After standing there for long enough, staring into the hallway he stepped inside. From the very first step, the wooden floors started creaking.
Gabriel slowly crept forward, taking one step at a time, carefully looking where he was putting his feet because he didn't trust the old wooden floors one bit. They felt so old and brittle that he felt like he would suddenly fall through the floor at any moment.
The hallway was strangely immersive. It was perfectly symmetrical, both sides had the exact same decorations, paintings, and furniture. They also both had two doors on each side in the same place, in all four corners.
It's almost as if the house was constructed for the sole purpose of scaring anyone who walked inside, but at the same time made people want to wander further inside the house to find out what else it had to offer.
The catch was that Gabriel knew that something terrible was going to happen. He could feel it inside of him. He could sense that he was going to somehow be torn apart but wasn't sure how.
Whilst walking through the hallway he couldn't help but notice the decorations in the hallway. He rarely got scared but this time he felt a shiver go down his spine.
The ornaments were the skulls of various animals; a deer, a wolf, a monkey, a lion, and various other skulls, all placed in display cabinets on both sides of the hallway, with the skulls facing each other. The lion faced another lion, a monkey faced another monkey, and the pattern continues.
The next thing he saw was the paintings. He saw three different paintings, which appeared to be telling a story. They were the only paintings in the hallway and they were on Gabriel's right, not on both walls. They were also quite close to the door.
The first one was a portrait of a woman with a very serious look on her face. No emotion shown, just a cold and emotionless woman sitting in a chair.
The second one was another portrait of the same woman, but this time she was half-naked, smiling, and seemed very happy. He also saw a dark figure in the background of the painting, it wasn't too obvious but he could see it.
The third painting was very disturbing. It was yet another portrait but this time it was very sinister. It showed the head of the same woman in the previous paintings but this time her eyes were closed, her mouth slightly open with a facial expression that showed pure horror. The rest of her body was gone, it was just the woman's head on a large metal spike in a dark and dirty basement.
He got an ominous feeling about the door next to the paintings, he regretfully tried to open it, but to his luck, it was locked. Because of this, he was forced to follow the blood trail that was on the floor, toward its source, instead of where it was headed. He was surprised that he didn't notice the blood trail earlier. It didn't look too old, it looked fresh, as if the blood was spilled earlier that day. He slowly walked along the trail and saw that it lead to one of the doors next to the front entrance of the house. When he stood next to the door he stared at the blood-infested handle and hesitated to attempt to open it. But then he suddenly remembered why he was there and quickly turned the handle, it was unlocked. It swung open and what he saw terrified him to his core.
He saw Luna, laying beside an old couch all battered and bruised and full of blood. He immediately dropped onto his knees and crawled towards her. Once he reached her unconscious body he placed his hands on her face and begged her to wake up.
"Luna, wake up. It's me, Gabriel," he said. She didn't move, not even a twitch occurred. She was out cold. She was laying so still that you could barely notice her breathing. Gabriel got really scared that she was dead so he felt her pulse. It was there, but it was very faint. So feint that you could barely feel it.
Gabriel couldn't take it anymore, he picked her up with the intention of rushing for the exit but as soon as he got up he heard wooden floorboards creaking, one by one at a very slow pace.
He heard a pair of boots, heavily hitting the floor as they moved. Gabriel didn't pick Luna up just yet. He instead waited to see who was responsible for the footsteps before he did anything.
Once he heard the footsteps stop right outside the door he rushed to find a spot to hide in. He found a few barrels in the corner of the room and decided to hide behind them. The corner was the darkest spot in the room and the rest of the room was covered in moonlight. The house probably didn't have electricity as all the lights were off, even on the outside. Before he knew it he saw a dark figure that looked oddly familiar. It was a tall, large and overweight man. What made Gabriel even more curious was the man's voice when he spoke up. "Luna get up. I SAID WAKE UP LUNA DON'T MAKE ME SAY IT AGAIN."
The voice's deepness and huskiness sounded painfully familiar but he couldn't quite place it.
Gabriel could hear Luna's feint responses, "I... I'm up." Luna responded painfully.
Gabriel could hear how Luna was struggling to breathe.
"You're finally awake. Now get up and fetch me my rum before I beat you again." the man ordered.
"Okay" responded Luna.
It hurt Gabriel to see this but he knew he didn't stand a chance against this man. Instead, he had to sit there and watch everything happen.
When Luna returned she was ordered again by the man. "Very good Luna. Now take off your clothes and give me a good show like you usually do." Gabriel grew intensely angry after hearing that.
"But dad I..." Luna tried to explain something but she was swiftly interrupted by the man.
"BUT NOTHING! I ordered you to give me a show and a show is what I expect from you now get a fucking move on!" he shouted.
Luna didn't oppose him and proceeded to take off her clothes. As Luna took off her shirt Gabriel was furious, it was evident in his heavy breathing and his clenched fists. He got so angry that he mistakenly made a wrong move and it made a slight noise. The house was quiet enough for everyone to hear everything.
There was a sudden silence in the room. The man then got up and Gabriel finally recognized his figure. He was the man from the junkyard where his mother was murdered.