Chapter 2 - Chapitre II

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Alphonse arrived at the doorstep of the house with his arms full of groceries. He put one of the bags down to get his keys out. In doing so he spotted something lying half-concealed under a fallen leaf. He picked it up. Crimson's key ring. [i]Oh no ... Where did Crimson run off to? He'd kill me if he thought I'd lost his keys ...[/i]
Alphonse unlocked the front door, and after depositing his ingredients in the kitchen he climbed the stairs. [i]I'll just leave them on his desk. That way he's sure to find them ...[/i]
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'Come on!' Beatrice hissed back at August. 'Quit lagging behind!' She ran up the front steps, August sprinting up behind her as she ran her fingers over the wood. She reached for the doorknob.

'Come on. You had your look. Let's go back now.'

'No, not after coming all the way here! We haven't even been inside yet!'

'Isn't it enough to be able to say you've touched-'

'Of course not! I want to explore! We've gotta see if the rumours are true! See, look, it's not locked!' She swung the door open. August showed every intention of staying outside, so she grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him in.

They found themselves in a large hall, faced by a sweeping staircase. Beatrice dragged him forward, making a beeline for the stairs. They reached the steps, and a shiver ran up August's spine.

Beatrice turned back. 'Au[i]gust![/i] Get up-'

'Beatrice. I ... I've [i]been here before.'[/i] Beatrice's eyes went wide. 'I don't know when - or how - but I [i]know[/i] it's true.'

Looking into August's eyes, she knew he was telling the truth, or at least he thought he was. She was about to say something when August looked up suddenly, staring at a spot somewhere over her left shoulder, at the top of the staircase.

'It's the ghost girl, Beatrice,' he whispered, so softly she could barely hear him. 'The ghost girl is standing right behind you ...!'

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'Al! [i]Where is that girl?'[/i]
'Crimson?' Alphonse looked up from the pot of curry that was simmering on the stove. 'I thought I told you ... Bea went with August to the Haunted Mansion.'

'Not your sister, [i]daikon![/i] The Master's neice, the one who's been snooping in my room!'

'Oh, you mean Aiza? She hasn't come back yet.'

'I think she has! I gave her my keys because she lost hers and told her to leave them on the table in here but [i]they were on my desk,[/i] Alphonse!'

'Oh! Sorry, Crimson, I put them on your desk. I found them on the doorstep. I thought you'd dropped them by accident when you went out. You must've scared her off, 'cuz she isn't here, unless she learned how to turn invisible. Odd, though, it's not like her to -' He realised that Crimson had left, and he was talking to thin air.
[i]
No, vanishing is much more something Crimson would do ...
[/i]
'Hey, Al!' Crimson stuck his head back in. 'Is this today's paper?'

'Yeah ...' Alphonse was chopping vegetables into the curry. 'Since when do you read the paper?'

'Why can't I read the paper?' Crimson scowled.

'I'm just saying it's unusual for you to read the paper, not that you can't.'

Crimson sat down at the table, idly turning the pages. 'This is a load of bullshoot. The papers weren't this full of crap before I started writing. Look! This is written at the level of a student in the third year of primary school. An eight-year-old could write this.'

'Hmmm.' Alphonse stirred the curry. 'You used to read the paper?'

'Every day. But after I became a novelist I got too busy. Or maybe I became a novelist because the paper started printing rubbish like this.' He whacked the paper with the back of his hand. 'But I dunno ... I can't really remember.'

Alphonse opened his mouth to say something, but he never had the chance to, because Crimson interrupted. 'Hey! it says here that some kid living on those islands down south vanished!'

At that Alphonse forgot about his curry entirely. 'What? [i]Vanished?[/i]'

'Yeah ... This says that there was this freak lightning storm, or something like that. His friends last saw him there - on the beach - then there was the storm not long after they left ... and he hasn't been seen since.'

Alphonse said nothing.

Crimson folded the paper. 'Things are moving. Big things ...' Both gazed off into the distance for a while ... 'You know ... I think I might take a vacation, Alphonse.'

'What? But ... your deadlines ...'

'I said [i]maybe,[/i] Al. And they can't really control when I get my writing in. Deadlines were only invented so the editors and publishers could feel in charge.' Crimson stood up, tossing the paper down on the kitchen table. 'I'm going to talk to the Master,' he announced. Only Crimson ever came in contact with the Master. No one else even knew what the Master looked like, though August might have seen him when he first arrived.

Alphonse nodded. 'Just don't forget to come down for dinner. I left the mushrooms out specially for you.' Crimson waved casually, and left the room.

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Beatrice turned slowly around. A girl was standing there, a youngish girl with long, wavy hair that was pale dusty blonde and large eyes of the palest silvery blue. She wore a simple white dress with wide strips for sleeves and lace along the hem, and light blue sandals with little gold stars on them.

'August!' she said. 'You have to leave! You shouldn't be here.'

'August? How does she know-' Beatrice began, but August finished the question.

'My name! How do you know my name?'

