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Some time has passed***

“Mama, I’m home,” the woman called. She heard no reply, the house was silent, “Mama?” She padded into each of the rooms on the ground floor, “Papa?” It made no sense, her mother should be preparing the morning meal and her father should have been sat at the table, waiting for his meal to be ready so he could break his fast and set to work tending the animals. Silence heavily enveloped the house, suffocating her. Where were her parents?

She started her path up the wooden stairs, slowly. Her heart was beating rapidly, her breath shallow, each step she took bent the wooden planks of the stairs, making them creak softly. It could have been her imagination, but she thought she could here a malicious laugh echoing softly in her mind. When she reached the landing, she peered at her parents door, slightly ajar.