The silver BMW of the Thompson's family slowly pulled its way into its driveway. Its windows shined and reflected, and the noise of the engine alerted Tony that they'd arrived. Tony bounced up from his seat and ran to the window to draw back the cream curtains. When he did, he smiled brightly to see his mother and father get out of the car and smile back at him. Tony knew his big cousin was coming to live with them from South Carolina, but he didn't know what he looked like, he didn't know anything about him in the slightest way. He was hoping silently to himself that he'd be young enough that he'd want to play with him, Rudolph and Anna. Tony held his breath as the back car door opened and his cousin slowly climbed out of the low down car. Tony watched as a dark figure emerged into his view. First he noticed the new looking black converse, then the jeans with rips and zips down them, then the black V-neck Iron Maiden shirt with the long sleeved black zip up hoodie. Tony gulped slightly as a sense of fear ran threw him, but he continued to stare. He watched his cousin standing up completely now and watched as he closed the car door behind him and stood staring at the house. Tony studied him further and noticed his hair was swept over and it looked very sharp, it was jet black completely. He noticed him wearing dark black eye make-up and that he was very pale. So pale that Tony had to double think on whether he was alive or not. Tony paused his thoughts and thought to himself of what his age could be, he'd stuck with the guess that he wasn't that much younger than Gregory. His mother and father made their way to the front door and called his cousin along. Tony noticed the hesitation in his footsteps before he walked up the front steps. Tony jumped down from the window just I time to watch his mother, father and cousin enter into the living room.
Tony's mother, Dottie, and father, Bob, shook themselves sight while they removed they're coats, smiling all so slightly at each other. Taking a deep breath Tony watched as his cousin looked around him slightly but kept his coat on with his hands firmly stuck in his pockets. Beth slowly looked from Bob to the boy standing there. And after what seemed like ages of silence, Beth turned to Tony and smiled.
"Tony my dear, this is your big cousin Andrew, and he's going to be staying with us for a while," Dottie turned and smiled widely at Andrew, "Andrew darling this is your little cousin Tony, he's been dying to see you for weeks. I hadn't seen him that excited for months!"
Andrew smiled slightly and looked at Dottie with a very distant look in his eyes, "I know, I remember seeing pictures of him before, although…..he was much younger. I think he was two, maybe three."
Tony admired his voice, it wasn't very deep, but it was smooth. It was as soft as the voice you'd hear in your head while reading or like the sound of birds chirping in the morning.
Andrew looked at Tony and give a small smile, "Did I scare you?"
Tony slowly nodded a little then he quickly shook his head, "No! I'm not scared of anything! My best friend Rudolph taught me how to be brave!"
Andrew heard Dottie and Bob take in a deep breath and he hid the suspicion with a smile, "Well, I'm glad that you have a best friend who can help you too be brave, that's the kind of friends you need in this world Tony, always remember that."
Dottie give a slight nod and smiled again, "Well, now that the introductions are done, why don't I show you around and Bob will bring your things up to your new room."
Dottie smiled at Bob and led Andrew threw another door while Tony pranced a lone behind him. When they walked through the small hallway that led into the kitchen, everyone could hear Bob struggling to hold open the front door while bring in the four boxes that held all of Andrew's belongings. With a chesty fake cough, Dottie got Andrew's attention and he snapped his head to look over at her. Dottie showed him around the kitchen as slowly as she possibly could. She talked about the white marble counter tops, the black and white tiled walls, the modern high tech kitchen appliances and showed him gradually how to use them in case he ever needed too. Andrew looked out the kitchen window and noticed they pretty much had a now small back garden, anyone would have thought it was big for a normal sized garden, but it was packed with a trampoline, slides, swings, sea-saws and a huge tree with a pretty decent sized tree house.
Dottie smiled and looked at him, "Feel free to go out and take a look around if you want. I didn't really take you for a playground child."
Andrew give Dottie a sarcastic look and turned to see an old looking door at the end of the kitchen near the back door, "What's that?"
Dottie sighed deeply, "Oh, that's just our cellar…it's packed so we advise you stay out of there. It's very dangerous."
