7 LSAFH
I hear the doorbell ring and suspect that Olivia had rung it.
"I'm coming!" I shout. I open the door to see her holding a large binder with papers poking out of the edges. "Woah."
"Yeah, I know. I have a lot of notes from last year. I brought them with me, so it's easier to help you since I'm not that smart.
"Oh, okay, I get it." I close the door behind her, locking it, and guide her toward my bedroom.
She gapes around each room, obviously looking for something. "Do you have any pets?"
"Unfortunately, no. My mom doesn't like the fur, says it's too much to clean." I reply. I show her the spare room which is placed on the opposite side of mine.
"Wow, I didn't know you were an artist- This is amazing," She takes a few steps closer to inspect the multi-color pattern paintings which are hung up on the walls, next to a set of easels and cans of paintbrushes along with a massive paint pallet.
"I have a couple of landscape pieces if you want to see them," I suggest.
"Of course."
I walk over toward the closet next to the easels and pull out a large canvas, following with some smaller canvases.
"Woah. How long does it take to paint these?" She asks while studying every detail I manage to make visible.
"The large paintings normally take about two or three days, the smaller ones take about a day or two at most."
"I really like how you put the amounts detail into the mountains and clouds, the river also looks realistic and it's unbelievable and astonishing how you paint the animals, grass, and trees so well. " She points at a specific painting. "I'm very impressed, it takes a lot of talent to paint such things like this, Alexis. You should bring them to school one day and show some people, or take them to the art teacher and have her look at them." She pulls herself up to her feet.
"I don't know. I don't really show people my artwork, it's just for my personal enjoyment if I'm being honest with you. I haven't taken any art classes in Oklahoma, I just learned to do all of this on my own- I mean sure I've watched a couple of videos to figure out how to shade and all that but I'm just not the type of artist that puts it all out there for the world to see, you know?"
We step out of the room and escort ourselves into my bedroom. "I totally understand that, it's just really astonishing how you can spend so much time painting such things." Natalie plops herself onto my bed as I shut the door behind me.
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*BUZZ*
"What's that?" Olivia asks
"My phone. It's probably my mom." I turn on the screen and a text notification shows at the top.
Hey- Easton
"What the hell? How did he get my number?"
"Who are you talking about?" Natalie lifts her head from the papers and tries to get a peek.
"Nobody." I pull the screen towards my chest to hide the message, and a few seconds later I get another notification.
What are you doing- Easton
How did you get my number??- Alexis
I can't answer that :)- Easton
I'm sure you can and you just don't want to tell me- Alexis
If I tell you, can you promise not to get mad at me?- Easton
Actually, no. Don't tell me, I don't want to know.- Alexis
If you say so- Easton
"Is that Easton?" Olivia guesses.
"Yeah. I'm so confused right now- He got my number but the only person I've given my number to is you."
"That's weird. Maybe he's some hacker and somehow found your number." she snickers.
"Whatever- I'm just gonna ignore it, we need to keep working anyways; we have an hour and a half until you have to leave."
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*Creak*
Olivia lifts her head and turns it to look at the door.
"What was that?"
"What was what?" I ask, looking over at her.
"I just heard a door opening coming from downstairs. I thought you said your mom isn't coming home for a couple of days?."
I remove myself from my bed and walk toward the door to open it. "She's not. And usually when she leaves for a couple days, she drives to a completely different town, usually about 2 hours away; for business purposes though, and when she leaves she doesn't come to check on me."
Olivia peeks out of the window to look in the driveway, then walks toward me. "Well, she's not here. Did you lock the front door when I came in?" She asks.
"Yeah, I did."
We begin walking down the stairs and as I reach the bottom step I notice the basement door is slightly open.
"Now that's just creepy. This is like something out of a horror movie." I chuckle and close the door, shuffling over to the fridge to grab a can of soda.
"The basement door opened by itself and you're laughing? Are you Satan?" Olivia sits down at the kitchen table and widens her eyes at me.
"Don't look at me like that- You were the one who said this house is haunted." I point out.
"I didn't say that it's haunted. I said there's been reports about a shadow person or something."
"And therefore that declares this house as haunted." I point my finger in the air.
"How do you actually know if it's haunted if you haven't seen or heard anything? Or have you?"
I crack open the can of sprite and join Olivia at the table. "Actually, no. But I can feel the presence- it's weird."
"Are you not creeped out by that at all?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Well I watch a crap ton of horror movies and videos so no, not really." I take a sip of my drink.
"Well I'm a little freaked out right now." She removes herself from the chair and walks toward the back door, glaring outside of the glass at the birds dancing on the tree branches.
I feel something hit my back and look down at the floor to see a magnet that came from the refrigerator. "Hey, why'd you throw that at me?" I shift my head to look at Olivia, who's been staring outside the sliding doors the entire time. I know it wasn't her, and I'm startled by the mere fact that this spirit is acting out on me, instead of her. I don't want to it to, though.
"What are you talking about? I didn't throw anything at you."
"Well one of the magnets from the fridge hit my back and I thought it was you, since you're close to it." I get up out of the chair and replace the pebble-shaped magnet.
"We need to go back upstairs and finish my homework." I remind her.
I am beginning to walk up the stairs and immediately feel a flash of heat coming over me and lose my balance. I try to fixate my vision as everything blurs out and grip onto the railing. Olivia notices and rushes toward me.
"Woah Woah Woah!" I hear her shout as I fall backward into her arms. She drags me into the living room and places me on the sofa, then runs into the kitchen. Before I can get a glimpse of her, I blackout.
I'm in a dark space- there's no sky, no grass or trees, or even houses. I turn to my right and spot a woman chatting with two other people; a man and a woman and one of them look like my mother.
"Have you told your daughter yet, Mrs. Burkholder?" I hear the man asking my mother.
Tell me what? Is there something I don't know?
"HI! HELLO?!" I shout, waving my hands. They don't hear or even see me.
"It's been too long- I should've told her after it happened but she was so young and she wouldn't understand. If I tell her now, she will be angry. I can't- I need to find a proper time to tell her." My mother explains.
"She killed him- intentionally, and-"
They suddenly disappear and the darkness around me begins to shift into lightness.
