Fiction Friday #146 – Going Back In Time

You are probably wondering why you are seeing a second post this week entitled Fiction Friday, neither of which were posted on a Friday? As I mentioned on Monday, I stumbled onto a creative writing blog entitled Write Anything.

On this site there are weekly activities which get the creative juices flowing and encourage a story based off of a prompt. Having had so much fun writing Fiction Friday #148, I decided to go back a couple of weeks and see what other prompts were inspirational enough to get me writing.

I didn’t have to go back very far before I read something that had a story unfolding in my mind. So, I got down to writing. The piece below is the end result of the prompt “The keys opened every door in the house, except the small wooden door at the end of the hall…”

Remember, the idea of these writing exercises is to jump start creativity and get a story to unfold, not to formulate the perfect tale. The piece below is unedited (just as the meme stipulates), so please pardon any misspellings or sentences that just don’t seem right.

After you read over the story, be sure to head over to the comments section and give me some feedback.

“Get over here you spoiled little brat” the tired old man spat between crooked, decaying teeth. To emphasize his anger, he thumped his thigh with the same broken broom handle he routinely used to threaten the neighborhood children. “You think you can push an old man around and trounce all through his garden, I’m not going to have it! Now get over here so I can give you every bit of what you deserve!”

“Mr. Weever was having one of his fits again and working himself up into a lather. As long as I stay away from him, he will cool off and things will go back to normal“, Emilia thought to herself. When Mr. Weever began moving towards her, fist tightly knotted around his makeshift club, she suddenly realized that things were going a bit too far this time. Emilia would not be able to reason with the old man today, she was going to have to get away and hope to talk things through later.

With her mind made up, Emilia dashed away, leaving Mr. Weever hollering for the whole world to hear. The man had become very mean over the last couple of months, ever since Emilia and her family moved from their house next door to the bigger place over on Hedgewood street. It wasn’t just Mr. Weever that was changing since the move, but everything Emilia knew was contorting to a misshapen figure of its former self.

As she ran, Emilia thought back to what her mother told her just before the big move. “Emilia, you will be turning thirteen years old very soon. Your sister is expecting a baby and your two brothers are growing up so fast. We need to move to a bigger place so that we can grow as a family. We all have to deal with this change, trust me, it is all for the better”. Emilia thought that one thing her mother said was absolutely true, things were changing, but none of it seemed for the better.

By the time Emilia reached the families new home on Hedgewood street, she was winded and decided to take a little breather under the walnut tree in the front yard. As Emilia sat down heavily onto a fallen walnut, she yelped at the sudden pain. Realizing what she had done, Emilia rose to find a walnut pressed firmly into the soft dirt, husk pushed aside to expose a sticky purple goo, of which she was sure messed her favorite pair of blue jeans.

“First Mr. Weever has another one of his fits and chases me away with a stick, and now I sit on one of these nasty walnuts and ruin my pants” Emilia spoke to herself in a pained voice. After rearranging herself comfortably under the shade of the tree, Emilia looked up at the creepy house she was to make a life in. Its dingy stone veneer and peeling windowsills, sure it was bigger than the old house, but this place was downright creepy.

During her first visit to this new house, Emilia was playing in the den when she found a small metal key. At first she thought nothing of it, that was until Emilia learned that the key gave her free reign into any room of the house. All rooms except for that one of course, none of the family knew what was behind the small wooden door in the basement. It seemed very out of place, that door, situated at the end of a long dark corridor that seemed to move away from the house like some sort of tunnel.

“Jake and Sam said there are dead bodies locked behind that little wooden door, but I don’t think they are right” Emilia thought to herself. Determined to show her older brothers that she wasn’t a little kid anymore, she was determined to find out just what was behind that old wooden door.

With her mother and father at work, and her older brothers out playing with their friends, Emelia knew she had a bit of time to herself to try and work the lock. Her older sister Patricia would be home, but she would be occupying herself with decorating the nursery.

Emilia jumped to her feet and trotted off around the back side of the house. Here she could get into the basement through the old rusty Bilco doors without going through the house and potentially attracting the attention of her nosey sister.

Once down in the basement, Emilia stepped lively across the damp dirt floor and made her way over to the strange corridor. The basement was cool and had the heavy scent of damp earth. Light spilled across part of the room from the small windows above ground level. The corridor was lined with cinder block, cool to the touch. At the far end stood a small wooden door with a single bare bulb illuminating it. Emilia steeled her nerves and began her brisk walk to the door.

Emilia placed her head against the course grain of the oak door, listening for clues as to what might lie beyond. In the eerie silence, she pulled her head away and tried the heavy latch. “I should have know that wouldn’t work, it never works” Emilia spoke quietly to herself.

This time Emilia had a new plan for getting past the door. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a long rusty nail. She was sure it will fit into the old over-sized lock, but she didn’t know if it would do any good. Crouching down, Emilia was at eye level with the old lock. If only there were some light on the other side, she might just be able to see through the key hole.

Emilia took a deep breath then went to work. She inserted the nail into the keyhole and began moving it around. When she thought that something within the lock moved, she quickly jerked on the door latch. “Nothing, I suppose this is going to be harder than I thought” Emilia spoke quietly to herself. As if taking upon a personal challenge, the young girl with a curiosity for the unknown went back to work.

After what seemed like hours, Emilia was ready to give up. Before stamping off back through the corridor, she gave it one last try. With the nail loosely fitting in the lock, she began clacking it around and snatching at the latch vigorously. To her surprise, the last shaking of the nail and jerking at the latch paid off. The lock disengaged and the latch gave way.

Before pulling the door open wide, Emilia stretched her stiff body and stood up straight. After six whole days of living in this new home, she was finally able to get access to the mysterious room that not even her older brothers could gain access to.

“This is it, time to see if Jake and Sam were just teasing me about he whole dead body thing” Emilia whispered cautiously to herself, as if she might awaken something hiding behind the old oak door. With a gentle push, the door began to creep open and the light from the single bulb above spilled into the room.

Just beyond where the light flooded into the room, something large and dark was standing stiff. As Emilia began tracing the large shape with her eyes, she spotted two faint glowing eyes staring deep into her soul. With a start, Emilia took one frantic step back and stumbled. As she feel onto her rear, Emilia let out a blood curdling scream before all went black.

When Emilia came to, her father was standing over her and she could hear her older brother snickering. “Emilia, its all right. There is nothing to be afraid of, you must have fainted” her father spoke gently. With the cockiness of a fifteen year old boy speaking to his little sister, Jake called out “Told ya there were dead bodies in here”. Glancing into the room beyond, Emilia saw her brother Jake leaning against a dusty old stuffed bear as if they were pals.

Emilia felt a warm tear creep down her cheek as her father pulled her close, offering only the comfort a father could give.