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The Haunting |
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The Haunting |
When Jami heard that Nell was going to this place to cure her insomnia she felt like she needed to go too. Being a T.V. junkie she loved watching television, especially the shows that had to do with ghosts and haunted mansions. Maybe that’s what caused her insomnia, or maybe it’s the sound of footprints that she hears outside her bedroom door or maybe how her doors open without being touched. “Well look at it this way Nell,” Jami told her, “this could be great bonding time for us!” For once Nell looked over at Jami; “I don’t know how I’m going to explain you to Dr. Marrow. He probably picked just three people for a reason. I sure hope he’ll accept you.”
“No worries cuz! He will, I’m sure of it. After all, you need at least one friendly face in that old mansion.”
Nell smiled. Jami could tell her anger was fading away. Maybe she was beginning to like the idea of a family member staying with her. Soon the Hill House began to come into view. It was a giant mansion, one that gave Jami chills. The Hill House seemed to look almost creepy with its large dark stonewalls and millions of vines growing here and there. Also the gargoyles covering almost every corner brought an even creepier look to the old house. But despite it’s darkness the house was beautiful with the sun throwing its brilliant rays over it. It was defiantly awe-inspiring giving you mixed emotions about it.
This isn’t a mansion, she thought, this is a castle! Castle would be a better description of the Hill House. She then looked over at Nell, “Are you sure we’re doing an insomnia thing? Or are we the future cast of a Scooby-Doo movie?”
Nell stopped the car in front of the large iron gates. Seeing no one around she began to honk her horn. Nobody came. Finding that it wouldn’t be likely for someone to come they got out of the car. She and Jami cautiously walked up and peered through the old gates entangled with dead vines. As they walked around the gates they came upon the large chains that locked the fence. Not just one simple chain though, it seem more like tons of heavy chains which no one could break loose from. “Seem like friendly people don’t they?” Jami sarcastically asked. Nell then began shaking the gates, hoping she wasn’t too late to be in the experiment.
When all of a sudden an old man appeared. “What do you want?” He rudely asked. “Are you Mr. Dudley the caretaker?” Eleanor asked.
“Yes I’m Mr. Dudley the caretaker. What are you two doing here?”
“We’re with Dr. Marrow’s group. We’re suppose to see Mrs. Dudley, is she here?”
Mr. Dudley began unlocking the gate. “What do you think?”
“Why do you need so many chains?”
“Good question. What is it about fences? Sometimes the people on either side of the fence see a lock and chain they feel a little more comfortable. Why do you suppose that is?”
Nell and Jami exchanged unsure glances. Mr. Dudley then pulled the creaking gates open. They got back into the old car and pulled into the driveway.
As they walked up to the large wooden doors Jami knocked, “Hello? Anybody home?” There was no answer. Jami tried again, but still the same reply remained. After Jami, Nell tried, “Mrs. Dudley? Hello?” Like the past times nobody answered. She began to try again when the door opened by itself. Only for a minute though, because as soon as Nell entered the door quickly began to shut in Jami’s face. She caught it and hurriedly entered the house. Must’ve been the wind, she thought. “Hello? Mrs. Dudley?” Nell called out. But the only reply was her echo. Curious to find Mrs. Dudley, they began to wander around.
The house’s interior looked almost as big as the exterior, but equally creepy. Although dark walls didn’t cover the rooms inside, instead it seemed to use brighter colors. Filled with cherubs and angels the Victorian looking house seemed to almost make an appeal towards a child. Besides it’s dark gothic looks, the Hill House seemed to be once a bright happy home. “This place is beautiful,” Nell announced. Yeah, Jami thought, in a Stephen King kind of way. She then began to let her eyes explore the large living room. “Whoever lived here must’ve liked Greek Mythology,” She hypothesized by the large gryphons on either side of the banisters, along with all the other statues’ Greek-like appearance. Nell then began to continue into another room as she opened the door-but to their surprise a statue appeared right in front of them. They both recoiled from shock but quickly recovered and continued on.