"I'm used to danger." Andrew shrugged as he walked towards the cellar door.
"Andrew, dear! Why don't we go so I can show you the rest of the house? I'll show you the cellar another day! Huh?" Dottie's voice sounded panicky as she tapped Andrew's shoulder and led him out of the kitchen and back into the living room.
Andrew looked to Tony as they left the kitchen and saw a look of relief on his face. What are they hiding now? Slaves? Tormented souls? Demons? Dead bodies? Oh that would be cool… Andrew stopped at the end of the small hallway and looked at the bright cream walls that held white sofas with a black carpet between them, a small flat screen TV that sat on a shiny white table beside the huge ebony fireplace. The fireplace surprised him because it looked so old, yet new. It was a shiny dark ebony with a still unlit fire in the middle. Bob came walking slowly down the stairs and smiled down at Dottie who simply shook her head with a small smile playing at her lips. Andrew looked up at Bob and admired the handle bars that looked almost like thorns. Once again, Andrew allowed himself to be led off. Up the stairs and around a few corners, being told where the bathroom was, where Dottie and Bob's room was, and they stopped at a room which the door was closed.
"Andrew, this room in here will be your room while you're staying here. You can have it painted or wallpapered whatever way you want, but only if you ask first. You can whatever you want in here so long as you clean up your own mess, come down when we call you, and bring your dirty washing down to be cleaned. Is that untestable?" Bob raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yes, Sir." Andrew nodded slightly.
"Good, well…your stuff is already in there, we'll leave you to unpack and we'll call you when your dinners ready, ok?"
Andrew nodded again.
Bob give Andrew a simple head nod and he walked off with Dottie down the corridor and he listened as they walked down the stairs. With a sigh he turned to face his door but the sight of blonde spikey hair and glasses caught his attention. Staring calmly down at Tony he smiled slightly.
"Um…..my rooms just down there at the end, to the left." Tony said pointing down to the bottom of the hallway.
Andrew lifted his gaze and looked down the hallway, "I'll keep that in mind."
"A-Andrew….?"
"Yeah?" Andrew slowly looked back at Tony and notice he was nervous, "What's wrong?"
"Would…..would you play with me?" Tony fiddled with his finger nails and kept his head down.
Andrew thought about it for a couple of minutes, "Yes, I will. But I can't right now, I have to unpack first. Maybe after dinner, yeah?"
Tony looked up at Andrew with the hope shinnying brightly in his eyes, "Really? C-can Rudolph and Anna play too?"
"If they're over here then sure." Andrew smiled a little, "Now, you go to your room and make up a game you want us to play and I'll unpack, okay? Then you can tell me after dinner and we play it. Ok?"
Tony smiled and hugged Andrew quickly before saying 'thank you' and running off down the hall to his room. Andrew heard him jumping onto his bed and shook his head before putting his hand onto the door knob. It felt cold in his hand, as if it hadn't been touched in a while. Slowly, he turned it and pushed the door open. He felt a fresh breeze of air as he walked into the room. He took his time looking around it and nodding slightly. The walls where painted a dark purple, and the bed frame and covers where both black, the dressing table beside the bed looked brand new it's colour shown a light brown. Looking around further, he noticed that he had a huge walk in wardrobe with wooden doors that had moveable slates, and a study table big enough for having a computer, course work and a box or two of file pages. He also had a balcony, the doors where pure glass with thin white frame which allowed him to see out and see his view. The view of the back garden was hidden, and his view was replaced with the sight of the trees, the farm on below and the sea in the distance. It looked very far away, but he estimated it would only take him a half an hour to get to the farm and around an hour and a half to get to the far off cliff. Andrew looked to the side of the study table and noticed a door that was hidden behind the main bedroom door and it was painted the same dark purple to match the walls. Struggling a bit, Andrew finally found the door handle and attempted to push the door open. The door opened a few centimetres then stuck again. Andrew made a sound of disappointment and anger before booting the door harshly. The door flung open and tapped off the wall which left the room completely open for Andrew to walk on in. The room was almost completely dark with nothing but a single light shining through the half covered dusty window which was very high up for a normal window. Andrew walked over and stood on his tip-toes to pull at the sheet that was covering the window. It took him a couple of tries, but finally he managed to pull the sheet down. A cloud of dust flowed down along with the old sheet and the light almost blinded him as it shone through by surprise. Coughing slightly, Andrew covered his mouth with his arm and turned around. He stood in silence for a couple of minutes as he notice an old bookshelf that looked to be about 100 years or so, and a puffy chair that they'd use in the movies where people had to go to therapy in America, then he spotted a chest in the corner of the room beside him, he stared at it for a couple of minutes before walking over and studying it. Cautiously he attempted to open it, and it lifted gently up as Andrew rested the lid against the wall to examine what it contained. Strangely, it only held a small book with and old smell to it with an almost rotten leather back. He opened the book as carefully as he could and noticed the first two pages where empty, then he found the first page and found out exactly who owned it.
