The Calamity House

Chapter One~Anne

Anne Boonchuy, a girl with messy brown hair walked beside her best friends, Sasha Waybright, a tall girl with blonde hair tied in a ponytail, and Marcy Wu, a girl shorter than Anne with a mop of black hair. In her hands, she was clutching a music box tightly. It was very ornate for a music box: It was decorated with (what Anne assumed) was silver made to look like gold, had pink, green, and blue gems near the top of the contraption. There was a sort of creature seemingly praising these stones. The box was so small it could fit in one of Anne's hands. But she tightly gripped it with both; somehow it felt important. 

She felt slightly uneasy because of the reason she even had this box; her friends had dared her to steal it. Luckily, the shopkeeper was rather old and didn't notice (she was too busy dozing off in her chair). Anne still felt guilty about it. Stealing was bad, she knew that very well, but she had known Sasha and Marcy since she was a little kid, surely they wouldn't get her into something that would get her in trouble? But then Anne realized they probably would. Just yesterday, they had convinced her to pull off a prank that she didn't want to do at all, but she was afraid that if she didn't, they would stop hanging out with her. Sometimes she regretted not branching out and making other friends in case that did happen, but it rarely crossed her mind. And besides, she was pleased with her current friends. Sure, Sasha was often bossy, and Marcy could be a bit much sometimes, but they still cared for each other. They still were best friends. 

But what truly surprised Anne was that Marcy was the one to dare her to get the box. Marcy frowned upon stealing, she didn't like anything of the sort. Usually Sasha was the one to give dares like that, but Marcy? It was odd.

Speaking of Marcy, she was staring at Anne right now. 'Anna-Banana, you good?' she asked in a gentle tone. Anne stared her dark brown eyes into Marcy's eyes, which were the same color and nodded her head quickly. 'Yeah! Totally! Why wouldn't I be good, Marbles?' she spoke to quickly to be believable, along with her voice being nearly high pitched, and then laughed nervously.

Sasha burst out laughing at this. 'Boonchuy, why are you so nervous? It's just one music box. That woman working in the Thrift Store is like, I dunno, 80, I don't think she'll notice it's gone.' 

Anne considered this. Sasha was right - how would the old woman know? But it still didn't sit right with her. Marcy seemed to notice Anne didn't take much reassurance from Sasha's words, but didn't say anything, as she didn't seem to know what to say. She just looked at Anne.

Marcy wasn't paying attention to where she was going while she stared at Anne, and nearly walked onto the road which was busy with cars from the constant Los Angeles traffic. This snapped Anne out of her reverie. 'Mar-Mar!' she exclaimed, grabbing Marcy's shoulder and pulling her back. Marcy looked around and realized what had happened. 'Wooh! Thanks, Anna-Banana! I owe you!...again.' Anne actually laughed at this. Marcy was in danger a lot, whether it be about sports, roads, walls...Anne felt rather protective of Marcy because of this. 

'Where to next, Mar-Mar?' Sasha asked as they crossed the road. 'The park,' Marcy announced. 'We'll open the box in the park!' Sasha looked at Marcy incredulously. 'Mar-Mar, that box was in a store. There isn't anything inside it. And I'm pretty sure Anne doesn't want to spend her birthday opening empty music boxes. Right, Anne?' Sasha then nudged Anne in the shoulder. She said the last sentence in a forceful manner.

Anne nodded. Marcy looked slightly put-out, which made Anne feel a bit more guilty. 'Don't worry! I won't waste your birthday. I feel a burning desire to open the box, I can't explain why.' Anne stared at her. 'We could open it right now, you know.' she suggested to Marcy. Marcy shook her head. 'I want to do it in the park.'

Sasha and Anne both not understanding Marcy's strange desire to open the box, they walked to the park they had met in all those years ago. As they entered it, they found a secluded corner in the park by the edge. 

'Okay, Mar-Mar, let's open this box you're obsessed with.' said Sasha, clearly impatient. Marcy nodded, quite obviously barely listening to what one of her best friends was saying. Anne felt a strange instinct to not open it, but she also was slightly curious. 'Come on, Anne,' Marcy said encouragingly. 'Yeah, let's hurry this up.' Sasha said, the impatience in her voice growing. Anne hesitantly placed one hand on the top of the box, and then paused. The feeling of foreboding was growing. 'Alright.' Anne opened the box and the rest was a blur. A flash of light the colors of the gems on it came out of the box, engulfed them and took them into it. Anne felt as if she was falling, and then suddenly, she was standing upright, feeling very dizzy, in a strange place. 

The grass and trees were red, not the red you occasionally see on the leaves, but a blood red. The sky was a reddish-purple! The music box was beside her, and Sasha and Marcy were nowhere to be seen. Anne staggered backwards and bumped into a tree. A roar was heard in the distance. 'Wh-where am I?'