LONG LOST LUNAR LULLABY

A story about a haunted house being not so haunted.

 The story dated back then, when I started living in my old ancestors’ old-school building, surrendering to all of my debts. It was a place far away from the town I used to live, far away from all those cacophony of the concrete. Some call it haunted; some call it castle in the mist. But to me it’s just ‘home sweet home’. 

      I left my old building on a typical gloomy day and got up in a horse carriage waiting in front of the entrance. As the horse started pulling I left all the memories of this old foggy town behind, staring at an unknown future ahead. Soon I left the town behind and entered into roads wind through the mountains then into a jungle. The winter has just begin and it announcing its presence while touching me with its icy cold fingers shivering me to the core and the withered leaves carpeting the wild street. 

      Suddenly the carriage came to a halt with a jerk. I got down and there is a rusty iron barred gate in front of me. That Iron Gate swung open as I made my way through. A cobble stoned path wind through the trees leading the way to the main entrance of the mansion. I started walking and the only sound in this dead silence is the rustling of the fallen leaves. A slight hint of twilight leading the way and a waxing moon waiting to take over the winter sky. The only butler of the house welcomed me with a monotonous tone and led me to my room. A curtain of darkness soon dropped but insomnia kept me awake. 

      It was almost midnight. I took a candle and went down to the grand hall room for some light reading. I sat down by the fireplace, the blazes looked like a graveyard of the fireflies, yearning to live. Opening a book I started reading in the rays of the fireplace, it’s like I’m back in my old ancestor’s time. Moonlight through the window flooding the hall room, pouring through the lifeless, dry branches of the trees made a mysterious maze in the walls. I dozed off in my rocking chair but my sleep was interrupted by an unexpected sound. I opened my eyes, looking for the source of the sound. 'May be a mouse or mongoose' I said to myself and closed my eyes again to get lost in my sound sleep. But suddenly the windows were slammed open by a gust of wind and put out the candles in one blow leaving me into a dark abyss. 

      'CRACK!!!’ There it was again, I hurriedly lit up the candles and closed the window. 'The sound is coming from the attic' I thought. I wrapped myself with a sheet tightly and took a candle. Taking a deep breath I stepped on the staircase. These old, rusty stairs of the mansion cried out as i stepped on breaking the silence of the night. Step after step, this endless spiral staircase seem to be an endless labyrinth at this late hours. Finally reaching the top, i put the candle on a old, cobwebbed candle-stand. I narrowed my eyes to adapt in the darkness. Slowly the surroundings become somehow visible. 

      'CRAAAACK!!!’ frightened to my very core ,I gasped and twirled around and thus discovered the source of the sound then a smirk appeared at the angle of the lip, mocking at my own foolishness. The rusty, broken hinge of the wooden door was denying to hold the door for any longer. Who knows how many years they are fighting with each other to break free?? And the strong wind howling through the broken door made the sound even more eerie, it was like a monster trying to escape who was locked away in the deepest dungeon. Taking the candle with me, I stepped forward to lock the door. 'I will mend it in the morning' I murmured. While locking the door I glanced through the door and saw countless pearls scattered in the deep blue sky, and there it was!!!! I slammed the door wide open. The strong wind piercing through the darkness of night made me drop the candle and once again the black dark engulfed me. Only the moonlight prevails as the waxing moon hung from the sky. I looked up in the sky toward the Orion to witness that cosmic beauty again. 

      A tiny star piercing through the deep blue sky appears and in a blink of an eye it’s gone, a meteorite. 'Oh! Why all the beautiful things are so short lasting in this cosmos???' I whispered. There it was again. I stood there wonder struck for a while. Shooting stars are like the lost souls, they roam in the Milky Way, like the streetlights of the galaxy. But their dying wishes are to return to this earth once again and when their wishes are granted, they are released from their bond, every once in a while and visit their loved ones on this Terra. By doing so, they give up their position in the milky way to see their precious one for one last time.I sighed. The meteorite shower was like cosmic fireworks in the winter night sky. I sat down and leaned against some old oak and apple wood and wrapped the sheet around, gazing into the cosmic beauty. 

      I kept awake until the cosmic firework ended and the sun peeped in the horizon. Thus passed my first night in an old unknown mansion but somehow I felt like at home…..may be the constellations were watching over me.

Reviews

[avant security guard]

carriage came to a halt with a jerk--what kind of a jerk was he?
you need some dialogue and a few distinct characters
I like the spaces between paragraphs--actually reads pretty easily---needs editing for clarity
has a light humorous element that is unique, and stands out as outstanding

[Mistress of mystery]

since i was telling the story from my perspective i did not introduce any characters. Plus it was really a simple story with no one around, like it was happening in my head only. Thanks for the review.