Dwellings On The Past ~ (Lorraine's daughter)

Family Atwell

"Are you two coming?" my dad asks. I think he's annoyed or angry or whatever that I came with them. Only now I realize I stopped walking, my mom's standing next to me, her hand's laying on my shoulder. "Yeah... sorry, dad." I mumble as I walk towards him. We climb up the three stairs that lead us to a rather big veranda and, in the middle of it, to the front door.

My parents must be tired, they haven't slept on the ride. That must be why my dad is behaving like this, right? I quickly look up when I see someone opening the door, I didn't even realize my dad had rung the bell. "Oh, you must be the Warrens." a brown haired woman says while she opens the door for us. There's a man with brown hair standing behind her.

Somehow the house, or more the villa, looks familiar. I can't really tell where I know it from, though. There is a big door to the right and on the left is an open entrance to a kitchen. It looks so familiar. If I could just remember from where I know it from.

"Yes. I'm Ed Warren. This is my wife, Lorraine Warren and our daughter, Linda Warren." my dad introduces us while I offer the two a smile. They smile back, but it's not reaching their eyes. When I look more closely I can see they both have bags under their eyes and the woman looks a little sick.

"Carol Atwell." the woman says while shaking my dad and my mom's hands. She only smiles at me. The man does the same, introducing himself as George Atwell. "Well, come on inside. Isn't it cold?" Mrs. Atwell says and we step inside. "Not that it would be so much warmer in here." The "energy", or whatever it is, hits me like a wave. I stumble a step back and hold onto the next thing I can, which is my mom.

She grabs my hand which unintentionally landed on her stomach. "Linny, do you need a moment?" she whispers. I look up to her, then to my dad and the other two who're walking in the next room and didn't even notice my reaction. "No, fine." I mumble and walk after them. The headache which appeared out of nowhere is kind of killing me, but I keep walking. At least the neck pain from the car ride is gone. You gotta take what you can get, right? I don't know, I'm not actually an optimist.

When we step inside the next room I realize it's the living room. Three brown couches are placed around a glass wooden table. I look up to the windows. They're huge with beige curtains in front of them. I know where I know this house from.

"No, no." I mutter under my breath while walking backwards slowly. I want to run away, at least out of the house. I don't think I can be here. But I can feel my mom wrap one of her arms around my shoulder and take my hand with the other. "Safe it for later. I'm here, okay, Linny?" she whispers in my ear. The only thing I manage to answer is "Mh-hm." while I push myself closer to my mom.

"Oh, you have a beautiful family." my mom says cheerily while looking at the body and two girls who are sitting on the couch facing the front wall of the house. "Thank you, Mrs. Warren." Mr. Atwell says. "Call me Lorraine." my mom tells him. "I think first names are appropriate for our matter." Carol agrees while walking over to the couch.

"This is David, our oldest." I listen to her, but all my attention is on the little girl sitting at the end of the couch. More on the black shadow attached to her back. It looks like the one I saw when I was searching for the note with Miss Johnson. "This is Jennifer." Carol says and I briefly glance at the girl, she's probably around Judy's age. She and the little one are the only blondes in the family. "And this is our youngest, Julie." I jump when the shadow suddenly seems to look at me. I look up to my mom just in time to see her smile drop. I didn't even smile in the first place.

My mom tightens the grip she has on my hand and I look back at the shadow. It's moving. Oh shit. It's moving towards me. The feeling that I can't get enough air is back. If I think about it it might not just be a feeling. "I'm sorry, I forgot my rosary in the car." my mom says before she leads me out of the room and then outside in quick steps. I can hear my dad starting to explain she always takes it with her, but then I'm out of hear-reach.

"You saw it too, didn't you?" my mom asks after we've walked down the veranda. She's looking right and me and I do too, I'm just not focusing on her. The shadow was with that little girl. And then it came towards me. Not any other member of the family, not my mom, no, me. What the fuck does that mean.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, Linda, but you don't have time to freak out right now. Not in there." my mom tells me, but I'm still not entirely listening. My breathing, it's still fast. Too fast. "Okay, Linda." my mom says, grabbing my shoulders. "Linda, look at me." she demands, her voice raised. "Breathe with me."

"Mom, it was coming right at me." I say shakily, but I still follow my mom's instructions. "I know, I know." she says while wrapping her arms around me. I can't find any energy to hug her back, even though I want to. "We're that family's last hope, we're their safety." my mom tells me. She talks all teacher-y, just like my dad did before. "It's always right to feel, but not in front of them, okay? I know it's difficult and more often than I'd like to, it happens to me too." she sighs. "But just try for me, okay?"

I think I've finally calmed down, at least enough to cover it up with a smile for that family. "It was still coming right at me." I reason my... outburst. My mom nods, a worry filled smile forming on her face. "Yeah, but I think that was more of a vision than it really happening." she tells me. "Are you ready to go back inside? We can ask if you can lay down somewhere if you'd like that?"

"Yeah." I mumble. "You didn't forget your rosary, did you?" I ask. She holds up her hand, the rosary she's had since forever securely placed in it. "No." she says while walking back to the car and opened the back door on the right side. I follow her slowly. "But you did." she smiles while handing it to me.

"It'll protect you, Linda." my mom reassures me while we walk back towards the house together. "It was mine before I gifted it to you." she says, smiling down at me. I stop in my tracks, furrowing my eyebrows. "Wait, you're telling me I didn't realize you gifted me yours and got yourself another?" I ask.

Instead of answering she just continues to walk to the house. "Remember I'm here, okay? At all times." my mom says before walking through the door we've forgotten to close when we rushed outside.

I nod while smiling at her. I feel close to safe in a haunted house because I know she will breathe for me when I know I can't. 

A/N: 
I should probably stop updating at 2AM... on the other hand I have no idea when it's the best time to update a story. 
How do you like the story so far? Any suggestions for the next chapters? 
And I'm not really happy with the title "Dwellings On The Past", so any suggestions? 
- Elle :)