For now, enjoy the descriptions of delicious smelling food.
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CHAPTER 4
Marcy went to the bathroom and freshened up a bit, then took the long journey down to the dining room, sniffing the air as she went. It smelled like macaroni and cheese, but a whole lot better than the storebought stuff she was used to. When she entered the dining room she was hit by a barrage of the wonderful smell, along with others. The dining room table was covered with not only a big bowl of mac and cheese, but also homemade bread, mini hot dogs, ketchup and mustard, bacon, chips, and pickles. Strangely, Marcy noticed a bowl of applesauce on the table as well. Ew. Macaroni and cheese with applesauce? That’s weird. She paused her examination of the spread and looked around. There was no one in the dining room except for her. Guess I should sit down, she thought. The table was rather large. She sat at what she assumed to be the foot, since it was the side with its back to the door. Bored, Marcy gazed at the food. As soon as she caught the first whiff of it, she knew she was starving, and with all of the food placed tantalizingly in front of her, she was tempted to serve herself. But that would be rude, since Aunt Jenny is my host and she’s not here yet.
Just as she finished the thought, and as the clock on the wall chimed six o’clock, Jenny walked through the door with two plates and silverware for both of them. “Right on time. I see you were here a bit early,” she said. “But no matter. I pride myself on being here at the exact moment when 5:59 becomes 6:00. As you might be able to tell. Are you ready to eat?”
“You bet,” Marcy said enthusiastically, forgetting to be angry at her aunt and the world itself.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Here’s your plate and go ahead and serve yourself!” Jenny handed her a plate, fork, and knife, and began to spoon mac and cheese onto her own plate. She also served Marcy. “Would you like applesauce?” she asked Marcy.
“Uh, I don’t think so,” she declined.
“You’ll eventually learn that I eat applesauce with all of my meals,” Jenny said as she heaped it on her plate. “I’m in love with the stuff. Have been since….well, since a long time ago.” She began to look nostalgic, then frowned and shook her head. “Well, how do you like your room?”
“It’s cool,” answered Marcy, digging into her food. Everything was delicious. “I like it.”
“Good. And have you had a chance to explore the house yet?”
“A bit.”
“Isn’t it cool?” Jenny began to eat. “I love this house.” She looked around the dining room fondly. “I also really like seeing people’s faces when they see the real part of the house. They look like they think I’m more crazy than I realized. The house didn’t use to be like this, you know. I had it updated in….hm, let’s see….about a few months after I moved it. Most of it was dusty.” She took a bite. “I got to pick out nearly everything…”
Marcy let her aunt talk about the house, listening quietly. She didn’t feel like talking much anyway.
***************
After dinner, Marcy offered to help her aunt clean up the dinner table, just to be hospitable.
“Sure!” Jenny said. “Seth--he’s my butler and my handyman, among other things--helps clean up usually, but this is his evening off. I think he’s taking his girlfriend out to dinner.”
They cleaned up the table by trips. As Marcy loaded the dishwasher and Jenny put away the leftovers, her aunt gave her some rules.
“Now, this is summer, and I know you want to have a good time, but there have to be a few guidelines in my house. You can go pretty much anywhere you want, except for the library. I won’t tell you where it is, but if you find it, then I must ask you not to go there again.” Marcy ducked her head as she put a plate in the dishwasher and hoped Jenny hadn’t seen her blush. She must have not expected Marcy to have found the library yet. She felt slightly proud that her aunt had underestimated her. Jenny continued talking. “I collect books, and the library is full of some old and really delicate ones. I think the oldest one I have is from….157 BC. Pretty old. So the library is off limits. As for outside, there’s lots of woods, and then there’s the lawn. If you want to explore the woods, you can, but you have to stop when you see the flags. My property line is marked by orange flags, and my neighbor is very picky about trespassing, so I wouldn’t recommend it. That’s all the rules though--I’m not that strict.” Jenny turned around from where she was loading mac and cheese into a plastic container and smiled at Marcy. “You can come down whenever for a snack, too. I’ve got a variety of yummy things that don’t need to be baked. But if you’re bored then come tell me and I’ll grab my cookbook and you can make something tasty. Anyway, I’ve got popcorn, snack cookies, crackers, cheese, fruit, and some soda and lots of juice, among other things. But I do love juice.” She resumed putting away the leftovers.