Drawing near the kitchen a chopping noise came to get louder. With each chop Jami winced. She had a wild imagination and you could only tell what she was connecting the chopping noise with. She began to feel a great fear when they stood in front of the kitchen doors. This house was too freaky for Jami, she wasn’t sure anymore if she wanted to do the experiment. Nell seemed a little afraid herself as she hesitantly reached to open the door. But before she could touch the knob the door opened revealing Mrs. Dudley with a butcher’s knife. Jami felt her mouth open as a scream began to escape but she quickly covered it. “Oh my-I mean uh,” Nell began, “I’m Eleanor Vance and this is my cousin Jami, we’re with uh-” “Dr. Marrow’s group,” Mrs. Dudley finished for her with a stone cold face, “You two are the first.”
“Yeah, we heard a sound and uh-” Jami told her.
“It’s make the dinner, or answer the door. Can’t do both.”
“Are you Mrs. Dudley?” Nell asked.
“So far.” She replied, “I’ll show you your, uh, are you two the girls for the experiment? There are separate rooms for each one.”
“No,” Jami answered. “Well, yes, but I’m not a certified guest. I, uh, came without telling anybody. So I’ll just bunk with Nell.”
“Fine. Then I’ll show you to your room.”
Jami and Eleanor walked into the Red Room, the room which they would be spending the weekend in. It seemed to have the theme of children, judging by the many carvings and paintings covering the walls and fireplace. Jami didn’t feel comfortable in there, too many eyes staring at her, almost like they were full of hope for something. The eyes seemed to follow her around the room and penetrate her soul and go right through her. She didn’t like that, not one bit. “These are beautiful,” Nell said showing opposite feelings as she looked at the fireplace.
She stared at the five carvings of children’s faces adorning the fireplace mantle. “I know, I’ve seen them. It’s a lot to dust,” Mrs. Dudley informed with unemotional expression. “I’ve never seen this kind of beauty,” Nell said continuing around the room, “You must love working here.”
“I set dinner on the dinning room side borders, you can serve yourselves. Breakfast is ready at nine. I don’t wait on people. I don’t stay after dinner, not after it begins to get dark. I leave before dark comes. We live in town, nine miles so there’ll be no one around if you need help. We couldn’t even hear you, in the night.”
“Why would we?” Nell asked.
“No one could. No one lives any nearer than town. No one will come any nearer than that, in the night, in the dark.”
Jami then mumbled to Nell, “Ok, Lady’s startin’ to freak me out.” Unaware of what Jami had said, Mrs. Dudley solemnly left the room. Nell began to continue her exploration of their room. Unlike Jami, who just stood there tensed up while she cautiously stared around. She shivered as she saw the pointy firnirs above their bed. “Don’t you like our room?” Nell asked.
“Oh yeah, I just love all these faces staring at me watching my every move. And also those spears right above our bed, it adds a nice comforting look to the room.”
“But how could these children’s faces scare you? They look so innocent and kind.”
“That’s what they said about Chucky in “Child’s Play” and look what he turned out to be!”
As they exited the room Nell patted her on the shoulder, “You need to lay off on the T.V. couz.”
Soon another guest arrived, a bisexual girl by the name of Theo. It turned out that her room was right next to Eleanor and Jami’s. Her room though didn’t seem to have the same theme as Jami and Nell’s. It was more of an Egyptian looking room. Jami seemed to like it better than their own room. It didn’t have as many faces staring at you.
Theo was quite wild, with an outrageous short black dress and knee high boots. Like Jami she was an artist. She defiantly wasn’t on Jami’s favorite list, not for any bad reason, she was nice…too nice. That’s what made Jami uncomfortable, she seemed to flirt with her and Nell. Mrs. Dudley began her speech again about our isolation, this time Nell finishing most of her sentences. Jami started to feel like Nell was enjoying the creepiness of the house.
