Mansion of Horror

Chapter 1

Anna awoke shivering. It was autumn and it was very cold. Orange and brown leaves scattered on the floor. Even though it was freezing outside, Anna knew that today was a very important day and had to try and ignore the weather. Anna’s hair was black but some sunlight crept through the clouds and into her room and made her black hair shine. She had eyes that weren’t a color. They weren’t blue or green or hazel or brown, no. Anna’s eyes here all the colors that eyes could be all mixed into one beautiful color. Anna looked around her room to see if there were any items that she might be able to take on her journey today. She found her old school backpack. Anna was now out of school because her teachers said she had “strange behavior” and that she was “a horrible example to the class” But she didn’t really care. Her old backpack was cactus green, velvet and was tattered and roughened. There were a few holes in it but they only went through the first layer of fabric so nothing would fall out.

Anna grabbed her backpack by the top handle and through it on her bed. She looked around for good things to put in it. She put in two radios that she and her friend could communicate with. She didn’t have a cell phone because her mother didn’t believe in cellular activity and thought it could melt your brain. She grabbed her favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and stuffed it in her pack. She tested out the two radios she had. “Hello?” she said into one. The other one repeated what she said. “I can hear you loud and clear” said Anna into the other radio. The first radio clearly spoke out and she put the radios in her pack. Anna looked around some more and found a family picture. The picture only contained her and her mother. She was a child at the time and in the picture, she was carrying a brand new teddy bear and her and her mother smiled brightly in the photograph.

A tear trickled down Anna’s cheek and she wiped it away trying not to think of the horrible things that happened before they had to move to the old house in the woods. Anna looked around once more and saw a map of the forest. She scanned through it and saw where she needed to go, rolled up the frigid piece of paper and stuck it in the backpack. She through the green pack onto her shoulder and headed out into the kitchen. She knew she might need some food so Anna opened the pantry and grabbed a can of soup and smelled it. It was foul but she had to eat something on the trip. She also found some stale bread. “Stale won’t kill you” Anna whispered under her breath and stuffed the bread into a different pocket that would keep the bread from getting squished into her pack. She looked around the rooms of her house. She saw her mother’s room and heard her sleeping inside. She wouldn’t go in. She wouldn’t leave a note. “I’ll be back before my mother knows I’m gone” thought Anna.

She looked up at the front door. The big wooden log was old and rotten wood but Anna didn’t care. It was her home. Anna grasped onto the big golden handle that was no longer shiny or looked gold. She quickly turned the handle and swung open the door. Anna’s hair turned golden in the sun. Almost bleached hair even though it was black inside. She started walking towards her friend’s house. Dead leaves crunched beneath her feet. She looked up and saw the house. Joshua's house looked a lot nicer than Anna’s house but she never actually noticed the difference. The house was small like Anna’s but on the inside it was all built and not under construction like Anna’s. She took one step forward and gently knocked on the door three times. Who answered the door was her friend’s mother. “Hello Anna!” said the woman excitedly. “Hello Ms. Orandia. Is Joshua home?” asked Anna very calm-like. No one called him Joshua. He was called Josh but Anna wanted to be polite to his mother.

“Josh! Your girlfriend is here!” Anna blushed and stepped back a bit. Anna and Josh were not dating but she did really like him. She wondered if he had told his mother about her and she assumed it was in a loving way. She didn’t really want to be his girlfriend but the thought made a pit in her stomach that made her blush. Josh excitedly ran down the stairs, smiled, and gave Anna a big hug.