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Chapter 2: to find

I found myself first at the library, or so I thought it was since all our books where there so I decided to start there. I found myself reorganizing all of our book’s that we had bought, it wasn’t that hard actually, I was smart enough to put them all in alphabetical order inside the boxes, all I had to do was write what letter it started by and to what letter it finished to. I was quite amazed at how big was the library, if the library looked like that then; I wonder how our room’s looked like!

The one thing I liked about the library was the fact that it already had book cases, sofas to relax and this gorgeous china to put all of the porcelain antiques. I found myself lost in thought when I felt a presence watching me, it wasn’t menacing, but it was quite frightening to know that I was being watched. I turned around and saw nothing, I realize that I was holding the bible in my hand when I turned around and from that moment I knew I was in deep trouble or about to be in deep trouble.

“Mina you should know better on not to hold the bible, especially if you don’t want to make them mad” I was a bit paranoid, truthfully speaking but, if you were in my place, you’d be scare like I was.

“I’m sorry, I’ll put the bible in place; I don’t mean any harm” I said as I looked around. Under my breath all I said was; “Please don’t hurt me”. I put the all the book’s in place but still kept feeling someone watching.

I finished putting everything in place in the library and still made my way through all the rooms in the house until I was exhausted. It felt like it would never end, and to my surprise, I still had the second floor to go. Why me!

I went outside to take a break and relax a little from all the stress and the feeling of being watched. I walked out in to the court yard, if I can call it that, and looked around; the place needed some help too. The court yard was dusty and leave’s where all over the place, the flowers needed water and the statues needed fixing, over all, it was a nice place to be during the summer time. I continue walking until I approached the fountain, it was truly beautiful, just from a far, I ran towards it and was going to inhale the nice fresh smell of water when I was horrified, it was dirty, no wait dirty doesn’t cut it; it was MURKY! I couldn’t even see how far deep the fountain was.

“Please tell me I don’t have to-” I turned my head to the side and saw tools and a note, it read…

Mina,
Please clean up the fountain too, I know it’s horrifying but I can’t do it, I have work every day and can’t find time to do it, I found these tools for you so you can go ahead and get started, don’t ask how I knew you were going to come how be outside, I just knew you would.
Love
-your mother
“Great, how does she expect me to clean it when I don’t-” I stopped and read her P.S.

P.S. Don’t say you don’t know because you can learn. Much love sweet heart^^

“I should have seen it coming” I sighed “well; better get started on…however you clean this up.”

I look at the water and was afraid to try to tackle it. I got the net and got all the leaves from the fountain, all that ran through my head was ‘I hope I know what I’m doing’. I was so into what I was doing that I didn’t hear the man calling me.

“Oh my gosh! Who are you and what do you want?” I told him holding the net right in front of him.

“Before you attack me with that guppy, green stuff I’m here to help you, I use to work for the former owner of this house and was wondering if maybe I can ask your mother if I can get my job back.”
“Oh! You must be the former gardener of this house, my mother isn’t here at the moment so I guess maybe when she comes back you can talk to her about it, but I know that she will give you the job, my mom’s not much of a gardener” I smiled warmly at him. He let out a big laugh and looked at the fountain, he seemed quite trouble but I didn’t say a word.

“So how where you planning on cleaning up the fountain?” he said breaking the silence we were in.

“Huh?”

“How where you planning on cleaning the fountain?”

“Oh! The fountain, well you see I um, I was going to um, you know use this and take everything out” I could feel my face burning from the sudden embarrassment. He just let out a small chuckle and said that he would do it, he had more experience.

I stared at him for hours watching him closely as he cleaned the fountain when it hit me, the questions I had, and maybe he might know what happened, why the old man’s children didn’t keep the house.

“Um, I have a question, it’s about the house and the people that use to live here, why did Mr. VanDorve’s children decided to sell the house?”

“Well,” he said, stopping what he was doing to look at me, “Reason to believe this is because the house is hunted

What, did he say hunted!

“I know that it sounds crazy but, a long time ago the house was owned by the first family of Mr. VanDorve, if I’m not mistaken, his great, great, great grand aunt and grand uncle where the one’s that designed the house. Its Victorian structure is one of Miss Olivia’s favorite styles; therefore Mr. VanDorve wanted to please her and decided to make a house fit for her.

