English Assignment
Gabriela Barceló
It was a cool September evening as he stumbled onto the doorstep. His long blonde hair fluttered in the gentle breeze as the tears trickled down his slender face, falling in droplets onto the dusty and unwelcoming doorstep. It was the first time anyone had stepped foot into the old Victorian house since the incident many years ago. The house was old and had a peculiar shape to it, the lawn was over grown with weeds and the trees and bushes had been so neglected over time that the yard looked like a forest. I wondered why, of all the houses and places this boy could have taken shelter in, why would he choose here? Why would he choose this filthy, old, distorted home? Whatever the reason is, im just content, no scratch that, I am happy to know that their will be someone other than myself living is this horrid house. I watched as the boy lifted a slender pale hand to the door handle of the front door, with a flick of his wrist the old mahogany door flew open with a loud creak. The boy's fragile body tumbled forward into the dark and dusty house. I watched with careful eyes as he reached for the handle of the door again. It was if his slender legs couldn't support his fragile body anymore, his legs seemed to give way and his body fell into a heap onto the cold floor. This sudden movement caused the dust that had settled onto the floor for so many years, to scatter everywhere, and making it hard to see. As the dust regained its composure on the wooden floor, I eagerly scanned the room searching for the boy. His head lay in the palms of his hands and his body shook every time he let a sob emit from his soft lips. Honey blonde hair fell to his shoulders, and visible tears streamed down his slender face even more than before. A cool breeze entered the house causing the dust to scatter, yet again. I turned to look out onto the street, and imagined myself playing with marbles on the sidewalk many years ago, as my mom watered and pruned the flowers in her well kept garden, while my dad sat on the porch reading his newspaper and crossing his legs in a very peculiar manner, how I wish those days were back…But they were never going to, I could wish it all I want, but in the process I would only be hurting myself more than I should be.
Coughing sounded through out the home, and I turned my gaze back to the boy. He had stopped sobbing, and seemed to be scanning his surroundings. His tear streaked face glanced over in my direction, and you could now see every feature that his face had. He seemed to be around his mid-teens, had piercing cerulean eyes, pale skin, and honey blonde hair which complemented his face very nicely. When said boy looked in my direction, I gasped forgetting that I was not visible to anyone during the daytime. Fumbling could be heard as, and I watched the blonde struggle to get up. He groaned as he got up, and seemed to be in pain every time he took a step forward. "I-Is someone there?" I gazed at the young boy who was looking around to see if he saw someone, anyone while wiping the tears that had refused to fall off of his face. I closed my eyes and silently cursed myself for forgetting something like that. "H-Hello…?" For some odd reason, the voice seemed to be fading away. Cracking open one of my eyes, I could barely make out his silhouette as it edged its self down the corridor of the empty and untouched house. With another loud creak, the front door slammed shut, causing the silence in the house to leave, but just for a split second. I smirked as the young boy jumped and faced his body in the direction of the sound, his head frantically searching for the culprit. With a sigh of relief the young boy went back to roaming the house, still twitching every now and then. Following the young blonde I silently laughed to myself, thinking how this seemed oddly familiar to those horror movies me and my friends used to watch while eating candy corn, and sugar cubes. It was one of those horror movies where this person happened to stumble upon a haunted house, wander inside, silently being followed by a ghost or whatever happened to be haunting that house, and eventually the person would either get scared out of their pants, or got intentionally murdered. I laughed to myself yet again, as this sounded like the seen before me, but instead of murdering or scaring the life out of this young boy, I wanted to help him, become friends with him. To be able to feel like I was needed again…that was all I wanted.
It soon became nightfall, and the blonde gave up his little expedition throughout the house. Silently he collapsed onto the floor, immediately falling asleep. I watched the young boy sleep, his chest evenly rising and falling at a slow pace. But I noticed that every time his chest rose, he would wince. Intrigued, I crept over to the sleeping figure, gently moving a hand the laid across his unclothed chest. I was shocked to see that their was a large cut running from his left shoulder blade to his right hip bone, their was also other tiny cuts and bruises that were scattered across his skin and face. I slowly got up and made my way to a room, where I knew the medicines and antibiotics where held, and picked up a box that held the needed items to clean the young boy's wounds. As I made my way back to where the boy was sleeping I gazed at my surroundings. The walls were painted a vary dark shade of red, but now looked more like a faded out color of velvet. Pictures were hung along the wall every now and then, they mainly consisted of my mothers artistic skills, she liked to paint her surroundings. There was one picture I was very found of, it was of me when I was a small child. I was sitting on the ground playing with some colored blocks, my auburn hair scattered across my tiny face, and my hazel eyes seemed to pierce right through your soul, and my childish but gentle smile seemed to light up the room. In the background was my playroom, it had a small desk where all my puzzles and board games were kept, a corner where papers, crayons and pencils were scattered about and a playpen where my mom used to put me in when I fell asleep from playing with my toys. I felt tears, fall down my cheek and quickly wiped them off with the sleeve of my black pull over, and quickly made my way back down to the sleeping boy.
