The Mansion of Time

Chapter 1: That Day

It was the morning. I decided to wake up on time for once in my life. I mean it is the first day of school after all. Also the last year of middle school.

I got my self together and decided to eat my favorite morning snack, a stroodal toastal. With fifteen minutes to spare it wouldn't hurt to watch TV.
Oddly enough a breaking news headline bombarded my flatscreen with the words:

"Earth axis tilted overnight then back into place?"

I didn't really care to much so i put my plate away and went through the door.
It was a gelid dawn, one like no other in the last few years. The sun was awfully golden but the faint white tint of light almost canceled the amber like rays.
Halfway down the street my friend Kentoreru attempted to strike my neck from behind my back but i dodged him before contact. "You're a failure Kentoreru" i told him in a joking manner. "Ah um, let's go to school.." he tried to play it off but was obviously embarrassed.
The classrooms looked the same as always. Bland and boring, plain and simple. My other two friends were sitting in the back of the classroom looking almost suspicious.
Me and Kentoreru sat by Ran and Mashu in a joke kind of awkward silence as we scouted out the fact no else had arrived yet.
We laughed and then Ran initiated a conversation.
"So its our last year huh?"
"Yeah and it's not going to really be anything special though." Kentoreru stated.
I looked out the window and onto the empty fountain in front of the school.
"Sooo.." Ran began. "You gonna snatch that girl Hana this year or what?".
"Who knows.." i said to my friends in a unconvincing tone.
Ran and Kentoreru looked at each other with a message in their eyes, then proceeded to make conversation.
"So Mashu whats your plan for this year buddy?" Ran asked. Mashu opened his eyes and stopped trying to go to sleep to respond. "Sleep and pass every subject." he stated nonchalantly.
After that the classroom began to pile up rather quickly with our classmates. I was still looking out the window until my personal space was raided by the hands of destroyers one and two. Ran and Kentoreru carried me over to somewhere in the classroom but i had my eyes shut because i was making a face to make it clear to them I wasn't entertained.
I opened my eyes to see what gave me a heart attack of nervousness. It was my childhood friend and crush, Hana. I was in a cold and hot sweat at the same time. She looked me in the eye with her alluring rosé goddess like ones and smiled. Our classmates all began welcoming her like she was some kind of celebrity. Then she turned back to me. "Hey Joshu! How was your morning?" She said cutely with every aspect of her focus and attention on me. "It was alright, it just got a whole lot better though." The other half slipped out into reality rather than staying in my head. I wanted to erase myself from existence after spouting that nonsense aloud. "Oh really?" Then she giggled and went to sit with her friends.
"That was alright man." Ran said genuinely. "I mean that other half most definitely could've stayed in your noggin buddy." Mashu stated, downplaying my small talk attempt.
Class began and everyone took their seats.
The teacher went over classroom expectations and the other usual stuff at the beginning of any school year.
Class came to a close and i was gathering my things. I was walking out until halted by a tug on my arm.
I turned my head and impulsively said what do you want nonchalantly but to my surprise i saw Hana blushing. Looking at me then the ground constantly as she asked "Can we have lunch together?" I wasn't sure how to respond due to the question asked and the behavior presented by her. I took control and told her yeah sure but i knew i wasn't ready to handle all of that. Another class goes by and it was lunch time. I was in the hallway waiting for my friends until Kentoreru stopped by and said knowingly "So, what'd she say?". "So you put her up to it. I said yeah." Kentoreru said okay and we walked to lunch to meet up with the others.
Picking up my lunch tray of mediocre food, i realized i didn't know where me and my friends were actually sitting. I looked around puzzled b4ut luckily Mashu lead me to our table. My friends must have obviously had some sort of evil plan. Because one side of the table was all of them sitting, taking up as much space as possible. Leaving me to sit on the other side, with Hana. I mustered the courage to take a seat next to her and luckily unluckily enough(if that makes since) i touched hands with her. I saw her face turn red and she looked at her food to suppress her embarrassment. Kentoreru smirked and asked "So how's the food" i squinted my eyes at him and responded genuinely "It's better than last year". Ran starts talking "I think so to. But didn't get sick a lot from eating the school food before?" "What makes this year different?". I began to eat. "Nothing really im just hungry" i nonchalantly stated. Everyone laughed and proceeded to finish up their lunches. I was throwing away my tray in the trashcan when Hana came to me smiling "Walk me home." It looked like she had managed to suppress whatever unusual behavior that was on display before and got back to acting like her usual self. Me and Hana left the school together as promised after the final class. Me and her began to walk down the street as it began to start snowing. Hana's face looked reddish to me so i gave her my jacket. "Thank you, Joshu". I blushed. "It's been a long time since we did anything close to this." She began. "I wonder why we stopped talking to each other. We were best friends back in the older days". She sounded a little upset almost so i gave her a more truthful answer than i don't know or times change. "I was shy because you finally became a girl." I said aloud."Hm? I've always been one you idiot. " she giggled. "Look at those two.." "Just having a lovely blast aren't they." Ran and Kentoreru whispered in the bushes. "Lover boy" Mashu said with a joking hostility.
Me and Hana reached her house and started our goodbyes "I'll see you tomorrow Joshu, hopefully we can get close to each other again!" she said cutely smiling as her hair blew softly in the wintry air. "Yeah me to." She took off my hoodie and handed it back to me. "Promiseme you won't catch a cold because of this kay?" "I'll manage." "Alright tough guy eat something warm for me, until tomorrow" she waved and i did the same. My friends that were spying on me fell out of the bushes onto the street. I turned around barely surprised. "Why the hell were you all following me?" "Just for research purposes" Kentoreru stated unconvincing. Then in that instant, everything went black for a moment. I couldn't see, smell, hear, taste or touch anything until my feet felt something hard and creaking beneath them. I rubbed my eyes and was shocked to see i was standing within a old mansion.

I didn't know if i was dreaming or not but i looked around from my standing and saw my friends getting up off the floor reacting the same way i had. Then at that moment we all heard a scream from another room. It was too dark to see just what the hell was awaiting all of us in there. I gulped and my body for no reason knew it had to run in there but my mind made me think about all the horror movies and how bad of an idea this really was. But i knew this voice almost...i think..