Finding Finn Reed

XI

We stayed in Atticus's summer house. The house was mostly built out of birch, and the inside was completely redwood. The house was isolated, completely alone from the other houses in town. "This is your house?" I asked entering in awe. "It belonged to my father, but he passed away a few years back" Atticus replied, setting our things down and examining the house. "You can go explore if you'd like, I'm going to stay here and wait" he suggested. I nodded in agreement, and began to look around. I started with the living room, which was elegantly decorated in fur rugs, and a fireplace. The white couches seemed to blend in nicely. I then made my way over to the hall way, which had four doors. The first door was a room, a master room at that. It was nicely decorated in light colors of blue. The bed was king size, and next to it was a window that looked out into the sunny fields of Sceethe. The next two doors were bathrooms, covered in white tiles and porcelain. The last door however, was locked, so I didn't bother fiddling with it. I returned to Atticus, who stood in the kitchen. "It's a nice house, how'd your father afford such a lavish lifestyle?" I asked. Atticus looked around, and examined the room as he thought, "Beats me," he said, "I walked out a long time ago, when he died I received a letter from him saying that all of his properties were now mine, no explanation." I raised an eyebrow at Atticus, and shrugged it off.

"So what made you move away from this place? Why go to Intemilly?" I asked. "No reason in particular, I just decided to stay." "Fair enough" I laughed, "Do you come here often?" Atticus walked over to the couch, and sat down. "Not really, I usually come a couple times a year to make sure it's still intact" he said sighing. I began to think that my questions were becoming too sensitive, I decided to take a break from asking so many questions. We stayed in silence for a couple minutes, I decided to walk around some more, and eventually found my way sitting next to Atticus. He sat there, blank face and all. It was apparent to me that he was thinking about something. I sat there, and waited for him to come back to reality. A minute went by, and he was still blank face. Five minutes went by, and still nothing. Eventually it turned into ten minutes, and Atticus was still thinking. "Atticus, you there?" I asked, waving my hands in front of his face. Nothing, still blank face. I kept calling his name, but nothing broke his trance. I proceeded to let him be, thinking he must have been in a very deep trance.

Atticus had remained in a trance-like state for about fifteen minutes before falling asleep. The train ride must have put a strain on his body, it only made sense that he was tired afterward. I however, was not tired at all. I began to walk around the house once again, and examine things a little closer. I began with the master bedroom. Everything in the room was sky blue, and I noticed the pictures on the dresser, pictures of an old man who I assumed was Atticus's father. He was a tall man, with grayish hair and tired eyes. I picked the photo frame up, and ran my fingers across it. My relationship with my father was special, I couldn't understand Atticus's pain and abuse with his father. He only showed it through his bitter sarcasm, and rude behavior. Whenever Atticus grew bitter, I stood back and let him have it, regardless of what he'd say or do.

I didn't bother examining the bathrooms, they both looked the same, and there wasn't much to examine in the first place. What caught my attention was the locked room at the end of the hall. I was curious as to why it was locked in the first place. Perhaps it was Atticus's fathers room, or maybe it was just an ordinary room. Whatever it was, it intrigued me. I stood there in front of the locked door, and contemplated whether or not I should try and open it. My curiosity had gotten the best of me, and I reached for the door knob. I ran my hand across the knob, and felt it's texture. The knob was decorated in a floral pattern which appeared to be hand made. Upon reaching for the knob, I could feel its cold, metallic surface. So much detail had been put into one simple knob, yet it was sealed off from anybody who wanted to go inside. I began to think that maybe the door was locked for a good reason. I looked over at the other side of hall, Atticus was still asleep. I shook my head, and jerked the knob back and forth, trying to open it. It didn't work, however. "What's behind you?" I whispered with anticipation.

I took my hand off of the knob, and began walking back to the couch, where Atticus was sleeping. I sat down, and stared across the hall. Feeling taunted by the doors secrets, and squeezed my eyes shut, and tried my best to block it out. Right then, I began to get flashes. I hadn't gotten flashes in such a long time, this came as a surprise. I gripped the edge of my chair, and let the visions flow through me like usual. I was in a dark room, the moonlight shining through some silhouettes. I looked around, but I couldn't see much, just a couple of boxes and papers that were scattered across the floor. Suddenly, I began to feel sharp pains in my stomach, and I dropped to my knees. Looking up, I saw a shadow whose hands were extending to me. Not being able to make out who the shadow was, it whispered to me in a clear and crisp tone, "You can't leave." I swiped the shadows hands out of the way, and stood up. I looked around in panic, searching for a way out. But I was trapped, unable to move and unable to leave. The shadow began to make its way towards me, but I shut my eyes and screamed for it to go away. In an instant, my eyes shot open and I was back in the living room, my hands clenched around my seat.

At this point, I shot up from my chair, and bolted across the hall. I stood in front of the locked door one more, my hands yanking at the knob. With all my effort, I managed to open the door, my body flying into the room with the force I had put into it. Both my hands were touching the cold and dusty floor, I was gasping for air. I was afraid to look around, but my eyes began to immediately wander around the room. What I saw had made me feel uneasy. Sheets of paper were completely scattered across the floor. Symbols of the sun were carved into each paper. The walls were plastered with old photos which appeared to be photos of Atticus and his father. In front of me was a crumbled up piece of paper. I crawled over to it, and flattened the paper, my hands shaking. In the paper were bold words: FIND HER. I quickly threw the paper away from me, my panic began to rise. Everything in the room felt wrong, I felt an angry sensation from within the room. Suddenly, I heard footsteps.

"You weren't suppose to see this" Atticus shuddered from behind me.