Natdia: Chapter Two
By NostalgieMalaak
Warnings: none really
Disclaimer: don't own
I couldn't help it. The scream that burst from my lips could have woken the dead. Maybe it did.
Wail after wail of pure terror kept coming out of my mouth but it seemed like the rest of my body was incapable of moving. Trowa's shrill voice jarred against my ears and finally snapped me out of my hysteria.
"…don't hurt her! Don't hurt her!" he was screaming over and over again. I didn't have the presence of mind to wonder to whom or what he was talking. Suddenly strong arms wrapped around me from behind. It was all I could do not to scream again, and maybe I tried to, but my throat was too raw to produce much more than a muted squeak.
"Cathy! Cathy!" My dad chanted in my ear. His breath was warm against the side of my face and very very slowly I let myself collapse into his arms. I didn't cry. I couldn't. All I could do was shiver in his arms.
I looked over to see my mom cradling a sickly Trowa in her arms, casting worried glances at me.
My dad carefully lifted my in his arms like he used to when I was little and carried my to the door. The house was unlocked. The gold plated doorknob opened with complete ease and the door itself didn't even creak when he kneed it open.
Not bothering to look around I buried my face in my dad's warm chest and let him carry me for a while. He laid me down on a couch, but it was so dark that I couldn't even tell what room we were in or how big it was. It felt big though. Big and empty. I shook a little as his arms left me but calmed down again when his calloused thumb brushed over my forehead.
"I'm right here kiddo. You just lie there and try to relax."
"Trowa…?" I asked feebly.
"He's right here too, he's on the other couch. Will you two be ok for a minute while I go turn on the lights?"
I nodded a little and felt him move away. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt two little hands pressing up against me but it was only Trowa. I moved over on the big couch so that he could lay next to me. His breathing was erratic and he felt really cold to the touch. I could smell the hamburger he had eaten at dinner on his breath as he breathed into my face.
"Your breath stinks," I whispered.
"So does yours," a slight smile quirked up the corners of his mouth.
Mom came in quietly and threw a blanket over the both of us, taking a moment to brush her soft hand through my hair. My mom's always been the quiet one in the family. Showing us how much she loves us with little touches and a soothing presence.
"Mom?" I couldn't believe how sleepy I was. Now that the adrenaline had worn off I could tell how sore and tired I was from the long trip.
"What is it sweetie?" she asked, coming back to sit on the edge of the couch. Even with Trowa and me laying on it there was enough room for her to sit down.
"Will you stay with me 'till we fall asleep?"
"Of course. You just had a bad scare. Close your eyes and try to sleep."
"'K," I mumbled before I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and drifted into unconsciousness.
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Daylight was the first thing that registered in my tired mind. Daylight that was slashing across my eyes and preventing me from more sleep. With a resigned sigh I pushed myself up and realized that I had no idea where I was.
The room was small but brightly decorated. A large window to the right of the small twin bed I had woken up on let in massive amounts of sunlight. And the view! Right outside the window rose the Grand Teton Mountains in all their majesty. The sun had risen over them and was washing the east side of the mansion in bright yellow light.
After enjoying the spectacular scenery I took a look at the rest of the room. The furniture was a friendly white color, trimmed with little blue flowers and vines. A wicker chair rested in the corner next to the window. It's cushioned seat looked like a cozy place to curl up with a good book on a snowy afternoon. Disappointment set in for a moment as I realized that we would be leaving long before winter. It was strange that I even thought this way. After all, I was in a new place with no friends, no town, and wilderness surrounding me for miles. I should have been unhappy, but I was surprised to find that I wasn't. Perhaps it was the room. It was too cheerful and warm to let me be unhappy for long.
On the far side of the room were clustered three doors. The one closest to the chair turned out to be a tiny closet. It was a good thing I didn't have that many cloths or I'd have to find somewhere else to store them. The door next to it led to a tiny bathroom. My own bathroom! I was so excited with the prospect that I jumped up and down for a moment. Then realizing that I was thirteen and teenagers don't do stupid things like that I calmed down and took a closer look.
The fixtures in the bathroom were old but clean. The bathtub took up most of the space and was far deeper than I had imagined. It's lip came up to my waist. It should have looked far too out of place with it's massive size against the tiny space and smaller pieces of furniture but for some reason it didn't. There was a small toilet with a real wooden lid and a sick and small counter, also done in wood. The best feature of all was the mirror that hung over the sink. It was small, oval, and beautifully wrought with some sort of metal and painted to look gold. It looked like something that one would find in a French castle or something. I loved it.
