The Dream

 

I woke up inside a different place, finding myself lying on the floor of a darkened hallway. The sound of rain pattering against the roof of the house. I got to my feet, searching for something to light the way out of this strange and creepy house. Aha! There’s something I can use! I thought to myself, catching sight of a flashlight. I bent over, picked it up, and clicked it on, holding the beam of the flashlight in front of me. “Where am I, anyway? How did I get here?” I asked myself, having no idea where I was. Suddenly, I heard footsteps rushing up the stairs in front of me, making me jump backward a few feet. I got up my courage and approached the set of stairs leading up to the next floor of the house. A flash of lightning struck a tree outside of a nearby window, reducing the tree to nothing but ashes. I looked away from the window and went up the stairs, looking over my shoulder to make sure that nothing was following me. I paused in front of an ancient painting, holding up my flashlight to the yellowed canvas. One side of the painting was ripped off, clearly having been torn by whoever owned the painting.

 

I continued up the stairs, until I was at the top step. The second floor of the abandoned building was more illuminated than the ground floor. There were a few lanterns that glowed weakly, sputtering a few times every now and then. I heard voices coming from the doorway nearest to me. Curious, I approached the opened door. “Is someone there? Hello?” I called into the darkened room, peeking around the edge of the doorframe. The voices abruptly stopped, which worried me. I entered the room, sweeping the room with my flashlight, revealing two adults looking at me in annoyance. “Don’t you know it’s not polite to stare, boy?” the tallest of the two adults asked in a raspy way, walking forward in a slow and menacing way. Without warning, the two suddenly lunged at me. I instinctively shielded my face with my arms, peeking in between them to see if they were going to attack. When nothing happened, I lowered my arms, turning around to face the door. “You are an intruder! LEAVE THIS PLACE AT ONCE!” They both screamed at me, lifting up from the rotten floorboards of the darkened room, their eyes rolling back in their heads as they soared upward. The last thing that I heard before the strangers tore through the rotted roof was them scratching the walls in a violent way.

 

I bolted out of the rotting room, slamming the door shut behind me. I pushed a nearby chest in front of the door, blocking it. I walked down the dimly lit hallway, pausing to look at each of the old, forgotten portraits of the family that once roamed the abandoned mansion. The rain continued to beat against the rotting walls of the derelict mansion, with a few claps of thunder in between the chorus of raindrops thumping against the weakened glass windows. A sudden scream reverberated through the hallway I was in, starting at the far end of the hallway and swiftly roaring against my face. Dust particles drifted from the ceiling, as sounds of a scuffle began in the floor above my head. What’s going on? I thought to myself, continuing down the hallway.

 

I heard someone sobbing through the walls of the dimly lit hallway, hiccuping in between the sobs. I wondered who it could be. I noticed a sign hanging from above the doorway to the room in front of me. I raised my flashlight up to the hanging sign, which read: Lillian’s Abode. The sobbing continued on, as I slowly opened the door to the room. The door creaked open, revealing a faded pink room that had a few preserved items and relics that looked to be made for the use of a little girl. The sobbing continued, which sounded like it was underneath the moth-eaten faded pink blankets covering the bed in front of me. I crept up to the small bed, gently lifting up the chewed up blankets off the bed, revealing a small girl huddled in the center of the bed, with tears streaming down her small flushed cheeks. “Who are you? Are you all right?” I asked the sobbing girl, who said nothing in return. She continued to cry, hiccuping every few times in between her continuous sobbing. She didn’t seem to realize I was there, until with a jerking motion, she violently looked up at me, finally opening her eyes, which were a cold icy shade of blue. “Who are you? Why are you in my room?” the mysterious little girl asked me, rubbing her eyes. “I could ask you the same question,” I answered, leaning down in front of her. She suddenly clenched her eyes shut again, returning to her previous sobbing fit, although she peeked in between her fingers to look up at my face, tears streaming down her hands and soaking the ancient sheets of her small bed. Suddenly, my flashlight went out, plunging the bedroom into complete darkness. The little girl’s shaking voice called out to me in the pitch-black darkness. “You aren’t supposed to be here! Get out!” she shouted. And then my flashlight powered on once more. I looked at the bed, but the little girl was gone. In her place was a music box, decorated with ornate patterns of music notes. A rusted, tarnished wrought iron key was attached to one side of the music box, with a small note tied to the handle of the key. I carefully lifted the small music box off the bed and set it on a nearby bookshelf, making sure that the musical instrument would not accidentally fall and break. I opened the lid of the musical box and propped it up with a paperclip, securing it into place by tying the bottom end of the paperclip to the music box. After that, I left the room.

