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In Your Winter
.Chapter One.
“Siri, get up!”
My eyes opened to see my childhood friend, Isabel, excitedly moving about the ferry cabin. I sat up and yawned, wondering when I had gone back to sleep. I glanced to my right to see her pull a long sleeve shirt over her tank top.
“Hurry up, we have to leave by 9:30. I’m going to get breakfast and I’ll bring you back something, okay?” she asked, tossing her blonde hair behind her as she walked out the room.
I got out of the slightly uncomfortable bed and looked around the two-bed room for my suitcase.
The room was small with off-white walls and was sparsely decorated. It was, after all, meant for two day trips to and from a small island off the coast of California. I was simply going as a companion with Isabel so she could finish her presentation on an old abandoned manor for her architecture classes. I wondered if I should tell her my family history with the estate... No, I hated that part of my family anyway.
I shivered as I heard the cabin door slam shut and realized I was alone for the moment. I walked to bathroom to get ready for the day. I silently shut the door behind me and yawned, running a hand through my hair. My finger hooked under my shorts and I pulled them down, my shirt following.
I looked up into the mirror and tried to find any trace of the girl from my dream. Same brown eyes, same hair, same face, but my own was not quite as beautiful as the young girl in my dream. I couldn’t shake the feeling it was memory, not a dream, but that was impossible. I looked into the mirror and shook my head.
“It was just a dream,” I mumbled to myself, not believing it as the words passed my lips.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day was chilly, with sharp gusts of wind blowing fiercely. I wouldn’t be surprised if it began to snow later. At the moment though, I was safe from the outside weather, comfortably seated in the front seat of Isabel’s silver/blue rental car. With my feet on the dashboard, which annoyed her so much, I stared out the window. The gloomy sky was gray, a huge cloud stretching over the countryside.
I honestly didn’t want to be here, but I owed Isabel a huge favor. After all, a week before she did leave her college classes early to pick me up from a gas station two towns over where one of my tires went flat. Besides that, she had guilted me into being her companion. I sat up moving to sit with my feet on the floor, but still leaned back into the seat. I face my friend and she glanced at me from the corner of her blue eyes, then moved them to the road.
I watched as she slowed down to 25 MPH and pulled out a cigarette from her purse. She put it between her lips and gradually moved to 45 MPH, the speed limit. She glanced at me again, “Hey, Siri, light me up? There’s a lighter in the bottom of my purse...” She thought for a second, “Somewhere up in there.”
I smiled and let out a smile laugh, but found her cheap ass Hello Kitty lighter she’d had since Junior year. I honestly had no idea how she managed to keep it working after all these years. I played with the thumb wheel until the flame sparked up. I held the lighter and she took a hand off the steering wheel and lit up. She took a drag and opened the driver side window.
I bit my lip and asked, “I know you love me and all, but why didn’t you get Zaitlyn or Emily to go with you?” Zaitlyn and Emily were part of our four person group that formed in our 8th grade year.
She rolled her eyes, but managed to, for once in her life, keep them on the road, “Emily’s scared of her own shadow and Zaitlyn has to work. Besides, it’s like, this really creepy manor that’s falling apart. There’s, like, all these mysteries and surrounding the house. I know you love that shit so I thought why not give you some painting motivation.”
I groaned and rubbed the side of my face, “Don’t remind me about my deadline.” I was an artist, or that’s what I went to school for. I had small, but decent paying, galleries. I did things for the local churches and community centers, like painted banners and such.
There was a silence after that. The radio was low and playing a local pop station, and that was the only noise besides that of the car. We drove for a while, I didn’t care to keep time, so I just stared out the window. Field after field of dying grain was all the scenery offered on this side of the island. There was a cluster of small towns on the other side.
I suddenly remember back in high school when we did local history. The more I thought about it, many of the things we had learned flooded back into my mind. The trip to the museums, the noble family line, and most of all how the family just vanished and how east side of the island they lived on went barren. That also made me remember my late grandmother telling my mother’s side of the family’s history.
