A Wonderful Hell
-2nd partShe was very kind to me, cared for me, and even gave me my own room. Aunt Marsie was fourty-three, and lived in a Victorian-style, two-story house. She didn’t have any pets, but the forests around her house had many different creatures that I could talk to and play with. Occasionally her friends came over, and the late spring temperature made it perfect weather for sitting outside and enjoying some tea.
“So what is your book of the week this time? Anything good?” said a lady of about sixty-five or so, interest burning in her eyes and voice.
Aunt Marsie laughed, “Oh I’m reading a fantastic mystery! It’s about a lady and her dogs… but I can’t seem to remember the title!”
“That’s too bad, because I was so looking forward to a good mystery…”
“Ceri, please! I know that you’ve been eating up those vampire book your niece was reading. Don’t lie to us!” another lady about their same age scolded.
“My, my, Elaine. Aren’t you in a snippy mood!” Aunt Marsie laughed while Ceri joined in.
I watched this from across the table, occasionally nibbling on different pastries and biscuits, as well as sipping the warm green tea in front of me.
About ten minutes later, I stood and asked quietly, “May I be excused?”
Aunt Marsie smiled and replied, “Well of course! Don’t let us crazy old ladies bore you!”
I nodded and slinked into the forest, where I could be alone. The trees around me were the walls to close me away from everyone else. The birds, wind, and other sounds were my music. A little chipmunk chattered on the branch beside me.
“Hello there Ehry, how are you today?”
Ehry squeaked again and jumped on my shoulder.
“Excited as always, aren’t you?”
A little bit farther, and I came to a part of the forest I hadn’t been before. The trees were thicker and darker, the ground wetter and less grassy. Up ahead, a tall, black, wrought-iron fence loomed fifteen feet up into the air.
“What…?”
Ehry squeaked in terror and ran away.
My curiosity got the best of me, and I started to climb a tree close to the fence.
“Sri Lana, it’s getting late!” Aunt Marsie yelled, “Come back to the house soon before it gets too cold!”
I sighed and dropped down from the tree, but the fence still bothered me, and I vowed to come back to it the next day.
The morning sun shined through my large window and onto my sleeping face. A few minutes later, I shifted away from the sun as best I could, and Aunt Marsie burst through the door.
“Rise and shine cupcake!” she yelled happily.
I once again shifted away from the disturbance of my sleep.
“Oh come on now! There are muffins and fresh milk downstairs!”
True, the smell was awfully tempting, but my bed was so much more appealing.
“Well fine then! I guess it’s time for the reinforcements!”
Aunt Marsie whistled down the stairs, and a large white husky sprinted through and onto my bed. It licked my face and walked all over me until I sat up and gawked at it, puzzled.
“You got a dog?” I asked, scratching the dog behind its ears.
She laughed and answered, “Well, no, this is a friend’s dog!”
At that moment, a young man walked through the door and bowed to me.
“Pleased to meet you, Sri Lana.”
He looked to be about twenty with long, white hair, and wore a grey suit with a light blue tie. I stared at him for a moment, and his sapphire eyes suddenly changed to green.
“P-pleased to meet you, too…” I answered hesitantly.
He laughed lightly, like bells ringing.
“Oh, you don’t have to be so polite!”
I nodded and looked down, suddenly realizing I was still in my white pajamas, and pulled the covers up.
Aunt Marsie noticed this and led the man out of the room.
It was completely silent until suddenly the white husky bounced on me and licked my face again.
“Hello, hello! What’s your name?” the dog asked excitedly.
“I’m… Sri Lana… What’s your name?”
The husky paused for a moment, shocked, and answered, “I’m Layrus… You can… understand me?”
I nodded to Layrus and smiled, “Yep! You’re a very interesting dog. Most just think I’m a strange-looking monkey or another dog.”
Layrus paused again and looked me up and down, then ran out of the room to his master. I got up and shut the door, then pulled on some grey jeans and a white blouse. Aunt Marsie and the man were down stairs in the living room talking quietly to each other. She looked distressed over something, but smiled when I came in.
“Ah, Sri Lana, there you are! I was afraid you might have fallen asleep again!”
I sat down in the red armchair across from the two adults on the couch. They didn’t continue their conversation from earlier, but looked at me instead.
“Um, Sri Lana, this man is Mister Hearthrow. He’s come to talk to you,” Aunt Marsie said shyly.
Mister Hearthrow smiled at me and asked, “How are you this morning?”
“I’m ok,” I answered with hesitation.
“Ah, good, good! Well I came to talk to you about your stay here at your Aunt Marsie’s house. How are you liking it here?”
“It’s a very nice place. I like it a lot.”
“Yes… good! Now would you be interested in moving somewhere else like Florida? Or maybe Alaska? I own houses in both places, and they’re very nice!”
I looked from him to Aunt Marsie and answered, “Why? I said I like it here, didn’t I?”
He cleared his throat and replied tentatively, “Well, yes, but I believe that somewhere else would be much better suited for you. I also own a house in Ireland if you’d like that.”
“… No. I don’t want to leave Aunt Marsie.”
“Oh, but she could come with us!”
“I don’t want to leave Colorado.”
Mister Hearthrow was completely stunned, and stared me over until his eyes turned dark purple.
“If you came with me, then I could buy you whatever you might want! A new dog, beautiful dresses, cars, horses; and we’d live in a mansion three stories high!”
He was snapping tiny nerves in me one by one, until I stood up and answered finally, “I am not leaving. Period,” and left.
I was halfway to the forest when suddenly I was pulled back by strong hands.
“You are coming with me,” he said. “Choose your place, and we’ll go there, but you are not staying here.”
I swung around to get loose and his grip tightened, sending pain throughout my entire body.
“It’ll only hurt more if you struggle.”
He tightened even more, and everything in my body screamed with pain. I stopped moving and fell to the ground. Mister Hearthrow picked me up and carried me back to the house, silent the entire way.
When we reached the door, he whispered a few words in my ear and set me on my feet. Aunt Marsie opened the door for me, and looked across the driveway.
“Where did he go?”
I walked through the door in a daze and sat down on the red armchair again. Everything seemed to spin, and his last words weren’t even that significant. To any other person, they would brush them aside or laugh at him. Something about them disturbed me, though, and as my thoughts swam, I realized what he was talking about.
His last words to me had been, ‘Don’t cross the fence.’
For those of you that actually read this, thank you so much!!!! It'd be absolutely amazing if you could give me some advice on the story or show me any errors or even just say if you liked it or not! This will be my last entry for a little while since I will be gone for a week (I'm leaving tomorrow), so thank you! Bilo! Ik houd van u! ^_^ heart