Gregory Sackville-Bagg
Journal – 1608
Andrew milled the name over in his head and couldn't think of any history behind the name that he'd heard of, he realized the date was centuries ago and made a mental note to look him up later when he had the chance to get onto a computer or the internet. He studied the book as he slowly rose to his feet and closed the chest. Thinking to himself, he nodded and carried the book with him through the door, and back to his natural room. He set the book aside and closed the hidden door behind him before walking over to his boxes that sat near the balcony doors. They were labelled in black sharpie, one for clothes, one for everything else, one for shoes and one for whatever things he had left. He sat on the floor in front of the boxes and looked up to look out the glass doors. The sky was getting dull, and he knew that sooner or later it would be almost black outside, and Tony will have to go to bed. So will everyone else, but at least he could sneak downstairs when everyone is sleeping to get onto the computer.
His thoughts where interrupted by Dottie's cry of 'dinners ready' and with a sigh, he slowly stood up and walked down the stairs. He followed Tony into the kitchen and sat awkwardly at the bottom of the small kitchen table they had, Dottie had sat on the left side, Bob at the top and Tony on his right. Andrew gulped as the dinner was all shared out between the four people and smiled slightly as he held his hand up slightly to say he didn't want anymore. They sat in almost silence as Dottie, Bob and Tony ate away like vultures, the sound of cutlery being scraped against plates was all that could be heard. Andrew stared at his plate for a couple of seconds before getting a sick feeling in his stomach, he decided to turn his gaze to the kitchen window. He'd noticed it got dark very quickly. Quicker than he thought it would in Scotland. He tried his best to block out the noise of the constant chewing, swallowing, cutlery scraping or if one of them took a drink. It was hard and he almost succeeded, until he felt as if someone was breathing on his neck. He felt all the hairs on his body stand on edge and he felt as if he was getting Goosebumps. His breathing sped up a little as he tried to block out every sound completely. He heard a faint whisper of a young male's voice in his ear, as smooth as velvet yet as harsh as the night's breeze.
It spoke calmly, you'll regret what you've done.
Andrew sat in confusion, he thought it over. But he still couldn't link anything together. Andrew slowly turned his head around to look behind him, once he did, he spotted the cellar door closing and he heard the sound of high-pitched screams. He jumped to his feet and caused his chair to fall over. Dottie and Bob slowly looked up to look at him.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Dottie asked staring at him.
"N-nothing…just my bad nerves…" Andrew give a nervous laugh and bent down to pick up his chair.
"And was it your bad nerves that caused you not to eat your dinner? Or do you just not think my wife can cook?" Bob laughed.
Andrew looked up at Bob and Dottie with a look of shock on his face, "No! No! It smells amazing! I just can't really eat anything with the stress of getting on with everyone here and people at school….."
Dottie dropped her napkin and raised her hands as she stood up and lifted the empty plates, "Honey, we're not going to make you eat if you honestly can't. We'll only force you to eat if it's completely necessary."
Andrew nodded in understanding and set his chair back in place while lifting his plate and bring it over to the dishwasher, "Where do I-"
Bob took the plate from him and smiled slightly, "Leave it to me son."
