It all started on the day of June twenty-three, when Katie settled on to her new abode for the summer. The villa was owned by her rich and only aunt, Mrs. Hicks. Her aunt lived alone with a cook (uncle was long dead from pneumonia,) and she had a whole month to herself, so her parents decided- why not?

Her aunt wasn’t quite a 'social-butterfly' , nor the ‘crazy cat lady’, so Katie didn’t mind much. The villa was situated on the town of Normal Valley and it was a nice change from the hustle-bustle of the city.

But her aunt wasn’t very tech-savvy, and there was no electrical socket to charge her phone or laptop- so they quickly ran out of battery. There was no TV, either- Katie suspected aunt hadn’t even heard the name of internet.

Katie had finished her homework eons ago, just out of sheer boredom. Wondering if there was a Cyber-café around so she could hopefully charge her laptop, phone and browse the internet, Katie got out of the manor after leaving a note on the fridge for Mr. Nash. (The cook).

After a few moments of wandering around, Katie cursed her stupidity for not bringing a map. She had nearly forgot how close- who she was kidding- how the houses looked completely and utterly same to each other- spotless pristine white houses, white brick walls that surrounded and separated each house from the others- with green, mowed lawns that seemed to stretch forever. The same. With each house.

She sighed, and moved a hand to her forehead to realize she was sweating quiet horribly. The sun was blazing, and it was a miracle how she didn’t notice it. Katie wondered how long it would take for a potato to be turned into a fried potato if she left it here.

Turning around, she decided getting lost on a burning summer day wasn’t the greatest of ideas and it would be better to go home- and go out on some other day with a map and an umbrella.

“Hey, hey you!” Suddenly she heard someone calling her, and wondered how on earth she didn’t see anyone. The source of the voice was a boy of thirteen-fourteen. He was perched on a wall, blonde hair all over his face and wearing a loose shirt and shorts. He waved at her.

Katie wasn’t keen to waving like an idiot, so she just hollered back, “What’s it?”

The boy jumped down and jogged toward her. “Hey. Haven’t seen ya here before. You new or something?”

Only god knew how he had so much energy. “Not really,” Katie replied, “I’m just spending the summer at my aunt’s.”

“Ooh.” The boy nodded. “I’m David. What ‘bout ya?”

“I’m Katie.” She replied, and held her right hand out. David shook it.

“Cool. Who’s ya aunt?”

“Mrs. Hicks.”

David laughed, “That old hag?”

Katie chuckled lightly, “Well… that’s not nice, but yeah. I guess.”

He shrugged and put his hands inside his pocket. “So… you wanna look ‘round the town or something?” He asked.

“Well, that’s just what I need.” She grinned. “Sure.”

 

***

“There’s nothing to see here…” Katie mumbled under her breath as they sat down on a bench for a break. “Not even a Cyber-café.”

 “They don’t call it the Normal Valley for nothing.” David laughed, bouncing his legs and curling, and uncurling his toes. “All’s the mayor’s fault. ‘Normality’- Jesus.”

 Katie leaned back on her seat and decided to ignore his last comment. “So there really isn’t anything worth viewing?”  

 “Well…” David donned a thoughtful look. He then turned to her. “There is, actually.”

 “And that is…?”

 “’Someplace Else.’” He grinned. Katie stared at him incredulously.

 “What?”

 “It’s a mansion.”

 Katie deflated.“A mansion?”

 “Yep.”

 “C’mon, don’t joke.”

 David crossed his arms. “I’m not joking.”

 “Then? What’s my business with a mansion? And whoever names their mansion ‘Someplace Else’, anyways?”

 “Well, for starters, it looks cool.” She simply stared at David, not sure whether to insult him or not. He continued on without taking notice, “And a cool dude lives there named Maestro.”

 “Nice…?” Katie mumbled. What kind of name is Maestro? Doesn’t that mean master or something?

 “-And he’s really nice an’ all, not like the adults here. He can also do cool magic tricks.”

 Katie scratched her forehead, “You’ll make a poor advertiser, you know…”

 David stopped abruptly and stared at her, which was invariably creepy, and she took a step back.

 “What?” Katie asked.

 “What I’m tryna say, is that,” He paused, quite dramatically, if she might add; and pointed his index finger at her, “Do you wanna rot at your villa or come with us?”

“’Us’?”

 “Yup. Me an’ my friends.” He replied.

 Katie nodded. “Oh.” She then asked, “Where is the mansion, anyway?” 

 “I’m not gonna kidnap you, girl.” David mock-sighed.