“Our room is right next to yours. I think we share the same bathroom,” Nell said to Theo.
“Oh don’t worry, I won’t be in here often. Light sleeper.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Jami commented.
Nell then invited her to see the bathroom and was talking about how beautiful it was. Before they left Theo flirtatiously asked, “What about you Jami? Don’t you want to see the bathroom with us?”
“N-no, that’s ok,” Jami replied, “I think I’m going to continue looking around this house-alone.” As Jami left she could here their swoons over the bathroom. It’s just a bathroom, she thought to herself.
* * *
As Jami walked along the long and quiet halls she began to feel more of mixed emotions about the house. It was beautiful, she could tell that now, but the stare of gargoyles and the dark almost gothic look of everything in the house seemed to put chills down her back.
One statue on her walk was quite interesting and she seemed to stare at it for a long time. It was of the Greek goddess Artemis, daughter of Zeus and Leto. Born on the island Delos with her twin brother Apollo, she was the Goddess of the moon, hunting, and chastity. As a young child she made Zeus promise her that he would never let her marry anyone. She was mostly known for being the Goddess of hunting but she was also Goddess of life, childbirth, children after they were born, and animals. Jami began to feel like this house was made to welcome children. Other wise, why would they have so child related things?
When Jami was finished with inspecting the statue she began to head to a different room hoping to see more of this Greek mythology-
-Only to run into another guest knocking all his luggage down. “Oh! I’m sorry!” Jami told him, “Here, let me help you.”
He just replied stubbornly, “No, that’s ok, I’ve got it.”
“Don’t kid me with that manly crap. You need some help with your luggage.”
She then picked up one of his duffle bags and slung it over her shoulder. The guest seemed to be surprised by Jami’s own stubbornness. He smiled, “Thanks”-he held out his hand-“Name’s Luke Sanderson. You?”
“Jami Vance,” she replied shaking his hand.
Luke was rather handsome, Jami realized. With his blonde hair and fire blue eyes. But his looks couldn’t distract her from his yellow zip-up vest over a loud sky blue sweater and his green Nike tennis shoes that he wore. He then asked her, “Are you part of Dr. Marrow’s experiment?”
“Yeah, well, I guess I am. That is if he lets me, I didn’t actually tell him I was coming.”
“So, what kind of sleeper are you? I’m a tosser turner.”
“I dunno, haven’t ever really thought about it. Maybe nightmares. Or well, I don’t know how you categorize this but mostly strange noises are what get me. Well, what do you think about the house?”
“It’s big, and defiantly creepy. Like those giant lions over there, they sure don’t look too friendly to me, more like they’re hungry. This place surely doesn’t seem like something to cure my insomnia.”
“Tell me about it. I thought I came here to sleep well, not stay awake all night and let my imagination scare the living daylights out of me. It’s like we’re spending the night with the Munsters or something. And the caretakers don’t seem to make me any more comfortable.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“When me and Nell got here Mr. Dudley told us that he keeps the gates locked so people on either side can feel safe. How weird is that? And Mrs. Dudley, well, let’s say she is so freaky. She always keeps this stern face and tells everybody she meets the same speech about how we’re isolated at night. I tell ya, the way those two act it’s like this place is haunted. I wouldn’t be surprised either; I don’t know about you but everything in this house gives me the chills. It’s like I’m not wanted or something.”
“Excuse me, but who’s Nell?”
“Oh, Eleanor. Her nickname’s Nell. She’s my cousin.”
“So is that it? Just us three?”
“Well, no. There’s also Theo. She sleeps right next to us.”
“I guess I’m the last one then. Do we find our rooms on our own?”
“No, Mrs. Dudley shows you to them. Come on, we can go find her, I think she’s in the kitchen.”
“I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to meet her.”
Jami let out a chuckle and smiled. “Well let’s head on over so you can put this stuff up.”
