Immortal Creatures

1988 Dec, 26

Yesterday was wonderful as us four sat around the dancing warm fireplace opening our presents. It actually kind of saddened me because my dear sister will not be with us when spring semester comes for the freshman college students. The days of us sleeping in the same top floor bedroom will come to a deathly end. No more will I hear the stories of ghouls, witches, and vampires that crept through the night of the beautiful full moons. Those stories had enchanting beginnings and endings which show those immortal creatures as everyday people like us filled with emotions of love and sadness. Though I knew they were mythical, they felt real to me as if my sister’s words were a magic painting that made a charmed picture in my curious mind. When she leaves, it will be a piece of me gone. Yesterday she gave me this diary to record all that happens to me when she is gone so she would never miss the best days of my life. As of now my darling big sis, I will keep this as close to my heart as possible so it will feel like you are with me always no matter how far you will be from me.

“Mona!”

I prop up my head from the crinkled diary that lay lazily on my lap. I blinked twice to regain my true eye sight since it was blinded from the beige background of my mother’s diary. My Aunt April continuously looked back at me from the front passenger seat, brushing her dirty blonde curl behind her right ear. Her striking misty blue eyes connected with my identical iris as well. The sun that hovered aggressively over the moving automobile made her fair soft skin glow.

“How do you feel coming back home to Grover hill sweetie, you must be excited to see your old friends?”

As I chewed the inside of my right cheek, a small grin responded to her question. I slightly wedge the worn down diary between my legs and swayed my stringy brown strands from my face.
“I only have two friends April…I wasn’t exactly little miss popular two years ago you know.”

Still painted with a smile my aunt cupped my closest hand into hers. “Other girls are just too far up their own asses to see what a catch you are.”

“Damn straight,” my uncle Leon shouted spiritedly behind the wheel of our car.

My aunt and I giggled; rolling our eyes as she returned her posterior to the passenger seat and my eyes went back to drifting out the shaded window. My aunt and Uncle both got stuck with me ever since I was born. The story my aunt April had told me was that on a long day from work, she heard a high pitch cry come from her and my mother’s room. As she reached to the loud cry, she saw nothing, but a baby screaming on top of my mother’s vacant bed. April never told me anything else about her in more detail besides saying that she was a kind-hearted girl. All I know is that she was missing and presumed dead. All I have left is this dusty old book that contained her memories. April gave me this on my 18th birthday; she said that my age was emotionally stable enough to have this. It has been a month since my birthday and I just now started to take interest on reading at least the first faded page. Bringing my mother up over the years had always been the sensitive subject for April, so I tried to limit my questions about her. I was born and lived in Grover hill and lived there till I was 16 of age. My Uncle is a historian that studies in Latin and Greek life back before electricity and cars were even an idea. He traveled a lot which meant mostly April was the one who had raised me as a child.

My Aunt was busy as well being a successful novelist and journalist. Even though she completes her job at home, it seems like I was the only one there. Though she was extremely busy getting dragged into her work, she still made up the wasted time I was left to myself by telling me the same stories she said she had told my mother. The stories helped soothed the evil that polluted my mind as I dreamed. I’ve been having nightmares since I was 5 years old and they still continue today. At the age of 13 I was branded as Crazy Mona. All the children picked on me ever since they witnessed one of my screaming episodes in class during some stupid pop quiz. It has gotten worse to where I sometimes question what is real and what is not. My two best friends Wesley and Layton have been there for me through all the shit that happened to me before I left. When my aunt April got a new job out in New York, I wasn’t really too excited about the news. We left in the middle of my sophomore year of High School, abandoning the true people that understood me. Now we are all heading back to the old two story bricked house and back to those rude bitches I had to deal with in my past. Hopefully my senior year goes by as quickly as possible just so I can graduate with my two friends and never see the smirks of every fake plastic Barbie that will most likely fill the school hallways.