The last door in the room led out into a hallway with think plush carpeting. Several other doors (which I assumed led to other bedrooms) were scattered along the hall. Whoever owned the house must have had a lot of children, or at least entertained a lot of guests.
It wasn't until I was halfway down the wide wood-banister staircase that I remembered the events of last night. A cold chill crept up my spine and made my scalp tingle. My room and the hallway had seemed so inviting and homey that I had completely forgotten the terror of the night before.
Just as soon as it came the feeling of dread passed. I had been acting so stupid all day! Nothing bad had happened last night. I just had a bad scare, that's all. Nothing was going to hurt Trowa and absolutely nothing reached out and grabbed my hand. God I was stupid. I just hoped my mom and dad didn't think I was crazy now.
"Cathy?"
The quiet voice from behind me almost made me fall flat on my face.
"God Trowa! You scared the crap out of me!"
"Sorry. Mom says you shouldn't say God." Trowa replied from the landing above me.
"Well the Bible says it, so I can say it too," I snapped back, "What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?"
"Nooo, just wanted to ask you something."
That stopped me. Trowa rarely ever comes to me for help. My mom always has to be the one to cajole me into helping him when he's too embarrassed to ask.
"What is it?"
"Did you…last night…" The stricken look on his face hit me hard.
"I just had a bad scare, that's all. Nothing happened. I was just scared."
"No that's not what I mean," he interrupted quickly, "I was scared too. There was something there."
"Something there?"
"Ya. I thought I saw something. It grabbed your hand."
I couldn't breathe. It wasn't possible. Not possible at all. I just imagined the whole thing because I was tired and it was dark. No way something was really there last night.
"Cathy?"
"CATHY!"
"Coming Mom!" I yelled over my shoulder. "Well, whatever you do Tro, don't tell Mom and Dad. They'll just freak again."
He just rolled his eyes at me as if to say 'I'm not that stupid.'
Walking in the direction of my mom's voice I began to take in the house around me. It seemed smaller than it had last night in the dark. Then again, I only felt how big it was. Last night I also felt something that clearly wasn't there grab my hand. I hate being afraid of the dark.
Trowa had taken advantage of my slow pace to hurry fast me towards what I assumed was the kitchen. Something smelled like breakfast cooking at any rate. I left off my visual exploration of the large rooms and highly ornamented furniture to find food.
After taking several wrong turns down almost identical looking hallways I found a small flight of stairs leading into the kitchen. The kitchen itself looked tiny compared to the rest of the house. Two wide counters framed the right and back walls and large appliances took up the left wall. A floating counter dominated what little space there was between the counter a stove. To the right of the entryway was a large wooden booth-like table structure and that looked like it had been taken out of some cheesy western diner. Nothing in the kitchen matched. It was just about the ugliest room I had ever seen.
Trowa seemed not to notice as he worked his way through a plateful of hash browns and sausage.
"Where'd you get the food Mom?" I asked.
"Oh, Cathy! There you are. I was worried you had gotten lost…sit down and have something to eat." I sat down on the bouncy vinyl-covered seat of the booth across from Trowa. I grabbed his glass of orange juice and took a gulp of it.
"Hey! That's mine!"
"Ya snooze ya lose."
"Cathy don't drink Trowa's juice, he might still be sick." I grimaced a little. I had forgotten that Trowa had just gotten over a bad cold. Mom plopped a plate of hash browns and sausage and a glass of juice down in front of me before snagging herself a plate. Trowa scooted over a little so she could sit next to him.
"Mom you didn't answer my question." I said annoyed. It's like she forgets my questions just to make me mad.
"Oh, I got some at the last grocery store we stopped at. Put it in the cooler on the way up."
"Where's dad?"
"He had to go into town to get a few things."
"There's a town! Awesome. Can we go sometime?" Finally a little civilization!
"Maybe this weekend. It's a half hour drive from here and we have to get unpacked. Why don't you take Trowa and go explore after breakfast?"
I sulked at this idea. Ya right, take Trowa. Even if I could get him away from his music and game systems there was no way he would be fun company. Trowa never was and never has been a nature boy.
