The Third-floor Bedroom

Myseries of Harris Burdick. A school assignment. 90%

 

…It all started when someone left the window open. The night was so surreal, as if it were a dream… I’m still asking myself that question, but then I see those blood red eyes, and I know: it wasn’t a reverie…I never expected to find what I found, nor did I expect to do what I did. Human instinct just took over. I’m not a bad person. I’m not a murderer…

* * *

The school bell sounded at Holy Trinity Academy, signaling the end of yet another school day. A group of boys take in the brisk air to their lungs as they clumsily kick through the leaves. One boy, with long chestnut blond hair and hazel green eyes, leads the group, stomping on almost every leaf he sees. Another boy, with black hair and dark brown eyes, follows suit with the other boy. The final in the group, with shaggy blond hair and pale blue eyes, lets his mind wander into far off fantasies. Every day they take the same route past Old Lady Lovecraft’s house, always staring up at the cloaked window on the third floor, wondering what hidden secrets the old Catholic lunatic hides behind them.

“Hello boys.” Old Lovecraft calls from her front door, waving with a smile on her face.

The boys all wave back, except for the one in thought. He is too busy staring at the window. The window that was now open. As Old Lovecraft walked back inside, the two other boys went to leave, but the blond stayed fixed on the window.

“Hey, Brandon, Neo. Look.” He called.

The two boys turned around and walked back to where their friend stopped.

“What do you want, Joslin.” Brandon asked, flipping some of his chestnut blond hair from his eyes.

“The window. It’s open.” Joslin replied, pointing to the third floor.

Brandon and Neo stared in awe. From where they stood, the three boys could see partially into the room. The walls had odd bird printed wallpaper.

“Hey, let’s climb in!” Neo shouted, running for the area of the house under the window.

“Neo, you idiot, get away from there!” Brandon yelled after him.

While the two boys fought In front of the house, Joslin kept looking at the window. The bird wallpaper caught his attention. Slowly one of the birds began to fly off the wall, or so it seemed. Joslin stumbled back, watching, as the bird seemed to flap its one free wing, the breeze pushing his shaggy blond hair slightly in front of his eyes. There was movement near the curtains, and then they were swiftly pulled closed, the bewitched bird hidden from his view. Joslin snapped back into reality, looking to Brandon and Neo wrestling on the ground.

“You guys, get off her lawn, before Old Lovecraft comes outside!”

The two boys turned to each other and ran back to Joslin, clearly afraid of the consequence for being caught on the old Catholic’s lawn. As they continued their walk home, the boys discussed their plans for that night. It was Halloween, and they wanted to have an adventure.

“Hey, want know what we should do?” Brandon asked, climbing one of the trees in Neo’s yard.

“What?” Neo asked, following after Brandon.

“We should dare Joslin to climb into Old Lovecraft’s third floor window and stay in there until midnight.” Brandon smirked at Joslin, his hazel green eyes gleaming with a hint of an evil plan.

“No way, guys.” Joslin said, not bothering to climb up the tree, instead sitting beneath its branches.

“Chicken!” Neo taunted.

Neo and Brandon, from within the tree, mocked Joslin with chicken like noises. He attempted to ignore them, but the two boys started throwing twigs at him.

“Alright, fine! I’ll do it. Tonight at 11:00, I’ll climb in and stay there for an hour, okay?”

Neo and Brandon high-fived. The front door to Neo’s house opened and his mother walked out.

“Morgan Anderson! Are you climbing trees again? Get down this instant!”

Brandon and Joslin looked to each other, and smirked.

“Morgan?” they asked in unison, bursting into laughter.

Neo hopped out of the tree, “Mom, not in front of the guys!” then he looked to his friends, “I got to go.”

Neo ran into his house, leaving just Brandon and Joslin. Brandon jumped from out of the tree and the two boys continued to walk home. The air grew colder, as the two boys walked in silence. Joslin kept thinking back to the window, and the bird. Was it magic that he saw, or was Joslin merely seeing things: he didn’t know. It made no sense, and he wasn’t about to prove physics wrong.

“So, why do you think the window was open?” Brandon asked, looking to the sky.

