It was a dark, quiet room with the lighting flashing often enough in the windows to see what was in it: two chairs in front of a white marble fireplace, a few huge bookcases, a painting of a gentlemen, and many stuffed animal heads hanging on the walls. Maria would have looked more but she heard Mathias banging on the front door, his voice still horrible audible and thick over the wind, as if he was speaking through a mouth full of blood: "YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER, BITCH!" Maria moaned in terror and slammed the door to the room, plunging it into darkness.
She saw a desk on the other side of the room and decided to hide behind that. Getting down on her hands and knees, she crawled towards it and hid under it. Hugging her knees to her chest, she choked back a sob and prayed he wouldn't look in here. A few minutes later, she heard the front door bang open. A huge whooshing sound could be heard as the wind blew into the empty house. "I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE!" Mathias bellowed, and she heard him opening and closing doors.
Shutting her eyes tight, Maria shrank to the back of the desk. The lightning flashed, and she opened her eyes to see the painting right above her. The man in it looked horrified. She could see why: behind him, in the foreground of the dark woods where the man stood, many yellow eyes peaked out, and one hairy arm was reaching down from the tree above the man as if to grab his hat. It unsettled her, so she went back to shutting her eyes.
Ten minutes later, she thought Mathias had given up. She was about to stand up when the door flew open and hit the adjacent wall with such force the doorknob broke through the drywall. "Checked everywhere else, you have to be in here, my sweet..." Mathias whispered. Swallowing a scream, Maria scooched back to the area under the desk where the chair would go. She heard a crash, and looked over the edge to see him, a dark shape in the room, knocking over one of the chairs by the fire in a rage. "GET OUT AND TAKE IT!" he yelled, and started slashing at the chair with the knife. Stuffing and fabric flew as Mathias slashed it again and again.
He tore apart the room for another ten minutes. She heard the door to the room open and close. Then all was still. Maria gulped and stayed where she was for another five minutes, with no sound or movement coming from the dark room except her own breathing. After another five minutes, she finally believed she was safe. She got out from under the desk and rose to her feet... and screamed.
The lightning flashed, revealing Mathias' bloody face from the gash and the kick Maria had delivered to his mouth. "Gotcha." He whispered simply, and took a step towards her. Maria shook her head and took a step back. He advanced forward. She took another step until her back was pressed up against the painting. Mathias grinned and was only about fifteen feet away. Maria thought she was doomed...
...then something happened.