Gemotions

The house seemed to breathe, inhaling and exhaling a silence that pressed down on her. She had been so excited to move in, but now, a knot of unease had formed in her stomach and wouldn't go away. She kept finding herself checking the locks, over and over, as if to ward off something unseen. She wanted to scream.

She was in the attic, surrounded by dust-covered boxes, when she noticed a section of the floorboards that didn't quite line up. She knelt and pried at one of them with a rusty screwdriver she'd found. The wood splintered, revealing a dark cavity beneath.