When I lifted my head in the morning I noticed that the beast was gone, leaving me all alone in the room. I stood up and stretched, while yawning. I turned around and noticed that the sand was still outside of the small house and I was still in this strange world.
I turned back towards the doorway and began to search the house I was in; when all of a sudden I heard a creaking noise above me. I looked up at the faded and stained roof and wondered who else could be in the house. I slowly began to creep out of the room and I kept as quiet as I could, as I looked for stairs. Each room I found was more faded or worn down than the last one. There was one room I found that had: no windows, the wallpaper had completely faded and parts of it had even fallen off, there were holes in the floor and water stains covering the ceiling. There were no lights in the room, and there was a whole in the ceiling where the light should have been.
When I exited the room I noticed a small door, that could be big enough to fit a staircase, in front of me. So I opened the door and saw a staircase leading upstairs. While I climbed it I noticed that many stairs missing; however, I was still able to maneuver my way up to the top. After I opened the door at the top of the stairs a thick gust of dust blew into my face. It’s as if nobody had been up there for years. On the floor I could make out small feet imprints within the dust. Still keeping as quiet as possible, I followed the foot prints into a corner filled with cardboard boxes.
“Hello.” There was silence, the only sound was the wind blowing outside. I crouched down and softly said, “Hello” again. I just stayed where I was and waited for a response. Fearing that I might scare the child I sat down and didn’t make a single sound. When my back started to hurt I inched my way towards the wall and leaned against it. Trying to keep myself busy I stared outside and watched the sand as it danced in the wind, as it blew at different speeds. The sky was a bit lighter than it was yesterday; however, the dark smog was still visible in front of the sun.
Just when I was about to take a nap I heard a slight whisper. I couldn’t make it out what the person said, so I waited to hear the extremely soft voice speak again. I didn’t make a sound while I waited again.
Just then I heard the voice whisper, “Are you still out there?”
In the softest voice I could make I answered, “Yes.” Just then I could make out movement coming from behind the cardboard boxes. When the noise stopped a small boy’s face peaked out from behind one of the boxes. His eyes had a scared look in them and he cautiously shifted his eyes from side to side before he spoke again.
“D-Did he follow you?”
Not knowing who the boy was talking about I asked, “Who?”
“Charlie. He’s been trying to find me. I can’t let him find me or he’ll take me away.”
Playing along with the boy I looked towards the door and said, “I didn’t see him, but I’ll go look to make sure he doesn’t find you.” As I stood up the boy stayed silent. I looked out of the window and didn’t see anything but sand.
I turned away from the window and began to cross the room when I heard the boy say, “Be careful, if he finds you he’ll take you too.”
“I’ll be sure that doesn’t happen.” When I reached the staircase I looked down them and didn’t see or hear anything. But just to make the little boy trust me more I made my way down them. Avoiding the holes, I silently made my way down the staircase. At the bottom I looked both ways and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, so I turned around and went up to the second floor.
The boy looked relieved when he saw me come through the doorway. “D-Did you see Charlie?”
“No I didn’t. We are safe.” I crossed the room and stood in front of the pile of cardboard.
“A-Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
The little boy popped his head back behind the cardboard boxes and didn’t make any sound. There was a moment of silence and then the boy crawled out from under the boxes, to the side of the pile. He stood up and stayed close to the wall, unsure if I was someone he could trust. He had sandy blonde hair and dark brown eyes. When he looked at me his eyes made him look like a puppy that got abandoned by its family. He wore baggy blue jeans and a grey t-shirt that was slightly too big for him. On his feet were white, black and green skater shoes. He crossed his arms, as if trying to block himself from me.
Not moving I faced the little boy and asked, “What’s your name?”
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The boy looked down to the ground and quietly said, “Sam.”
“Nice to meet you Sam, I’m Adisson.” Trying to make him feel more comfortable I said, “You know what Sam? I have a little brother. He’s about your age. Our parents died when he was a baby so it’s just the two of us living together. Do you have any siblings?”
Keeping his head down Sam softly shook his head back and forth.
“Are your parents still alive?”
Again Sam just kept his head down and just shook it side to side.
‘No siblings and no parents, what a poor child’ I thought. In an attempt to change topics, I asked, “Do you know where we are?”
Sam shot his eyes up and had a blank look on his face. He then began to tremble, as if he was afraid of what he was about to say. “C-Charlie said it’s a place where people go to die.”
“What else did Charlie tell you?” I asked with a curious tone.
“The people found have to find their way back, but those who aren’t found die here.”
I crouched down and looked up at Sam. “You’re found; you don’t have to worry anymore. Charlie won’t take you. I will make sure you make your way back.”
Slightly looking up Sam asked, “Promise?”
“I promise.”
Being convinced by my promise Sam slowly began to make his way towards me and when he reached me he gave me a tight hug around my neck. I was so overwhelmed with joy that I hugged him back.
In an instant the sky turned completely black, the wind became so powerful that it began to shake the house and just outside Sam and I could hear the sound of howling growing louder and louder.
Sam immediately let go of me and ran under his cardboard boxes and hid once again.
“Sam what’s wrong?”
“H-He’s here.”
“Who’s here?”
“CHARLIE!!!!”
Not sure what to expect I ran towards the cardboard boxes in an attempt to hide from whatever was coming.
I got onto my hands and knees to enter the cardboard pile when Sam said, “Get your own hiding place.”
So I backed up, stood up and quickly walked to the staircase leading downstairs. Thinking on my feet I closed the door behind me and I waited on the black steps for what was approaching the house. I sat down on the step behind me so that I could spring at whatever opened the door; in order to protect Sam. I passionately waited for someone or something to approach the door. Nevertheless, after waiting a considerable amount of time, I quietly crept my way down the steps and cracked the door open just enough to see out. There was nothing there so I opened the door a little more. The door creaked as I opened it enough for me to get off of the staircase.
I walked into the closest room and look out of the window. The blackness was gone, and the sky looked the same as it did when I first woke up. The howling noise had disappeared and everything appeared to be back to normal. I decided to check around the house just to be sure that Sam and I were safe. I softly walked from room to room and peaked in them just enough to see that they were empty and then I moved to the next one. Once each of the rooms were looked at I started to make my way back upstairs. After I made three steps I heard a Thump coming from upstairs.
In a panic I ran as fast as I could upstairs to make sure that Sam was alright. As I ran up the staircase I didn’t even think about being careful, or if I stepped in a hole, I just stepped on every second step and hoped that the step was there. When I pushed the door it flew open and slammed into the wall behind it. I sprinted across the room and threw boxes aside as I tried to find Sam. But he was nowhere to be found. “SAM WHERE ARE YOU!!!!” I heard a creak behind me so I sharply turned around and found Sam asleep inside of the mouth of the beast I encountered the night before. I tried to yell at it but before I could make any sound it tore down the stairs and out of the house. I suddenly knew who the beast was. It was Charlie.