Oreo

Two: The Boy

It was cold and dark. Wait, no. It wasn’t dark, I just had my eyes scrunched shut in fear of my surroundings. Totally unprepared, I opened my eyes. There was no difference. It was either pitch black, or I was dead. I went with the first option. All that could really be seen was the cobalt glint of Oreo’s eyes. I kept my sight on them, as they comforted me. ‘Where are we?’  I asked the cat.

‘I don’t know.’ came a young male voice.

‘W-what!?’ I gasped. ‘Who’s there?’

‘It’s Oreo... I’m right here.’ spoke the voice.

‘You can talk now?’

The boy’s voice replied, ‘Apparently.’

‘Well at least we know one thing now – this is not real life.’

‘Could be!’ Oreo suggested chirpily.

‘No, it’s definitely not.’ I replied. I built up my courage and crawled forward, hoping to feel the wood of the floor beneath my hands, but all I could feel keeping me up was solid air. I kept shuffling along and I heard Oreo following just behind me. When I thought I was wandering around aimlessly, I bumped face-first into a barrier.

‘Wall?’ asked Oreo.

I fumbled around on the surface and discovered a round lump of metal. I wrapped my fingers around it and answered, ‘A door...’

‘Open it, open it!’ he said.

‘What did you think I was gonna do, crawl around in the dark forever?’ I said sarcastically. Twisting the knob, I pulled open the mysterious door.

Nothing. Exactly the same darkness. The only thing that told me we have moved on was the solid ground beneath my hands. A bit more wandering told us we were indeed in the ceiling void between my bedroom floor and the kitchen ceiling below and it was very hard to navigate around the structures and pipes in there. Laying flat on our stomachs, Oreo and I took a breather to discuss the situation.

‘What just happened?’ I muttered in disbelief.

‘We fell through your floorboard into a...’

‘A magical world that gave you a voice...’ I continued.

‘Then found a door that brought us back to the space beneath your floorboards.’ Oreo completed.

‘Say that is true,’ I said. ‘how can you still speak?’

‘Well, maybe we aren’t really in your house?’ his voice said.

‘There’s only one way to find out.’

As I said that, an adventurous glint sparked in Oreo’s bright eyes, then we slammed our bodies into the floor.

We crashed to the cold, hard floor and lay there with our eyes closed, groaning in pain.

‘We’re not at my house...’ I whimpered.

‘How do you know?’ asked Oreo.

‘My kitchen has a carpet.’ I replied. I shifted onto my elbows, wincing in pain and taking in my surroundings. The bright walls of my new kitchen had been washed out and cracked, leaving cobwebs in its wake. The fluffy beige carpet was now concrete and all the regal furniture had disappeared, only to be replaced by a simple grey table and chair. ‘It looks like a prison in here...’ I commented, confused. 'What the hell is happening to me... maybe I breathed in drugs or something...' I turned around to find Oreo.

‘Dear GOD! Is that you?’ I gasped, staring across at the boy stood across from me.

‘Me? Yes, I’m me. Why, what’s wrong with- Oh my God!’ he yelped, holding out his hands, examining his fingernails.

‘You’re a human!’

‘Awesome!’ he grinned. We both stood there for a moment, both amazed and confused.

‘Now...’ I said. ‘will you put some clothes on!?’

‘Where am I supposed to get clothes?’

‘Argh, here.’ I pulled off my hoodie and it to him.

‘Ahh, with that out of the way, I think some exploring’s in order.’ I went to the door and gestured for human Oreo to follow me. ‘Even if it’s just to find you some trousers.’ I added.

The layout of the crumbling cottage was just like that of my new house, so I made my way to the laundry room right away. The appearance throughout our journey was the same eerie, ancient prison look. Had I been alone, I would have been pretty scared. There weren't many clothes in the cupboard and certainly none from my era. Everything looked very posh, with frills and stripes and brown-reds, and there was nothing that looked vaguely the right size for Oreo. As I rummaged through the garments, Oreo was banging on about how he needed a human name to match his new body.

‘O-Owen? Or what about Oliver?’

I picked out the only OK stuff I could see – a white shirt, some baggy grey shorts and a posh waistcoat – and gave them to him.

‘What about Ozzy?’ he asked. I turned around and waited for him to change.

‘What do you think of the name Olly?’ He asked, admiring his new outfit in the mirror. 'Ooh, how about Oklie?’ he tried.

‘How about we just call you ‘Reo?’ I replied.

‘That’s a great idea!’ he smiled, handing me my hoodie back. I winced at the Boy Germs that would be festering on it, then regained my composition and strolled toward the hallway, tying it round my waist.

‘Hey, you just gonna stand there? We gotta scoop this place out.’ I told him, waving a hand at the stairs.

We walked up in silence, which made the scream that rang through the house twice as shocking. When you hear a bloodcurdling screech, your mind has to make a very quick decision; is it a warning that something dangerous is nearby, or is it a final, desperate cry of help? Reo decided this in an instant, sprinting up to the second floor corridor. I guess it summed up his personality just like that.

‘Reo, careful!’ I called after him, running over.

He flung open each door on the landing, urgently searching for the origin of the scream. I grabbed his arm just as he was about to open the door that would have  been the one to lead to my room. I turned him round to look at me. ‘Listen, this house is just like my house. If I’m correct, it’s haunted. Be. Careful.’ I told him. Reo nodded but quickly shook me off and dashed to my bedroom door. He turned back to gaze at me. His eyes looked heroic but his body language was rigid and clearly said he was scared. I stood behind him, looking over his shoulder to get a clear view as he slowly pressed down the dusty handle.

Inside the room was a bed with all the springs sticking out, a royal-looking dresser caked in dust, and a sorry-looking carpet that was dull baby-blue.

‘Hello? Anybody there?’ Reo called.

I noted that the pretty window had been switched with a simple gap.

AaAaaaAaaaaAaAahhHHhHhH!

At the sudden yell, I jumped out of my skin and leapt onto Reo’s back, clutching his neck. He rushed into the room, his eyes darting about. There was nobody inside.

‘This is getting creepy.’ I said.

‘I assumed that’s why I’m giving you a piggyback right now.’ Reo replied.

I looked at the ghostly room, then told him, ‘And you’re not stopping any time soon.’

‘We need to get out of here.’ he said, still looking all around the room.

‘What if it’s the same outside? All ghostly and dead?’ I objected.

‘It’s worth a try.’

He carried me down the stairs and we left the old manor.