The Youngest Hawthorne

1. It started out as a good day...

It started out as a good day. I’m staying at Hawthorne House, where I get to stay with the brothers, Xander, Jameson, Grayson, and Nash. I always love staying there. Especially with Xander. I’ve known him my whole life, and his brothers. But I’ve always been one of his closest friends. And secretly wanted to be more than a friend. But now he has a girlfriend.

Her name is Max, and she’s Avery’s best friend. I don’t have anything against her, she just got the courage to ask him before me. I didn’t want to risk our friendship. And today, she arrived. So Xander was busy with her, Jameson and Avery disappeared pretty early to who-knows-where after Max and Xander went off to talk, Libby, Avery’s older sister, was with Nash, so I have to talk to Grayson.

“Come on. You can take a break for five minutes to talk to me.” I say.
“What do you even want?” He asks, exasperated. He hates it when someone tries to stop him from doing whatever work he has for the day.

“I’m bored,” I say with a shrug. “And you can stand to take a break.”

“Actually, I have 28 billion dollars to give away in the next five years, so I really can’t.”

“Please? For me?”

“Go talk to Rebecca.”

“She’s with Thea.”

“Then-”

“I already told you, your brothers are all busy with their girlfriends.”

“So? You’re friends with Max and Xander, so go play a game with them or something.”
 
“But-”

“I really don’t have time for this, y/n. Go talk to someone else.” I sit in a chair and cross my arms. The last thing I want to do is play third wheel with Xander and Max. But alas, even Grayson has denied my company, so I have no choice. As I start wandering through the halls, I must have made a wrong turn, because I am completely and totally lost. No matter how much I came here as a kid, I manage to get lost every time I come here.

Since I have no idea where I am, I have three options. One: keep wandering in the hope that I recognize something and can find my own way back. Not likely since I have a terrible sense of direction. Two: turn around and keep walking until I’m back in whatever room I was in before. That will probably get me even more lost. Three: call Xander. That’s the option I normally go with, but today he’s with Max. Well, I was about to try and find him anyway. So I pull my phone out of my pocket and call him. But it just keeps ringing. And then it goes to voicemail. I’ve never heard Xander’s voicemail before.

“Sorry, I can’t answer, I’ll try to call you later. Unless I just don’t like you. In that case I would spike you. Leave a message after the beep!” I smile. It’s just like Xander to write a song for his voicemail. But instead of leaving a message, I just hung up. I’ll talk about it with him later. It’s probably just that he has his phone on silent, or he forgot it in another room. I also really need to have a talk with him about a better voicemail. Half of it doesn’t even make sense.
  
Well, If Xander isn’t answering, I might have to call someone else. But who? I hit Jameson’s name, since he’ll probably get me back the fastest.

“Y/n? Is something wrong?” I don’t call him too often, so he might think it’s something bad.

“I’m lost, and Xander isn’t picking up.”

“Why wouldn’t he pick up?”

“Don’t ask me! But can you come find me?”

“Yes,” he sighs. “Where are you?”
“I don’t know! That’s what it means to be lost.”

“Find the nearest room, and tell me what’s in it, then me and Avery will come get you.”

“Ok,” I say, walking towards a random door in this hall. “It looks like an office.”

“You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”

“Uh, the desk takes up most of the room, there are a ton of bookshelves…”
 
“What color are the walls?”

“Bluish gray.”

“Is the desk white or dark brown?”

“Dark brown.”

“Of course you’re on the other side of the house. We’ll be there in like fifteen minutes.”

“Ok. Thanks,” I say, hanging up. Well, my rescue is on the way. Might as well explore this room a little. I sit in the swivel chair and spin around, but quickly get bored of that. So I turn to a random shelf, and select a random book with no intention of actually reading it. But when I try to pull it off, it triggers something, and the bookshelf flies open. Did I just find a secret passageway on my own? I pull my phone out again, and call Jameson.

“What is it? We’re almost there.” He says, exasperated.

“First of all, that seems a little rude,” I say. “Second, I think I found a secret passageway.”

“What? There are no passageways leading to the room we’re going to.”

“You mean I found it before you?”

“Or we’re just headed in the wrong direction.”

“Should I go into it?”
 
“No. We’ll keep heading there, on the off chance you did find a passageway I didn’t know about. If you’re there, then we’ll see you, and this passageway, if you’re not, you’ll have to wait a little longer for us to figure out where you are.”

“Fine. Just hurry. This is a really ominous doorway, and I want to go into it.”
“Don’t. You have no idea where it might lead. We’ll be there in like five minutes.” He hangs up, and I’m on my own with a secret passageway I’m not allowed to go down, even though I was the one who found it.
 
I shine my phone’s flashlight down it, and scream. Something is staring right back at me! And it’s trying to get out, though it’s a little too big for the door. WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo? I’m panicking! Slam the door! I obey the little voice, and slam the door before whatever that was can get out. I should run far far away from this room. But then Jameson and Avery might not find me… looks like I have to stay.

“Y/n? What’s going on?” Avery says when she sees me pale and trying to catch my breath on the ground.

“Where’s this passageway?” Jameson asks.

“I’m not opening it. There was something behind it!”

“What?” He looks confused for a second, then says, “I get it. There is no passageway.”

“There is! But I’m telling you, I saw something!”

“Yeah, right. Let’s get you to Xander’s room.”

“Fine! I’ll open it, but I’m closing it after a second. Use your phone flashlights to see it.” I pull on the book I grabbed earlier, and Jameson gasps when it actually swings open. Avery shines her phone light into it, and both of them scramble back against the other wall. I try to slam the door, but… it’s too late. The thing, whatever it is, is halfway out the door… it started out as a good day.