Changeling - Part 1

I knew I wanted to do something about a changeling, but this was really made up as I went a long... no exaduration.

Alone.

 

The decaying house was standing alone on the deserted cliff, one eroding wave away from tumbling into the treacherous water below. The dark swirling water concealed the many teeth of Hydra Rocks; the more spikes the authorities (or crashed boats) broke off, the more seemed to grow back. The house, once a grand estate, was now derelict, only occupied by bird droppings, forest animals straying too far from the Midnight Wood and ivy weaving wildly up the walls, weakening the bonds in the bricks. I say that the animals wandered from the woods, however, the few brave enough to enter those woods would swear that never once did they hear a bird chirp, or rather, anything other than their own footsteps, which seemed to echo in the silence. That is: the ones who entered and returned.

 

Maya had always grown up with the stories of Bunlock Manor, built by Isaac Bunlock in the 1800s. He and his wife, Cwenhild, with their young boy, Littleton and baby, Loveday, lived there for only a few years, before they abandoned it completely. Well, Lady Cwenhild Bunlock was taken away to an insane asylum months before, after she tortured her children in a mad attempt to rid the house of evil fairies. For she believed Littleton and Loveday were switched with changelings soon after they arrived. She believed the fairies were angry with them for trespassing on their land and it is said you could still hear her, half-mad with anguish, screaming towards the Midnight Wood to bring her children back, whilst the changelings' cruel laughter turned to howls of pain as the scalding iron was pressed into their skin.

 

As the years went by and people tried to uncover the Bunlock mystery, more children went missing and more adults died, all of whom seemed to have a connection to the Manor, a large amount of suspicion and old wives' tales erupted about that particular house by the cliffs. Maya had loved the stories when she was little, but now, at the age of fifteen, the tales had lost their appeal.

 

That is until her best friend's brother went missing and returned a different person.

 

Oh, he looked the same, yet his manner and attributes were completely different and Maya couldn't shake the feeling he was watching her.

 

She began researching the missing children's cases, on the internet, the local library and old newspapers. They all seemed to have a recurring theme: the children would be returned safe and sound, but there would always be a fuss from one person or another about whether or not the child was really the original disappearing act. However, these claims were hushed up by the police, but Maya knew she was right. She knew there was something up with Daniel.

 

No. She was being ridiculous. Daniel was replaced with a fairy?

 

Just then a small face showed from behind the bookcase, "Hello Maya."

 

Her chest tightened, "Daniel, what are you doing here?"

 

"You going to say hello back?" He paused, "No? What are you reading?" He looked at the cover, "'Fairies and mystical beings'? That's strange. I always took you for a more scientific type."

 

"I was studying for a test." Why am I lying? She thought "The teacher wanted me to, erm, step outside my safety zone, so I'm here researching..."

 

Her speech fizzled out, she didn't like the way Daniel was looking at her; he'd always had a crush on her, he never used to be able to speak to her, but the way he was looking at her now wasn't a big crush on a girl way out of his league. It was a hungry look, lustful, a look that shouldn't couldn't be worn by a thirteen year old boy with Mario on his tee-shirt.

 

He took a step closer, "You know you have beautiful hair, it reminds me of the autumn."

 

She touched her ginger hair subconsciously, "I've been thinking of dying it."

 

She regretted those words as soon as the wanting look had vanished and was replaced with one of anger, "No you mustn't! I love your hair as it is! I don't want you to change it."

 

"Well... it's not really up to you, is it Daniel?" Maya said, taken aback.

 

"We'll see," he muttered as he turned and left her, "Study up, Maya," he said viciously, "You might need to know a thing or two about fairies for the test."

 

Something in those words made Maya think he knew what she was really doing. It made her want to do what she was planning all the more:

 

Go back to where the disappearances started and find some clues.

 

She was going to the most dreaded place in town.

 

She was going to Bunlock Manor.

Author's Note

Sorry if I have any spelling mistakes. My mum's my spellchecker.