The Awakening

4. Family Portraits Can Be Deceiving.

George slowly walks through the gate and towards the old house, guiding us through the front garden and up to a large wooden front door. Everyone is silent there is no sound, the atmosphere suffocates me as I feel myself getting nervous about entering their family home. George reaches up to a large hanging basket containing flowers which are now shrivelled and brown from a lack of water. He lifts a key out of the basket, watching him I could tell he had done this a thousand times before. The past haunts George's face and a scared look engulfs him as he opens the door slowly and lifts his foot to step over the threshold. He stops suddenly in his tracks and looks over his left shoulder. I follow his gaze as he pears over at two large wooden crosses which are stood upright in the shaded patch of grass towards the far corner of the large front garden.

George stares silently for several minutes, I also stare towards the large wooden crosses. That must be where someone close to him is buried, his family perhaps. George's mind reconnects with his physical being and he quickly turns around back towards the house. Both of George's feet are now inside the house. "Do you want me to wait outside while you go in?" I enquire looking at the back of George's head. "No it's fine, you can't stay out here all night anyway, it's not safe" George sternly replies. I follow Cindy and George without speaking another word. I reach for my knife and remove it incase any of The Infected have gotten inside the house. George looks over at me and his gaze shifts toward my knife. "There shouldn't be any in here the house is solid and well locked up" George quickly assures me that the house is secure and I feel slightly more relaxed. I continue to follow George into a large room downstairs keeping my knife ready for defending myself.

As I look around I notice the character the house has, there is a large wood burning fireplace which dominates the centre of the reception room. Sitting above the fireplace is a large family portrait, in the portrait are five people all olive skinned. There is an older woman around 40 years of age and an older man who looks slightly older. Standing infront of them are three children two boys and a girl. The small girl is at the very front of the portrait holding a teddy bear which is half the size of her, she has soft features and long black hair which sits about the length of her waist, the girl looks only about 7. Behind the young girl are two older boys that must still only be around 10, they're identical to each other in looks. The parents look proud and sophisticated you can see they are hard workers. All of them are stood up straight with a firm posture, however their stance does not take away the look of happiness which beams across all of their faces and radiates from the portrait. Even in the dark room the portraits still looks bright, I can't help but smile. I look over at George who is also looking at the portrait, however he does not share the same expression I do, instead his face shows upset.

The curtains in the room are all shut which makes the room even darker. "We should sleep down here tonight, I can get some wood for the fire it will keep us warm" George says. I'm glad about this, the sheer scale of the house makes me think that it will get even colder than it already is. "I'll be back in a few minutes I'm going to find us some blankets and wood, there should be some in the cupboard in the laundry room" George says as he disappears out of sight. I look over at Cindy who has sat down on large chair next to the fireplace, the chair makes her look even smaller than she is.

"Here, sit down" Cindy offers as she points towards another large chair positioned opposite of her. I sit down in the chair and place my backpack on the floor. "This is a nice house" I say to Cindy with a smile occupying my face. "Yeah, I loved living here" Cindy replies as a tear steams down her face. "I know it's hard coming back here now that everything's change" "I just really miss my family" Cindy says as she looks up at the portrait. "So do I" I reply with a sympathetic expression. George returns to the reception room with a huge pile of blankets and pillows. "Here, just help yourself" George says as he places the blankets on the floor and takes the top one for himself. I walk over to the blankets and collect a blanket and pillow for myself and return back to my seat.