 

I walked down the hallway, heading up the next set of stairs that led up to the third floor of the mansion. This part of the house was even more decorated than the previous floors I’d been to. The wallpaper here in this room was green with a vine pattern winding all over the green covering. Here, the flames in the lanterns lining the narrow hallway were strong, with mint green light radiating from within the warped glass containers. Instead of gold, the metal framing of the lanterns was a rusty green copper. I approached one side of the narrow hallway, taking a picture of one of the rusted copper lanterns, then stowed my camera back into my coat pocket. A sudden burst of music sounded from the door next to me, so I entered through the door and into the room. I aimed my flashlight in front of me, turning in the direction of the music. When I found the source of the music, I found that an organ piano was being used by a black-suited man with dark gray hair, who took no notice of me standing there next to him. The organ pipes were in great condition, with no signs of aging or rusting at all. There was no dust covering the keys of the organ piano, either. With a flourish, the man stopped playing music and lowered his arms, smiling in satisfaction. He rose from the bench in front of the organ piano, then seemed to finally take notice of me. “How did you like my performance?” the musician asked me, peering down at me through his spectacles. I said nothing, still looking up at him. “What’s your name, young man?” the cheery man questioned, leaning down in front of me. “I’m Bill,” I answered cautiously, not sure if I could trust this man. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Bill,” the man replied, rising up to his full height. The man’s face suddenly turned serious, as he whispered into my ear. “If I were you, I’d get out of here. This isn’t a good place for you to be in. Especially at this time of night,” the man told me, looking around the room. With that being said, the man folded up the organ piano into a briefcase, patted me on the back, then left the room. The bench was left behind.

 

I exited the room, carefully shutting the door behind me. I looked down the narrow hallway, looking for any sign of the tall musician. Where did he go? I thought to myself, wondering where the tall mysterious man had gone. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. “This is one strange house,” I said to myself, heading towards the next set of stairs. Just as I was about to set foot on the set of stairs, a loud clatter erupted from underneath the rotting floorboards, followed by something being shattered. I backed away from the set of stairs, lowering my ear to the floor. Nothing. That was weird, I thought to myself, returning to the stairs leading up to the next floor. I made my way up the stairs, each and every step I took making a deep slow creaking sound as I did so. When I tried to open the door, it wouldn’t budge. I tried again, kicking the door open. I was shocked to realize that somehow, I’d ended up back on the second floor! And there it was: The chest that I’d blocked the first room I’d encountered. I exited through the doorway, double-checking just to make sure that I really was on the second floor. There could be no doubt about it: Somehow, I’d ended up right back where I started.

 

A sudden clap of thunder rocked the mansion even more violently than before, ending with the sound of bells clanging, chiming, and ringing. When the cacophony of noise ended, I opened my eyes. The pair of menacing adults, the little girl, and the cheerful looming man stood at the far end of the hallway, not doing anything but looking at me. The pair of adults teleported beside me, glaring down at me. The little girl vanished in a whirlpool of tears, then rose out of the ground behind me, clutching a teddy bear. The tall figure of the cheerful piano organ player cartwheeled in front of me, landing squarely on both feet. The pair of elderly adults started the sentence first: “This is.” Then the little girl: “Where your-” Lastly, the musician: “Visit Ends!” he boomed, smiling cheerfully. “Goodbye,” they all said in unison. Suddenly, my entire body was paralyzed. The flashlight fell from my hand, clattering down the set of stairs behind me. And then I blacked out.