Hello, guys! :D its Jelly ^.^ i haven't written in a while... its been about three and a half years...BUT I'M BACK AND A LITTLE RUSTEYYY! :'D so please you guys... have some mercy and hear me out with this story. its been on my mind for the longest time and i finally got back into watching my anime again (I've been deprived for a really long time) and i decided i would finally put my thoughts in words again :) but as i have said before I'm a little rusty and I'm a bit awkward with my writing in consequence for not writing in a while. I'm trying to get better and have everything flow nicely. help is much appreciated and constructive criticism is always appreciated. the next chapter is where the fun starts but chapter is very important. read carefully and take note of anything you find odd.
"we shouldn't be up here, Claire." Jane said to her older sister who was already up the attic stairs, unlocking the door.
"shush, it has to be around here somewhere..." Claire said, opening the door into the musty old attic and stepping inside, Jane followed suit, reluctantly. "here," Claire began "take this flash light and look over in that tea chest over there, ill go check the cup boards on the other end."
without any protest, because she wouldn't win, Jane took Claire's extra flashlight and turned it on, descending out to the east end of the giant mansion's attic. it suddenly felt unnaturally cold on Jane's side of the attic, so cold she could see her breath. odd that, considering it was the middle of June in the UK.
"hey, Claire." Jane called out to her older sister who was examining old cupboards on the other end of the attic with no luck "yeah?" she called back, light frustration in her tone. Jane licked her lips and continued walking over to the tea chest that sat on a giant, abandoned wooden desk at the corner of the attic "do you feel cold?" she called out watching her step as she got closer and closer to the desk. Jane now felt goosebumps form on her arms and legs and the hair on the back of her neck stand up automatically. "no, its pretty stuffy up here...I'm actually getting pretty sweaty.." Claire answered as she went deeper into the west end of the attic to further her search.
Jane finally reached the giant wooden desk that held the ancient tea chest, the desk was giant and dust covered, nothing too special, except that the desk was over 100 years old.
the tea chest however, was breath taking, Jane set the flash light face-up on the side of the desk to allow light to illuminate the entire wing while she dusted off the beautiful ancient box.
With her hand, Jane gently pushed away the gathered dirt and debris from the top of the tea chest and blew off the excess revealing exquisite and delicately hand painted designs of vines and flowers along the whole box. Jane caressed the top of the box, feeling the designs with her fingertips, admiring the box before putting both her hands on it and lifting the top open, which, to her surprise, was locked.
Jane gasped then raised a quizzical brow at the box "...its locked." she blinked, setting her hands on either side of the chest, examining the box further. the gold key hole glinted in the the light of the flash light, Jane bent down to get a closer look and traced her fingers over it pensively "hmmmm... where is your key?" she asked it, of course not hoping for a real reply. the girl smiled at the box, blowing a short gust of air from her nose before she straightened up again. the coldness of the area seemed to have had intensified with time and now Jane had to bid farewell to her freshly shaved legs and had to say hello to stubble.
Jane crossed her arms and began to turn around until an odd noise made her freeze in her tracks. sssk-thump, she heard the sound of a small piece of metal hit wood somewhere behind the giant mahogany desk that made her shiver. there was dead silence for a moment and Jane's heart felt as if it would jump out of her chest. Jane swallowed her fear and faced the desk again with confusion taking over her delicate features. she shined the light over the desk but everything seemed in order. Jane tried to open the box once more but it was still locked, leaving her feeling silly.
suddenly, she heard the sound again sssk...ssk-thump the sound had come from one of the drawers on the other side of the desk. Jane's hand flew to her mouth, 'what is moving in there?' she thought tremulously as her flash light began to shake in her hand so violently that she hand to steady it by holding it with both hands.
Jane couldn't explain it, but aside from being terrified, she felt an odd force wash over her, enticing her towards the back of the desk. her feet began to move against her will, or by her own will? she couldn't tell, but she was scared.
the back of the desk was not very impressive either, just your standard 7 drawer desk all complete with brass handles, but which one of them had the noise come from? Jane was scared to open any of them, but the unknown always drove her crazy. with a shaky hand, Jane gripped the brass handle of the center cabinet and slid it open, quickly shining the light inside to inspect its contents, if any. 'empty' she thought as she examined the hollow drawer, releasing a breath of relief.
the cold was begging to get unbearable, Jane hurried up. 'next drawer' she thought taking a deep breath and reaching for the drawer beside the middle drawer, this one was slightly jammed but with a few pulls, she managed to have it roughly slide out. Jane shined the light inside and sighed again "also empty." she whispered, disappointed.
'maybe they're all empty...' she murmured, kneeling down and running her fingers over all the drawers, examining each and every one of them. Jane licked her lips once more as she reached for the next drawer and pulled it open, this time she gasped. 'huh..." she squinted her eyes inside before shining the flash light over the open drawer. A small stack of white rectangles lay spread about inside the drawer. They almost looked like... Old photographs laying face down.
A sudden gust of air washed over Jane causing wisps of her short black hair to fall over her face and tickle her nose. Jane stared at the rectangles for a long moment before she finally put the flashlight between her teeth to reach in with both hands to gently gather them and bring them closer to examine them. She turned the pile over in her hands and her eyes widened slightly, Jane had guessed it right, they were definitely photographs.