I chewed on my lip and looked straight ahead when I noticed Isabel was slowing down. I felt my eyes widen and my mouth slightly part. Even in ruins, the massive estate was still magnificent. You could still see the once bright, vivid colors that were now faded and weather beaten. The towers, the large now broken window, the heavy wooden doors... Oh, it was beautiful. I felt excitement spark in my body as I took in the scenery. I blinked, why did I feel like I was just coming home?
It was like coming home...
It was a bizarre feeling I barely justified to myself with: I do have Pericol blood in me. I inhaled and calmed myself, but slightly jumped when I heard the driver’s side door slam closed. Running a hand through my hair, I sighed and looked out the window to see Isabel talking with an elderly woman.
The lady was heavily wrinkled, her eyes were squinty and an indistinguishable dark color. She was almost nothing but bone. Her skin was the slightly tanned despite her obvious age. I noticed her clothes didn’t match in color. Her necklace caught my eye, it was a golden locket with the crest from the music box prominently engraved.
I pulled my jacket on and got out of the car. As I closed the door, Isabel smiled brightly and gestured to the woman, “This is Mrs. Haner. The only living member of the Haner family with the last name.”
Mrs. Haner extended her hand and I shook her papery hand. “Call me Miss Haner. My husband passed last summer,” she said with a sad grin.
“My condolences,” I said gently, shoving my hand deep into the jacket’s pocket after we pulled back out hands. Her gaze lingered on me, making me shift my weight from my left foot my right. She smiled gently, it was obvious she missed him.
Isabel pulled her phone out of her obnoxious yellow skinny jeans. She shoved it back in her pocket and asked, “We only have three hours before we have to go back, would you mind if I got my final notes now?”
Ms. Haner shook her head and turned to Isabel, “By all means go on ahead! If you should need anything, I’ll be in my home.”
Isabel began to walk to the manor, but I stayed rooted in the crossroads of dirt sidewalks. I watched the woman enter a small house. It was peculiarly more of a cottage than a house. It was too familiar, placing it was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t quite reach it.
“Sirena!” Isabel yelled, standing in front of the heavy oak doors. I shivered from a sharp gust of wind, but jogged to where she was.
Isabel followed my gaze and saw I was looking at the house where the woman disappeared into. She looked at me, “Weird lady, right?”
I nodded slowly, still staring in the direction and trying to find something that would explain the feeling of familiarity with the house. Isabel smirked, “I came here the week before last and managed to scope out most of the place. So, I’ll be spending most of today in three rooms. You can look around if you want though.”
I nod as she pushed open the obviously heavy door to the left. I quickly slip in behind her, the door slamming behind me with a loud ‘BANG’. Isabel took off to the left, staying on the bottom floor.
I stepped back and ended up pressed against the cold wood. Frigid air seeped through the crack in the middle of the doors, but that was where the least of my attention was. My mouth slightly parted as I took in the sight of the ruined Entry Hall from my dream. A white marble staircase was placed in the center of the spacious entry room. Halls were placed under both left and right sides under the stairs.
I chewed on my lip and hesitantly stepped forward. Nothing happened, so why was I so spooked? Crossing my arms over my chest, determination spread through me. I walked confidently to the stairs and placed my hand on the cold metal of the rails. My eyes widened in shock and I yanked my hand back. I blinked, trying to decipher the electric feeling that spread through me. Blinking, I tried to shake the feeling something happened here.
Biting my bottom lip, I moved up the stairs with my arms safely crossed over my chest. The sound of my boots echoed through the empty room. The estate as a whole wasn’t creepy, the atmosphere was more tragic. What if my dream actually happened? What if my mother was right and incarnation was real and I was the teenage girl from my dream? What if...
Lost in my thoughts, I had managed to walk to what looked faintly like a ballroom. High ceilings with large chipped white beams made the room look threatening to collapse. Hesitantly, I put my hand gently on the archway and looked into the enormous room. Broken glasses and miscellaneous decorations littered the floor, making almost every step I took into the ballroom sound with a ‘crunch’. I moved silently otherwise, slowly as well. I cringed when I my foot crushed a red stained wine glass. I pulled my foot back and walked around it.
