Chapter 2: Blank slate

I felt my entire world shift and turn until my eyes snapped open-revealing a fading scenario. The dimming lights of the dawning sun penetrated my eyes, its ray lighting up my vision and along with the swift wind that touched my eyes left a trail of water on my eyes. Not bothering to rub my eyes, I searched for my surroundings and where I was.

I turned my upper body around, making out two people sitting inside the car but the belt tugged itself around my tiny body, at my sudden movement. Inside the car, sitting beside me was a boy that looked no older than twelve and now was looking at me with a curious gaze, asking me what I was up to. And the one driving the car was a middle-aged man, wearing a loose t-shirt that hung slightly above his stomach. It was a familiar sight to me, enough that I was hit with a sense of nostalgia.

“Zareth, what’s wrong?” Leonard whispered to me after leaning close to my ear, I resisted the sudden urge to move away from his ticklish breath. But I was beyond surprised. And maybe the surprise on my face was so recognizable that he now had a look of worry across his face.

From the front seat, uncle Benjamin looked at us through the front mirror from the corner of his eyes and stirred the wheel, “Is something wrong, kids?”

What was happening? I…where am I? Why am I younger? It looked like I was back to being a twelve-year-old, with the same look as back then. But I remembered being…

The remembrance of the moment prior made my bile rise up and then “Blerch!”. I cleared out my stomach of every last bit of its contents.

When I had calmed down, it started to make sense then. Maybe this was a flashback that people sees before their death? A bitter smile rose to my face. I couldn't remember this memory of mine, but it must have been a nice one, for I was seeing this in my last moment.

“Are you okay now?” Leonard stared at my face, trying to make out my feelings. I smiled, “Yes, I’m. Let’s go back to the car. Uncle said we are almost there.”

I had managed to figure out where we were going, our destination being an ancient manor that was said to be a haunted house. Uncle said that both Leonard and I were begging him to bring us here because of our boredom but I wasn’t sure about that.

If this was indeed just a memory that I was reliving again then what should I even do? Ah well...let's see where this goes, and with that, my mind calmed down even if slightly.

About half an hour later we reached the so-called haunted manor. Parking the car, we left the car and went inside through the rusty gate with three of our torches that followed as our escorts.

Leonard was excited enough that he ran off before us, saying that we were too slow and when we reached he was sitting down in front of the door; bored.

“What took you guys so long? I have been here for ages!” He said, perhaps annoyed at our slow pace. There was a lock on the door for which Leonard couldn’t go inside and had to wait for us. Uncle had the keys that he took from someone he knew.

We unlocked the door and went inside. The manor itself was huge with multiple rooms, each for a member of the royalty. They even had servants quarter or so it seemed to me. Besides that, there was nothing more interesting inside just a lot of spider nets that plagued the place. Horror-inducing, indeed. When we came out Leonard was even more bored and he was looking downcast. His fun trip wasn't that fun.

“You kid’s waiting here. I will draw a smoke and come back. Call me if you need something." he said and left for the car that was parked at the gate. We watched his back slowly disappear and Leonard called, “Zareth?”

“Yeah?” I said while squatting down and scribbling on the soil.

"What...what do-" He seemed uncertain and hesitant for a moment, I said "just say it" Seeming to find his confidence back he said, “Let’s go the woods in the back. You know we might find something fun!” He looked me in the eyes with an excited gaze; the adventurous spirit back again.

At first, the thought of refusing him came to my mind but soon that thought went off dispersing at the back of my mind. If this was a flashback of my past then wouldn’t it end once we return? If so should I not make the most of it? Temptation rose and I handed myself to it...

I stood up and smiled, “Alright, but you can’t run off by yourself this time.”

“Alright!” He excitedly said.

There was a forest at the back of the manor, it was part of their territory. There was a big oil painting in the corridor of its last king. He was riding a fancy horse and behind him was a lake and a forest that spread wide. And we were heading for that. The thought of getting lost didn’t even cross my mind, since it wasn’t too huge and I was certain we could find our way back even if it took some time.

In the mild gaze of the moon, our lights moved from one direction to another in search of something-anything that was worth the little trip. The leaves moved along with the gentle blow of the wind and accompanied our little steps, its whistling sound calming me down for some reason.

With a crunching sound of a twig, Leonard suddenly stopped on his track forcing me to come out of my slight daze and stop. From a couple of steps behind him, I asked him, “What’s wrong?”

He didn't say anything as the beat of my heart skipped at the prospect of something wrong. When I was about to call him again, convincing myself he just hadn't heard me the last time, he mechanically turned his head and on his face was despair.

I took a few steps back unconsciously in sudden fright and he mouthed out, "ah where are we?" He reached out his hand to his face feeling them, confused. He looked at me again and before he could voice his words his body vanished into the thin air in front of my very eyes.

My head turned searching for him or anything of him but there was nothing but a silent forest. And then his voice barely lingering in the air, echoed behind my ear.

“Zareth I’m sorry. Please…forgive…me” It turned more subtle until finally disappearing. And there I was left alone and along with the harrowing wind that blew; no longer pleasing me but rather giving me the creeps.