“Thanks again. Maybe you can also help me carry this to my room. After all, you did say that I needed the help.” Luke couldn’t help but feel attracted to Jami. She was beautiful with this golden brown hair that he longed to run his fingers through and hazel eyes that were so kind and comforting that he felt that he could stare into them forever.
And he could tell that she also felt at least a little bit of that attraction back toward him since she was so fast with flirting. He felt a smile starting to come across his face. He might really enjoy this experiment after all.
Jami returned the smile, “Gladly. It’s not like I have anything else to do.”
But as they began to leave the doors right next to them busted open and Nell and Theo ran straight into them, knocking Luke’s luggage down onto the ground.
“I’m sorry!” They both said as Jami and Luke started picking everything up. “That’s alright,” Luke replied. Jami couldn’t help but laugh at this deja vu. “How many times have people run into you?”
“Just two, you and them, so far.”-He smiled then turned to Theo and Nell-“Sorry if I scared you. I’m Luke Sanderson, just a bad sleeper. Basic tosser turner. You must be Jami’s cousin, Nell, am I right?”-Nell nodded-“What kind of sleeper? Nightmares? Anxiety attacks?”
“No.”
“Oh, ok. Incisive decision.”-He turned to Theo next-“So you must be Theo. Now you, let me think. You I’m gonna guess are a-”
“Don’t even start.” Theo interrupted him.
“Wow, you’re so dominant.” Luke began to feel also an attraction to Theo. She was just as beautiful as Jamie, though her feathery jacket and sexy dress seemed to jump out more at him. Unlike Eleanor with her blue jeans and olive colored jacket. Jami though, was in middle, she wore just plain khaki pants but her Indian looking belt and forest green t-shirt, which was rather sexy itself too, made her stand out.
“Thanks,” Theo replied. Jami soon noticed Luke’s staring at Theo, a slight smile on his face. It was pretty obvious what he was thinking, and she didn’t like it. He occasionally looked over at her and Nell, neither of them showing much excitement about his staring. Jami in fact, soon felt some anger, since after all she saw him first. Shouldn’t she be the one he’s staring at? And what was worse for her was that he smiled the same smile he did when they met.
Breaking the silence Dr. Marrow walked in. He seemed to show the same amazement as he walked in staring at the large interior. “Here we are,” He said, his voice having a bit of an Irish accent, leading two students into the house then greeting each guest, “You’re Luke. And you are, Theo. And you must be Eleanor.” He began to turn to introduce his students when he paused. He didn’t remember a fourth guest. Nobody told him about a fourth guest. He turned to Jami, “And uh, who are you?”
“Jami Vance, I’m Eleanor’s cousin.”
“I don’t remember you signing up to do this.”
“I didn’t. I invited myself to go with Nell.”
Dr. Marrow gave an unsure look to his students.
Jami began to worry, “Oh, but don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself. And-and I don’t take up much room. If somebody would share a couch,”-She smiled and flirtatiously looked over at Luke-“or bed, I’ll be fine. So, please, can I stay?”
Dr. Marrow thought for a moment. The insomnia research wasn’t even his true reason to bring them to this old mansion. It was really just a cover up for his research on group fear. Of course he didn’t tell his patients that. Like he told the chairman of his department about the cover up, you don’t let the rats know they’re in a maze. He began to think to himself, this could be good, and she seems to favor Luke too. That might work well for some good scaring. Dr. Marrow smiled at the young woman, “Alright, I’ll let you stay.”
“You know, the rest of you might hate your insomnia but I’m not sure I want a cure for mine, that’s when I get my best ideas when I’m ready to go to sleep. I’m alone-occasionally-there’s no distractions my brains racing with creative ideas and come three A.M. I feel like a genius.” Theo announced as she came around the dinner table pouring wine.
