Mysteries of the Past

Chapter 3- Locating the Book

                     She entered the attic, her hands running over the different horror and ancient books. What would grandmother use this for? She thought. Her hands grazed a little longer on a book as she eyed its title. Out of curiosity, she grabbed and opened it. It seemed to be written in another language that looked ancient. Addison scanned its pages until it ended up on a particular page. It had notes written on it with a picture that accompanied it. It was of some kind of half-creature, half-human. It had the body of a beautiful woman with long, shiny black hair it almost seemed like a normal human. Almost. Yet the woman had wings which were dark and crippled, her skin was so dark as if it was burned and seemed to have tiny lines on them. No Addison thought. Not lines, scales. She was tied up, chains were all around her body, tying her down. Addison then studied her face, her cheeks seem to be torn for hermouth was open very wide too wide for a human's, her nostrils were flared and her eyes. It seemed to be moving. No, not her eyes, eyelids. Addison realized, her eyes widening. The woman, no creature, had no eyeballs. The sockets were empty.

'Kimina Yuki, Goddess of Revenge, Loneliness and Death. The spirit of the child whose mother died in a fire' Addison read aloud. All of a sudden she felt a very hot breeze, almost like fire passing through her and heard a raspy voice, pleading. 'HELP ME'.

"AAAHHH!!!" Addison shouted, horrified, dropping the book and with wide eyes, looked around the room. Her heart was poundingagainst her chest. Addison began to make her way towards the door, running out of the attic and went over to where everyone was at.

She was sweating heavily and immediately went to get herself a glass of water. Jesy saw her and asked, 'Where have you been? I've been searchi-" she was cut off when she saw the look on Addison's face. "Addie? Are you okay?"

"Yes!" Addison said a little too quickly.

"Are you sure?" Jessie asked again looking suspicious. Addison nodded her head "I'm fine" she replied.

"Is everything okay here?" Mrs. Ryland came up to them, looking concerned.

"Yes, Mom." Addison answered while drinking her water.

"Alright then, I'll leave you two to yourselves." Addison's mom said.

Addison and Jessie settled down by the patio and ate some of the crackers that were given to them. When she was sure that no one was paying attention to them, Addison relayed to her cousin about what she saw and heard in the attic. Out of curiosity, both then agreed to go back to the attic to check out the book and the voices behind.

It was around two in the afternoon that they began to ascend to the attic. Much to Addison's astonishment, everything in the room has been neatly arranged including the ancient book she was holding. She was pretty sure that she had thrown the book on the floor on her way out.

"This can't be...." She said. Jessie was confused. "What can't be, Addison? What are you talking about?"

"This place has been neatly arranged. I swear it wasn't like this earlier. And I'm sure I have thrown the book on the floor on my way out."

"What book, Addison?"

"That ancient book on the table on your left. Here, look at this photo."

Jessie silently observed the photo and started reading 'Kimina Yuki, Goddess of Revenge, Loneliness and Death. The spirit of the child whose mother died in a fire.'

All of a sudden, Jessie started cursing.

"Jessie! Jess! Are you alright? Talk to me."

"Yes. Yes. I'm okay."

"What did you see? What did you hear?"

"I think I heard a woman's voice, saying 'help me.'"

"We'd better tell someone about this. Come on."

"Addison."

"What?" Addison asked.

"Don't you think the name sounded familiar?" Jessie inquired.

Upon hearing this, Addison started to recall everything in her memory. "You're right, I think grandma mentioned this before. To us."

Suddenly, the door loudly closed by itself. As if someone had kicked the door to close it. It clicked, locking Addison and Jessie inside the attic room. The girls turned around suddenly feeling chills creep up to their spine. They made their way towards the door, checked the handled. Locked. The girls were quiet; their loud deep breathing could only be heard.

All of a sudden they hear the same raspy voice saying 'help me, help me.' over and over again. They backed away from the door. All of a sudden, the ancient book dropped in front of them, which led Addison to let out a sound of surprise and fear. The pages of the book started to flip by itself until it ended on a certain page.

The pair looked at each other, wondering how it suddenly happened and why it stopped. Slowly, but cautiously they walked toward the book to scan the page where it stopped. They stared at the book as Jesy picked it up. The picture seemed to be moving, the woman, Kimina Yuki as the notes described, was struggling to be free from her chains.

All of the sudden, she stopped. The eyelids of the woman seemed to be looking at them. A side of the woman's lips quirked up, baring her sharp teeth. Suddenly, her facial features turned from rage and aggressive to soft and pleading.

"Please help me. Set me free" the woman said, baring her sharp teeth in the picture. The girls watched with wideeyes and felt cold chills down their spines. Both girls screamed at the top of their lungs, running towards the door, and started to pound at the door, shouting for help.