The House of Lost Souls

Chapter 7

From the second they left the house Jake wished he had brought his phone. His hands fidgeted, longing for something to occupy them, his eyes darted around, hoping for something to linger on. As they stepped in the store his senses were heightened, all frantically searching for something to fill the hole in his brain that video games satisfied. His ears picked up on all the subtle sounds of the store, John's faint footsteps on the wooden floor, the slow tick, tick, of a clock, and a man calling out his name. When he noticed him he realized he knew this guy, but what was his name? "It's been a while since I last saw you," the man said, and Jake just gave an absentminded "yeah," as a reply. Edwin, that was his name, the man began to make some comments which he didn't take much notice of. "Wow, you've grown, you're as tall as Jackson was," Jackson? Oh right, his grandfather, he wondered what happened to that man. "He was such a wonderful man, like you'll be someday," he was a pretty cool dude, no, beyond that, he was an awesome guy. "It's a shame you never got to say goodbye," his heart froze, never got to say goodbye, he was gone? TICK, TICK, TICK, the clock seemed to speed up, the sound becoming deafening in his ears. He absentmindedly continued the conversation as his mind raced, and he was reminded of why he always kept his phone on him. To keep the thoughts away, it was the only way he knew of dealing with them, so that's what he did. He spent his life in fantasy worlds to escape the sadness of his own. But he was a passive observer, only allowed to view, not act. He remembered his mom's tear filled eyes as she told him about his grandfather's passing. In the moment he didn't truly take in what she was saying, but now, a tear began to form in his eye. He quickly ended the conversation and headed outside, he sat down on the curb, and looked up into the setting sky. A tear rolled down his cheek as he muttered, "Why is my life like this?"

Daniel, oblivious to the happenings on the floor above him, descended into the basement. When he reached the bottom he found himself in a pitch black basement, the stiff air cold around him. Hushed whispers arose around him and he could see faint shapes moving in the darkness. Suddenly, a woman appeared in front of him, she had a small frame, her arms thin and boney. Her skin was paler than anybody he had ever seen, it was so light that it was practically white. A long black robe clung to her, pooling onto the floor around her feet. Around her wrists were pale gold ringlets and bracelets, as if the color of the gold had been drained just by being worn by her. Her messy long hair flowed down to her shoulders, cold and white as snow. Adorning her head was a crown of charred wood, dead flowers sat curled around each spike. A chill ran up Daniel's spine as he realized what she reminded him of, a corpse, from a shock website one of his friend's had shown him. Then she opened her eyes and his heart stopped. She had none, all that was there in their place were cold, empty, voids. She let out a low chuckle, in a voice that was composed of many she spoke, "What do we have here? A fresh mortal who has dared enter my domain uninvited, and such a unique flavour of fear. Well, let's have a look at what you hide behind that mask of yours." Daniel could barely react as cold, dead arms reached up from the darkness below him and pulled him under.

He found himself standing in front of an old withered gate, ruined stone walls sitting on either side of it. Past that he could see a long bridge leading to a dark spire that stretched into the sky. He felt compelled to walk forwards, through the gate, onto the bridge, and into the spire, and so he did. As he walked among the bridge, hands shot out of the bog around him, reaching towards him with their cold corpse hands. As he approached the spire he noticed the large wooden door attached to it, and he got the urge to open it. But as he pressed his hand upon the door it violently opened and the woman from earlier pulled him inside. She forced him into a stone coffin, a small smile formed on her pale face as she slid the lid over him, drowning him in darkness.

In this darkness his mind began to wonder and he found himself brought back in time to his memories. He found himself back in his 8 year old self, standing over the crib of his newborn brother, hoping that he wouldn't steal all the attention from Daniel. Then he was brought to his 9 year old self, sitting alone in his room, he imagined himself as a famous actor, giving a speech as he looked around at all his fans. He found his 10 year old self bowing after a show he performed for his parents, frowning as his parents gave some absentminded comments while they scrolled on their phones. He saw himself at 11, timid and kept to himself in class, alone as he had gotten used to. At 12 he sat with his few friends in class, cracking jokes and making his friends laugh, enjoying the attention he was receiving. He was the class jokester by 13, not even minding a little write up if it meant he could make most of the class laugh. He found himself at 14 setting up outfits that he saw other cool kids wearing to ensure he would be seen as cool. At 15 he specifically filtered how he acted and how he talked to different groups of people to appeal to them. 16 was the age he met Jessie, her beautiful blond locks and sweet southern accent making him feel butterflies in his stomach. Then 17, by then he had more friends than he ever had before, he didn't even care if they were being fake, all he cared about was the attention they gave him.

He was brought back to the stone coffin, where the woman had uncovered the lid, she stared at him, considering his story. Suddenly, she gripped the crown, and with a grunt pulled it off her head, as she did so Daniel passed out.

He awoke on a bed of pillows, on either side of it candles sat, being the only light source there. As he groggily got up he could hear a sweet voice say, "oh good, you're awake again." He sat up and saw across the room a woman mostly obscured by the darkness, she picked up a vial of dark red liquid and quickly put it away in a nearby cabinet. "Sorry for this place being such a mess, I wasn't expecting visitors," she commented as she continued to put away the random objects that littered the place. Daniel's mind finally cleared and the first thing he did was ask, "What just happened, who are you, and what is this place?" She stopped cleaning and said, "Right, you must be so confused, well I'll try to explain everything as best I can." She quickly walked over to the bed of pillows and sat down in front of Daniel. Now that she was up close Daniel examined her with his eyes once more. It was the woman from earlier. her skin was no longer pale, now it was a crisp golden brown, and her limbs seemed thicker now. Her wrists were now free of items, but around her neck hung a silver necklace, dangling from it what looked like half a moon. Her black hair flowed down her shoulders like waterfalls, and her irises shone with a dark brown. "My name is Selene Nightwalker, and this place we're in, is my home. I apologize for what happened earlier. I was not myself when you came down here, but I've seen your story, I've heard your tale, and I believe I can help you and your friends out. Though I'm afraid it is getting late, return to me tomorrow though and I will be able to help you." Though Daniel still had many questions he just gave a quick, "okay" and began to head up the stairs at the back of the room. He walked through the door and emerged back into the antique store, he said bye to Edwin and headed out to the car with John. There they found Jake sitting on the side of the road, he looked like he'd been crying but Daniel paid that no mind. He quickly drove back to the house, as the sun was already setting.

He braced himself as Jessie walked up to him, ready for the argument that would follow. "Well where have you been, mister?" Jessie asked, her southern accent strong, Daniel rolled his eyes and said, "I was out following a lead I had, why does it matter to you anyway?"
"Because I told you to stay here while I'm gone,"
"Jessie, I'm seventeen, let me have at least a lick of freedom,"
"I just worry about you,"
"Oh so you just think I'm stupid then?"
"No that's, that's not what I meant-"
"Well you clearly don't think I'm smart enough to have freedom, because if you did then we wouldn't be having this argument right now." With that he walked off, heading up to his room, and Jessie stormed outside. She stared up at the setting sun, considering her words before speaking to herself. "He's right, I don't give any of them much freedom, and if giving him freedom will prove to him that I think more highly of him than that, then that's what I'll do. I'll give him his freedom."