“Y’know?” Jami also announced, “Theo’s right. Course for me the best Horror films don’t even start till three A.M. So at least I’m not missing out on anything good. In fact, I’d probably never get to see my favorite shows if I didn’t have insomnia.”
Dr. Marrow began to like keeping Jami the more he was around her, a fan for horror films? This just gets better and better. She’ll probably believe anything I say, not to mention the easiest to scare. “Are you kidding me?” Luke asked Jami then turned to Dr. Marrow, “By three A.M. I feel like I’m starting to loose my mind watching those infomercials on psychics or listening to Tony Robbins on those psychic hotlines. Have you ever seen that late night show?” Dr. Marrow chuckled, “Oh yeah.”
“I swear to God that if you get a diet of that crap you start thinking to moving to Montana to become a survivor.”
Everybody laughed about that except for Jami. She, in fact, had once thought about doing that. When Theo got to her and Nell they refused for any wine.
“Ok, so what are the basic things we need in life? Food, water, shelter-” Dr. Marrow began.
“Sex,” Theo added. Luke then meowed like a cat might when they’re mad.
“-And sleep. I’m working on a five-year study, with the help of Mary here, making profiles about sleepers. I’m looking for a common psychological link. I hope that the work we do here will be able to help other people like yourselves.”
“Yeah,” Jami added, “especially if the people who can’t rest are ghosts.”
It was time to go to bed, though Jami didn’t feel a bit sleepy. She tried several times to close her eyes and relax but she couldn’t. Something, she felt like something was bothering her, but she couldn’t quite place what it was. And there’s no T.V. to keep me busy either. She felt like she needed to do something, just lying where she was was too boring. So she grabbed her headphones and began to walk out into the hall. For some reason when she got up she looked over at the five heads on the mantle, only to quickly face the door so she couldn’t see their frightening stares. Right before she reached the door though, she felt a coldness rush through her body. She looked back at the five heads-only to discover they were staring straight at her now.
Walking through the hall she couldn’t help but think about those heads, those five heads staring at her. She knew they never faced that direction, never. She felt almost intimidated as she walked in that lonely hall; it felt like those five heads weren’t the only thing that stared at her. It felt like everything was staring at her, following her every move. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to walk around here, she began to think, I mean, that’s why after all Dr. Marrow gave us those tests to do.
While walking she noticed a statue of a Centaur. Its massive body posing on a cliff and it’s face showing that of concern and anger. But as she walked past it she noticed the head stayed where it was always facing her. She found herself staring into its stone eyes, but these eyes had liveliness to them, and she could tell that the concern had left its face leaving pure rage. She knew Centaurs were very temperamental beasts but for a statue to change emotions was pretty impossible. But her focus grew on something more important-the statue had clenched his large fist.
-When she realized that the person she bumped into was Luke, who also had attempted to attack except instead of a fist he readily clutched his baseball. She happily took her headphones off. “Oh God!” He exclaimed shocked about bumping into Jami, “Don’t scare me like that! Y’know that’s the fourth time I’ve ran into somebody today?”
Jami grabbed Luke by the arms and exclaimed, “Oh Luke! I’m so glad to see you! But we need to leave, that Centaur’s after me, I don’t know why but it’s going to kill me!”
Luke didn’t seem phased by Jami’s fear, “You mean that Centaur over there?”
Jami looked back, the Centaur was back to its original position. She then knew Luke didn’t believe her. She sighed, “I promise you that it moved. It couldn’t have been my imagination.” She then felt herself resting her head on Luke’s chest, “Luke, I’m so scared.” It surprised her that Luke allowed her to rest her head like that. She knew that she probably sounded babyish by her last proclamation but it was true. “Well,” Luke suggested, “why don’t we walk around together? It won’t be so lonely and you’ll have a strong and powerful male to protect you.” With that Luke straightened himself up and posed as a superhero might. Jami laughed and play punched him in the arm, “You’re such a joker. You strong and powerful?”
Luke rubbed his arm, “It sounded good to me.”
