𝑊𝒉𝑒𝑛 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝐼 𝑅𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛? ─── AN ORIGINAL STORY [abandoned]

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 7

“Ah, the little girl finally. Why did you take so long?” the old man rasped when Isabella finally stood next to him. 

“Sorry, I was just saying goodbye to my friend.” Isabella apologized, a slight tremor in her voice. She felt scared and she did not trust this man. He was creepy and gave her a weird feeling. She wished Max was with her. 

“Well then, come on. Let’s go.” The old man said and started walking again and almost falling over. 

“Where are we going?” Isabella asked timidly as she hurried after the man. 

“To my sister’s house.” the man said and quickened his pace. He then sharply turned around into an empty and dirty alleyway.

Isabella lifted up her dress and walked into the alley. She looked around in surprise, it was so different from the rest of the city that she had seen so far. It was dark, there were muddy puddles of water everywhere and was smelling old, musty, and poisonous. 

The man bent down and opened a hatch in the ground with great difficulty. “Go down there,” he said, his green eyes burning into Isabella’s blue ones. 

Isabella took a step backwards. “I-I think I’ll just g-go b-back.” Isabella stammered and turned around ready to run. 

Before she could move any further, she felt the man’s bony fingers clasp around her wrist in a surprisingly vice-like grip. 

“You will go down there and if you don’t you do not want to know what the consequences will be..” the man hissed, poison seeping through his voice. 

Isabella nodded numbly as the man pushed her down the hole and into darkness. Slowly and carefully without trying to fall Isabella made her way down the stairs. 

“Faster.” The old man said and shoved Isabella roughly forward with a lot more power than he had displayed not more than a few minutes before.

After about 40 more steps, the staircase finally ended opening up into a humongous room. 

On one side of the room, there was a four-poster bed with a neon fluffy blanket spread out on top of it. On the other side of the room, there was a miniature kitchen... There was a desk and chair along with a couch that ran along the side.

“Well, clearly your sister wasn't expecting anyone to visit her,”  Isabella said, the sarcasm in her voice kicking in as she eyed the room distastefully. “I mean she didn’t even make tea!” complained Isabella.

“Shut Up.”The old man growled, his voice clear, no longer raspy as it had been.“And this isn't my sisters place.”

“Yeah, I figured.” Isabella retorted, ignoring the mans earlier instructions to keep quiet.

“Just go sit down Princess.” the man said, emphasising the word princess.

Isabella was about to ask how he had known she was the princess, but thought better of it, in case the man was playing her. Instead, she looked around, her eyes searching. “Wheres the princess?” she asked, her eyes locking on the men once again.

“Don’t play dumb with me.” the man hissed, pushing Isabella backward onto the couch.

“Can I ask you a question?”Isabella asked, staring up at the man and smiling sweetly.

“Yeah...sure...whatever " the old man grumbled in what Isabella assumed was an answer to carry on.

"What does an 85-year-old man need with a boring 13-year-old girl?" Isabella asked innocently.

"First of all I'm not 85," the man said and then walked over to the desk where he opened the drawer and pulled out an arm lengthed stick.

Before he could say  anything Isabella started laughing." Are...you going...to b-bang me...on my head...with that?" she asked through her laughter.