“As time passed Mr. VanDorve and his wife had children, one after the other. There oldest was just 17, his name was Nicholas VanDorve, he was a very peaceful young man, but he would lose his temper very easily but, overall, the young ladies loved him, they couldn’t keep enough of him. The second oldest is also 17; just by some months younger then the first, his name was Victor VanDorve. Now Victor was also peaceful but he was a serene person, you couldn’t make him that easily mad, it took a lot to get him mad, now like his brother, he too was followed by the young ladies as well, they would love to hear him play piano in the afternoon’s, he was very musical, now they didn’t just have men in the house, their third child was a girl, she was approximately 16, soon to turn 17, she was born a little later in that year, somewhere around September if I’m not mistaken, she was a short person, with very curly hair, you would mostly find her in her room studying for something very important or, you would find her in the parlor listening to her brother play piano. Now the youngest of them all was cursed, the poor child lived such a miserable life.

“She was young and frail; she was no older than 15 or 16 when they found out that she had tuberculosis. She was put in quarantine since no one could inhale the same air she did, but to all of their surprise she would always have her window open and be sitting right next to her window, looking out at the garden and its roses. Her brother Nicholas would find her there and he would get mad, all she did was smile and look back out the window. At times her brother Victor would go in and try to make her feel better, he would tell her of all the girls that would sit outside the window and listen to him play, and at times, her sister would go in and sew with her. None of the VanDorve liked to look at her like that in the state she was in, so they would carry her on outside to her favorite place, the garden. They loved to see her smile when she was outside, it was as if the roses smiled when they saw her come out; the whole place was full of life as she went about in her own little world of happiness, sadly she died one night of December. Her family had put her in a medical institution since the condition was getting out of hand, she died late at night and found her full of blood the next day. Her mother was devastated and fell ill; she later died three months after her daughter.

“Her husband Mr. VanDorve soon later became alcoholic and his children were badly neglected. Until one day, Mr. VanDorve lost control and killed each one of his kids, when he finally realized what he did, he killed himself. The maids later found the kids dead and he hanged himself holding on to his wife’s picture.”

“I had no idea that was what happened a long time ago, but how did they get the house? Did Mr. VanDorve have a brother? Are the kids buried somewhere around here?”

He laughed and smiled at me as if I was a young curios child. “Mr. VanDorve did have a brother; he was his younger one if I’m not mistaken and the house was left to him and thus it belonged to Mr. VanDorve. As for the children, they are buried somewhere, there located I’m not so sure about that.”

I still had a lot to ask but felt the need to stop right there, too much info, must have some few minutes to digest it all in. I saw then at that moment a lady approach us; she seemed to be carrying something but couldn’t tell what it was.

“Hello dear, I came by to bring something to eat to the new owners of the house, so how’s everything?”

“Hi honey, this is the owner’s daughter, I caught her outside cleaning the fountain so I came to help and see if I could try to get my job back”

“Oh, well it’s nice to meet you…I’m sorry but what is your name, I’m afraid I didn’t ask?”

I smiled warmly and responded, “My name is Mina, Mina Carls”

“Oh, well it’s nice to meet you; I use to take care of Mr. VanDorve before he died and I thought you might need a hand in cleaning up, I also brought something for you to eat, I might have thought someone would be hungry since the nearest fast food place is a few miles away.”

I thanked her and we left and headed back inside. She was surprise on how much I had advanced in one day, let a long, in only 3 hours, I had finished sweeping, organizing the library and putting everything we owned in place. She said that she would do the kitchen and I said I would do the second floor and organize the stuff there, she agreed to that and said she would come and join me as soon as she finished the kitchen.

I headed upstairs and started to work on the hall way, the rooms and the extra furniture that was left behind by the former owner, Mr. VanDorve. It was creepy being up there knowing now all the facts that Mr. VanDorve’s great uncle killed his children, it gave me a feeling of being watched by Mr. VanDorve himself, a sinister presence’s. I decided to keep my eyes on my goal which was to have everything done by tonight and be able to sleep in a bed and not on the floor. I finished the master’s room, putting myself the bed together. Honestly, it didn’t look that hard at all; it kept my brain focus on one thing and one thing only, completely forgetting the sinister presence I had felt before. I finished my mom’s office room, organizing all her document’s, bringing up her desk and putting it together, I finished the two guest rooms, just in case we have unexpected visitor’s but didn’t know who. What made me so happy was that in the two guest rooms there were already bed’s, which made my day a lot easier. I finished up four of the rooms and mine’s was left.

