The Easel

Prologue

Pennsylvania, 1974

"Shit. It's too cold out" Virginia thought to herself. The snow on the ground stuck to her boots, weighing them down, and her coat was far too thin to be a winter coat, but she hated wintercoats anyway...

Virginia looked up, the sky was clouded and grey, but the sun was beautiful, it shone like a silver plate that had been tossed in the sky, and could be seen completely from the space where no trees grew. All the surrounding trees looked like ice sculptures, the rain had frozen on the light, Singapore bark. She plopped herself on the ground, getting a worms eye view of the sky, it seemed like a perfect sight. She pulled her camera out of her red leather satchel, and held it close to her face, her finger about to capture the moment.

Her view was disrupted, however, when a familiar face blocked the lenses. "Photobomb!" He shouted, Virginia dropped her camera deep into the snow.

"Jay! You idiot! That's not cool, I just got it for Christmas!" Virginia scowled. She rolled her eyes as she searched deep in the snow for the camera.

"Well, it's cool now..."

Virginia yanked the camera out of the snow, and wiped the lenses, finding that her camera was fine. She placed it back in her satchel as she stood up. "You'd find yourself dead if it was broken."

"You just say that cause it's not broken. You'd never kill your crush, would you?"

Virginia rolled her eyes, "I don't love you," she started to all away, "You just say that cause you love me."

Jay started to walk with her. "Nah, I leave that up to your mom."

Virginia kicked Jays leg, "You're stupid." Virginia stopped. They both stood still at the sight of an old mansion. It was white, barren, an abandoned, at least since the fourties.

"Oh, I know this place," Jay started towards it. "They say it haunted," he turned around, making lightly of the mansion, "An old, war hero still inhabits this house from beyond the grave." Jay taunted, in a spooky voice.

"Groovy, let's check it out." Virginia grabbed Jays arm, heading towards the house.

Virginia wandered slowly up the three front steps, which seemed so old and so new at the same time. The spotless steps creaked as she stepped to the white porch.

Virginia looked behind herself, Jay looked questionable, staring at one of the Windows uneasily. "Come on, Jay, quit being a sissy." Virginia taunted.

Jay took one more long look at the outside forest before heading up the stairs as well.

Virginia stared at the door, paying attention to the detail of the wood carvings that seemes to stand the test of time. She put her hand over the bronze doorknob before turning it. The door seemed to open suspiciously easy.

"Wow," Virginia remarked as she stepped inside. The view was breathtaking.

The walls were completely white, but colorful oil and pastel paintings coated the walls, from top to bottom. The ceiling was a grand dome, with an old, spotless, 15 century style mural, with a shining crystal and gold chandelier hanging from its center. A grand two-way staircase led to the upstairs, it's supports shimmering bronze and white quartz.

"I don't know what you think, but this dosent look like a ghost house to me." Virginia sassed Jay, her voice echoed through the house, but as her voice faded, she swore she could hear the faint murmur of a piano. Virginia turned around when she heard Jays uneasy footsteps.