Dwellings On The Past ~ (Lorraine's daughter)

Linny

"It's really late, don't you wanna go back to bed, Linny?" my mom asks, her arms are still wrapped around me. I smile in her shoulder. She hasn't used that nickname for ages. It reminds me of when I was young.

She realizes what she just said and leans back. "That must be the old memories." she says, a smile spreads across her face. I can't really tell if it's a sad or happy one. Maybe it's both. "We always called you Linny." she informs me, but I remember. "Maybe I should use that name more often. It's adorable."

I smile while I wrap my arm around her shoulders and we walk to the hallway, she takes the clock with us. I'm limping, but my mom's support is helping me. "What do we do with it?" I wonder. "It may didn't ring on its own, but how did it get to the stairs?" I add while Lorraine switches off the kitchen light, only the hallway downstairs is lit up now. She doesn't look as worried as I am, but I know she's concerned as well.

"Maybe it's better if we lock it up." she suggests, looking at the gold item ruminative. "Just in case." she adds. There's an engraving at the bottom of the bell. "Mavka hic habitat." I read aloud. "Is that Latin? Well, you're right. It's probably best if we lock it. It's kinda spooky."

"What did you just say?" My mom asks, glancing at me alarmed.

I look at the bell in her hands confused. "Uhm, I just read the engraving." I tell her and she reads it herself. She looks even more concerned. "Alright, I'll get you to bed. I can bring it to the room alone." she tells me, an urgency in your voice. We call the room we keep all the haunted things simply "the room". My sister Judy and I are not allowed to be in there. Mom and dad say it's too dangerous.

"Why, it's no problem. I can accompany you. I won't go inside the room I promise." I say, but she already made the decision.

"Linda, please just let me get you to bed. It's probably better if you don't walk too much with your foot. I'll make sure to drive you to school tomorrow as well." she says, already walking towards the stairs with me. She stops to place the bell on the living room table. I only walk with her sluggishly. I know she's trying to hide the change of her emotions, but I don't know why. She could just tell me what's going on.

The first door on the left side of the hallway upstairs is Judy's, the second is mine. On the other side we pass the guest room and then my parent's bedroom is on the opposite side of mine. "Mom, are you sure you wanna go alone?" I ask her.

She smiles while I lay down on my bed. The way she tucks me in is comforting, it reminds me of when I was young. She still does it with Judy, she's eleven. "Yes, I'll be fine. Don't worry." my mom reassures me, glancing at the clock on my bedside table. Then she stands up and switches off the light. "Sleep well for the remaining three hours."

"Good night, I love you." I whisper

I can hear the smile in her voice before she closes the door. "I love you too, Linny."

The reminder that I have to stand up at 6AM tomorrow isn't really welcomed by me. It's not that I despise school, but waking up at 6AM just to go to school is really annoying in my opinion.

The door to my parent's bedroom door opens, I look up because of the sound. I really don't want to be all snoopy, but my mom said she's going to bring the bell to the room and I'm certain she didn't just forget that. What's she doing in the bedroom then?

Quickly I get out of my bed again and quietly limp to open my door, just a tiny gap. When I carefully lean against it I hear my dad's voice. "Are you okay?" I can hear him ask. There's a short silence before my mom speaks up. "Ed, I saw something. Multiple things." she says and I can hear multiple footsteps. They're walking towards the hallway.

"Can I show you something before I tell you more?" my mom asks, she sounds so worried now. My dad doesn't reply, maybe because he just gave a nonverbal answer. They come closer to the hallway. "I closed that door." I hear my mom say. Shit!

I limp back towards my bed as fast as I can, my steps as quiet as possible. Only seconds after I lay down and throw the blanket over me I can hear the both of them walk inside my room. I know their eyes must be adjusted to the dark light so I keep mine closed, hoping they'd believe I'm sleeping.

"What'd you want to show me?" my dad asks. My mom doesn't answer for a while. Presumingly because she's looking at me. It feels like minutes pass until she finally moves. Her lips press to my forehead in a soft kiss and then I can hear them walking outside the room. When the door closes I sigh deeply. That was close.

I kind of want to know what they're talking about, it seems to be rather important and urgent. I mean, my mom woke my dad up in the middle of the night just to show him something. Something which couldn't wait until tomorrow. It has to be something with the bell. Following them probably isn't the best idea, especially with my foot.

"Mavka hic habitat." I whisper, it's what the engraving on the bell said. I want to know what it means, but sadly I don't know latin. My dad teaches me a few words once in a while, but that's not quite enough to understand this sentence.

I wince in pain when I place my feet on the ground. "Shit." I mutter quietly. How can I forget an injury on my foot? One that hurts so much? I limp over towards my wooden desk, it's placed right in front of the window. All the furniture in my room is out of dark wood. I don't really know what kind.

My backpack for school is laying right next to my desk. Quietly I take a piece of paper and my pencil case out of it. There's a library in our school which includes dictionaries. But I could also just ask my best friend Katie. She's learning Latin while I chose to learn French. It's our last year in high school, I hate to think about the possibility we might not go to the same college after.

The house sounds very quiet when I lay in my bed again. I wonder if my mom and dad are back in their bedroom. I could probably check, but it's getting more and more late and I should probably get some sleep.