A/N: Well, it's a little cute short story (*with a twist*) I wrote for my Writer's Craft class assignment. I personally like it since it's something different from my typical fanfics :P
Five months. It's almost half a year since my father left my mom and I in this vastly mansion. My 6th birthday passed, and it's the first time we're celebrating it without my father. Autumn arrived. I suddenly hear my mom's soothing voice in my ear. She was shaking my body gently, trying to wake me up. I slowly opened my eyes, trying not to blind myself from the sunlight that came from window in the basement. We once owned the mansion, the whole thing. But ever since my dad left the mansion, the basement is my only home.
"Good news, my dear son Solien." My mom patted my head as I got up. My mother was a teacher, but since my dad left, she had used up all her money and is unable to work anymore due to her health. "A new family is moving in today. They also have a young boy your age!"
"Oh." I was not exactly excited about the news. No one wanted to be my friend. This whole time I've never once had a 'friend' who liked me. I was always bullied and used for my dad's wealth. The longest friend I had was for a week. They always leave me after I get them what they've always wanted.
My mom gave me a sympathetic smile. "Solien, give it a try. Maybe you can be friends with him. I'll go make breakfast."
My mom left the basement to head to the kitchen and I sat there thinking. Maybe I'll give it a try. It doesn't hurt to try after all, since we'll be living together for a while. I decided to head upstairs and help my mom with breakfast. I always felt at ease setting foot in the mansion, it brought back all the times where I used to play with the butlers and maids, but they're not here anymore. My father let them off when he left. I saw two adults, a man and a woman, in the kitchen along with my mom, who was helping prepare breakfast. My mom was standing in the middle of the two. She turned around when she heard my footsteps.
"Solien, meet Mister and Missus Richards, the new owners of the house." She smiled.
"Oh, hello Mister and Missus Richards." I greeted shyly, looking at the marble tiled floors.
"...This is a lovely mansion isn't it?" Mr. Richards commented, adoring the room.
"Really?" My mom grinned. She loved hearing compliments about our house. Most of the rooms and floors were customized and chosen by my mom, when we used to live up here.
"It is! The new hand rails on the grand stairs really compliment the house." Mrs. Richards laughed happily. They were satisfied living here. My mom came up to me because she realized I was standing, watching the adults talk.
"Solien, their son Ethan should be in his room." My mom patted my head.
"Where?" I asked.
"The room you used to have." She replied, turning me around and pushing me out of the kitchen. "Go and say hello."
"...Okay." I gave up trying to stay grumpy and made my way to my old room. I went up the stairs and walked down the familiar hall to my old room. I knocked the door, hoping no one would answer.
A young child dressed high class-like, with short, curly brown hair and blue eyes looked at me. He was most likely the same age as me. "Who are you?"
"Good morning, I'm Solien Pierce, I um, used to live here, but now I rent the basement. Whatever that's supposed to mean." I gave an awkward laugh and introduced myself with some confidence. I held my hand out. He looked down at my hand and shook it.
"Well, I'm Ethan Richards!" He smiled at me. "I'm 6 years old, and this is my new home! How old are you?"
"I'm the same age." I gave a shy smile. Ethan put a finger on his chin. He was thinking of something.
"Come in Solien! Let's play a new game I just got before I moved in!" He was excited. I gave him a genuine smile.
"Really?!" I replied and walked in his room. There were boxes everywhere and Ethan was energetically opening all of them.
"Come help too, Solien!" He said. "Find a box that says 'Chess' in it! Or a board with black and white tiles!"
"Okay!" I was excited. I opened the box closest to me and looked. I have always seen my father and his friends play a game called Chess, maybe it is similar to the one Ethan is talking about. I flinched when my finger came in contact with something pointy in the box. I looked down in the box. Oh, it's a black and white board. "Ethan, is this it?" I pointed to the board in the box.
He ran up to where I was. "Ah! It is! Now we need the pieces!" He was delighted. We both pulled the chess board out of the box and placed it on the floor. We spent our day playing in his room until evening.
"So how was it?" my mom asked me at the end of the day. "Is Ethan a good boy?"
"He's fun and always happy! I want to be friends with him!" I said in between bites of my food.
"Is that so? I guess I can finally be at ease soon." She replied.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"It means Mom is really happy for you." She laughed. I smiled and remembered some events from earlier.
"Solien," Ethan asked, after we had finished finding the chess pieces. "Do you know how to play Chess?"
I gulped. I have no idea how to even play it. "No..." I looked down at the empty board.
