New chapter! Yay! Anyway, after a brutal couple days of thinking, i've come to the conclusion that with what i have going with each story, it's downright impossible to connect these stories. So this will most likely be four separate stories, which isn't a bad thing!
So anyway, enjoy!
I own nothing.
Isolation
Chapter 2
"Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters."
-Stephan King-
"Hey Leo, could you pass the chips?" April asks, breaking the momentary silence. I reach back into the back seat and grab the small bag of chips, "Would you like me to feed you as well?" I ask sarcastically, grinning largely.
"Oh shut up." She snaps with a smile, grabbing the bag and opening it.
Still grinning, I lean back in the seat and sigh largely as I stretch my arms out, yawning, "We almost there?" I ask mid yawn. She checks the GPS, "Yep, says we only got about ten minutes to go."
I nod, returning my attention back toward the window. The car was speeding through a trail that you never thought would be in the state of New York. It seemed like something from a horror movie, you know, the ones where the group of teens go into the woods and find a cabin. I know about four movies that used that same setting, it gets old after a while, but that's what this trail reminds me off.
I still don't understand why April decided to bring me along, or even why she needs to get away. I face her and rest my chin on my fist, eyeing her with wonder. She glances sideways at me, "Why are you looking at me like that?" She quickly questions.
I smile, "Answer me this question," I begin, "Why are you really taking this sudden vacation? I mean you never talked about taking time off until recently." I keep grinning, She sighs in annoyance, "Can't a girl have some time to herself once in a while?" She rhetorically asks.
"No." I say quickly.
She giggles softly, "Alright, this isn't a vacation."
"Then what is it if I may ask?"
She quickly glances in her rear view mirror, then leans back in her seat, "My family lawyer recently found my great grandmother will." She explains, "And in it, she stated that she was giving me her mansion."
This takes me by surprise, "You're great grandmother owned a mansion?" I ask dumbfounded. She nods, "I just found this out recently as well, so anyway, she gave it to me and I decided to take a trip down here to see if I can find any family stuff or antiques and stuff, you know. And then when I figure everything out, I'm thinking about selling it."
"What!?" I exclaim, "Why not live there?"
She shrugs, "I was never the country girl you know, I like my place in the city, my place with you and your brothers, I could never live out here all by myself, I'd go crazy!" She says with a giggle, "And think about the money I can make off of this place."
I study her closely, "But this mansion is part of your family, don't you want to keep it in the family?"
"That's the thing," She says softly, "I was never really close with my family, or at least this side of my family. So I don't feel like this mansion really belongs to me."
I nod, leaving it at that. But I did have another question.
"One more question." I don't take my eyes off her, which she hates.
"Shoot, just stopping looking at me like that."
I don't, "Why take me along? Why not Mikey or Raph or Don, or even Casey!" I say with eyebrows cocked with wonder. She smiles, "To be honest, I didn't plan on taking anyone with me in the first place. Splinter suggested to take you with me."
"Splinter?" I almost shout in confusion.
"Yeah, when I told him where I was going, he suggested I take you along with me. He said you seemed to have been distracted lately and needed to get away."
A nervous chill runs down my spine, I groan softly and turn back in my seat, staring out the window. "Is everything ok?" She asks with a hint of worry in her voice. I puff softly, "Yeah." I answer in a tone that clearly gives away that I'm lying.
I see her look at me in my peripherals, "Well if you need to talk about something, I'm here."
I sigh softly, looking at the woods as we pass them, "I know."
After a moment of awkward silence, she slows down the car. We both stare outside of the window at the large metal gate, this definitely looks like something out of a horror movie.
"Is this it?" I ask, not taking my eyes off the two circles on each gate door, both holding a strange looking emblem. "Only one way to find out," She says, then exits the car. I watch her cautiously walk toward the gate and grab the lock that connected the two doors. She fumbles with it for a second, then removes the padlock and slides the chain out of the handle. After placing the lock in her back pocket, she pulls the gates open, each one making a terrible creaking noise as the rusted, old metal on the hinges rubbed against each other. Even in the car and with the windows rolled up I heard the noise, making me cringe.
She wipes her hands on her pants and makes her way back to the car, "Stupid gate." She continues to grunt under her breath. I chuckle without her seeing as she starts the engine and drives through the gate. "I can't imagine anyone living here." I say as we drive up more of the trail.
"Exactly why I want to sell it." She says.
She follows the trail until the mansion comes into view, my eyes widen as I stare. The place was huge, and again, something you'd see in a horror movie.
She pulls up in front of the mansion and kills the engine, "Didn't think it was that big." She admits.
