The Mansion

Part 3: Lost

I looked out across the dark room from under a bed with my heart pounding rapidly against the wooden floor panels. I lied there for a while until it grew unnervingly silent yet again. I clutched Mycroft firmly as I slid out from underneath the bed. Mycroft's scarf was loosened under his black bunny nose and so I took a moment to tighten it around his neck again. "It's okay, Mycroft", I whispered. "Shadowman's gone now." "I forget? Wasn't there something I was going to do?", I asked myself internally. "It was something about keys...Yes! Keys to unlock the hallway doors. We were going to look for them.". "I'm afraid, Mycroft, ...but it's what Sherlock would do, right?", I asked Mycroft in need of encouragement. "He wouldn't let the 'Case of the Missing Keys' remain unsolved no matter how scared he was!". Mycroft nodded in agreement, and so I crept to the doorway and peered out. No one was in sight. "Here we go, Mycroft", I whispered, as I clutched him ever more tightly. I turned to the left and followed the long corridors of doors until they led back to the main foyer. I walked down to the first floor. "I wonder where I should start looking first?", I thought to myself. I turned back to the stairs and saw a door underneath them on the right side. I took a deep breath, walked up to the door, and slowly turned the knob. Inside I discovered a living room with an antique wooden framed tube TV directly to the left of me, a floral sofa set straight ahead, along with a wooden rocking chair; and to the far left was an open entrance to a small kitchen. I heard the nearby plodding of heavy boots from behind the left corner wall where the kitchen continued out of sight. I quickly darted and hid beside the couch just as I saw the boots reach the kitchen sink from my new vantage point. "There you are", a gravelly woman's voice sang out as I began to tremble. I could make out the body of an old woman, in front of, and looking down at me. I tried to get up but couldn't because I was shaking too violently. My legs betrayed me as I grew cold,... and then blackness. My eyes readjusted and I was in the main foyer again, but something didn't feel right. I saw that Mycroft was no longer in my arms, but rather, on the floor in front of me. I picked him up just as I caught the movement of something behind me,...near my leg. I tensely stood up straight with the knowledge that I was not alone. It was as if someone's eyes were penetrating through me, sending shivers of trepidation down my spine. I turned cautiously to see a black, lanky shadow with long dripping jagged edges streaking out in all directions on the floor from beneath it. Then two red eyes began to glow from the feminine form as it lunged toward me with arms outstretched, and shrieked so shrilly, that I was forced to cover my ears in response. I took off running toward the dark hallway next to the large front door with the Shadowwitch close behind. I ran for what seemed like ages in the darkest of darknesses until I no longer heard the Shadowwitchs' shrieking, nor felt her red-glowing demon eyes upon me. I stopped and looked back to make for certain that she was gone. She had indeed vanished once more into the coal-black darkness from whence she had come. I took a moment to catch my breath while leaning with my back against the wall when the thudding of nearby feet in the hallway interrupted me. I pushed my back ever more harshly into the wall in anticipation, as I scanned for any noticeable movement. Two hands erupted through and grabbed my shoulders making me jump dramatically. "Oh, sorry I startled you. Have you seen him?", she asked me while looking around suspiciously. She lit a match and held it up to her face. I could now make out a woman who appeared to be in her early 20s with short black jagged hair and several facial piercings. She was wearing an oversized faded and torn black t-shirt, and matching black jeans. She gripped my dress tightly under my chin. "Are you listening to me, kid?", she said urgently. I nodded a little, and she released her hold. "You shouldn't be out here. It's dangerous", she chided. I watched as the flame on her match flickered and died out, welcoming the darkness again. I heard her fiddling with something, and then another small flame illuminated her face,...and another face. Tears of terror poured down my face as I saw the second face was that of a small shadow form who was clinging onto the head and shoulders of the woman in front of me with spider-like precision. The spider form's face seemed to be that of a boys',... both human and not human at the same time. The whites of his eyes dimly glowed and stared at me from above. "You should go and hide", she said seemingly oblivious of the shadow creature crawling on her. "Go!", she yelled frustrated at my inaction. I lifted my arm to point at him. "What?", she replied; and looked back over one of her shoulders as the shadow boy moved onto the other. He then crawled down her back and vanished into the blackness again. "NOW!", she yelled urgently, and I took off running as the flame flickered out again leaving the hallway in utter darkness once more.