Looking around, I noticed a balcony and knew without doubt it was the one where I- she was stabbed. My mind instantly moved to the boy from dream. His chocolate brown eyes that looked so young... Shaking my head, I snapped out of my trance and quickly walked past the balcony. I pulled my jacket tighter around me and looked straight forward. My eyes snapped open wide and my mouth nearly hit the floor. I gawked at an enormous life-like painting of a familiar family.
It was beaten and weather worn, the decorated gold frame cracked and the painting torn in weird places. It was otherwise beautiful, but it left such a creepy feeling to the room. Neutral faces with almost moving eyes stared seemingly into my soul. I shivered and averted my gaze to the people in the painting, not they’re glaring eyes.
Three men and a teenage boy stood behind two older woman, one with an older face and the other looked like the mother of the older children in the painting. The women were sitting in chair with a teenage girl standing between them. The four males were placed two on each side with a gap for the girl to stand and be the centerpiece. The teenage girl, the one from my dream, had a faint smile. Did she really look that much like me? It was almost like a mirror image of myself when I was sixteen. No, her face was too... exactly like my own. I closed my eyes and tried to keep calm. So what, I looked like a girl from a family that basically died out a hundred years ago. Sure, I had the family’s blood in me, but it didn’t mean anything.
The sound of breaking glass echoed through the room. I gasped and quickly spun around, hoping I’d see Ms. Haner or Isabel. My lips parted slightly as I stared wide-eyed at the man before me. He looked like an older version of the Haner boy. His face was impassive. Could it possibly be the same person? Despite a hairstyle change it was an older version of the boy from my dream. He stared back, his eyes piercing through me.
I blinked and when I opened my eyes he was gone. I blinked again, he was gone, or maybe he was never there. No, he had to be. A light-headed feeling spread through me and I stumbled back. Spots blurred my vision, and then everything went black and blank.
My eyes opened to see my childhood friend, Isabel, excitedly moving about the ferry cabin. I sat up and yawned, wondering when I had gone back to sleep. I glanced to my right to see her pull a long sleeve shirt over her tank top.
“Hurry up, we have to leave by 9:30. I’m going to get breakfast and I’ll bring you back something, okay?” she asked, tossing her blonde hair behind her as she walked out the room.
I got out of the slightly uncomfortable bed and looked around the two-bed room for my suitcase.
The room was small with off-white walls and was sparsely decorated. It was, after all, meant for two day trips to and from a small island off the coast of California. I was simply going as a companion with Isabel so she could finish her presentation on an old abandoned manor for her architecture classes. I wondered if I should tell her my family history with the estate... No, I hated that part of my family anyway.
I shivered as I heard the cabin door slam shut and realized I was alone for the moment. I walked to bathroom to get ready for the day. I silently shut the door behind me and yawned, running a hand through my hair. My finger hooked under my shorts and I pulled them down, my shirt following.
I looked up into the mirror and tried to find any trace of the girl from my dream. Same brown eyes, same hair, same face, but my own was not quite as beautiful as the young girl in my dream. I couldn’t shake the feeling it was memory, not a dream, but that was impossible. I looked into the mirror and shook my head.
“It was just a dream,” I mumbled to myself, not believing it as the words passed my lips.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day was chilly, with sharp gusts of wind blowing fiercely. I wouldn’t be surprised if it began to snow later. At the moment though, I was safe from the outside weather, comfortably seated in the front seat of Isabel’s silver/blue rental car. With my feet on the dashboard, which annoyed her so much, I stared out the window. The gloomy sky was gray, a huge cloud stretching over the countryside.
I honestly didn’t want to be here, but I owed Isabel a huge favor. After all, a week before she did leave her college classes early to pick me up from a gas station two towns over where one of my tires went flat. Besides that, she had guilted me into being her companion. I sat up moving to sit with my feet on the floor, but still leaned back into the seat. I face my friend and she glanced at me from the corner of her blue eyes, then moved them to the road.
