Without Solace (Open)

Legend has it that a particular mansion hidden deep in the forest only opens its doors on Friday the 13th. on this particular day, the children spirits trapped within call to someone close by, luring them into the monstrous building, never to be seen again.

But hey, as far as 5 year old Hanako Sakamoto was concerned, it was just a scary legend.

Hanako lived a happy little life on the outskirts of a difficult to pronounce Japanese city with her mother and father, their house right on the border of the forest rumored to harbor the mansion. There was many a time where she ventured into the forest, playfully looking for the mansion, eventually using her imagination to believe her own house was the mansion itself.

Little Hanako was as safe as she could be.

Until.....the calendar read Friday the 13th.

She heard it when she woke. A voice. A woman's voice, almost like it was in her head. She went to school that day, constantly bothered by the voice, it growing louder and louder in her head until it began to sound like it was real. Her friend Nanase asked her if she wanted to come over and play today, but Hanako said no.

She should've said yes.

Hanako didn't live far from the school. A mere turn of the corner and she was home. But today was different. She felt she had no control of her body, and before long she walked into the forest.

After a few minutes, she came across a fork in the path. One way led home.

The other led to the mansion.

Almost as if she had become possessed, she took the path to the mansion without a second thought. A while later, there it stood. Unnerving black painted wood, windows boarded up, a chimney billowing smoke, and an overall feeling of "I probably shouldn't be here right now". Nevertheless Hanako walked inside, the door wide open. She looked around and saw a beautiful yet dirty chandelier, numerous candles strewn about, and a strange looking grandfather clock in the center of the room.

It wasn't moving at all, but the clock was stuck at 11:59. Hanako walked up to it and opened it up. She merely touched the little thing inside and heard the door close on its own, then the clock moved to 12:00.

As soon as that had happened, Hanako attempted to leave the mansion. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't open the door. She tried to yell for help, but nobody would possibly hear her. She then heard a door open from across the hall, shakily and slowly turning around to see what it had been.

What she saw scared her.

(ooc: In need mainly of the spirits of the other children who were lured inside, with one actually being nice. The idea is that Hanako is trying to escape before she is killed, but doesn't realize it until much too late that she has been dead for years, playing for all eternity with her "new friends" so to speak. I'd like it if the friendly spirit was a girl, but boys are alright as well. I'd also like to at some point develop a love interest between Hanako and the friendly spirit, as they can be any age they want in death.)