They appeared to be ancient, 4 photographs in all. The photos depicted various scenes, one photograph was of the front of the mansion during a sunny afternoon, so it appeared by the glare in the black and white photograph assumed to be from the sun hitting the lens.
The second picture was a cheerful picture of a group of 5 in front of the house, smiling and making funny faces. On the right, was a short young lady with really thick glasses and pony tails giving the camera a sweet smile; next to her was a tall, strong-looking white man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth flexing a muscle; beside him was a sweet looking light haired boy with his hair pinned back; next a tall man with what appeared to be long gray hair, wearing a suit and his tongue sticking out and the final person, at the far left, was what appeared to have been the butler.
Jane studied the butler in particular, shifting her head to the side as she looked at the picture more carefully. The man was very tall, very handsome, white skin and jet black hair as dark as her own, calm stare, but something was unnatural about him, his poise and his stare was not normal... It was too perfect.
Jane gulped in intimidation and quickly shuffled to the next photograph, this one was in what appeared to have been a private study, it was a room with a giant mahogany desk and behind it was a boy, no younger than Jane, he was with the unnatural looking butler who stood beside him with a faint smile on his lips. The boy looked to have been working on papers and was interrupted because his elbow rested on the desk and he had his cheek on his fist, his face revealed mild frustration, however Jane found it amusing and smiled.
She noticed the boy wore an eye patch, Jane's cheeks suddenly became warm as she stared at the boy, because she also couldn't help noticing it made him look pretty handsome as well.
Clearing her throat in embarrassment because of her checking an old dead guy out, she shuffled to the following picture, it was an even older picture than the rest, containing a couple who looked very much in love, a beautiful blonde woman with gorgeous eyes accompanied by a very handsome-looking man with darker hair. they were smiling and you could feel the love they had for each other so vividly. Jane stared at the picture in awe for a long moment, admiring the beautiful couple. 'i want that one day..' she thought as she traced her fingers over the delicate old picture with a faint smile then gently put it behind the small stack.
the fourth and final photograph caused Jane to gasp in confusion. at first, the photograph appeared to be just a blacked out photograph which was odd enough even as itself, but as Jane concentrated on the picture she could tell there was something beyond it, but she couldn't make out exactly what it was.
Jane scratched her head at the photograph witch a grimace, she hated the unknown, she needed to know, but for know, it was useless and she had to find that map. she sighed in defeat and gently patted the pictures together and in order, setting the old photographs back in the drawer and closing it quietly.
Jane and took the flashlight in her hand again but stayed on her knees for a moment in thought before she heard a sound that made her jump with a yelp, it was the same noise from before only louder ssk-thump and it came from the drawer just under the one which held the photographs. Jane watched the drawer in horror as she covered her mouth to keep from screaming. there was silence but not for long, the noise came back ssk...ssk..ssk-thump. Jane felt like fainting but she just knelled there, frozen with the flashlight shining on the drawer shakily. it didn't stop and Jane felt as if she was going to pee herself.
but then that feeling came over her again... enticing her towards the drawer. against her will, or by her own will? she removed her dainty and shaky hand from her mouth and began reaching for the drawer, she felt the handle vibrate with the sound it was making, Jane's eyes rolled back briefly 'oh yeah, i'm about to pee myself' she though before she gripped the handle with all her might 'on the count of three..' she thought in her head as she squeased her eyes shut and took in a shaky breath.
'three!' she thought and she slid the drawer open firmly being careful not to rip the drawer off its 'rolly things' she heard a sound much like small flapping wings heading upwards that sent Jane's eyes to shoot open and look towards the sound, she shined her flashlight to the ceiling and searched around like mad until she caught sight of a small black figure on one of the wooden beams of the attic. it was a small black bird with a golden beak... a Blackbird. Jane stared at the small bird in awe in its perch, she cocked her head to the side in wonder "hello" she called out to it and as if it could understand her, it started to sing, it sang for about 10 seconds before it flew away to the west where Claire was.
Jane hadn't realized her mouth was open until one of the birds feathers landed on her lip and she almost (but didn't) in hailed it.
After plucking the feather off on her lip Jane noticed a glint of gold coming from the open drawer when she shifted her flashlight in her hand. her heart stopped and her vision snapped towards the source of the glint. her breath caught in her throat from excitement, it was a key. it matched the gold color of the tea chest exactly. 'it has to be it!' she thought excitedly preparing to reach for it.
Just before she could acquire the key, she was startled by her sisters voice calling for her "Jane!" Claire shouted, Jane let out a high pitch shriek and jumped about 12ft in the air from total shock , her heart almost jumped out of her throat. she narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth, red creeping up on her cheeks from embarrassment at her startled reaction, but her sister didn't seem to have cared.
"what!?" Jane shouted back at her sister who was grinning and jumping up and down in victory by the attic exit "i fount it!" she shouted with pride waving around a rolled up piece of paper enthusiastically. Jane raised an eyebrow. "now come on we shouldn't be up here!" she shouted with a grin so big her eyes were closed as she waited for Jane by the open door.
Jane looked at the golden key then back to her sister then sighed "okay..." she said and began walking towards her sister who held the door open for her, Jane got out first then Claire followed suit.
if you got this far, i thank you with all my heart! chapter 2 will be coming in a heart beat! let me know what you think and if you think anything is going on. ^.^