Wednesday, July 30, 2014

What This House Holds

The two story house seemed to loom of over them as they pulled into the driveway. Rose and Garrett looked at each other in the back seat, both of their faces filled with uncertainty.
“Well here it is!” Their dad bellowed from driver’s seat. He put the car in park and turned around to face them. “What do you guys think?” He asked. They looked from the mysterious house and back. Garrett was the first to speak his opinion. “It’s creepy dad.” He said. Rose kept quiet, her eyes stuck on the house in front of them. It was a nice old home with beautiful architecture. An old porch swing lay broken on the ground and some of the windows were broken as well. “It’s not creepy, it’s just a bit of a fixer upper. I promise you guys will love it!” Their dad said getting out of the car. Rose knew it was hard for him now that Mom was gone; it was hard for all of them. She didn’t want to move out of the house they grew up in, but she knew they could no longer live in a house that reminded them of her every single day.
They grabbed what they had brought with them in the car, while the rest of their things were on a uhaul truck headed this way. Their dad rumbled in his pocket for the new key. “Hm okay what did I do with that darn thing?” He said. Garrett looked at Rose with a scared expression. She knew he didn’t want to go inside, but they had no other choice. “It’s gonna be okay.” She whispered to him. Rose was fourteen while Garrett was only ten. He still slept with a night light and Rose had a feeling he was going to need a lot of them when living here.
                When their dad finally found his key, which happened to be in the same pocket he had already checked twice, they entered the new house. They were all taken aback as they entered the threshold.
“Oh my god.” Rose said with wide eyes. The house was the cutest and most quaint thing they had ever seen. Immediately their fears were replaced with a sense of calm. The walls were painted a light yellow color that brightened up the whole house and left them with happy feeling.
“It’s so cute.” Rose exclaimed beginning to look around. “See I told you guys you would like it.” Their dad said before setting down the luggage. “I’m going to go grab more stuff, but you guys are free to explore. Just be careful okay? This house is pretty old and like a said it’s a bit of a fixer upper so stay together please.” He said looking mostly at Rose. She knew the routine well of course, that’s what happens when you are the older sibling.

                The first place they decided to explore was the upstairs. They ran up the old staircase hoping to claim rooms as soon as they could. The upstairs was painted robin’s egg blue which was one of Rose’s favorite colors. Again it filled them with a sense of calm.
“Okay you look in that room and I’ll look in this one!” Rose told Garrett. The two rooms were opposite each other. When Rose opened the door she was surprised to find that it was only an old broom closet.
“ROSE LOOK AT THIS!!” Garrett yelled with excitement. Rose shut the door and turned around. She entered the room and her jaw practically hit the floor. The whole room was filled with old toys. Trains and cars and teddy bears, old Barbie dolls and porcelain dolls lined the room. Above them was an old toy air balloon that hung from the ceiling. “This is amazing!” They said stepping inside. In the corner of the room was a small twin bed with a curious George blanket draped across it. Garrett plopped onto the bed. “Oooh comfy!” he said bouncing up and down. “I totally call this room! But you can have all the girly toys.” He said. Rose laughed as she looked at all the dolls. Some of them were newer than others. Her eyes landed on an old porcelain doll with a beautiful face and long blonde hair. Her dress reminded her of a princess dress. She grabbed the doll and smiled, remembering how her Mom had pretty long blonde hair.
“I’m going to keep exploring okay?” Rose said still holding onto the doll. Garrett had already begun to play with the old train set that was on the floor.
“Okay.” He said not looking up from the toy.
                Rose left the room with her new doll and walked down the hallway. Old picture frames hung on the walls, but no pictures were inside them. She opened a door to find a small bathroom and continued her search for a bedroom. The room at the end of the hallway had a big chalkboard sign that hung on it. ‘Belle’s Room’ was written on it in chalk but the M in room was almost completely faded away.
Rose took a deep breath, preparing herself just in case something creepy was on the other side.
She opened the door to find a violet colored room with a big bed in the center. It was a larger room than the one filled with toys. But the thing that caught Rose’s eye was the big vanity dresser that sat in the corner. It was covered with old stationary paper and plants in pots that were now dead. Pens and pencils and paint brushes sat in old vases. In the middle of the dresser, covering half the mirror was an old clock. It looked like someone had started to paint it then stopped halfway.
                Rose set the doll down on the bed and walked over to observe the clock up close. The face of the clock was scratched up, but she could still read the numbers. The two hands of the clocks were shaped like arrows on a compass. She turned the clock around to look at the back and noticed a small latch that opened up a small compartment. Rose began to feel giddy with excitement and couldn’t help but think of herself as Nancy Drew. She put her hand into the small compartment feeling around until her hand landed on a small metal object. She pulled it out to reveal a small key.
“Hm..now what do you go to?” She said as her curiosity only seemed to intensify. Holding the key closer she inspected its design. It was an old skeleton key, the kind you would find in an antique store nowadays. Rose began her search to find what the key went to. She walked around the room first trying the bedroom door itself, but the key was too small for the old lock. Next she tried the lock on the closet door, but it was more for decoration than actual use. Finally she noticed that the dresser itself had a lock on drawer under the desk.
                She slipped the key in and turned it, with a small click the drawer was open. Rose slid open the drawer to find an old journal. ‘Belle’s Journal’ it read on the front. Rose became more curious to find out who exactly the girl that used to live here was. She grabbed the journal, but hesitated on opening it. This was someone’s personal journal, and it must have been locked up for a reason. She wanted to know so badly, but she didn’t want to intrude on someone’s privacy, even if they didn’t live here anymore.
She decided to only open the journal to first page, and then she would put it back. The first page had a weird inscription and Rose began to read it out loud. “Magiae dabo tibi hæreditatem meam.” She had a tough time reading it, but as soon as she got to the last word something strange happened. Her body was filled with warmth, like when you step out of your cold house and into the warm afternoon sun. Her fingertips began to tingle and a white light encircled her. Rose was too stunned and confused to scream. The journal dropped from her hands and closed by itself, and the light was gone. Her fingertips still tingled some, but the warm feeling dissipated. “What the heck was that?!” She said to herself, her heart beating faster than before.
               

She picked the journal up from the floor and the front of it now read “Rose’s Journal.” Rose stared at it in shock, her eyes wide with fear and curiosity. The journal opened by itself this time and Rose dropped it to the ground in fear. Looking down, the first page now read something else.
“Please read this journal carefully. It will help you to understand and give you the knowledge you need. This power has been passed from one family to the next. You have been chosen to carry this power inside you and use it for good. Rose Hemstock, you are a witch.”

No comments:

Post a Comment