“Okay, thanks for telling me,” Marcy said. She put a cup in the top rack of the dishwasher. “I’ll make sure I don’t go to the library.” Not! I want to go there again. I’ll be careful and I won’t pick up any of the old books. She’ll never know.
“Oh yeah, and there’s cake in the fridge too.” Jenny began stacking the leftovers in the fridge. “I made chocolate cake last night because I was craving it. So you’re welcome to a slice whenever you want tonight for dessert. Also, I usually go to bed at around 9:30. So you won’t see me after then, until I get up, which is probably at 7 ish.”
“Okay.” Marcy put the last dish away and closed the dishwasher. “I’m done now.”
“Good,” her aunt replied. “Thanks for helping! It went way faster than I thought. Alright, go ahead and do whatever for the rest of the evening. Did you find the movie room?” She nodded. “You can watch a movie in it if you want--the remotes are in one of the drawers. I love watching movies, so I have a pretty good collection of them.”
“I saw,” Marcy said with a laugh. “I might watch one.”
Jenny let out a sigh. “Okay, good. Well, I think I’ll go to the library for a bit before bed. I’ll see you in the morning!”
“See you then.” Marcy strolled upstairs to her room and took a shower. After, she snuggled into her pajamas and then got her laptop. She connected it to the wifi and got on the internet.
***************
After she tired of scanning the internet, Marcy went to the movie room and watched the movie she’d seen earlier. She enjoyed action movies as well as chick flicks, and this movie certainly had action. It was a horror movie, and after finishing it she stared at the shadows as if zombies would lurch out of them, moaning for her blood. She quickly escaped to her room. Slightly scared, she crept around, brushing her teeth and getting ready for bed as fast as she could. After finishing her nightly routine, Marcy turned off the lights and got in bed. She stayed awake for a while, though, still frightened. Finally, she fell asleep….
….And woke up in her bed again. Huh. Weird. Am I dreaming? She looked at her hands and flexed her fingers. Feels real. She looked around.
Her bed was in a different room. Am I in prison?! thought Marcy alarmedly. It appeared as if she was. Tall walls of cold grey stone surrounded her on three sides. The other wall comprised of metal bars from floor to ceiling. A door made of the same bars was set in it. Marcy’s bed was tucked in a corner across from the bared wall. She jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. There was a large lock in it. Marcy rattled the door. It sounded locked. Why am I in here? She examined the lock. It didn’t seem complicated. She looked about her. If this is a dream, then I should be able to manipulate it, right? Okay, I’ll think--no, I know that there’s no door. Glancing at the door, Marcy stifled a squeal. The door was gone. Woah! Awesome. Wonder what’s outside?
Cautiously, she walked out of the cell. Maybe I should have a weapon. A sword abruptly materialized in her hand. Not what I had in mind. The sword changed to a gun. Better. She continued into the corridor outside the cell, more confident than before. The corridor went both ways, left and right. Marcy looked down each way. Torches set in sconces on the walls gave light to the dark stone hall. I’ll go….left. She followed the left passage.
There wasn’t much to see. The corridor went on and on with no sign of stopping ahead. Bored, she began to look at the walls as she walked. There’s a stone in that wall that looks blacker than the others….there’s a torch on that side….a torch on the other side….there’s a the black stone again….hang on, didn’t I just see that? Marcy looked back. All she saw was an endless corridor. There was no sight of her cell. She peered ahead. A black stone, a torch, a torch on the other side….but I just saw that! Getting more scared by the minute, she ran forward, eyes swiveling from wall to wall. Stone, torch, torch, stone, torch torch, stone….it’s just repeating! Terrified now, Marcy ran as fast as she could, still glancing at the walls. It’s all the same pattern! She turned and began to run back to her cell. She ran until she was sure she should have reached it, but all she saw was the black stone and the two torches repeating along the walls. The corridor seemed to have no end.