I watched as she slowed down to 25 MPH and pulled out a cigarette from her purse. She put it between her lips and gradually moved to 45 MPH, the speed limit. She glanced at me again, “Hey, Siri, light me up? There’s a lighter in the bottom of my purse...” She thought for a second, “Somewhere up in there.”
I smiled and let out a smile laugh, but found her cheap ass Hello Kitty lighter she’d had since Junior year. I honestly had no idea how she managed to keep it working after all these years. I played with the thumb wheel until the flame sparked up. I held the lighter and she took a hand off the steering wheel and lit up. She took a drag and opened the driver side window.
I bit my lip and asked, “I know you love me and all, but why didn’t you get Zaitlyn or Emily to go with you?” Zaitlyn and Emily were part of our four person group that formed in our 8th grade year.
She rolled her eyes, but managed to, for once in her life, keep them on the road, “Emily’s scared of her own shadow and Zaitlyn has to work. Besides, it’s like, this really creepy manor that’s falling apart. There’s, like, all these mysteries and surrounding the house. I know you love that shit so I thought why not give you some painting motivation.”
I groaned and rubbed the side of my face, “Don’t remind me about my deadline.” I was an artist, or that’s what I went to school for. I had small, but decent paying, galleries. I did things for the local churches and community centers, like painted banners and such.
There was a silence after that. The radio was low and playing a local pop station, and that was the only noise besides that of the car. We drove for a while, I didn’t care to keep time, so I just stared out the window. Field after field of dying grain was all the scenery offered on this side of the island. There was a cluster of small towns on the other side.
I suddenly remember back in high school when we did local history. The more I thought about it, many of the things we had learned flooded back into my mind. The trip to the museums, the noble family line, and most of all how the family just vanished and how east side of the island they lived on went barren. That also made me remember my late grandmother telling my mother’s side of the family’s history.
I chewed on my lip and looked straight ahead when I noticed Isabel was slowing down. I felt my eyes widen and my mouth slightly part. Even in ruins, the massive estate was still magnificent. You could still see the once bright, vivid colors that were now faded and weather beaten. The towers, the large now broken window, the heavy wooden doors... Oh, it was beautiful. I felt excitement spark in my body as I took in the scenery. I blinked, why did I feel like I was just coming home?
It was like coming home...
It was a bizarre feeling I barely justified to myself with: I do have Pericol blood in me. I inhaled and calmed myself, but slightly jumped when I heard the driver’s side door slam closed. Running a hand through my hair, I sighed and looked out the window to see Isabel talking with an elderly woman.
The lady was heavily wrinkled, her eyes were squinty and an indistinguishable dark color. She was almost nothing but bone. Her skin was the slightly tanned despite her obvious age. I noticed her clothes didn’t match in color. Her necklace caught my eye, it was a golden locket with the crest from the music box prominently engraved.
I pulled my jacket on and got out of the car. As I closed the door, Isabel smiled brightly and gestured to the woman, “This is Mrs. Haner. The only living member of the Haner family with the last name.”
Mrs. Haner extended her hand and I shook her papery hand. “Call me Miss Haner. My husband passed last summer,” she said with a sad grin.
“My condolences,” I said gently, shoving my hand deep into the jacket’s pocket after we pulled back out hands. Her gaze lingered on me, making me shift my weight from my left foot my right. She smiled gently, it was obvious she missed him.
Isabel pulled her phone out of her obnoxious yellow skinny jeans. She shoved it back in her pocket and asked, “We only have three hours before we have to go back, would you mind if I got my final notes now?”
Ms. Haner shook her head and turned to Isabel, “By all means go on ahead! If you should need anything, I’ll be in my home.”
Isabel began to walk to the manor, but I stayed rooted in the crossroads of dirt sidewalks. I watched the woman enter a small house. It was peculiarly more of a cottage than a house. It was too familiar, placing it was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t quite reach it.
