Fallen

Chapter Five

FIVE

            We arrived at the house where we’re supposed to stay for the next three days. It was five times smaller than the manor but it wasn’t that small. In fact, it had a huge master bedroom and five guestrooms. There was a huge porch in the front. It was covered with white paint and had blue for the roof. The car stopped just in front of the porch. I opened the car door and looked around. It was so peaceful. Trees were all around, grasses were trimmed neatly in front and the lake beside reflected the sunlight.

           “Wow.” I heard Jared said. He was standing on the other side of the car, looking around the place. “I never knew that you own a place like this.”

            “We used to spend our vacation here, when my mother was still alive,” I said as I walked by a large oak tree by the lake. Jared followed me and leaned against its trunk. “But after my mother died, my father refused to go back here. He said that it was too painful to come back here. It was my mother’s favorite place. He said that she preferred to live here instead at the manor, so we came here every vacation.”

            “It’s so beautiful here. Nothing like the manor you have back there,” he said.

            We stared at the calm waters of the lake for a few more minutes before the caretaker of the house called us.

            “Hi, Ms. Samantha.” She greeted us on the porch. She was a short, fat lady in peasant clothes. Her chocolate brown hair was pulled into a bun but some strands of her hair hang loose that framed her chubby face. “My name’s Aida. I hope you still remember me.”

            “Yes, I do.” I nodded then smiled at her. “It’s been a while. This is my friend, Jared. He’ll be staying with me.”

            She nodded then gathered our things and led us inside. It felt nostalgic, just standing in the middle of the room. Flashbacks came in a rush in my mind as I looked around. Nothing has changed. It was still the same from before.

            “I thought that you preferred the house to be just what it was when Ms. Adelynn was still alive,” Aida explained.

            “Thank you,” I said softly.

            “It’s not a problem, Ms. Samantha. I liked her too and I missed her so much.” She said then went towards the stairs. “I’ll show you to your rooms.”

            We followed her all the way to the second floor where a hallway full of doors was found. We walked all the way to the end where she opened a huge door.

            “This is the master’s bedroom. You can stay here.” She said to me then opened the door on its right. “And you, sir, can stay here,” she told Jared.

            “Thank you,” I heard Jared said from behind.

            “Well then, I’ll be in the kitchen and prepare you a nice, delicious meal. Until then, you can rest in your rooms.” She said then dropped our bags by the doors. She bowed down slightly then went downstairs.

            “I guess I’ll have a nap before we eat,” I heard Jared. “What about you?”

            “I guess I’ll just rest too,” I said to him then grabbed my bag and dragged it all the way inside the room. I shut the door behind me and placed the bag on top of the bed. I sat down beside it and opened it. I took out my mother’s diary and began to read the second entry.

Adelynn’s Diary

12th of March 1892

            Today, I finally saw him. He was in the park, taking a walk. Oh how I wish I could’ve killed him immediately. But because of the humans all around us, I couldn’t. No one should know our identities. It would be a big problem. And I wouldn’t be able to get back. Instead, I followed him all the way to his house. It was huge, almost like a castle. I could here voices from his house as I stood outside the gate. There must be a hundred of his kind in there. As soon as I kill him, the others will follow. Soon, there will be no one left. I just have to wait for the right time. For now, all I could do is to observe his every move.

-A.

            As I read the diary, things got a little more complicated. I couldn’t understand why my mother sounded like this in her diary. I couldn’t understand why she was trying to kill some one. I read three more entries, which was all about her following of him. I badly wanted to know who this person was but a knock on my door made me stop reading. The door flew open and Aida stood by the doorway.

            “Dinner’s ready, Ms. Samantha,” she said.

            I nodded to her then placed the diary on top of my bag and followed her downstairs, all the way to the dining room. She placed a bowl of soup in the middle, a plate of bread, and roasted chicken. Jared and I sat down as she poured juice in our glasses and sat down beside me. She placed food in each of our plates.

            “This is the best meal I’ve ever had,” I said to her as I ate my food.

            “I agree,” Jared said.

            “Isn’t it that you have professional cooks in the manor?” she asked as she poured soup in a small bowl and handed it to me.

            “Yeah, but your cooking is nothing like theirs,” I said to her, giving her a thumbs up. Jared did the same and she chuckled sweetly.

            “Well then, I’m honored,” she said.

            We talked all throughout the entire meal. She would tell stories and we would laugh and giggle. It was the nicest conversation I’ve ever had in years. It was like talking to my mother again. You feel that nothing’s wrong and you ignore the chaos of the outside world and just enjoy yourself. I missed those days. I wish we could come back to that.

            I stood in front of the house silently. I heard laughters from inside. Earlier, I saw the girl named Samantha got out from the car with a guy. I watched her as she and her companion went inside with an old lady, which seems to be the caretaker of the house.

            After a while, the house became silent. I could no longer hear their laughters. I stood behind a tree as the door suddenly flew open and saw her came outside. She walked towards the lake and stood there silently. She seemed to be alone so I waited for her to walk farther from the house. And she did. She began walking by the lake, away from the house. Perfect.

            I grabbed my knife from behind and crept silently behind her. I gripped the knife tightly as I approached her. When I was near her, I reached to grab her neck but a voice from behind made me stop.

            “Samantha!” I heard Jared from behind as he called me. I turned around to see him standing by the porch, looking at me. “It’s getting dark. Get back in here now.”

            I chuckled softly at how he sounded. So he must’ve been really serious about what he said to my father. About taking care of me. I smiled to myself then took a step towards the porch but something startled me and made me stop. A white feather dropped in front of me. I took it from the ground and examined it. It was too big to be a bird’s feather.

            “What are you still staring at?” I didn’t notice Jared came towards me. I held the feather in front of him in response. “Isn’t it too big to be a bird’s feather?” he said, staring at it.

            “I know, right? What could it possibly be?” I asked him.

            “Whatever it is, I don’t care. Now let’s go inside. It’s getting darker,” he said then pulled me towards the house while I still held the feather. It really is curious to find a huge feather just falling from the sky. I looked above but saw nothing. I shrugged then walked back with Jared.

***