“Me too.” She smiled.
“Yeah.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about it and I feel there’s more to the story than just what he told us.”
“But didn’t I tell you that his wife killed herself?”
“More than that. Doesn’t it seem odd that there are so many child carvings around here? I don’t know. It just feels like there’s something more to him wanting to fill the house with children’s laughter. Like why are the towns people hearing children’s laughter when no child has ever been in here?”
“Don’t tell me you believe that stuff. I think Dr. Marrow was just trying to scare us.”
“What about Dr. Marrow’s assistant Mary? Didn’t that seem odd about that string popping up and hitting her face? Nobody tightened it, nobody touched it at all. And I know Dr. Marrow wouldn’t dare let his assistant get hurt! Even if he would, it wouldn’t be that bad!”
Jami thought back on the accident, it was the first thing that got her curious about the Hill House. Dr. Marrow had just finished explaining to them about the past of the Hill House and it seemed like Mary had gotten freaked out and began to babble about her feelings about the house. Her last words echoed in Jami’s head, “I think there’s more to that story. I can feel it! It’s all around us! It’s in the ceiling, it’s in the walls, it’s in the furniture, it’s in this.” With that Mary ran her fingers across the strings; you could hear the downscale key. And next the crack off a tightened string breaking.
Soon painful cries came from Mary as she brought her hands up to her face. The string had slashed her straight down her face, right in front of her eye. She was rushed after that to the hospital, she was in need of a surgeon greatly.
“There’s plenty of explanations for that one…well, not really but all I know is that this place isn’t haunted. And are you even really sure Dr. Marrow didn’t plan that? We barely even know him!”
“Still, I can’t help but feel like there’s something I’m missing. Something that I’m wanted to be told.”
“Well, just ignore the feeling. Besides, there’s no such thing as ghosts, and nobody said this place was haunted. I think it’s just your imagination.”
“Then why is all this happening to me?” Jami mumbled where Luke couldn’t hear her.
They soon entered one room in which Jami greatly liked. “Didn’t you say you liked mythology?” Luke asked.
“Yeah, I studied it for a while.”
With that Luke began to wander around the room covered with Greek Mythology. Trying to find something interesting for Jami to tell him about. “So uh, who’s this?” he asked, pointing at a carving on the wall. Jami looked at the God he was pointing at. The sculpture had several skeletons around its feet which Jami realized were suppose to be spirits and in the background was a three headed dog. The God itself wore a helmet on his head and in his hand was a two-pronged staff. “Hades,” She replied, “God of the underworld and wealth. Not exactly Greece’s favorite God. He wasn’t evil, it’s just that he took no pity and was never influenced by persuasion. The helmet he’s wearing was given to him by a Cyclops and whoever wore it was invisible. Also the staff he’s holding played an important part in his reign and that was for when spirits would resist to go into dark regions.”
“Sounds like a friendly person,” Luke sarcastically said.
Jami’s mind began to wander as she stared at the carving. Why would there be a caving of Hades in this house? It seems like it would scare kids more than bring laughter. She then noticed another carving next to Hades, Thanatos. Thanatos was the God of death. Jami couldn’t help but wonder why death was even added to this mansion.
“What about this guy over here?” Luke asked.
The God he asked about this time had a rather jolly drunk look on his face. It was unmistakable about who this God was. “Dionysus, God of wine and merry making. He was supposedly the one who created wine. Also he gave his best friend Midas the power to turn anything into gold. But even if he seems like a kind God he was not one to make mad. If you upset him in any way he would not only send you into frenzy, but also in that state you would harm or kill yourself or the one you loved, or the ones you loved would come after you and kill you.”
“Gee, this Hugh Kraine guy must’ve liked the mean Gods.”