I found my room all the way at the end of the hall, the darkest place I have been since I was in my closet back in San Francisco. I opened the door and found the place stashed with old trunks and a few other things I could sell as a garage sell. I walked in and left the broom and cleaning supplies against the wall as I made my way to the window, I opened it up and saw that the garden was just under it, you could see from far of and it went for a few miles off, all I wonder was how did they afford all of this, more importantly how did my mom afford a house-no, correction, a mansion at the prize they were selling it for!

I looked at the whole room, examining every inch of it, not missing anything from it. I inhaled and exhaled and thought that this was a perfect room for me. I took out every extra trunk that was stored in my new room out and started to broom the room well. After I finished, I stated to dust off all the dust off the few furniture’s that was left and began to fix my bed.

“Great, I don’t have the screw’s for them I wondered where I put them? I know that they are somewhere here, I brought them with me” I searched for them on the floor and on the boxes that hold my belongings when I noticed that the screw driver was missing.

“Great, now I have to go and get the screw driver and the other screws that are downstairs.” I went down stairs and came back real fast, I only had a little left and I wanted to finish as soon as possible. When I walked in I saw that the bed was made and that all the trunks were gone. It was strange and weird; I didn’t know who did it. At first I thought it was the man’s wife but I would have heard her come up the stairs, second; even if she would have come upstairs, I heard her humming a lullaby and moving about the kitchen. It was truly strange; I went over to the drovers and open each one up, just as I had guessed it, my clothing; or all my personal clothes, were all in there. I walked over to the closet and opened the two doors and saw all my clothes put away, neatly and organized, my shoes where put all from casual to running, from formal to regular shoes. I didn’t know what to do, let a long say, I was speechless. I walked all over the room wondering where the boxes had gone; I didn’t notice the small music box that was left right on top of my bed.

“I wonder whose music box it is. I don’t remember bringing this with me, or owning something like this and I doubt that this is my mom’s-” I stopped, and saw that there was a note left,

To our sweet and innocent sister Emily; for whose life was taken away so cruelly.
Hope this will bring back old memorize.

I was shocked. Who is this Emily? And where is she? Why would they leave this in my room? I didn’t understand it all full out but I decided to leave it at that, the curiosity for how the melody sounded was killing me, who ever this ‘Emily’ was, she was sure lucky. The music was very well decorated, leaving no detail behind, there where gorgeous heart’s carved and sprayed with a golden coated base, and then its true colors where coming out. The box itself was truly something to see, I sort of envied this girl now, I liked it, a lot, and wanted it, but like a good girl I am, I would return it… if I ever did find this girl.

I decided to open the music box slowly, very cautiously; I was afraid more of damaging it or breaking a piece off. Once I open the box up, this beautiful melody came out, and I was soon captivated by it. The melody seemed to drift all over the room, leaving an enchanted atmosphere behind, I was in a trance that I didn’t notice the small figure that was spinning in the middle of the box, it was a prima ballerina on Pointe, or so I thought that what she was standing on. Over all, it was truly a wonderful sight; I closed my eyes and went back to all of my memories back in San Francisco. I didn’t quite hear the music replay, until I realized it was getting darker outside. I went outside and headed towards the kitchen to find the man’s wife, she was trying to heat up all the food for me and my mom. I walked over to the table in the middle of the kitchen, and sat down on the chair. I watched her carefully, up until she felt someone watching her.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there, and the food is ready so whenever you are hungry you can eat it”

“Oh, thank very much, my mom and I are truly grateful for what you and your husband have done for my mom and me.” I smiled warmly and heard footstep’s approaching the kitchen. It was her husband, he probably might have finished the fountain and who knew what else he might have done.

“Are you ready to go honey?” he asked her, she nodded in approval and said good night to me. Her husband told me to lock up and to close all the windows before I went to sleep, and with a shake of hands they left.

I never felt anything scary while I was down stairs, only up stairs, but for the first time; since we left home and came over here, I felt alone and unprotected. It was a scary feeling, I was afraid to walk out of the kitchen with fear that someone, or something could be right behind. This was my first night since I was 7, that I was about to sleep all by myself.