Witch

Grimina Blackwood

It took a while but it happened. I finally stepped onto the magnificent staircase. The second my converse touched the marble staircase, my heart plummeted and I had the sudden feeling that something bad was going to happen. Which I of course waved away because well, I was in a haunted mansion. Of course something bad was going to happen.

    “Hurry up slow pokes.” Eli whispered to us. I realized, I only took one step and froze. This means I had roughly 30 more steps to take. Awesome.

    “Okay.” I whispered loudly. With that, I slowly crept up the stairs with Briar attached to my hips. Nirvana and Eli followed behind us. When I neared the top of the stairs, I realized how nice the place really was. Downstairs the floors creaked, shadows moved, leaves blew everywhere and everything just felt scary. The second floor remained untouched by people. There were cobwebs, dust and not much else. It was as if no had been up here in almost a hundred years.  

    “Mila.” Eli whispered.

    Now standing on the top of the stairway, I checked both directions before looking back at Eli.

    “Yeah?” I whispered to him.

    “What do you see?”

    I looked around again and took in more of the details. The walls were old and the paint was stripped. The furniture I could see was covered in dust and sheets. The photo on the wall in front of the stairway was of an old scary tree in a dark and foggy place. The wood floors were covered in a giant red colored rug as far as I could see. Old candles sat on a dusty table just to my left.

    “Mila.” Briar whispered. “Let’s go left and they can go right.”

    “There isn’t much here.” I told them. “Who's to say there is anything down the halls?” Please don’t make me do this, I sent out in the hope they magically heard me…. And no reply.

    Nirvana chuckled and pushed passed me and Briar with Eli on her heels. “Cower all you want, I for one want to see this for myself.” She gleamed daringly.

    Eli clicked on his LED light and next thing I know, they disappeared down the dark corridor of the Blackwood Manor, most likely never to be seen again.

    “Crap.”

    “What?” Briar asked concerned.

    “I forgot to ask them what kind of flowers they wanted at their funerals.” I whispered to Briar. He laughed and I cupped my hand over his mouth. “Shh!” I shushed him as I tensed up waiting for yet again, the things in the house to wake up and tear me to shreds. Wouldn’t that suck?

    “C’mon.” Briar said when I moved my hands from his lips.

    We walked a few paces down the dark dusty corridor and came to a slightly ajar door. I took a deep breath and walked in. I was surprised at just how interesting it all was.

    Mila and Briar each took in different parts of the room at different times. Mila was slowly relaxing and frankly enjoying the style the deceased owner had. Mila was standing in what looked like the master bedroom. A beautiful and elegant bed dominated the room. Old sinter furniture decorated the leftover floor space and old paintings hung on the walls. Briar was inspecting some of the artwork on the walls. One painting in particular held Mila’s attention.

One closer inspection, Mila realized it wasn’t a painting, but a sketch in a beautiful old gold frame. The sketch was black and white and very nice. The person was talented. Mila admired the persons work and found something familiar in the woman’s eyes, like she had seen them before.