A loud creak filled her ears as she struggled with the large entrance. The hinges were just as rusted and the gate, and the door itself. When she finally got it open, with much difficulty, I might add, she was amazed with the drastic contrast between the courtyard garden and the inside of this huge room that lay before her. The cieling was so high it was hard to see, for there was no electrical light in the place. The room was very dusty and had a midevil twist to it, it seemed old, and very musty and damp. Housework was obviously neglected and a good dusting was needed badly. There seemed to be no furniture, except for metal shelving far at the back of the room. Then Ardeth noticed the tall, rickety staircase to her left. On either side of the railings, tall stone statues of winged demons stood, looking menacingly real.
Ardeth began to climb the tired, winding steps, each one cracked with age, and seemingly dangerous. She touched the railing and her hand recoiled when she found that the ripe wood of it was moist. "There must be a leak in here" she whispered as she wiped her fingers on her pants. When she almost reached the top, the case began to sway slightly. Ardeth carefully jumped the last two steps to acheive the top, concrete climax of the stairs. She stepped through the tall space in the aged wall and continued into the hallway. She turned the corner and found another flight of stairs, this one thankfully much shorter than the last. Ardeth ascended these to reach the final floor of the building.
It looked like a largely exaggerated attic. The eave-boards were on a slant, and had a capascious hole in them, almost at the center, and the rain poured through them in buckets, covering the floor with a silvery coat of water. The entire room smelt of mold and wet mothballs. Ardeth began to advance into the space, listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops as she continued to observe the few details she could see. She then took heed of the fireplace to her left, and as she drew closer, she noticed a single cot there, tucked into the place between the bricked sides. Behind the bed, an extravagant collection of newspaper, magazine and book cuttings were plastered to the wall. She studied them, some were of ads for "healthier, fit bodies", some were of miracles the you saw on Maury like "boy loses eyes, but reads with his hands".
Suddenly, she heard a soft clicking-snipping sound behind her, from the far, shadowed angle of the room. Ardeth quickly curved around to see what it was. She moved closer, for she had an inkling, a feeling of where that clamor was coming from.
"Hello?" she said, hardly above a whisper, "Who's there?"
The snipping stopped.
"Hello?" Ardeth said again, as she came closer, avoiding the hole in the ceiling and the rain.
A figure stood up. Ardeth ceased walking. The form moved towards her, slowly, until the shadows fell away.
He was exactly like she thought he would look: his eyes were a glossy black, but shy, his face was an extremely pale pearl colour, and thin scars dotted his cheeks and chin. His lips were oddly blue, like ice or forget-me-nots. His hair was a dark charcoal, matted and untamed, rippling over his ears and forhead. His entire body was covered in black leather, held together with clasps and hooks and pins. Ardeth looked down at his hands. He held them away from his sides as they were sharp as razors, and seemed as they could cut anything with ease.
"Hello." he said softly, in an lonely, child-like voice.
Ardeth found a ping of sadness had found itself into the back of her brain. She fought it away. "Hi," she greeted him warmly, "what's your name?" Ardeth felt stupid for asking, for she already knew.
"Edward." he said, shuffling further out of the shadows, "My name's Edward."
-end chapter-
A/N: sorry for the chapters becoming shorter, but i seem to have less time on my hands.