“Sirena!” Isabel yelled, standing in front of the heavy oak doors. I shivered from a sharp gust of wind, but jogged to where she was.
Isabel followed my gaze and saw I was looking at the house where the woman disappeared into. She looked at me, “Weird lady, right?”
I nodded slowly, still staring in the direction and trying to find something that would explain the feeling of familiarity with the house. Isabel smirked, “I came here the week before last and managed to scope out most of the place. So, I’ll be spending most of today in three rooms. You can look around if you want though.”
I nod as she pushed open the obviously heavy door to the left. I quickly slip in behind her, the door slamming behind me with a loud ‘BANG’. Isabel took off to the left, staying on the bottom floor.
I stepped back and ended up pressed against the cold wood. Frigid air seeped through the crack in the middle of the doors, but that was where the least of my attention was. My mouth slightly parted as I took in the sight of the ruined Entry Hall from my dream. A white marble staircase was placed in the center of the spacious entry room. Halls were placed under both left and right sides under the stairs.
I chewed on my lip and hesitantly stepped forward. Nothing happened, so why was I so spooked? Crossing my arms over my chest, determination spread through me. I walked confidently to the stairs and placed my hand on the cold metal of the rails. My eyes widened in shock and I yanked my hand back. I blinked, trying to decipher the electric feeling that spread through me. Blinking, I tried to shake the feeling something happened here.
Biting my bottom lip, I moved up the stairs with my arms safely crossed over my chest. The sound of my boots echoed through the empty room. The estate as a whole wasn’t creepy, the atmosphere was more tragic. What if my dream actually happened? What if my mother was right and incarnation was real and I was the teenage girl from my dream? What if...
Lost in my thoughts, I had managed to walk to what looked faintly like a ballroom. High ceilings with large chipped white beams made the room look threatening to collapse. Hesitantly, I put my hand gently on the archway and looked into the enormous room. Broken glasses and miscellaneous decorations littered the floor, making almost every step I took into the ballroom sound with a ‘crunch’. I moved silently otherwise, slowly as well. I cringed when I my foot crushed a red stained wine glass. I pulled my foot back and walked around it.
Looking around, I noticed a balcony and knew without doubt it was the one where I- she was stabbed. My mind instantly moved to the boy from dream. His chocolate brown eyes that looked so young... Shaking my head, I snapped out of my trance and quickly walked past the balcony. I pulled my jacket tighter around me and looked straight forward. My eyes snapped open wide and my mouth nearly hit the floor. I gawked at an enormous life-like painting of a familiar family.
It was beaten and weather worn, the decorated gold frame cracked and the painting torn in weird places. It was otherwise beautiful, but it left such a creepy feeling to the room. Neutral faces with almost moving eyes stared seemingly into my soul. I shivered and averted my gaze to the people in the painting, not they’re glaring eyes.
Three men and a teenage boy stood behind two older woman, one with an older face and the other looked like the mother of the older children in the painting. The women were sitting in chair with a teenage girl standing between them. The four males were placed two on each side with a gap for the girl to stand and be the centerpiece. The teenage girl, the one from my dream, had a faint smile. Did she really look that much like me? It was almost like a mirror image of myself when I was sixteen. No, her face was too... exactly like my own. I closed my eyes and tried to keep calm. So what, I looked like a girl from a family that basically died out a hundred years ago. Sure, I had the family’s blood in me, but it didn’t mean anything.
The sound of breaking glass echoed through the room. I gasped and quickly spun around, hoping I’d see Ms. Haner or Isabel. My lips parted slightly as I stared wide-eyed at the man before me. He looked like an older version of the Haner boy. His face was impassive. Could it possibly be the same person? Despite a hairstyle change it was an older version of the boy from my dream. He stared back, his eyes piercing through me.
I blinked and when I opened my eyes he was gone. I blinked again, he was gone, or maybe he was never there. No, he had to be. A light-headed feeling spread through me and I stumbled back. Spots blurred my vision, and then everything went black and blank.