"Oh well. Me too!" He laughed.
"What?" I gave him a confused look.
"I was hoping you knew how so you can teach me, but let's play something else." He said, a bit embarrassed. "Do you go to school, Solien?"
"Well I used to, but my mom can't pay for my school anymore. So she teaches me. My mom used to be a teacher when my dad lived with us." I sighed, unintentionally.
"Oh, that's too bad. I wanted us to be classmates!" He patted me on the back playfully. "Hey Solien, how about you show me around the mansion since you used to live here?"
"Sure!" I said. At least that's something I can do.
"Ethan, you need to attend your first day of school, please get ready soon." Mrs. Richards ordered. She walked in the room. Ethan walked up to her. I followed behind him.
"Oh, mom! Meet my friend Solien! He rents the basement with his mom!" Ethan grinned. Mrs. Richards gave me an odd look when he looked over Ethan's shoulder. "Solien don't be shy!" He stepped back and pushed me so I was close to his mom.
"Oh, hello Mrs. Richards." I mumbled quietly.
"...Hello Solien," she smiled at me. "How are you?"
"I'm good." I replied.
She gave a gentle smile and looked at Ethan. "You need to get ready for school."
"I'll leave so you can get ready." I looked at Ethan.
We couldn't do my mansion tour since Ethan had to go to school in a few minutes. Ethan was pouting, he looked very depressed. "Ethan! Why don't I show you a bit of the mansion every day?" I piped up.
"Really?! I can't wait for tomorrow then!" He instantly changed moods.
As months passed, and we grew, I became accustomed to the Richard's schedule. They were hardly home in the morning to the evening on weekdays, so my mother and I would tidy the house for them since they had no servants. It was the least we could do since they let us rent for free. I would be able to hang with Ethan a bit in the mornings and a bit in the evenings before bedtime. On the weekends, I was able to hang with him in the afternoons. We grew strong as friends and our parents didn't mind it. From time to time, Ethan would bring along his friends from school and I'd watch from a distance to not ruin their fun. Overall, we both enjoyed being friends and got to see each other grow.
"Hey Solien," Ethan whispered to me one day, trying to not make his voice crack. We were looking out the window in his room, admiring the snow that fell. We were at that stage where puberty started awakening itself and our curious minds were desperate for answers. "Have you ever heard of the scary story about this house? It's claimed to be a curse in this mansion."
"Is it another story you made up? The last one you made wasn't funny. I was truly scared!" I complained, remembering him scaring me during the week of Halloween a few months back.
He laughed. "You were scared? Did you wet your pants?" He joked around.
"No I didn't!" I defended myself. We both laughed. Ethan spoke up after we calmed down.
"Well, you know those stair rails on the main hall?" He asked. I nodded my head. "Do you know why they're brand new?"
I shook my head, but I slightly remember witnessing some construction workers replacing the old stair rails with new ones. I never found the reason why.
Ethan continued. "Apparently it's because someone died there. Isn't that spooky?"
I was a bit shaken by the story. However, I was still curious. "...Do you know who died?"
"No, but I heard their soul wanders in the mansion at night to look for their body."
"I don't think I'll be able to sleep. Not with a person like that around here." I sighed. I was not really the type to like creepy stories.
"I'm surprised you didn't know about it." Ethan said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well I don't really go out because of my introverted personality." I shrugged. "Plus I don't go to school."
"I guess that makes sense." He concluded. "Oh well. Let's play Chess and see who got better!"
I was up for the challenge. "You're on."
It's that part of the year again. Spring. Ethan and I celebrated birthdays together. Our birthdays are a few days apart, but Ethan's always came first. It was his 15th birthday, so Ethan had quite a few guests over. His friends kept avoiding me and ignoring me throughout the celebration, and I decided to leave the party and hang with my mom. It's been awhile since I last had a proper conversation with her anyway. I looked at the crowd once more and made my way to the basement.
"Hey Solien, where are you going?" Ethan asked me. He was pushing himself out of the crowd to stop me.
"I'm not really in the party mood. I don't want to ruin the mood, so I'll leave." I put bluntly.
He gave a disappointed sigh. "Alright. How about I go hang with you at your place when the party's done? You'll still be up right?"
I gave a curious look. "Well normally no, but I'll stay up if you want."
"Please do. We're best buds after all!" Ethan laughed.
"Are we really?" I asked. It's the first time someone said I was close to them and meant it. I know Ethan's said this a lot of times, but I can never really trust it. I blame my past "friends" for making my walls so high.
