Needless to say I packed up my things and left the same day. I spoke to no one. Just as I was leaving the room the landlord bumped into me, “Keep your deposit!” I yelled at her.

Months later I returned to Mansion Sarasinee to get my deposit back. I spoke to my friends and they convinced me I had made it all up, the painting and the girl. I had too little sleep and my brain was probably overworked. When I went back I couldn’t find the landlord anywhere. I decided to walk up to my old room and speak to the new tenant to find out where I could find the landlord. I also wanted an excuse to see the old place. Before I knocked I noticed the door was already open. I walked in and there it was…the room I had once loved, but no painting.

Someone entered the room behind me, “this room is not for staying ma’am.”

I turned around and saw a short, but stout Thai cleaning lady and I asked her why it was closed.

“Bad luck miss, for two years now, no one stay long. One time a girl live here with her family. She have four family members here. She was a painter so she make little money but she must support whole family. She cannot afford to stay no more so she send her brother and sister to her grandmother. One night she kill her parents by poisoning them, next night she invites brother and sister back. She poisons them too. She throw each one off the balcony at night to look like family freak-accident. The next morning she jump off balcony herself, but she survive fall. She go to hospital with everything broken. She tell doctor it was a family suicide, then she die in hospital. We pack out the room and only find painting she made. We lost it but some people say they have seen it, how is that possible? We had it, we lost it. We close the room. And now you must go too. Landlord wants everything out.” The cleaning lady waves me out of her way and continues her work.

Four family members and the girl, that was five people who died. For five nights I had that dream. I was pushed off that balcony each time for each family member and on the last night I felt what she had felt herself. The pain and the remorse of what she had done, while she lay on the concrete floor dying. I felt a chill down my spine again and I swear I heard a cat scream in the distance. I cut my losses, left and never went back. Not surprisingly, Mansion Sarasinee would be getting no review from me.

In the scary movies you wonder to yourself, why didn’t the character leave sooner? Well I had a full schedule at work and I was wondering if what I was seeing was real at all. I was questioning my sanity and even those around me seemed to question it too. In real life, you don’t want to believe it at all, because the truth is scarier than believing it’s a lie. Well…I’m a believer now.

***

Tell us: What did you think of this story?