The Completely Empty Attic

CHAPTER 1

The Completely Empty Attic.

As I lie in bed, staring at the ceiling, it starts again - The slow creak of a rocking chair on the worn floorboards of the attic. The completely empty attic. As the clock hands slowly turned, second by second, making the sound that blends ever so smoothly to the sound of footsteps. She couldn't help it. It was the only place she could stay, The only place her nightmares seem to be weaker than usual. It's the only place she could feel a concise feeling of safety. Lisa Alston, with her being taken in by the Alston family, she didn't see it cut out to complain about her room. After all, they had taken her in when no other family would. She knew nothing of her past, for as long as she sat in silence, as hard as she tried to jog back her memory, It traversed nowhere. Lisa tried asking her sister Andrea, her parents, as nice as they were, everything Lisa brought up the topic, they always seemed reluctant to answer, they sometimes said nothing at all or just indirectly shoved off the question. It was no good. After a few tries of trying to figure out her curious past, she gave it up. They didn't want to talk about it and she wasn't about to force them to. Every night at a certain time, it seemed, that the creaking of the old chair in the attic could be heard, and the sound of the footsteps returned too... It was already morning. The sun was peeking through the night storm. The creaking of the swinging chair stoped. The footsteps stopped. She sighed with relief, The eccentric aura in the room had given her many sleepless nights. "might as well get ready for day school" she mumbled to herself. She put on her simple day school attire. As required, she sat down to braid her hair. She stopped thinking. Her thoughts seemed to have paused. Everything stopped. The wind didn't rush in through the partially open window. The fan on the ceiling seemed to have stopped almost as if someone were to have switched it off. She just gazed into her own reflection in the mirror. Her placid blue eyes felt tired. Everything else seemed like a distant blur. She felt like she was fading away.. slowly...