Now, all I can do is hold on to the little bit of sanity that I have left. The trees started to pass by slowly until they came to a halted stop. On my right stood the old abandoned home that we left two years ago. It looked unfamiliar as the three foot tall grass covered the visibility of the front door entrance. Dust dimmed all of the windows and one was busted open for all critters to be invited in freely. My uncle and aunt both slowly exited out the vehicle being dazed from the ugly appearance. Leon scratched the back of his long shaggy hair, squinting his eyes as if doing that would make the view better.

I moved my petite body out the back seat, stretching one long leg out at a time. My eyes widen as I covered my right hand over my mouth to catch my hysterical laughter.

“Oh my god.”

April shook her head as her mouth covered her glossy thin lips, “It’s going to take a miracle to fix this up.”

Taking his hand from the back of his head, my uncle put his hands inside his faded jeans. “There’s nothing that a little paint and one lawn mower can’t fix.”

“Are we really going to move all of our stuff inside right now…it’s not even fit to live in yet,” I questioned them both.

My uncle Leon swayed playfully to the back of the mobile and yanked on the string that loosened our furniture that was haltered to the roof of it. “Yeah, we are.”

I folded my arms across my breast as a small chill climbed down my spine. Never had this house made me feel uncomfortable in the past till now. It looked like an abandoned house off of a horror film, and we were the next victims. Irritated, my aunt April followed my uncle’s lead to help take down the furniture. I started to cross the black asphalt street, making my way to the front for more visualization. Grunts from them both made me giggle inside a little as they struggled to get everything from the top. Finally, my sneaker stepped onto the sidewalk that belonged to the untamed grass that filled the front yard. The only thing you can see was the gray pebbled sidewalk which led to the front porch. The closer I got to the door, the more the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Even goose bumps started to form along my arms and underneath my pant leg. I bit the corner of my plump pink lips for comfort so I could build up the courage to turn the elegant golden knob. Swinging the door open, I step slowly onto the cheery wooden flooring. Cob webs decorated each corner of the first floor and dust danced under my feet as I swept it into my breathing zone.
My throat started to scratch when the little particles tickled into my lungs causing me to forcefully cough. Even though it looked unstable to live in on the outside, it looked livable on the inside. Everything looked the same as we left it; just old age covered the interior. Passing through the kitchen marbled floors; I see the wall that still had the red crayon markings of where my uncle would measure me from every time he came home from monthly works of traveling. Something inside tickled me as my fingers traced each line. Loving memories painted a picture in my mind of when I was a little girl. The smells of a home-cooked meal filled my nostrils as I saw all three of us laughing together at the kitchen table. Golden lights fluttered from the naked areas beyond the kitchen, given off a warm feeling. Suddenly, a large creak erased my attention from my daydream. It came from the top floor which was a place I didn’t explore yet. I grew curious of what was the source of the sound by walking slowly up the stairway. Each step I made played a creepy tune in my mind as I grew closer to the top. There were more sources of light then the bottom floor as I examined each hallway. The same sound echoed through the vacant walls as it grew closer as I was by my old room. As I faced the door, the edges of my toes stopped at the borderline trying to keep me from sightseeing any further. Ignoring my red alert signals that detonated into my brain, I clutched the icy door knob and waltzed inside. Like I hoped, it was empty. The balcony door was the victim that was forced to open slightly from the wild wind. I wiped the nervous sweat from the surface of my clammy skin and walked over to shut the door tight. Inside my head I laughed at myself for getting so worked up over nothing. As soon as I locked the two giant doors, I turned around seeing my aunt standing in the doorway. My heart jumped as I got stunned from being unaware of her appearance.

“Shit April, can you warn a girl next time before you scare her to death.”

“Your uncle and I need some extra muscle downstairs, so come down scardie pants,” she chuckled under her breath.

Sticking my tongue out, I followed behind her pushing my hand playfully onto her shoulder. “Hardy har har.”