair, his face, his skin all grey as too is his clothing. The only other colour on him is red and that is the red of blood trickling from his nose and from his mouth, and indeed, he hasn't aged a day.

The little boy who stood silently was missing a shoe, a shoe he had hid by a curtain to throw his sister off his scent during a game of hide and seek. It looked as if his head had been rammed face first into a wall. Maybe that is how his brutal murder had begun.

'Benny ...' Ellen calls out in an almost whispered voice as she stretches out her left hand towards him, 'you can't be here Benny ... they mustn't find you ... quickly hide or they will get you ...'

Ellen becomes distracted by another resident of Mountain View. A young lady with a slim frame, short, spiked hair and large blue eyes stands only feet away while smiling and staring directly at Ellen.

'What does she know?' Ellen says to herself before turning back to where she had seen Benny only a moment or so previously.

Benny is gone. He is no longer standing where he had been if indeed, he had been there at all. Ellen moves quickly to that spot and when she gets there, she turns right round in a three sixty degree circle.

'Benny ... good ... hide ... hide and no one can find you.'

Ellen moves frantically. She is most definitely not what she once was. That day changed everything but what really happened? Ellen soon moves over towards that thin lady.

'You stay away from Benny ... don't even try to find him.'

Some time passes and Ellen is in with one of the hospital psychiatrists.

'Ellen, we need to talk about that night' speaks a Doctor Francis.

'No, we don't ...'

'I think we do. The visions are getting more frequent, aren't they?'

'No, no visions.'

'Your brother, you still see him, right?'

'Em ... yeah ... alright ... he likes to visit' says Ellen with a bit of a giggle and a bit of trepidation too as she also begins to fidget.

'And is he visiting now?'

'Yeah' Ellen responds sounding as if she is just a child herself.

'Where is he?'

'He is behind you.'

Doctor Francis turns to his left and sees nothing.

'The other side' says Ellen.

The Doctor turns to his right and jumps being startled by the arrival of a co-worker. This makes Ellen giggle once more.

'Argh ... don't do that. You know I don't like to be disturbed when I am with a ... resident' speaks the doctor as he addresses his co-worker.

'I do apologize, just to let you know that you have a visitor' responds the co-worker right before he begins to whisper, 'it's the chief of police.'

'You are going to have to excuse me, Ellen; we will continue our session tomorrow.'

'He did it ... no ... he knows who did ... wasn't me.'

'Who did what Ellen?'

'That police officer, who was at this other house ... he knows who killed my brother, he knows who killed my sisters. Told me I needed to take the blamed for it ... I didn't do it ... no ... wasn't me.'

Ellen once again begins to become somewhat frantic, though this time anger and rage comes with it. She becomes so aggressive that she had to be sedated and brought back to her room to rest. Doctor Francis eventually gets to go see his guest.

'Doctor Francis, good to see you' speaks the police chief greeting the Doctor with a handshake 'unfortunately it does not come with good news.'

'It is a bit hectic here today but what, if anything, can I do for you, sir.'

'I just thought that you should know before it hits the news. You have that hide and seek girl here, right?'

'Ellen, yes, I was just with her.'

'We have just come across something similar. Another case. Three siblings playing hide and seek, younger two are dead and older one apparently knows nothing about it. The home is a bloody mess, and the parents were out at the time.'

'You have got to be kidding me ... tell me something, who called it in?'

'Strangely enough, now that you ask that, it just so happens to be the same officer who so happened to be first on the scene at your patient's former home.'

Something certainly is not right here. Something is not what it seems. There would be a slight pause before the doctor would speak Ellen's name. He then hurried to get to Ellen's room. The police chief would follow. When they got to Ellen she was not breathing, attempts to save her failed. On the wall right next to her bed were the words in large thick red lettering 'eighteen ... nineteen ... twenty ... ready or not, here I come.'

Outside Ellen's room stands a young lady with a slim frame, short, spiked hair and large blue eyes. She whispers to herself 'ready or not, here I come' ...