We both get out of the car and she starts getting her luggage out. I don't just yet, I didn't even bring that much, I don't have much to bring anyway.
But as she got her stuff out, I stare at the mansion, completely flabbergasted.
The faded, white paint makes the mansion look old, beat down. Each window was covered with a beige, elegant looking curtain, I notice one on the second story, fourth window from the right was ripped slightly. Wonder how that happened.
The roof seems in tiptop shape, except the fact that a few shingles were missing. Its brown coating gives the exterior more brightness and color.
The mansion was surrounded by more forest, giving the outside a sketchy look. I notice the gate cuts through the middle of the forest, making the trees take up most of the backyard.
I follow the mansion all the way to the back, my blood runs cold at the sight of a small cemetery directly in front of the forest. I cringe and look away, noticing a small swing set that would be perfect for a little kid. Odd.
The grass that surrounded the entire mansion looks as if it hasn't been tendered too in ages, making the mansion look slightly unattractive.
"Leo!" April calls. I snap out of my strange trance and glance back at her, "I could use a little help here."
…
A couple hours have passed and I still can't get over this mansion. The inside was more beautiful then the outside. The first thing you see upon entering is the large front room, stairs looming in the back. Many doors lined the walls, leading into many different rooms.
The first floor included the kitchen, the living room, the study, an exercise room (Which I didn't expect), four bathrooms, a library, a really big room with a bar (For parties I guess). This mansion was huge, I don't understand why one women would need all these rooms.
The part that I giggled at was that the second floor had six bedrooms, two master and four smaller ones. We both called each master.
"Why would one person need this much?" I ask as we roam around, I feel like a kid in a museum, seeing all the history behind this mansion.
"Well she wasn't alone all the time, she had a two husbands. One of them died from cancer." She says. I frown, "What happened to the other?"
She doesn't respond right away, as if something bothered her. She stops and leans up against the wall right next to a large portrait of some guy holding a sword. "Well, my lawyer told me that…" She sighs, "He committed suicide."
My heart plummets, "Jesus."
She pushes her hair away from her face, "He said that my great grandmother told police that he hadn't been himself before the incident. Turns out, he developed cabin fever because he never left the house. He just, lost it and hung himself in his room."
I shake my head, feeling my nerves tremble restlessly. We get off the subject and continue through the house. Then I start thinking about it, I've basically been isolated in the lair, so why haven't any of us developed cabin fever? I ponder this thought as we enter the kitchen, "Damn, I forgot." She says suddenly, "We only have a few snacks that we brought for the road, I'm going to have to run to the store to get eat."
"How long are we going to be here?" I ask, leaning on the counter.
"No idea, but more then a few days, so I need to do some shopping," She says as she grabs her keys, "Wanna tag along?"
I shake my head, "Nah, I'm sick of being in the car, I'll stay and explore the house a little."
She smiles, "Alright, call if you need anything."
…..
Aprils been gone for only twenty minutes, the store is probably an hour away. This place is so isolated that even a salesman couldn't find this place. I wasn't up for exploring when she left, so instead, I took what I had up to a master room and began maing myself feel at home.
The room was like heaven, bed is like sleeping on a cloud, window showing a great view of the forest, but the thing I hate is that I also get a pretty good view of the cemetery.
I decided to mediate, don't understand why, just felt like it.
I take a deep breath, then exhale with eyes closed.
I instantly feel relaxed, at ease. Not that I ever felt stressed or anything.
Suddenly, without warning, something hits me, not physically, but mentally.
A excruciating pain erupts in my head, but I can't get out of my trance for some reason, like my mind has trapped me in my own thoughts.
Something fades in the dark, I don't understand at first, but in minutes, the picture becomes crystal clear.
All I see is the front gate, I was standing inside while my brothers were out, trying to get in, screaming something, but I can't understand them.
Then my surrounding change, I'm standing in a master bedroom. The first thing I see is April, lying in bed, naked. Blood stained the wall above the bed, formed into a single word.
Edicius
Scene changes, I'm standing in the cemetery, each gravestone was completely soaked with blood, but something else was slightly more disturbing then everything else.
A child, standing in front of me, his head turned up toward me, mouth sewed together, eyes replaced with large, gaping holes. The veins in his face were dark green under his pale, grey complexion.
All of a sudden, my eyes open, I'm back in my room, sitting on the floor, legs crossed.
A uneasy feeling washes over me as the sweat rolls down my face, all I could think about was the what the hell I just saw. I blink a few times, wondering if these flashes were more then mere hallucinations.
