"Don't you dare!" I fumed at him, "You bloody ditched me on our date" I accused and walked away from him.

"I was appointed to an urgent meeting by my dad, you know I can't refuse him," he pleaded, getting a little serious.

His Father, Mr. Brandon was a multi-billionaire, running his business in many fields. He often ordered Harry to attend his meetings on short notice and most of those occasions falls on the time of our picnics or dates. Never knew if he was doing it purposefully, it couldn't be but when Mr. Brandon called Harry for any work, Harry never refused, he respected his father like any good son would and I respected his privacy.

Although I knew he had a point, I didn't want to forgive him without some compensation.

"Alright, dinner at my place this weekend," I told and got a little closer to him, concealed my emotions, so did he to not attract unwanted attention in our company, masked a complete professional face and continued with a sickeningly sweet voice discreetly, "you will be there at 7 sharp!" And walked away before he starts with any of his usual excuses.

Harry and I have been dating for nearly four months now, although our relationship was a little unbalanced, I knew I was falling in love, and that feeling scared me to death.

Harry has been supportive, convincing me, and tolerating my mood swings when I literally switch my humanity off. However, we are keeping our relationship a secret from the outside world but well, I couldn't keep my mouth shut to Zara, so she knew too.

I got in my car, Zara was already seated on the driver's side. She enjoys driving but unluckily, her car was in the repairing shop for the week, so I have offered her to drive mine. I told her about our weekend plans, she smiled approvingly at me. Often we went out together on picnics but Zara loves her family too much to waste time with clingy couples.

We listened to music on our way, a comfortable silence surrounded us, we sang along the lyrics now and then to the upbeat. Zara parked the car in front of my house, I offered her a drink but she refused to say that she has so many files to complete and started to walk to her home.

Her house was a street down from mine, although I knew her since I started to work, she has been living close by without me knowing her whereabouts.

Zara had a close-knit, loving family. She was a mean girl during her high school, many of them wanted to be friends with her, but she refused their friendship stating that they only wanted fame than her friendship, so she was an alone wolf but her family and her little sister were her everything.

I envied her family, Zara found every excuse to spend time with her family and I often joined them on the movie days but her little sister had a condition for me, I'm only allowed if I bear snacks and I didn't mind at all. I was happy with her family.

I have always been an ambivert throughout my life, although it's okay for me to speak with a stranger, I still have a deadline to my friendliness but Zara has always been the bubbly, charming girl since I met her at the office and finding that she lives close by since she was a kid, made me realize how close-knitted my life was been.

I walked inside my extravagantly boring house, I never had the feeling of a home to this place, this surrounding was too huge to be called my home and it was strictly professional, greyish white walls, white furniture, and white everything giving it a strict clean look.

I walked inside my room, it was the only living place in this house, my safe haven, the place where I find myself able to breathe. I looked around my room and smiled, greenish teal walls, textured emerald green wall framing my bed on the right with a huge tree and butterflies painted on it.

I also have a wall clipped with photos, drawings, paintings, and quotes that I adore. A fairy canopy covering my bed. A collection of ceiling hangers, steel that clinks, bells that chimes, and feathers that tickle brush my head and face while I roam. I decided to hit the shower and edit some files.

I filled my tub with some aromatic essential oils and get into it. After a long bath, I walked out of the bathroom, feeling light and fresh. I settled myself comfortably in my bed, took out my laptop, and started editing. My eyes started to droop on their own accord. I shut my laptop down and started to sleep.

Wet grass graced my foot, bringing me back to my senses. I stared at the magnificent house that stood tall in front of me, beautiful climbers engulfing the walls, small colorful flowers decorating the lawn. My legs started walking inside without my concern, the interior looked royal, giving a golden, palace-like feel to it.

I walked to the sofa but I was pulled upstairs by an invisible rope in the opposite direction, I glanced at the smooth wooden stairs that I stepped on, my hands touched the little enchantments that hung on the wall. There wasn't anyone in the house, it felt eerily quiet, almost as if abandoned.

There were three-room with closed doors and one room with a slightly opened door, the light coming through it. I was drawn inside the room without consent. I looked at the magnificent interiors and the huge chandelier that hung on the ceiling, it mirrored the chandelier in the living room, although, that's enormous than this one.

Everything was so mesmerizing, abandoned but clean, but what caught my eyes was the portrait that hung on the wall. It was a picture of a girl in an outdated black dress, hair braided and her eyes peering intensely. She looked beautifully melancholic, her expression was sad as if she was mourning when the photo was taken.

I went closer to the portrait and noticed that small dust particles covered the intersections, the portrait looked vintage, matching the interiors of the house.

I glanced deeply at the girl, trying to find out something interesting as to why I was attracted to it. The lights went off suddenly, alerting my senses. I heard a scream echoing through the passage. I rushed outside the room, searching for its source. I looked through the passage, even tried to open the locked doors with no luck.

I heard moans coming from the house, my heart started beating fast, panic settling in the pit of my stomach. I ran from the passage, trying to get out of the room. I heard footfalls coming towards me from behind. I turned to look and found the portrait stand tall, with tints of blood splattered around its edges.

I stood frightened at the portrait, her eyes glaring daggers at me. I stayed paralyzed as in a trance. I tried to get away from the portrait and this creepy hellhole but the portrait blocked my way from escaping. I strutted backward, with the portrait hot on my heels, the stairs were only one step away from the place I was standing, I decided to run.

Suddenly, a hand creeped out from the portrait, horrifying my senses, and pushed me hard. I fell on the stairs, rolling downwards, I sensed my head hit the ground hard.

I kept my eyes tightly shut, horrified at the scene that unraveled behind my closed lids. After long moments of silence, I opened my eyes and stared at my bedroom, I stayed lying on the floor, sheet a tangled mess around my legs. I heaved a sigh of relief and thought loudly, "It was only a dream!" And relaxed.

Word count - 1064 (excluding the A/N)

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Guys, check out the cover by Abbey_M_Writess

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-haf