“Where am I?” she cried out loud, scared out of her wits. She ran and ran and ran, but the corridor was still the same. Tears streaming down her face now, Marcy stopped running and sank to her knees. “How am I ever going to get out of here?” she wailed, putting her hands over her face.
Suddenly, the stones below her got softer. She felt herself being slowly sucked down through the cold stone ground. Marcy screamed and struggled, scraping her nails against the stones in desperation, but to no avail. The sucking feeling just got harder. She was up to her waist in sinking stone. “Help!” she screamed before her head went under. She felt the momentary sensation of drowning, her limbs flailing, lungs burning, then the fluid around her got colder, then hotter, then became hard, until--
She abruptly dropped into a forest. The end of her scream echoed around the trees, bouncing off of the foliage. Still scared, Marcy tentatively looked from side to side. She didn’t see anything abnormal. The forest was luscious and there wasn’t much overgrowth. She took a step. Nothing happened. She took another step. Still, nothing moved. Feeling a bit better, she took two steps forward, screamed, and scrambled back. A flame had appeared as she took her second step. Strangely, it floated in midair, a wisp of orange that waved in the wind. Stranger still, Marcy was unafraid of the flame. She moved forward and reached out a hand to touch it. Her hand went through it, and she pulled it out and looked at it, amazed. Woah! I didn’t even get burned and the the flame thing felt….cold! That’s weird! She stuck her hand in again and--
Thoughts, not hers, ran through her mind--Burning, freezing, fire, darkness, screaming, blood, eat, kill, suck, maul, destroy, ice, poison, blood--flashes of images swirled together, bodies, blood--Burning freezing fire darkness screaming blood eat kill suck maul destroy ice poison blood--she screamed--BURNING FREEZING FIRE DARKNESS SCREAMING BLOOD EAT KILL SUCK MAUL DESTROY ICE POISON BLOOD
Marcy screamed in agony again, tried to pull her hand out of the flame, it wouldn’t come out, she writhed in pain, fell to the ground, hand suspended above her, and just when she thought she might die of the pain and the thoughts of blood and murder--
Light.
Light broke through the darkness.
A soft voice whispered to her.
Go, and do not fear. The dark has no place here. Go to the library, and find the book titled The Search for Another World. You will know what to do when you come to it. Wake, now, wake and do not worry.
***************
Marcy sat straight up in bed and gasped, chest heaving. “Oh….my….goodness,” she whispered. What even was that? That movie must have done something crazy to me. That has to be the worst nightmare I’ve ever had. She looked around the dark room and held the covers to her neck. It was 1:56 am, by the clock on the dresser. Did I bring a flashlight? The shadows seemed to hold the same monsters she was afraid of as a kid. She thought she saw the glint of eyes behind the door. The clock cast a neon glow in the bedroom, bouncing off the walls. I think I’ll just open the bathroom door and turn on the light, just so it won’t be completely dark. I don’t know how I’ll be able to fall asleep again. What was it that the weird voice said just before I woke up? Marcy pondered the question. She couldn’t remember it, although the rest of the dream was crystal clear in her mind. Huh. Oh well.
It took a while, but Marcy drifted off to sleep after she opened the bathroom door and got settled in her bed again. Thoughts of a hot guy at her school turned into another dream and pushed the nightmare out of her mind. She forgot all about it.
***************
Sunlight streamed through the cracks in the curtains and illuminated specks of dust in the air. Marcy opened her eyes slowly and blinked. She looked at the clock. Hm, 10:00. At least I got some sleep. Blearily, she rubbed sleep out of her eyes and sat up, inspecting the room. I have a feeling that I should remember something about last night….did I wake up? Is that why I’m so tired? When she pondered the night, all she could remember was the last dream she had. She sighed. Oh well. I guess it’s time for breakfast, then.
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Wow, my formatting isn't wacky for once. So, what did you think?
Evil? Dark? Are you ready for what's coming?
~~Zoë Wingfeather
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