"Maybe," I said, putting as much doubt in my voice as possible. If you want him to get better so bad then maybe you should take us someplace where he can have a friend. Learn how to socialize. Not dump him off in the wilderness. Sometimes I wonder if my parents know my little brother at all.
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I was more than a little surprised to find Trowa already standing outside after I had run upstairs to change and put on some sturdy shoes. He was standing on the wide porch that ran along the front of the house picking at splinters of wood along the railing.
"Mom make you come out?" I asked moodily.
"Ya."
"Fine, but don't expect me to wait around for you. You'll have to keep up." He just looked dispassionately at me. Stupid little brothers.
It wasn't that I really wanted to explore what looked like extremely dangerous bear infested forest, but it was better than being around my mom while she was trying to unpack. Many family vacations had taught me that she had a system and nobody was to mess up that system. Same way with cleaning the house.
I jumped off the side of the porch where the railing had been knocked down and picked a random direction in which to start walking. In no time I was struggling through high weeds and wildflowers that left little burrs clinging to my pants. Trowa wasn't far behind me.
When we got to the wooded area the going got a little easier. The scent of pine and sap assaulted my nose. It was so different than anything I had ever imagined. It smelled so…dry. I was used to big thick green trees that smelled like the last rain storm and leaf-strewn paths that made the ground spongy. Another thing I noticed was the quiet. It was so silent I could hear Trowa panting several yards behind me and the wind through the trees. Nothing else.
After a while the elevation started to catch up with me and it got harder and harder to breathe.
"Trowa," I panted, "Do you need to stop and rest for a sec?"
"No…I'm fine…" he said, equally as winded.
"Well, then I'll just take a break."
"Okay," he said with relief.
We both sat down on an old log that looked like something huge and vicious had mauled it. I swatted at little bugs that were trying to land on my sweat-damp skin, hoping they weren't mosquitoes. Being itchy, out of breath, and hot wasn't really the good time I had been looking for when I decided to take a walk. Maybe we would have been better off having mom yell at us for messing up the unpacking process.
When we had sufficiently regained our breath we started walking again. In the shade of the trees it was much cooler. I was starting to wish I had brought a sweatshirt or something.
Up ahead was a large meadow like the one the mansion was built on. I hurried my pace a little, eager to be back in the sunlight. Tripping over small roots and scattering rocks left and right I eventually found myself running out of the trees. I laughed happily as sunlight once more touched my face and the sound of insects covered some of the oppressive silence.
Trowa was jumping over weeds and flowers making his way towards me. If I hadn't known better I would have sworn he was enjoying himself. That's why I immediately noticed when he stopped and froze in place. Just like the night before his face had drained of color and he was staring at something I obviously couldn't see.
"Trowa?" My voice came out sounding harsh and strained. "Trowa, what's the matter?"
Gulping visibly he raised a shaking hand to point behind me. My breath fast and hard in my ears and slowly turned to see what he was looking at. The meadow suddenly seemed much too bright. It hurt my eyes to look at anything for too long. The sound of insects had mysteriously vanished. Even the constant sound of the wind through the trees had stopped. It was like time altogether had halted for just this moment.
I finally completed the turn and stared. I blinked my eyes and stared again. I didn't know what Trowa was looking at. All I could see was a small dirt hill that was completely barren of weeds or grass. Then another…and another…all of them stretched out in perfect rows.
"Oh my God…what is this?"
"Cathy I want to leave!" Trowa squeaked out. "Cathy please!"
"Are they…are they…graves?"
"I don't know, I don't know, I don't wanna know…" Trowa was covering his eyes with his hands, refusing to let himself see whatever it was that was scaring him so badly.
I could feel whatever it was that had him so terrified. It was seeping through my cotton shirt and brushing against my pant legs like an invisible cool wave.
"I want to get a little closer," I heard myself say. Trowa didn't hear me over his terrified litany.
I took a few steps forward so I was at the edge of the nearest mound. There was something so odd about it though. It was so small. They were all too small. There was no way this could be a graveyard. Where were all the adults' graves? And why would there be a graveyard out in the middle of the forest and no headstones? It didn't make any sense.
"I don't understand," I moaned softly, fear clenching around my chest. "I don't understand."
"Please don't hurt me…don't hurt Cathy…please don't hurt me…don't hurt Cathy…"
Tbc
Anyone have any guesses as to where, in my mind at least, this story is set? Sorry for the slow update. I have no excuse.
-Nostalgie