I look down at a beautiful girl lays peacefully asleep on her bed.
Who is she?
She startles awake at the loud cracking of wood in a fire. Heat from all sides starts to surround us, and I start to sweat. My throat goes dry, but my focus is on the girl.
Her blond, disheveled curls hangs down to her waist; her startling blue eyes are petrified. As an afterthought, I notice how the nightgown matches her eyes perfectly.
Smoke starts to engulf her and she coughs. The smell of smoke fills my lungs, and I start to choke, too.
She starts crying from the smoke in her eyes. The heavy smoke stings my eyes, and they start to water. I can't see clearly.
My breathing becomes labored and I can't seem to speak.
She throws back her covers and makes a mad dash to the door and tries to pull it open... But she pulls back almost instantly, and I smell the burned flesh of her hands. She looks down at her blistered hands.
I try to kick the door open, but it seems to be blocked from the outside. Who locks people in their rooms and sets them on fire?
I try to get her attention, but for some reason, she doesn't seem to notice me.
"Help!" She cries out.
She coughs again. Tears are streaking down her face and I want to help her... But how?
"Somebody let me out of here!" she shouts.
Her voice is rough, and she begins coughing uncontrollably.
"Let me out! Please! Let me out." She begs.
Then she turns right to me.
"Jason! Help me!" she cries.
I startle awake.
Sweat is dripping down my body and my lungs still burn like they are full of smoke. I try to get my heart to stop pounding and my breathing under control.
I stare over at my door where the girl had just been standing.
What the hell was that?
*****
I sigh exasperatedly as I look over at my boxes. My entire life has been reduced down to three stinkin' boxes! Not to mention, mom wants these boxes emptied yesterday!
Give me a break! We didn't get out truck unloaded until 11pm last night, due to mom's crazy 12 hour shifts at the hospital! We should have waited until the weekend to move like normal people do. But NO! Mom wanted out stuff out of dad's place ASAP! And she couldn't be bothered to wait 4 more days to move.
So, here I am, on a Wednesday morning, looking at my pile of boxes full of stuff that I just don't have time for! I'm gonna be late for school! But does mom even care? NOPE!
Why couldn't I have stayed with dad? I mean, at least he spends time with me! Dad is a lawyer, but still takes time out of his schedule to hang out with me. He spends time after work and plays catch with me. Last year, when my baseball team went to state, he was there watching me. Cheering me on, like I was important to him! And on weekends, he'd make us big breakfasts and we'd hang out! Did mom ever do that? Again... I say NO!
Seriously, if I don't leave now, I'm gonna be late for school! So I grab my backpack and throw it over my shoulder and hustle to the door. Just as I'm about to reach my freedom, mom calls out to me.
"Did you eat breakfast, honey?"
"Nope. Didn't have time," I say.
Mom tosses me a breakfast bar and continues, "It's not healthy for you to skip breakfast! I've left you 20 bucks for you to order whatever you need for dinner tonight. I'll be home late again."
"Kay, mom, I'm gonna be late for the bus!" I groan.
"Love you honey. Have a good first day of school," she says and turns back to her computer.
I tear open the door and dash down the hallway, not noticing anything on the way to the stairs. I rush through the foyer and pass through the sliding glass doors.
I pump my legs as fast as I can and beat the bus by about 5 seconds.
I sigh as I take my seat in the middle of the bus and look around.
This is gonna be a long day
*****
Here I am. 18 years old. Mid March, of my last semester, Senior year. My life sucks!
If I would have stayed with dad, I wouldn't be the New Kid! I'd have my old friends, my old school, my baseball team. Why did mom have to move us to the next time over?
When I graduate in 2 months, I'm going to move away to college, just to become a janitor! Rich people suck!
I walk into my first class of the morning. History.
I take an open chair in the middle of the class room, hoping to blend in with everybody else.
"Hey, I'm Charlie! Welcome to Lake Side!," the guy next to me greets.
"Hey, man. Thanks! I'm Jason. My mom and I just moved into the Mansion Suites last night," I mention.
Charlies face pales and his jaw drops.
"Is something wrong?" I ask.
"Oh, no! It's just..." Charlies looks nervous
"What?" I am so confused!
"It's really nothing. Your new and don't know the history. But really, it's cool! It's beautiful," Charlie insists.
Before I can ask him what is going on, the teacher, Mr. Murry walks into the class room and sits at the edge of his desk and looking out at all of us.
"Welcome to class, everyone. We have a new pupil with us today! Jason, would you like to introduce yourself?" Mr. Murry asks.
My face turns red. I knew this was going to happen, but I really had hoped that maybe it could have waited until after lunch. I hate being the center of attention, unless I'm up to bat. Which I guess I am.