“Not all the mean Gods,” Jami replied as she looked up at the ceiling. There was a mural of Zeus and Hera, most likely supposing to be them staring down from Mount Olympus. “Up there is Zeus and Hera. Zeus was the superior God and ruled all. Along with his sister-wife Hera, Goddess of marriage and married women. It’s kind of funny, Zeus, being the king of everything wasn’t afraid of anything, except the rage of his wife.”
As Jami began looking around she noticed another interesting carving, it was of a beautiful woman with extremely long hair. “Over here is Aphrodite, Goddess of love.”
“Makes sense to talk about her right now doesn’t it?” Luke smiled.
Jami turned back to face the carving, she didn’t want Luke to see her blushing. “There’s two different stories on how she was born,” Jami continued, “Some think she was Zeus and Hera’s daughter. Others think she was born from sea foam. Like Theo, she didn’t have much commitment to her lover; in fact, she was in love with at least four other Gods and two mortals.”
“I can see how Theo can favor Aphrodite. They’re both beautiful, I can say that much.”
Jami could feel anger arising in her. After all, didn’t Luke just flirt with her? “Yeah, only Aphrodite was straight. And I was wondering, is the fact that Theo’s kissed other girls a turn on for you? I hate to burst your bubble but I think Theo’s more set on dating my cousin (who wouldn’t dare date a girl) than you.”
“Do I sense a little jealousy here? Could Jami not want me like Theo?” Luke asked with a smile.
“No, that’s not it. I just think that…uh, you could pick better.”
“Like who?”
Jami began to feel her face blush again. Gladly she noticed another carving which was interesting. It was one of Artemis’s most told stories. “Oh look! Here’s a carving of Artemis, Goddess of the moon, hunting, and chastity. She’s my favorite of all the Gods. We both seem to have a lot in common.” The carving had Artemis pointing at a stag, which on the inside was a man, and several hunting dogs racing after it.
“This is the story about when a hunter, Actaeon, came across Artemis while she was bathing with a few nymphs. Afraid that Actaeon would tell everybody about seeing her she prevented him from ever leaving the forest by turning him into a stag, that’s why you can see a man inside the deer.”
“Doesn’t sound too bad of a punishment.”
“Oh, it gets better. Once he was turned into a deer, his fifty hunting dogs turned on him and devoured him.”
“And you say that you favor her?”
Jami gave a mischievous smile, “Yep.”
Though when she turned back to the carving what she saw scared her. Artemis changed the direction she was pointing in, where it was toward a certain room, which Jami had not been in. The carving then looked at Jami, “Save the children Jami, tell Eleanor.” Jami could feel her heart beating hard in her chest, almost to where she could feel it pounding in her ears. “Oh God…no,” Jami said breathlessly, she put her hand up to her mouth. “Jami, what’s the matter? Jami…Jami, are you listening to me?” Luke started asking. Without a response she quickly turned and began running away from the room, unaware that she was headed in the direction that Artemis pointed her in.
When Luke finally caught up with her he saw her resting her hand on a giant pillar with her head buried in her other hand. He hurriedly ran up to her, “Jami, what’s wrong? You’re so pale, what happened?” Jami turned and embraced Luke, burying her head into his shoulder, “Luke…oh Luke!” She began, he could feel tears streaming down onto his pajama shirt, “You had to have seen it!”
“Seen what?”
“Artemis! She pointed me in this direction. She told me to save the children, tell Eleanor. Luke, I don’t know what’s wrong! But something wants me! And it’s not leaving me alone! Oh Luke, tell me you saw it! Tell me that you saw Artemis move!”
“I’m sorry Jami but it had to be your imagination. Nothing happened in that room. All I saw was you turning pale then running into here.”
Jami began to look up at Luke when she saw behind him two large stone doors. They were covered with carvings of children and demons. “Save the children,” Jami whispered under her breath. She moved out of Luke’s comforting arms and began walking towards the doors. “Jami what is it?” Luke asked following her. She stopped in front of the door and let her hand slide down the texture of the stone faces and then rest at her side. “It’s purgatory. The children, you see are reaching up for the heavens but the demons, they’re holding on to their soul, not allowing them to leave. They can do that for however long they want.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, what’s purgatory?”