Joslin shrugged, “I’m not sure…but I guess I’ll find out tonight, won’t I?”

They walked again in silence, until they reached Joslin’s house. “Meet me and Neo, 10:30 at my place? I’ll call Neo and let him know.”

Joslin nodded his head, said goodbye, and went inside. Nobody was home, as usual, so he headed straight for his room. Nothing seemed right. The window, the bird, the curtain being pulled shut: he’d unlock all the mysteries tonight…

* * *

I watch as you slip away. Like putty in my hands, you slip through the cracks, into the silence of the eerie night. I call after you; you’re nowhere. This was a mistake, all a misunderstanding. I didn’t kill her…I dind’t… I’ve lost sight of what is real, and what is a lie. Truth is not a concept I can grasp from the sound waves. Echoing screams, meaningless to all…

* * *

At 10:30, Joslin sits on the couch in Brandon’s living room. The three boys eat candy and sketch out their plan for Old Lovecraft’s house. Neo and Brandon were going to walk around the neighbor hood one at a time, trick or treating, making sure to stay close to the old Catholic’s house. If Joslin were to chicken out, he would have to go around and collect the rest of the candy for them, and do their homework for a week.

“And what if I make it the whole time?” Joslin asked, pushing his shaggy blond hair out of his face.

“You can have all of our candy.” Neo said, looking to Brandon who nodded in approval.

Around 10:45 the boys headed towards Old Lady Lovecraft’s house. The night was filled with laughter and little kids running around, in search for houses with more treats. The three boys walked silently, kicking leaves when they felt like it. Joslin was nervous as hell just thinking about sneaking into the old Catholic’s house, but Brandon and Neo didn’t seem to notice. When the boys reached the house, they all stood staring at the open window. The curtains were left closed from earlier that day.

“Go on, Joslin, climb in.” Neo said, giving him a nudge.

Brandon looked to the door then back to the guys, “You might want to hurry up, Joslin.”

He nodded his head, pushing his blond hair from his eyes and headed towards the side of the house. Testing his weight on some vines stuck to the wall, Joslin began to slowly, and quietly, climb up to the third floor window. On his way up, he caught his hand on a thorn, and started to slightly bleed.

“Just great…” he mumbled.

Reaching the top of the vines, he reached up, grabbing hold of the gutter on the edge of the roof, just below the indented window, his target. Neo and Brandon already left, leaving Joslin no other choice but to go inside. He hauled himself up onto the roof and let himself into the open window. As he set foot into the room, he noticed the lack of brightness. Many candles were lit all around the room, giving off dull lights. He looked to the wallpaper, covered in birds, searching for a missing bird, but he found no spot lacking its print. However there was one spot that was unusual. It seemed as if the bird he was searching for was still attempting to fly off the wall. As Joslin peered closer, he realized the bird wasn’t coming to life, it was merely the wallpaper ripped off of the wall.

“Who are you?” an Irish voice, sounding like innocent bells, called from the room.

Joslin jumped as he turned to meet the person speaking. In the center of the room there was a girl. Her long hair looked as though it were made of raven blue feathers, and covered her face. One seemingly blood red colored eye peered at him from behind the mass of feathery blue. She seemed to be floating inches from the ground, but with closer inspection, Joslin noticed the pillow she was sitting on. She seemed far too pale to be human.

“My name is Joslin…are you Old Lady Lovecraft’s kid?!” he asked staring at the girl.

The girl flicked her hair from out of her face, “No. I am Katherine Iver. Mrs. Lovecraft kidnapped me last year in Dublin and brought me here…”

Joslin stared back in shock. Old Lady Lovecraft…a kidnapper?!

“Why would she do that…?”

Katherine motioned across the room, where countless candles laid around, in the form of a star, and then she motioned to herself.

“Do I look human in this lighting?” she asked, her sweet tone perfectly calm.

Joslin shook his head. She looked like a demon. Her eyes looked crimson and her hair appeared to be blue and made of feathers. If he didn’t look close enough, it would appear Katherine would be floating. Her skin was pale, but in this lighting she looked like a ghost.