I clear my throat. "Hey, guys. I'm Jason. I just moved into the Mansion Suites with my mom. I play baseball, and when I grow up I want to be a janitor!" I joke.
Everyone laughs at that and I take a seat.
"Thanks for that Jason. Okay, so everyone pull out your books and turn to page 253. Jason just follow along until you are all caught up. We will be continuing our lecture about the Vietnam War," began Mr. Murry.
I was glad to know I wasn't behind at all, but I wasn't going to let anyone know that.
During lunch, I sat with Charlie. It turned out we had quite a few classes together, which was cool because I like the guy. It's nice to have a friend, especially since I was so worried I wouldn't have any, being new. He gave me his number and told me we could do homework together.
"So, what were you saying about my new apartments?" I prompt.
"Well, it was a long time ago," he says evasively.
"What happened along time ago?"
Charlie sighs. "Well, back in 1999, there was this rich family. But one night there was a fire and everyone died. But like I said, it was a long time ago, man. Not that big of a deal."
"Was there a girl?" I ask, feeling kinda weird about asking.
"Actually there was a daughter, She was the heiress to the family fortune, but since she died, she obviously didn't get to inherit anything," Charlie states.
But then he looks at me suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"
"I had this weird dream about a girl getting stuck in a burning room..." I reveal.
Charlie gasps. "What did she look like?"
I thought back to the dream. "She had long blond curly hair, and blue eyes that matched her nightgown," I say dazed.
"She was in her nightgown?" Charlie asks curiously.
"Well, she woke up with the sound of the smoke crackling, so yeah, she was in her nightgown," I say like it is no big deal.
Charlie smiled at me. "Was she pretty?" he asks.
"Yeah, she was. But she was also scared and crying," I responded.
"Huh... That is really strange. I never actually looked up what she looked like. Never really thought about it since it all happened before we were even born," Charlie shrugged.
By the end of school I was ready to go home and take a break. I told Charlie I'd text him later and climbed on my bus.
My mind was reeling over everything I learned at school. And I wasn't talking about the Vietnam War!
*****
I look into the empty fridge and growl. She couldn't even bother to go shopping? We have bread and peanut butter, but I' way too hungry for that. My stomach growls to punctuate the statement.
I grab my wallet, keys, cell phone and the 20 mom left me and leave.
As I exit the building the sunshine hits my face and I sigh with the weight of depression leaving me. It's a beautiful day! I can just hang out outside and find some food since I have to be the adult in the family.
The streets of Taylorsville are bustling. I look around and see a bunch of preteen girls giggling as they come out of an ice cream parlor, I see a girl and a guy heading down to the park holding hands. Bunch of guys hanging out by the video game arcade. Tons of moms pushing their kids in strollers. Men and women entering the gym down the street. The strip mall looks like a happy hive of bees, and the feeling in positive and happy.
I spot a pizzeria. Perfect!
I enter and the bell over the door chimes happily and I almost laugh. It's like I've been living under a dark cloud the last year, watching my parents fight. Not to mention me arguing with them just to get their act together. They were both ruining my life, but I guess it didn't matter much what I said. They never listened to me anyway. And now, here I am. On my own, and happy for the first time in a long time... Maybe it's just the pizza!
A pretty brunette greets me.
"I'd like to order a medium pepperoni pizza and a 2 liter of root beer," I say.
She smiles. "Sure! You expecting friends?"
"Nope, it's just for me. But I just moved here with my mom, and our cupboards are empty, so I figured I could have leftover pizza until mom decides to go shopping," I joke.
She looked a little sad at that. But then put on her brightest smile. "I'll bring it right out!"
I take a seat and look out the window. I love people watching! They are so funny sometimes. The little kid throwing down his popsicle, throwing a temper tantrum while his poor mom looks mortified. A group of teens arguing about who knows what. Maybe they are making early plans for the weekend. Man on the phone, probably making a business call.
"I'm so glad they finally opened up the Mansion Suites," and older lady from behind me says.
"Me too, especially after all the tragedy! Took the city long enough to get through all the red tape," another older woman says.
Now, I really didn't mean to eavesdrop... But they were literally right behind me! What else could I do?
"It's such a shame that whole family gone! And no living relatives... well," the first lady chuckles, "not that aren't in jail and have forfeit any right to that fortune!"
"I heard Bert isn't doing so well. Don't know how much longer he'll survive. I'm still surprised he is even living! 20 years to life in prison couldn't be easy. And it's been what? Close to 22 years or so?" the second old lady says.
"Here's your pizza and soda. I Hope you have a great day!" she smiles at me.
I smile back. "Thanks!"
I was thinking about eating my pizza here in peace, but not now...
I grab my pizza and root beer and head out the door.
Time to do some research!
