The Imaginings

Chapter 1-Miss Lazelle

Some people detest the rain. They detest the way it soaks their clothes, drips down the back of their necks, lies in puddles waiting to splash up any unfortunate person’s legs.

Aurora Alice Fay Lazelle was not one of those people. Not usually, but today she was indifferent.

As she stared out of the smeary carriage window, she barely noticed the rain. Or the grey streets, or the grey people that hurried along the grey cobbled paths, or the grey ash sky. 

She saw it all but didn’t notice.

Her mind was elsewhere. It had been elsewhere for the entire many-mile trip.

She was flicking through the photos in her mind. The photos that were now merely piles of ash under the blackened wooden beams and rubble that Aurora could no longer call home. In her mind were the baby photos, always the pale woman cradling that little bundle. The smiles and laughs frozen in black and white. That special day, the little girl with her hair in pigtails posing shyly for the photogramme, surrounded by the piles of mysterious wrapped boxes. The other photo of the cat held tenderly in the arms of a now older birthday girl.

Aurora blinked and the picture perfect memories melted into the grey reality.

For that, Aurora realized with a sudden tug of sorrow, was all they were. Memories. Photos. Nothing more.

Now the young teenager could see the grey world on the other side of the window. She turned her pretty pale face away from the window and stared at the stained wall in front of her instead. As she was jostled uncomfortably up and down, she gave a heavy sigh and tucked a piece of honey brown hair behind her ear.

Then there was a large shudder and the carriage made a loud rattling noise.

Aurora looked back out the window and saw the carriage was now turning down a dirty stone drive way shrouded with trees and shadows. Aurora’s heart felt cold.

They were finally here.  The trip had seemed to go on forever and Aurora had subconsciously half expected it to never end.

But they were here.

Aurora felt a small furry paw on her lap. She looked down into her Animulus’s shadowy eyes.

“It’ll be okay.” He whispered into her mind.

Aurora nodded.

And then the carriage came to a sudden, unexpected halt.

Aurora and her Animulus were flung from their seat. Aurora’s Animulus instantly changed to his shadow form and swirled through the air.

Aurora clambered to her feet, bowing her head as not to hit it on the low roof.

She stood and listened. After about a minute, it became apparent that no one was going to be polite and open the door to let her out. Aurora pushed the door and tentatively stepped down. Her Animulus hesitantly followed.

Aurora bowed her head in the rain but didn’t really mind that she was getting drenched.

She looked up and regretted it instantly. Her Animulus buried himself in the hood of her jacket and gave a small squeak.

There it was.

The rusted sign hung loosely on one side and dangled in the rain.

Aurora could just make out the letters ‘Cr w ord Orph age fr grls’.

The building behind the broken sign, Aurora came to the alarming conclusion was not unlike something you would find in a child’s storybook. A story that included ghosts and ghouls and the genre could be described as horror. The kind of story that would host a haunted house.

Aurora shivered and so did her Animulus.

Black dead trees loomed around the edges of what could barely be described as a garden. Most of the windows were boarded up, but the few that weren’t, were cracked and shattered. The roof was obviously far past the need of repair and everything else was either dead, broken, rotten or all of the above.

Aurora just gaped with disgust and disbelief. When she finally came to her senses, she found that her two depressingly small bags had been dumped in a puddle at her feet and the exhausted horses were leading the rattling, lopsided carriage back down the driveway.

It took Aurora a few seconds for her brain to register this but when her Animulus nipped her neck gently, she snatched up her heavy silk skirts and rushed after the carriage through the rain in a very un-ladylike manner. She shouted after it but the horses were picking up speed and she knew the horrible driver and his black wolf Animulus would stop even if they heard her.

“Please. Come back! You can’t leave me here! It’s a mistake. This has to be the wrong place. Please…”

She trailed off and came to a reluctant stop, the mud splashing onto her legs and black lace-up boots.

The carriage disappeared around the corner into the black trees and shadows.

She was alone.

Well, she was never truly alone. She always had her Animulus, Poutvanjeleon, with her, but apart from him, she was completely alone.

Eventually Aurora turned and trudged back to where her little suitcases sat, soggy and neglected in their muddy pool of water.

Now the rain was annoying Aurora. Poutvanjeleon snuggled close to her neck in her hood to keep them both warm. Aurora grabbed the handles and began dragging the suitcases up the rotten, wobbling steps to the front door. She put them on the deck and stood there staring at the intimidating door.

“Go on.” Poutvanjeleon encourage quietly.

So before she could psych herself out of it, Aurora Alice Fay Lazelle took a deep breath and knocked on the door.