"What are you talking about?" Ethan put me in a headlock and rubbed my head with his fist. "Of course we are. We've been friends for so long! Don't be a stranger now!"
"Okay, okay! Let go of me!" I fought myself out of Ethan's grasp. He laughed cheerfully and let me go.
"I'll see you later then." He smiled.
I went in the basement. I couldn't find my mom. "Mom? Where are you?"
No response. There's no way she could've left somewhere. Not without telling me anything. I sat on the floor near the old bookshelf and sighed. She should be somewhere. I looked at the shelf and saw the gift I was going to give to Ethan. I held it in my hands and admired it. It's my most treasured item, my father's pocket watch. He gave it to me as a child for coming on a business trip with him and helping out. I remember his hand shuffling in my hair. I remember when he covered my hands with his own, and when he let go, his pocket watch was in my hands. I touched my hair, remembering my father's touch.
"Father," I whispered quietly. I was happy thinking about how I've been living my life so far. I never felt so much trust for someone other than my family. I feel that throughout the years, an unknown weight has been lifted off my soul, and my memories slowly came back, bit by bit. I shut my eyes in the sudden pain that rushed to my head, trying to get a grip of myself.
I was running up the main stairs and found a servant sweeping the hallway. "Rachel!" I shouted out to the young brunette woman. The maid looked up from the spot she was cleaning. "Rachel, let's play a game with everyone!"
My mom, coming out from her room into the hallway, heard this and laughed heartily, gently leaning on a table behind Rachel. She was always a child at heart, it was probably because of her job as a teacher.
"L-Lady Pierce!" Rachel stood straight and bowed, holding the broom tightly in her hands. My mom gestured her to stand.
"No need for formalities, Rachel. I told you to call me Kristelle. How about we play with my lively little son, Solien?" She looked at Rachel and I. "Sound nice?"
"Yeah!" I cheered. The other servants came in the main hall, and I came up to where they were. "Let's play hide and seek!"
I walked to where my mom was and looked from the rails to look for more servants, or my father. I noticed my butler walking by.
"Robert!" I pointed to him when I saw him. "Oh!" As I pointed, my hand knocked over a treasured heirloom vase my mom had displayed on the table. I reached for it.
"Solien!" My mom cried out.
"Solien! Lady Pierce!" Rachel and Robert cried, unable to do anything. The shatter of a fragile object. Silence. The vase was broken to pieces. Despite the amount of people residing in the mansion, no one uttered a word.
"Solien." My mom was holding me close to her chest. "You're okay right? Please answer me, Solien. Please."
"I'm fine, mom." I looked up at her, trying to get my small self out of my mom's body. She let go of me and I stood up. I looked around me and saw the broken vase beside me. I saw my dad entering the mansion. "Hey, dad! You're home early!"
"Welcome home, Damien dear." My mom greeted as usual when she saw my father. My father, who was talking to Robert and Rachel when he entered, turned towards the door he just came in from. "Damien, where are you going?"
"Solien, and beloved Kristelle…I can't live here anymore," my father spoke on the verge of breaking down. He took one last look at the mansion. "Change the rails. Take this month and next month's pay. You're all free to go. Solien and my dear Kristelle, rest well."
"Dad," I cried, tears easily slipping out from my eyes. "Dad where are you going? What happened to our promise? You can't leave! You promised me to find a friend!"
I opened my eyes and looked at the basement again. I feel light, like I'm fading. Just when I finally got what I wanted. I let out a deep sigh and smiled. A true friend.
"Thank you for coming!" I waved to the last guest, closing the door and sighing of relief. "Now to go meet Solien and give his early birthday present."
I quickly ran to the basement. My footsteps echoed around the whole room. "Solien? Are you asleep?" I asked, concerned about the odd silence. The window was opened and gave cool breezes in the room, temporarily breaking the silence. I walked to the bookshelf where Solien normally hangs around and accidently kicked something, the noise startling me. I looked down and picked up an antique gold watch, but it's in the best condition possible, with a red ribbon on top of it. I heard the ticking from the watch.
"It still works." I opened the watch. A picture of a man and young boy was in the watch. The breeze in the window blew with a bit more power, blowing some dust from the bookshelf. My eye caught sight of an old paper that fell from the very top shelf. It was an old newspaper, dated eight years ago. Eight years of our friendship. Eight years of his death.
"Our friendship will stay timeless, Solien." I looked at the open window, feeling the cool breeze freeze the trails of tears left on my cheeks.