Shattered Innocence

~TWO~

“It’s so nice to see you again, dear.” Mina said giving you a hug. Mina was a close friend of your mother’s, but you still called her aunt Mina. You smiled and happily returned the hug before sitting down at the kitchen table.

“So do you have any plans today?” Your mother asked before taking a sip of her herbal tea. You nodded and poured yourself a cup of sweet apple and honeyed pear herbal tea.

“I’m gonna go out to the museum.” You said taking your seat. She nods and glances over at Mina before glancing back at you.

You sit and talk for an hour before you decided that you’re going to head out. You hug Mina and promise her that you’ll come over for dinner this weekend.

“Love you sweetheart, see you at home.”

“Love you too, mom.” You kiss your mom on the cheek and then leave.

The museum is rather empty and you wander into the back half and smile when you see a young man, around 23 with shaggy dirty blonde hair, pale green eyes, and a light tan; he’s wearing a security guard uniform.

You quietly walk up behind him and then tackle hug him from behind.

“CORY!” You smile as he laughs and pulls you in front of him and gives you a big hug.

“Hey there’s my little trouble-making cousin.” You smile innocently.

“Sketching again, are we?” He crosses his arms over his chest.

“Perhaps,” You say with an innocent shrug. He nods, his eyes sparkle with amusement.

“How’s Uncle Mike doing?” You ask as you both walk back into his office.

“He’s doing good… and your mom?”

“Fine, we just had lunch with Mina a little bit ago.” He took a sip of his coffee.

“She wouldn’t let me leave without promising that I’d come over for dinner this weekend.” He laughed and shook his head.

“That’s Mina all right. I think I might stop by after my shift and see how she’s doing.” I giggled.

“Thanks.” You say knowing, in truth, he was just going to help save you when it came to dinner.

He patted the top of your head, making sure to mess up your hair.

“I have to get back to work kid, but I’ll talk to you later all right?” You smile and nod before wandering off again.

“Perfect.” You smile up at the old abandoned house and even though it’s getting late, you decided to stay and wander around the house, an idea for a really good sketch coming into mind.

The old wooden stairs creak under your feet, the banister wobbles and you quickly let go, afraid it might break and you could fall. The screen door was just barely hanging on to the last hinge that held it up and oak and glass door behind that was ajar.

You grunt as you try to push the door, it creaks and you can hear it scratching against the floor. You cough as the semi-stale air fills your lungs along with dust; lots and lots of dust. You look around; cobwebs, dust bunnies, and old things that were left filled the front hallway.

To your left was an archway that led to the living room then another on in the living room on the side wall that lead to a dining room and directly across from you was an old door that looked like it would break if anyone touched it. The staircase to the upstairs was to your right. You slowly walk up the stairs, each one creaked under you, a few even cracked as though they would break and send you plummeting into the darkness of the basement.

The upstairs had two hallways, one that had four doors, three leading to bedrooms and the fourth to the bathroom and the other had one door at the very back of the left side and a window directly across from where you were standing. You slowly head towards the door that leads to the attic.

The door, compared to the rest of the house, was in pretty good shape. While the paint was chipped and the hinges squealed and squeaked, it was still attached and didn’t feel like it would fall on top of you at any moment. You slowly ascended the stairs and stopped. It was one large room, very spacious. There were a few old boxes lying about, dust about two inches deep, along with spider webs and spiders adorn the tops and sides of them. But what caught your eye was an old wooden chest that sat directly under the window in the front of the house that still had a few remaining pieces of the stain glass that one sat in the frames.

Wiping as much dust as you can off of the top you open the chest. It creaks and moans in protest, but opens none-the-less. Inside of it is a few odds an ends: old pictures, notebooks or journals of some sort, and a package. You pick up the package and look at the old brown paper that covered it. You decided it had to be another picture or something along those lines for it was square but you could feel an oval indent in the middle of it.

“CAW!!” You jump and fall backwards. In the window is the large black bird that your cat was trying to kill earlier. You blink and stare at it, it’s black, beady eyes stare right back into yours. All of a sudden you feel nauseas, a sharp pain runs through your head and for a split second you see something… a person… a man?!

Long silver hair, bright red orange eyes… you blink and try to catch your breath, but the room gets eerily cold which makes it hard to breath. The bird twitches its head and looks behind you before cawing loudly and bomb dives you before flying into the shadows behind you.

You are now lying on the floor, gasping for air as you try and search for the bird or what ever it had gone after. You blink as the room starts to go fuzzy. You can barely make out the shape of a guy coming towards you. Your heart begins to race and fear rushes over you. You soon feel a warm sensation in your chest, then slowly, it fills your body and suddenly a bright light fills the room.

It’s blinding.

You bury your face into the floor and try to shield your eyes with your arm. The light vanishes as quickly as it came and the room feels normal again.

You look up… nothing’s there. You don’t move; your eyes quickly look around, taking in every detail of the room.

“AAHH!!” You scream as a pair of arms wrap around your waist and lift you up against them.

“Hold still!” A husky voice growls as you try to squirm away; you don’t listen.

“STOP IT!” They roughly pull you closer to them and squeeze tightly so that it feels like your ribs would break any second. You gasp out for air, but can’t breathe from how tight the person is holding you and soon, you black out.