Andrew nodded and left him to clean the plates, he'd noticed Tony wasn't waiting at the kitchen door to block his exit and ask him repeatedly did he want to play the game he'd made up, and he wasn't in his room, or on the stairs, or at the toilet and he wasn't anywhere to be seen. It was as if Tony had simply just, vanished. And his mother and father didn't even think to call him or start looking for him? Or maybe they knew where he was, and they just let him be because they're used to him playing there? Andrew made his way back to his room after searching Tony's entire room for him. Andrew's room felt cold as if the balcony doors had been opened completely, but he knew they hadn't been opened because the white curtains would have been blowing about with the breeze and the door would have slammed shut already. Andrew searched for the light switch on the wall, it took him a while because he stopped to curse himself about how he should have looked for it sooner. But eventually, he found the light switch and flicked it on. The light illuminated the room and made it feel a bit warmer. Andrew smiled as he walked across the room and closed the white curtains to block the glass windows, then he searched threw his clothes box and found a long sleeved woolly jumper that was fluffy and soft with a big black stripe at the top, then a grey one, then white , then a pair of bat pyjama bottoms.
Andrew took off his clothes and fitted himself neatly into the jumper and bottoms. The jumper was almost far too big for him, and at some points it would hang off one shoulder and show off his collar bones. The bottoms just about fitted him, they weren't tight, nor were they lose. They just fitted him perfectly. After he was changed he sat on his bed and picked up the old journal that was lying on his bedside table. Andrew sighed as he studied the front and back for any signs that it was a fake book invented to tell people a brief description of things back in the 16th century, but no signs where found. He checked the inside of the book and found it contained nothing but diary entries. No publisher mark, no author's note. Nothing. Then he knew it was a general 16th century journal written by a real aristocrat in 1608 and he held his breath slightly as he went back to get the first diary entry.
14th February 1608
My mother and father thinks it would be a good idea for me to list and record our family's history over the course of the next ten to fifteen years of our lives. Personally, I despise the idea, but if it keeps them happy and it stops my father pestering me that I never do anything important, then maybe it's worth a try.
My name is Gregory Sackville-Bagg (you might know me as Gruesome Gregory), I'm 15 years old and the son of Fredrick the Great and Freda the Fierce. I have a younger brother named Rudolph and a younger sister named Anna. I despise them both very much and you may as well be hearing about it more than you think. You may learn from reading this that I'm filled with hatred for my family and for any kind of living creature that doesn't amuse nor interest me. As hateful as I am, I have a strong interest in books and nature. It surprises me that I do considering I've never normally sat down to read a book and I've been locked inside for most of my life. My family sees it as nothing but reasonable to keep children inside rather than let them out for a while. It was only when we died that we were allowed anywhere near the outside world. Simply because it was dark and no one would even notice we were there.
Yes, I did say dead. We died in September 1607 on the 23rd. A tragic day for many but our own. They say we died in a murder, that someone came into our house at night and lit us all on fire. The truth is far from that. It may be dangerous to share, but at least no one will really pay any attention to that tale. The tale goes like Death's bed time story, a simple family, kind-hearted and popular. Rich yet willing to help anyone who came to their door for assistance, a loving family who loved each other and everyone whom surrounded them. Yet one undead monster thought we deserved to die. Undead is the truth of it. A blood sucking demon, sent from hell itself to bring us down. It attacked my family and myself, tearing open our throats like a piece of paper. Leaving us bleeding to death. One by one we passed on. We changed in that final moment of joining into the form of afterlife. We ourselves became blood sucking monsters, and we had a strong thirst for the blood of the innocent. This still lasts. To this very day, we are in the shadows. Waiting and watching for a victim of prey. Someone who deserved to bleed out and die in the pain of the suffering they caused. Although we caused no harm to anyone, we ended up the way we are. This may never change, but at least now all we have to do is move from one city to another until we are clear of all danger.
Andrew closed the book slowly. He hadn't finished the entry, he was tempted too but he forced himself not too. This journal sounded like the journal of either a mentally ill teenager or a very strong Satanist related cult. No matter how hard he tried, Andrew couldn't put any logic behind the journal. He admitted to himself, dead people don't write letters. Why does this one?