When I reached my destination I quietly positioned my self by the boy, leaning over and wiping his cuts with Neosporin. He stirred and slowly opened his eyes. I looked at him, afraid of what was going to happen next. The one thing that I wished was that he wouldn't run away or leave me, like everyone else did. "W-Who, are you?" I cringed and looked over at the boy. "I-Im, M-Matt Jeevas. I live h-here…" The blonde's eyes seemed to widen as he tried to stand up, wincing in pain as he did so. "I-I m so sorry, they told me no one lived here and that it was haunted, plus I had no where to go--" "No, it's fine, your welcomed to stay as long as you like But w-why would you come if it was haunted?" I looked at the blonde as he seemed to be thinking of an explanation. "Well, they told me that there once live a happy family here, but one day while they were sleeping in the comfort of their home, a thief came in through a open window. They said that he shot one parent dead for not giving him their valuables, and killed the next one for tackling him to the ground screaming to their son to run. They said that the boy probably became curious and walked over to where the screaming was coming from and saw his parent's dead, and ran off to escape, or get some help. But while he was escaping, they said he probably ran into the thief, who which then tried to suffocate him, because when the police arrived at the scene no bullet holes were visible on the boy's body. I came here because…because, my parents died in a fire a couple days ago. I tried to save them, but instead they told me to get out and that they would soon be there….they never kept their promise…" Looking up again the young boy spoke. "By the way my name is Mihael Keehl, and im sorry for intruding onto your property." I glanced at the boy and gave him a gentle smile. "Nice to meet you Mihael and I told you already its fine with me if you want to stay." I recalled what he just told me about the history on this house. I cringed as it all came back to me in a flash.
It was a cold April night; the wind blew leaves across the street as the trees danced in the cool air. I was about to go to bed when I heard a shriek from down the hallway. Curious, I opened my room door and stepped into the hallway, my feet guiding me to where the shrieks were coming from. I saw my parents room door open, so I assumed that they were calling for me, but what I saw next was something I never expected to see. There on the ground laid my parents, bullet holes through their heads, without time to even scream or cry, my feet danced along the hallways trying to escape this nightmare. As I neared the entrance to my house, and to freedom, there stood a sturdy man. Without time to think, said man lunged forward, his hands wrapped tightly around my throat, desperate to cut off my air supply. I didn't want to die without a fight so kneed the man in the stomach, but his grip never loosened, if fact it tightened even more. I tried everything to get the man off, but nothing worked, eventually my world faded into darkness, as time passed me by.
As those thoughts disappeared, I found myself leaning onto the other boy's chest, sobbing. I felt something pat my head and I looked up. "Something bad happened to you to, right?" The boy that called himself Mihael looked sympathetic at me; his cerulean eyes made me want to cry even more. "M-Mihael…?" I looked up at him; I was ready to finally tell someone that that boy, the boy who got murdered by suffocation, was in fact me. Matt Itchigowa, the boy that has lived in this house for over 10 years, but never aging one bit. Of course I wouldn't tell just some random stranger, but this Mihael boy, he was different… I felt as if I could trust him, even if we had just met. "Yeah, matt?" Hazel eyes met cerulean eyes. "Do you ever wonder who that boy who died was?" My gazed never left his, and I was hoping that he would at least put some thought into that question. "Well, of course, the poor boy was murdered for no good reason, and on top of that before he died, he saw his parents dead or die right before his eyes. If I was to ever meet that boy, I would embrace him and tell him that I knew how he felt; I know the pain that he had to live with; and I know that it would be alright. Why is it you ask?" Shaking I lowered my eyes. "B-Because that boy, who died was m-me." I heard the boy laugh. "How could it be you? This happened over 10 years ago, and you don't look older than fifteen." Looking up I smiled. Then all of a sudden I went transparent. I heard a gasp and I laughed. "Im a purgatory ghost. This means I can neither go to heaven nor hell." Looking up I changed back to a solid form. I expected to be rejected by Mihael, but instead I got an embrace. I smiled as I heard him whisper. "I knew how you feel; I know the pain that you have to live with; and I know that it will be alright. I will be here for you, until death of course. If that were to happen though, I hope I could be a purgatory ghost alongside with you." My smile grew wider, as I also embraced the young blonde. "T-Thank you, for more than 10 years I've wanted someone to say that, to say that they will be there for me. Now I have a true friend, thank you Mihael." I smirked as I let go of the boy. "Just to let you know during the day, you can't see me, im transparent like how I was just now. You could only hear what I say, and feel me when I touch you during the day time. At night however, I can choose to be like this, or go transparent like during the day. So in the night time you can see and hear, and touch me like a normal human." I watched as Mihael smiled. "A true friend, eh? Ha-ha you sound like one of those old fashioned grandmothers." I grunted and turned away. "Tch." I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Im just messing with ya. But how bout we call each other best friends, because that's what we are, right?" I turned around a huge grin plastered on my face. "Yeah because that's what we are." And then, as if a heavy burden was lifted off of my shoulders, I felt at peace. My soul was at peace. I could finally leave this earth and go be with my parents, and loved ones. Mihael had granted me this access, but I denied it. I was going to stay on this earth until my best friend passed away. I would watch over him, and protect him for as long as he lived. Then when we meet in the after life, we would both travel together to heaven with wings like and angel. "T-Thank you Mihael. But hold still and let me finish attending to your cuts."
