Tried For Error

2 | 7

Dedicated to ...............................
             (Insert full name here)

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Scarlett payed the taxi driver his feed before turning to face the old, abandoned building. It was very rusty, barely standing and still as small as she could remember. Most of her younger childhood was spent making bad memories right here. She didn't have any friends to recollect what exactly happened when, seeing as this house was basically situated in the middle of nowhere, but that was probably for the best.

It felt like no time had passed since she last ran from her said childhood, yet as she inspected the overgrown bushes and the shattered windows it was clear just how wrong she was.

"Are yer sure this is the right place, ma'am?" The taxi driver's voice snapped her from her thoughts and she turned to face him. He was peering through the passenger's side window with one eyebrow raised as he gave her a hesitant once-over. "I can wait for yer here until yer finished?"

She didn't even think to comment on his actions or the sickly weird way he spoke as she understood exactly the thoughts running through his mind at that given moment. Why would someone like her want to waste any time at an abandoned house layed out in the middle of nowhere?

Scarlett gave him a small smile in return. "No, I think I will be okay. Thank you for your kind offer though."

She turned her attention back to the building, not even paying attention to the taxi driver speeding off, and made her way to the front door.

It was easy to say that abandoned houses made weird and unnatural noises. Not in the creepy horror movie kind of a way, but more of in the "Why am I even contemplating going into a house that can collapse at any second" kind of a way. This was defenitely a house that had Scarlett hesitating to even step through the doorway.

That said, she stepped through anyway, ignoring the noticable creaking as her eyes started exploring.

Inside, the spirit of the house had somehow rescued itself by sleeping in the walls, by retreating into the fuzzy wood away from the dust. It stayed there with the memories of its birth, of all the pain and hurt that Scarlett had to edure in order to become what she was today.

She shivered when a cold drift made its way through the cracked windows edged into the mouldy, browned wooden walls.

An immediate sneeze followed soon after as she was not used to the dust and the odour of nothing floating around. Gosh, this place needed some hasty spring cleaning, some fresh flowers, perhaps even some company.

Scarlett slowly made her way to the stairs. Fragments of plaster lay damp over the floor. With it was all the artifacts of a life lived and promptly abandoned, photographs, toys, cutlery... she ignored it all as she continued to move through the house, kicking up even more dust until it was almost too difficult to properly breathe at some point.

She never stopped walking though. Well, not until she came to a door, paint baby pink and the handle almost completely covered by what she hoped could only be cobwebs.

Reaching out, she reluctantly turned it.

She didn't know what she should have expected, her used-to-be room was no exception from the rest of the house: quaint in size, aging and depressing. It seemed that her so called "addoptive parents" took it upon themselves to put in all the effort just to get rid of any trace of her. Almost everything was gone. The room was basically now just a storage space filled with boxes and old, broken furniture.

"My entire childhood... is gone," she trailed off as her eyes did a quick scan over the room. Fortunately for her, she felt nothing, this sanctuary didn't mean anything to her anymore. Undergoing emotions was just another enemy of logic and right now she had to think. At least she felt a sense of empowerment knowing that the past didn't affect her anymore.