“She believes I’m Satan’s Spawn…the crazy old hag plans on killing me on my eighteenth birthday, because apparently that’s when I’ll ‘gain my evil powers’ or something like that.” Katherine spat sarcastically, shrugging, as she got up and walked over to a bookshelf.

Joslin watched her walk, staring, as she seemed to move with the likeness of a cat. Her steps were graceful, and she seemed to almost levitate across the room to where he stood. Opening a book, she handed it to him. In it was a picture of a girl with clearly blood red eyes and hair like wings.

“This is who she thinks I am.” Katherine sighed.

Joslin stared to the picture of Satan’s spawn, and then to Katherine. The similarities were strong, but it was clear now, with her so close, that she looked nothing like the picture. Katherine’s hair was actually jet black, and silky, and her eyes a very raw brown. She had creamy fair skin, slightly freckled, which was very difficult to see. Old Lady Lovecraft had always been the crazy Catholic type, so Joslin saw where she might have gone insane, and kidnapped this girl.

“So when’s your birthday…?” He asked tenderly.

Katherine placed the book back where she obtained it.

Turning to face Joslin, but not looking at him, she replied, “Tonight…”

Her voice didn’t alter, she wasn’t afraid of her fate. Joslin saw it in her raw brown, crimson-like eyes; far too long Katherine prepared herself for the inevitable: her death…

The door to the third floor bedroom opened, and Old Lady Lovecraft stood there with a knife in hand, “Joslin? How did you get in here?”

Joslin looked to the knife in the old woman’s hand, its blade glistening int the dim lighting, and then to Katherine. Mrs. Lovecraft saw the hint of worry in his eye and slowly walked towards him.

“You don’t understand Joslin. She’s evil, not human. It is God’s will to rid the world of her evil soul, before it’s too late. You couldn’t possibly understand the danger you’d put the universe in if you try to help her. Don’t listen to her words, they’re lies.”

Joslin stepped closer to Katherine in a protective manner, “You’re crazy…”

Old Lady Lovecraft jumped towards Katherine, knife held high, but Joslin pulled Katherine out of the way. Running to the window, he helped her onto the roof.

“Climb down the vines and run, don’t look back. I’ll protect you.”

As Mrs. Lovecraft ran towards them, candles fell over, setting the room ablaze.

“Joslin!” Katherine yelled, stopping short, holding herself up on the gutter, as he dodged Mrs. Lovecraft’s knife.

He watched as the old woman fell backwards into the flames, his arms pushed forward in front of him. Everything moved in slow motion. The birds all flew off the wallpaper, or maybe the wallpaper was peeling from the wall; Joslin saw the world shatter around him. Old Lovecraft melted in the flames, her skin seeming almost like a wax candle.

Katherine pulled Joslin from the room, “Joslin, stop screaming, she’s gone.”

Joslin blinked and looked to her. He didn’t realize he was screaming, nor did he notice the cop cars surrounding the house. Everything flew by him as the firemen helped them down, and watched as the house burn down. Joslin watched at the paramedic hauled Old Lady Lovecraft’s body from the house, her skin melted to her bones. Just the sight of her, so lifeless, made him sick. Katherine turned, also disgusted. The police asked questions, but Joslin couldn’t speak; couldn’t move; couldn’t breathe. He scanned the crowd looking for family faces, and came across Neo’s and Brandon’s. Joslin then looked to Katherine, her seemingly crimson eyes glazed over with concern for him, only him, and then the world went black…

* * *

The memory haunts me every single time I see Katherine in the parking lot, or see her at the park. The memory sits there in the back of my mind as I run my fingers through Katherine’s seemingly blue feathery hair, or stroke her pale white hand. I didn’t murder Mrs. Lovecraft. I didn’t push her into the flames…she fell. They proved she fell. I’m innocent. So why do I feel so guilty? Once you witness death, life is never the same. My sanity slipped away that night, along with reality, but I gained one thing that keeps me going on in life. I gained friendship, compassion, and love. I gained a magician of irony; Katherine Iver. It all started when someone left the window open…but it never ended in the flames.

Author's Note

I forgot to make the corrections- so don't comment on grammatical error please