“It’s when your soul’s caught between the living and the dead. I don’t believe in it though.”
“How do you know so much about it?”
“I learned it from helping Nell out on studying for the tests she took in the class. She’s quite the expert. She claims she was in purgatory for eleven years.”
Luke began to study the door too. But the one thing that stood out to him was the skeleton on the door. “Hey Jami, that skeleton, he looks like one of the ones around Hades.”
“He does doesn’t he? What a coincidence.”
Suddenly Jami began putting the pieces together. She placed her hand on one of the children’s faces. Save the children, she thought remembering Artemis’s words; I knew there was something more to Kraine’s story. As Jami looked at the door she noticed an inscription reading, “All ye who stand before these doors shall be judged.” She looked up at Luke. “Well, lets don’t stand here,” He replied.
They began walking up the stairs, Luke was glad to see that Jami had recovered a little since her incident with the carving. He decided that he’d take her to her room, hoping that all that was happening to her would just be an illusion from not sleeping. He didn’t like seeing her scared like that, it hurt him just to accidentally scare her when he bumped into her. He looked up at the giant picture of Hugh Kraine, its stare covering the whole room. He didn’t seem to like that picture. Something about it was just so…creepy. “I don’t like that picture.” Jami announced almost like she could read his mind. “He looks so angry in it, I wonder what’s wrong?” She continued.
“It’s probably his name. I’d be angry too if I was named Hugh Kraine.”
Jami smiled. She then looked over at the banisters. A childish wish that she had always had crossed her mind. “Have you ever wanted to slide down a banister?” She asked. “Well, let’s just say it’s never crossed my mind.” Luke replied. She smiled and Luke noticed an immature more childish side of Jami. “Well, do you want to try it?” She asked.
“I don’t know. I mean, your usual banisters curve and don’t have any stone gryphons at the bottom to break your fall.”
“Aw, come on! It’ll be fun! We’ll move out of the way before anything happens. Whatever happened to Mr. Strong and Powerful Male?”
“I thought we agreed that I was just joking.”
Jami laughed.
“Well, ok. But I’ll go first. Just to make sure it’s safe. I have to protect you fragile women.” Luke agreed.
“Fragile huh?” Jami joked; she wasn’t very tolerable about women being thought of as the weaker sex, “Last time I checked you were the one that got a bigger scare when we bumped into each other tonight.”
Ignoring her comment Luke jumped onto the banister and slid down. Once he got down he looked up at Jami. “So?” She asked. “It was fun. I might just do it again.” He replied thoughtfully. With that Jami jumped onto the banister and began to side down. When she reached the end though she jumped out of the way but surprisingly landed in Luke’s arms. He had caught her! “Let me down,” she demanded, trying to hide her once again blushing face.
“Why?” He jokingly said, “Can’t I carry m’lady to her sleeping quarters?”
Jami smiled, she had stopped wriggling in his arms. “Oh.”-She wrapped her arms around his neck-“But I get scared a lot at night. Why don’t I spend the night in your room? Just so I can feel safe.”
“Wise choice,” Luke smiled, and then began to walk up the staircase.
Luke leisurely tossed the baseball up into the air and caught it with his mitt. Sleep didn’t seem to come to him quickly this night. Not like sleep ever had come quickly, but his usual methods for falling asleep hadn’t worked. So he decided to explore the mansion, along with his baseball and mitt for entertainment. The long halls and stone carvings seemed to satisfy his restlessness but didn’t even waver him to where sleep would be considered. Luke sometimes wondered as he wandered down the quiet eerie halls if he would even fall asleep tonight.
Jami enjoyed spending time with Luke. It was a lot better than walking by herself letting her thoughts scare her. “You remember that story Dr. Marrow told us about?” Jami asked Luke.
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