The Falling Kingdoms: The Hidden Coffins

Chapter One: The New Town

The haunted looking villa stood in front of me, proud and beautiful. I stared at it unceasingly as I helped Uncle Gerald unload the boxes from our truck. Woodblocks is the town I was born in. My parents shifted from there as soon as I turned one, leaving our huge but old fashioned villa and moving in a two bedroom apartment in Atlantic City. We've been living there since then.

But, of course, last year changed everything.

In a tragic and strange incident, our building burned down one day. Both my parents died in the fire, leaving me alone with my Uncle Gerald.

Now, my Uncle wasn't much of a job person. My father was a lawyer. So, the bills were easy to pay. But Uncle Gerald was a column writer. He lived in a one bedroom apartment, much like a small space above the garage of an elderly couple's old house. When I started living there after my parents died, the expenses doubled. He couldn't afford that in the city. That's why we took this harsh decision of leaving everything behind and moving back into our hometown - Woodblocks.

"Aileen! Watch out!" Uncle shouted at me, standing right in front of the door of the Villa.

Before I could understand what he was warning me about, I tripped on a huge rock in front of me and fell down. The box in my hand fell too, spilling everything out. A groan escaped my mouth as I felt a sharp pain in my knee.

"You can't stop being clumsy." Uncle muttered as he pulled me up, looking at me with his eyebrows all scrunched up.

I noticed the little hair in his beard had grown white.

He was getting older.

I could never understand why he did not get married.

"I didn't hear you on time." I smiled apologetically and said.

"That's because you spaced out again," he said, unloading the left over boxes from the truck.

I sat down on the same rock, gazing at my knee with a frown on my face. It was bleeding. Blood made me nauseous.

"You're bleeding." Uncle observed.

"Yeah." I sighed.

"Keep sitting here. I'll unload the rest of them." He said, his voice loud enough for me to hear through all the trees between us.

This place seriously looked haunted.

I didn't look at my knee again and stood up, slowly approaching the Villa's entrance. I had the keys in my pocket. Sliding my right hand into the pocket, I played with the key chain. I was cautiously looking at the ground, looking out for any more rocks.

I sighed and opened the lock with the big key when I reached the door, pushing it open. My eyes were ready to stretch out and break free from my face seeing the interiors of the place. And my reaction was exactly that.

The place looked like a royal palace.

As much as I was delightful that not only I'd be living here now but I own this place too, I was frightened.

And that was because I felt like I had been here before. I have seen this place before.

Couldn't find out where, how and when?

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The teenagers kept staring at me shamelessly, pointing out that I was weird.

It's okay. I was habitual of that.

Back in my old school, people gave me the name "ice princess" and "Alien" originated from "Aileen."