*****
I've been home for about an hour trying to get to my laptop. As I was putting my clothes away, I swear I heard footsteps down the all. I even peeked to see if mom was home early. Of course she wasn't! I was hanging up some of my nice shirts and there was someone whispering in my ear, but I couldn't tell what they were trying to tell me. I've never been afraid to be alone before. It takes a lot to scare me, but since last night...
I've been getting goosebumps up and down my arms at all the creeks and groans from the apartment. I didn't know new places made noises like that. I always thought it was older houses that made moaning noises. But the Mansion Suites are brand new!
I finally got enough of my stuff put away to pull out my laptop...
At least mom won't be able to say I didn't do anything! I put a whole box and a half away before I found my computer.
The one thing about having rich parents is, for my last birthday, they bought me a top of the line laptop. I turn on my computer and I don't have to wait forever for my search engine to pop up before I make a search for Mansion Suites because I didn't know what it was called before.
And right there, her picture shows up. She really is beautiful. Her name was Danielle Winters, and this building used to be called the Winters' Mansion.
A rustling sound over my shoulder startles me.
"Hello?" I call out.
There is a giggle, so soft I'm not sure I really hear it.
"Is anybody there?" great... Now I sound like I'm in a horror story where I go and check my closet and get my head chopped off my an ax murderer!
"Get a grip, Jason! No one is here, and no one is going to chop off your head!" I reassure myself.
After that motivating pep talk, I get back to the article.
It seemed that the father, Arthur Winters had a brother Bert. But Arthur took Burt out of his will due to his brother being a drunk and couldn't hold a job. He didn't want the moocher to take his hard earned money and use it for alcohol.
Not that I blamed the guy!
Arthur was the head of a very prominent law firm and he earned all his money the hard way, and had every intention of giving it to his daughter, who wanted to grow up to be a doctor so she could help people.
Huh...
One night Burt got drunk. It says he went in and locked all the occupants in their rooms, then took gasoline and spread it through out the house. He lit the match and walked out of the house. It says he must have tripped a silent alarm because the cops where there as he was exiting with the gas can still in his hands. But they were too late to stop the fire. The fire experts say he lit the fire right in front of his brother's room, which was also across the hall from Danielle's room.
There was another article about what the remains of the house and property. There was no next of kin on the will so the whole thing got caught up in red tape for about 20 years. Then the city said they wanted to restore the house, but turn it into an apartment complex and bring in more money, since you have to be stinkin' rich to live in this place.
There was another article about the brother. I didn't read very much. Just that he said he was haunted by his brother and his family. He couldn't sleep at night without seeing the fire. He didn't even fight in court. He knew he was guilty and gave a full confession. He hoped by telling the truth that the hauntings would go away, but according to a recent psych report, he is still have nightmares.
There was a small article about Danielle and her achievements. She had the highest GPA in school, a 4.2 (way to go extra credit!), she was going to intern at a near by clinic in a year after she graduated high school. She was on the student council, and she did ballet. She loved horses and had her own, somewhere out in the country stabled by some friends. Her biggest goal in life was to help those less fortunate than her, and make healthcare more affordable. Good luck with that!
A soft giggle tickled my ear.
"Danielle?" I whispered.
Suddenly, darkness is encroaching upon me from all corners of my room.
The last thing I remember is a chilly kiss being placed on my cheek and a girl whispering my name.
****
I'm surrounded by warmth. Visions play across my mind, all of them blurry, but I'm not worried. I feel calm. Happy.
Smoke fills my lungs.
I startle awake, still sitting at my desk, but my laptop screen has gone black.
I cough.
What's going on?
I look around and my room has caught fire, just like Danielle's room did. The thick smoke makes it hard to see, let alone breathe!
I push away from my desk and run blindly for the door.
"Help! MOM!" I scream.
I finally run into my door and grope around for the door knob, and yell in shock as it burns my hands! Dark blisters appear on my stinging hands.
"HELP! Anyone! GET ME OUTTA HERE!" I call out, and start coughing again.
I can't breathe. I'm having a panic attack. I'm gonna die just like Danielle!
"Danielle! Help me!" I plead.
"Jason!" she smiles at me.
I collapse to the floor. The room is spinning and I can't see through the dark smoke. I'm so disoriented!
Danielle kneels before me and smiles down at my face.
Why is she so happy?
"You tried to help me, even if you couldn't," she whispers. "So, now, I will help you!"
She leans down and kisses me.
Sudden lightness fills my being. Like a weight being lifted from my shoulders.
I can breathe and no smoke enters my lungs.
She pulls me up into her arms.
I still feel disoriented, but differently now.
I look down and notice a crumbled heap that used to be my body, but I don't seem to care.
I look back at Danielle and smile down at her.
"Welcome home, Jason! I've been waiting for you," she says as she puts her arms around my neck. She giggles.
Well, if I'm stuck in eternity, at least I won't be alone anymore...




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