Hatrae

Jannie Williams was walking quietly towards a very big, yet old house. Actually the house looked more like a mansion then a house, but she preferred to call it a house. Jannie kept on walking even though it was very, very cold winter afternoon.

Once she got to the big old house, she knocked loudly; there was no door bell, for the owner disliked them very much. The door was answered by a man who looked no older then forty. The man had gray hair and was slowly losing his hair. Once the man saw Jannie he smiled.

He was always glad to see Jannie, for she was always happy whenever she visited and she appreciated his company—well only sometimes which was good enough. Jannie smiled up at him.

“Hello Mr. Linden” She greeted him politely with a mischievous grin.

“Hello Jannie. Come on in.” He waved her to come in as he walked towards the kitchen.
She walked into the house and took her coat off. She placed it on a hook that she always put it on. She closed the door and she walked around, finding a mirror; it showed how red her face was from the cold; her electric blue eye shining and big. Her black hair was disheveled from the wind. She smiled, seeing how she looked. Mr. Linden went into the kitchen and got out some orange juice and some crackers.

“Jannie, so what do you want to do? Read a book; play with the video games; swim?” Mr. Linden asked.

“Um… Well Dane isn’t here right? So I would rather read then play video games alone. Where is Dane anyways?” She wondered out loud.

“Dane is… at his cousins’ place. I do not know when he will be back,” he spoke quietly. “I will go to the library and bring you some books.” He said changing the subject.

Jannie nodded at what he was saying. Mmm… Shouldn’t a dad know when his own son would come home? She thought. Also, Dane would usually tell me when he’d go somewhere, which is strange. To think of it, Dane wasn’t a school for the whole week. Why would he be at his cousins’ place for a school week? Why the heck- Her thoughts interrupted by the sound of a slamming door. Jannie turned around; she could see one of the maids holding a large pot. The pot had a thin maple, Oak? Well it had a tree inside the pot.

The maid placed the pot with the tree in the den beside the coffee table. Jannie walked into the den where a different maid and taken the orange juice and crackers to. She sat plopped herself on the couch in front of the coffee table and drank some orange juice and chewed on a salty cracker. Mr. Linden had come back with an assortment of books in his arms. He had brought thin chapter books to massive novels. He dropped the books onto the long coffee table, in front of the fireplace.

Jannie, who was still chewing on the same salty cracker, stood up and walked to the coffee table for the couch a far from that table. Mr. Linden muttered something about how it was so messy it was in the library while he walked out of the den.

Jannie started to look through the pile of books. Looking at the covers for something to catch her eye, but nothing did. So she started to read the titles of the books. All of them sounded quite boring. Like for instance “Forty-two boys and a two-hundred pound dog.” Mr. Linden knew she didn’t like those books that said what it was about. She liked the mysterious titled books.

She started sorting out the books by author and she got to the last book, it was the largest novel. She grabbed it and carefully examined it. It didn’t have the authors name on it but it had the novel title, it had a strange title, Htrae.

“Heh-Trae?” She whispered quietly to herself.

It sounded cool and interesting, and it was the word “Earth” backwards. It was a very interesting title to Jannie. She decided to read what it was about. She turned the novel to read the summary, but there wasn’t one. Not even on the flap on hard covers had a summary. It made her more interested in the book than ever.

Mr. Linden had come back from yelling at a maid for not cleaning up the library when she was supposed to. Jannie noticed the maid was sniffling and had a tight frown on her face. Jannie looked up at Mr. Linden as he sat at her side.

“Hey, Mr. Linden can I read this book?” She asked as nicely as she could.
To her surprise Mr. Linden went pale and he had stiffened at the sight of the book. He would usually never act like this, Jannie didn’t know why he acted like this, and she was worried.

Mr. Linden shuddered and put on a fake smile, and nodded. He couldn’t—wouldn’t speak, which made Jannie more worried. Then the digital clock behind him beeped loudly, it was now three o’clock. And hour had already passed, how could that have happened?

“Oh no! Sorry Mr. Linden I’m going to be in trouble if I don’t get home by three fifteen.” She stood up and brought the book with her. She took her coat off the hook and put it on quickly. She pulled on her boots and walked to the door, her hand on the doorknob; turning it slowly.
“Jannie,” Mr. Linden’s baritone voice called. “Let me warn you. Do not read that book during the night, after six o’clock. It will be very bad. And there will be consequences.” He told her with a serious face. She nodded in agreement and with a serious face as well. Opening the door she stepped out into the cold winter afternoon, not knowing that everything would change.