step by step

Every step closer to the big, old house, Andrina heard less and less of the sounds of Autumn, and more and more of the mind fogging whisper that drew her ever nearer. The walk up the hill was long, full of broken rocks and overgrown patches of grass, and with the trees that were starting to grow closer to the path, it made the breeze that was at first a like comforting hug; now like the feeling of old, bony fingers, chilling their way up her spine.

Still, she continued her way up the hill, towards the old place that many believed to be either haunted by ghosts of the past, cursed by some nefarious being; or both. Whatever the reason people had been avoiding it, none of that seemed to matter to Andrina now. All she'd been told, the warnings of the people in town and her family, nothing. The only thing that Andrina could hear now was the quite whisper echoing in her ears, the whole way up the long path.

It was hard to describe, or even to understand most of what the whisper was telling her. Though she still felt the need to follow it. And follow it she did, all the way up to the cracking doors of the decaying home. Although no one lived there now, and it appeared they hadn't for centuries, the door opened quite easily.

Inside the giant mansion, it was dark and creepy. Almost like the stereotypical one you may see in a movie, though a hundred times more...frightening. As soon as the door came open, the air flew out at her, as cold as death itself. The smell of dust, mildew, and oldness-mixed with the past- came out with the air and filled her nose as she took that first step into the building.

Each step she took further into what looked to have once been the main room of the home, the quieter the whisper got; yet the smells seemed to be getting stronger. The floor creaked under her boots, the fogged feeling of her mind slowly withdrawing as she began to look around where she now found herself--mostly unaware she had even came there.

Cobwebs covered crackling, faded walls. Spiders, centipedes, and a varied other assortment of bugs crawled along the creaky floor and past Andrina's shoes. Everywhere her gaze went, she saw broken furniture, old furniture tipped on it's side, and some furniture that was covered by old white sheets.

When her mind finally became un-numb, she blinked a few times. Her surroundings became so much more evident--and to say the least, creepily intriguing. Right as she was going to move one of the sheets from what seemed to be an old mirror, she heard a loud, echoing bang. The mansion seemed to shake from the sound, and dust fell from the roof-which mostly seemed to not be there anymore.

Andrina quickly turned to see where the loud sound had come from, her eyes darting everywhere, before finally landing where she'd been hoping it hadn't come from. The door. Like any person now suddenly trapped in a centuries-old, maybe haunted, maybe cursed, maybe both--place; straight to the door is where she went. "Come on.." she muttered, hitting the door with her fists and tugging on the door latch, only achieving the dirtying of her hands and a dust in her eyes that made them water in irritation. "What the?" She frowned immediately, her heart racing with the fact that everything was now starting to hit her. "Come on, open!" she growled out, then adding a squeaked "..please..?" as she tried again to open the door by slapping on it with both of her hands.

As soon as she slapped the door that last time, she could hear the very faint sound of a door creaking opening. She jumped and slowly turned, only to be greeted with the sight of a door down the hall-a hall she'd previously only grazed over-opening. Shaking her head, Andrina turned back to the door. "No. No, no, no. I'm getting out of here." she frowned, her heart still racing as she went to turn back to the now impossible to open front door.

Of course though, she slowly began to turn around again; a small thought invading what ration thought she was now trying to give herself. 'Just a peek?' It was a small voice in her head, one that didn't even seem to be her own. 'Just a peek, Andrina? You don't have anywhere else to go anyway..'

She fought with it a few minutes, her frown deepening more and more before she finally gave in. And, for the second time that day, took that first step. The second 'first step' in a long string of 'first steps' she was going to make, that she was going to learn to regret. Her boots echoed down the creaky, once marvelous, floors; air around her changing as she continued on.

Once she finally reached the door which had opened itself, she peeked in, quite skeptically; in all honestly, fearfully as well. Andrina leaned on the door frame, a slight shriek coming from her when it came away from the wall. Rolling her eyes at her own silliness, Andrina wiped her hands on her clothes and peered inside again. Curiously, there didn't seem to be anything in the room. There was surely an old room there, and yet, it seemed to be empty save for a dirty fireplace and cracked walls.

Andrina rose her eyebrow, leaning inward as if thinking about entering the room. That, it seemed, was all it took. The door came swinging in behind her and knocked her in, sending her into a quite unexpected darkness, one word echoing in her mind--in what she swore, was the same whispered voice which had drawn her up the hill to this place to begin with.

Nevermore...