FNIA: The Forgotten Soul

36: Childhood Home

EVAN POV:

"Welp. Here it is." I said out loud as I parked my car on the gravel driveway.

Right in front of the car was a stone fence on either side of the gravel road, and a large steel gate blocking said driveway with the name Afton spelt out in the metal. It was easy to tell that neither the fence nor gate had been touched in a while. The stone fence was overgrown with moss and shrubbery, and the gate was completely covered in rust.

"It's been so long since I last saw this place." Marionette commented as she looked at the gate with recognition.

"No kidding." I replied as I unbuckled myself and prepared to climb out of the car. "The last time you were here was for a sleepover the week before you... died."

As the last word left my mouth I began to feel a sense of guilt. I felt like I could have done something that day. I was barely even 10 metres away when my father stabbed her. if I had just that little bit of courage, I could have stopped him. Heck I could have stopped him before he did anything else if I had just told Henry what I saw. But I didn't. All because I was afraid of what my father would do to me if he found out that I knew.

"Hey." Marionette spoke with sympathy as she leaned over and used her hand to turn my head so I was facing her, obviously sensing the guilt I held within me. "Don't feel bad about what happened. I don't and will never blame you for not intervening. If you had, William might have ended up killing you too. Staying silent saved your life. And that is the 1 thing I don't hate about that moment."

I felt as she used her thumb to gently stroke my cheek. And when I let my eyes drift up to meet hers I could see the mixed look of both concern and love that shone in them.

"Yeah..." I said with a sigh as I looked back down, before a dry chuckle escaped me. "How many times have you told me that now?"

"Obviously not enough." She replied back in a lighthearted tone as she playfully elbowed me. "Now hurry up and open the gate, I think we both want to see what the old farm house looks like."

"Yeah you're right." I replied as I opened my door and climbed out.

Walking over to the gate I found that it was padlocked shut. And it wasn't a small rusted one like the one on the storage unit. No this one was big and chunky, with the steel hook being as thick as my pinky. Which was saying something for basic padlock standards.

I grabbed the lock and tugged it a few times. The gate shook a little bit. But that's not what I wanted, I wanted to get rid of the lock.

Letting go of the lock I began to look for something I could use to break it. Maybe a metal rod? Or something hard that I could smash the damn thing with. However that soon became unnecessary as I heard a click sound come from the gate. And when I looked over I saw that the padlock had popped open.

Turning my attention over to the car I could see Marionette through the windshield giving me a cheeky grin as she wiggled her fingers at me. A faint glow of white coming from her fingertips as she did so.

Rolling my eyes at her antics I turned back to the gate and removed the padlock. I almost had to cover my ears due to the loud metal screech the gate made as I swung it open.

"Ok." I said as I walked back over to the car and climbed in. "Time to go check out what the house looks like."

"Let's hope it's not falling apart." Marionette replied as I began to drive through the now open gate.

It didn't take long to see the house. It was a simple wooden 2 story farmhouse. With 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large double garage, attic with a sky window, and a large basement that also had a wine cellar. And let us not forget the old bomb shelter that was built into the basement, been there since World War 2. Unfortunately William never let me or any of my siblings go inside it.