'Please, that doesn't matter! Just go!'

August could tell that Beatrice was thoroughly spooked. He would have been, but he was beyond the freaked out stage. He was simply ... curious? No, that wasn't the right word. But he couldn't think of anything better.

She walked down the steps, but before she reached the bottom they heard a noise from upstairs. A scream. That woke Beatrice up, and she bolted. But August couldn't move.

'Hurry,' the girl moaned, grabbing his elbow. The large double doors whispered shut behind Beatrice. The girl dragged him around the bottom of the stairs, shoved him into a broom cupboard. There was the sound of hurried footsteps, then a voice called out from somewhere above him.

'Aaahhh ... Celia? What are you doing down there? Come give me a hand!' The voice was cute, the kind of voice that put in mind an uke-ish, rather feminine teenage boy.

'I'm coming!' the girl responded. Then August heard her whisper through the wood: 'Wait a minute, then go quickly!' He listened to the receding patter of her sandaled footsteps as she ran up the stairs and out of hearing.

August looked down, hugging his knees, thinking about what had happened. Only he was distracted by something sticking half under the door. He pulled it into the closet, but it was too dark to see it clearly, so he stuck it in his pocket.

After a minute August cautiously pushed the door open a fraction of a centimetre. He saw nothing in the crack of light that became visible. He slipped out of the closet, looked around. Still nothing. Deeming it as safe as it would get, he darted as quietly as he could across the hall, and pulled one of the heavy double doors open. It was a relief to find the bright sunlight burning his eyes. He had almost expected the sky to be dark. Almost.

He didn't really rest until he was outside the surrounding wall, back in the forest. He found Beatrice waiting for him by the skateboards and his bag.

'August! You're okay! I thought the ghost girl had gotten you.'

'She's not a ghost, Beatrice. She grabbed my arm.'

'Wait'll we tell everyone you've actually [i]touched -[/i]'

'Beatrice. There's someone else living there. And I wasn't lying when I said I knew I'd been there before. I think it's best we don't tell anyone about this. Say we chickened out, or something. It's s'posed to be locked up, remember?' Beatrice pouted. 'Or how 'bout we say that we got to the gate and just couldn't get in? I'll buy you another ice cream.'

She stuck out her lower lip. 'Oh, all right. But can I at least tell Alphonse?'

August thought about it, knowing how happy that would make her. It would also be payback to Alphonse for calling him chicken that morning. Beatrice must have known he wouldn't be able to resist. 'Oh, fine, you can tell Alphonse. But [i]no one else[/i], got it?'

Beatrice grinned fiendishly and nodded, turning back towards the Master's house. 'Don't forget, you still owe me ice cream!' August rolled his eyes.

______

A woman stood in the drive. Her hair was straight and black with a reddish tinge where the dappled sunlight hit it, her skin like overly creamed hot cocoa. Her eyes were hazel, with more green then brown. She wore a large black overcoat that covered her body, and faded black-and-white high-top chucks. The overcoat covered the rest of her clothing.

At the moment she was trying to build up the courage to go knock on those large, ornately carved double doors. She had gotten this far, but now that she was here, in the lane with the pale yellow leaves swirling down around her, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She sighed and turned, thinking she might come back later, only to find herself face-to-face with two kids.

'Hey, lady! What're you doing here?' The girl who had spoken had blonde hair, blue eyes, a dark grey shirt, green skirt, black- and grey-striped stockings and chucks like hers, only they were low-tops and someone had doodled on the toe of one.

The other kid (they were more teenagers, really) was a boy with black hair and orangey-gold eyes, in a black t-shirt with one of those white short-sleeved button down shirts tossed over it, and a pair of beige cargo pants. He grabbed the girl's arm. 'C'mon, don't be rude,' he hissed in her ear.

The woman wanted dearly to give that girl a good cuff on her multiple-piercinged ear, but she restrained herself. She picked up her small black suitcase, slinging it over one shoulder. 'No. It was a wrong addresse. I'll just go.' She turned and left, dark hair rippling in the gentle breeze.

August rounded on Beatrice. 'Why did you say that? She might've been visiting someone in the house!'

Beatrice turned away, sticking her lower lip out. 'Then why was she just standing there? Plus, she said it was her mistake.'

'Maybe ...' August said, still dubious. Beatrice walked toward the house, shrugging. Then August remembered the piece of paper he stuck in his pocket back in the mansion. He pulled it out.
[i]
To Celia

August's eyes went wide, and Beatrice's name was already on his lips but he choked it back down. He would show Alphonse, before anything else. He set off for the house at a sprint.

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[/i]was written on it in spiky black writing. He felt a twang of guilt, then his curiosity got the better of him and he flipped it over ... It was an old, faded photograph in black and white, a group photo.


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Author's note:

At this point I really don't have enough new characteres to update my lovely charactere guide, so that'll have to wait until next chapitre. xD;; Sorry ... but I hope whoever takes time out of their busy schedule to read this story finds it worth their time.

~Phantom~
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