She Lives in a Fairytale

I plopped down on the couch, huffing. Finally all the boxes were moved into the house! I could hear the moving van start up and take off down the trail. Lilly stepped through the threshold and shut the door behind her, quickly locking the two locks on the door. When she looked over at me I went back to staring at the blank TV. Lilly sat next to me and smiled.

“So how do you like the house?” Lilly asked cheerfully.

“I liked the other one better,” I replied with no tone. She sighed and stood back to her feet. “No! Tell me again why we moved?”

“I told you, it was best for you,” Lilly said with an annoyed glare.

“Best for me? Yeah right. This is the third time this year and it’s only May! I was finally making friends and you move me away, again,” I complained.

“Friends? They don’t count as friends, Shiloh. You need to just stay away from them.” Those were Lilly’s final words before walking out of the room. I rolled my eyes and stood to my own feet. I may only be sixteen, but I have just as much as a hot head as Lilly who was twenty-one. I walked up the stairs, childishly jumping up each step so it’d make a loud bang each time.

“Cut it out Shiloh!” I rolled my eyes again. I walked down the hallway, putting a little more weight than needed with each step. I saw my name on an already ajar door. I kicked it the rest of the way open to be greeted with a room cluttered with boxes. I sighed and plopped down on my bare mattress that sat on the floor in the corner. Just as I liked it. I yanked off my combat boots and threw them across the room, hitting the closet door. I fell back onto my mattress and studied my ceiling. My eyes stopped on a cord hanging about three feet from the ceiling.

“What’s up with the cord on my ceiling?” I yelled.

“It’s the attic. I thought you’d might like to see if you can find something old you’d like,” Lilly called back from below. I hopped up and jumped, grasping the cord. I gave it a hard yank and a doorway started coming down. A ladder came out and stopped right in front of me. After making sure the steps could hold my weight, I started up. Dust assaulted the air and filled my lungs. I coughed, trying to clear the crap out of my lungs. I waved a hand in front of my face and hit another string. I pulled and the attic lit up with a small, dim light. I jumped back when I saw a tarantula only three feet away.

“God. You scared the shit outta me little guy,” I muttered mostly to myself. Over the years I’ve gotten used to spiders, other insects, and snakes. Now they only shock me when I first see them. I looked around and saw that the attic was really only as big as my room. Some old dresser sat in the corner covered in dust. Things covered by white sheets sat in a few more spots but nothing worth searching through. I sighed and held out my hand towards the spider. It slowly approached me before letting me pick it up.

“Oh you’re not so scary. Just a bit hairy,” I cooed. It just looked up at me, starting to crawl up my arm. I turned to watch it and something caught my eye. A bookshelf sat just behind me, covered in it’s own fair share of dust. I finally stood from the spot on my knees, having to duck my head a little to stop from hitting the roof. This shocked me since I was only five foot two, I didn’t know ceilings could be this short! I walked over to the bookshelf, examining the books closely. They all looked old and practically falling apart. All except one. I pulled the book off the shelf and gently ran my hand over the cover to remove dust. There was no title on the black book.

“How weird,” I muttered to myself. I flipped open the cover to the first page. The pages were starting to turn yellow from aging and looked like the pages were barely held in the spine, like someone had read it many times. I saw something scribbled at the bottom right corner and squinted to try and read it. I stepped directly under the attic light so I could make out the neat cursive print.

“Property of Zachary-”

“What’d you find there?” I quickly snapped the book shut and hid it behind my back. I suddenly felt like a little kid being caught reading their sibling’s diary. Lilly slowly walked up the steps, making sure to stay as far away from me as possible.

“What?” I whined, slightly angry at the way she avoided me like I was the plague. I wished I was sometimes. Then when she pissed me off, BAM!

“What is that?” Lilly asked, pointing to my shoulder. I looked and saw the tarantula sitting there, staring at my sister. Even insects don’t like her I guess.

“This is Charlie. I’d name it Charlotte but that’s been done too many times to count,” I replied with a grin.

“Well leave Charlie alone and come on. We don’t have any food so we’re just going to go get fast food or something,” Lilly told me with a smile.

“I didn’t know that there was civilization nearby. Seeing as how we’re in the middle of a forest with no neighbors in a mile and a half radius,” I remarked. Lilly just rolled her eyes and walked down the staircase. After I heard her step out of my room I placed Charlie back on the attic floor. I turned off the attic light before walking down the steps myself. I quickly put the book into my chest which I locked with the key around my neck. After making sure that was shut, I quickly shoved the attic stairs back into the ceiling.

“Come on or I’m leaving you!” Lilly threatened. I pulled on one of my boots and ran into the hall.

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” I yelled to her. I hopped down the stairs as I tried to shove my other foot into my boot. I tripped on the last step but caught myself with my hands. My foot finally shoved through and I stood with a cheesy pose. Lilly laughed and led the way out the door.

“Smooth,” she joked.

“Hey it was!” I retorted, slamming the door shut behind me.