 “I didn’t mean that. I just wanted to know-”

“Okay, man, fine, fine-” David held his hands up, silencing Katie. “I was just kidding.” He laughed lightly. “It’s at the end of the town. South-east corner, broken wall.”

 He said, demonstrating with his hands. “You can look it up on the map, we made a lil' cross for that- and no one's noticed it yet.”

 “Okay, but that far?” Katie said with raised brows.

 “Nothing’s good without good ol’ hikes.” David replied, shrugging. “You coming or not?”

She thought for a few moments.  “Okay, I guess, sure.” Katie said, “I’ll go. When?”

 David grinned. “Awesome. You’re not boring!”

 Katie simply glared at him, and he wiped the grin off his face. “Okay, okay- be ready at five.” She nodded with a smile.

He turned around, pausing suddenly. David looked back. “And, Katie… don’t tell anyone about it.” 

She frowned. “Why not?” 

“It’s- it’s kinda weird. I’ll tell you ‘bout it later, okay?” David hesitated.

“You better.”

 “Promise.”

David turned back and ran toward his home, and Katie was left to ponder alone.

 “That was weird.” She mumbled.

 Why can’t I tell anyone about that person? She shrugged. Not that I’d do that, anyway. Aunt asks a lot of questions.

 

To be continued.

Ever since the moment she had agreed to meet the Maestro (or whatever his name was), Katie couldn’t help but feel panicky. Reverse physiology had done its work, and Katie’s throat was literally itching to ask her aunt or Mr. Nash about it.

She had just finished eating lunch, when the doorbell rang. Mr. Nash went on to check it, and Katie took a look at the clock. It was only 4: 29, so it wasn’t probably David-

“Someone’s here for you, Katie!” Mr. Nash yelled. Huh? Do my predictions always have to be wrong?

“I’m coming!” Katie ran toward the living room. Sure enough, David was standing there. Before she could say something, he spoke up.

 “Sorry, Katie. Can’t go today. Guests coming.”

 “Oh…”

“We can go tomorrow, though!” David said, “You free?”

“Sure, I’m free all day.”

He grinned, “Cool. I’d be also free. See ya, then?”

“Yup. See you.” Katie smiled, and David ran off.

“Is he a new friend of yours?” Mr. Nash asked as he shut the door. Katie nodded at him.

“Yeah.”                                                         

“Where are you two going?” The question caught her off guard.

“Uhm, well, I’m – just meeting his friends, you know? Getting to know everyone…” Thankfully, Mr. Nash was going back already, so he didn’t give it much thought.

Katie sighed in relief. That was close…

***

The day passed boringly, and Katie almost wanted to check out the mansion herself. But that was a pointless idea- because she could (and would,) definitely get lost if she tried to venture alone. Her map, for some reason, didn’t display the mansion.

Her parents had called sometime before dinner to check up on her, and aunt talked an exceptionally long time with her mother. They always seemed to have a good relationship, Katie mused.

If only she could behave like that with other people…

Katie had found some good books in the library, she stole them in secret- her father and mother weren’t too keen to let her read books of Edgar Allan Poe or Stephen King.

After finishing the first half of The Stand, she stashed the books under her cushion and went to sleep feeling somewhat spooked.

***

The next morning, Katie woke up on precisely ten in the morning. Brushing her teeth and getting dressed after a bath, she headed downstairs.

The living room was just beside where the stair ended, and she could hear chatter coming out of it. Curious, she peeked inside and there was David and her aunt talking. Quite happily, if she could add.

Since when did aunt become a chat-a-holic? And much less with kids?

They both turned to her at once. Feeling slightly awkward, Katie waved.

“Uh… hey.”

“Yo.” He waved back. “Had a good night?”

“Yeah, I guess, I did. You?”

 He shrugged. “Same.”

“Katie, you can chat later.” Her aunt interjected, adjusting her place on the sofa and fiddling with her light pink knitted hat, “You should get some breakfast, first.”

David agreed. “Yeah. Go on.”

As she trotted over to the kitchen, Katie wondered why her aunt wore those hats. They were hideous.

Mr. Nash was practicing some elaborate baking from the look of it; most probably, fussing over the mousse he was cooking on one second, then turning the icing next second. She stood there uncomfortably.

“Uh, umm… Mr. Nash?” She coughed. First time he didn’t hear, and when she called him another time- albeit louder- he whirled around, his eyes widened, and almost knocked over shelves of ingredients.

“Ah, I’m sorry-”

“No, no! It’s fine, it’s fine!” Mr. Nash held his hands up, stopping her in her tracks. He breathed deeply. Then turned to her,

“Oh- breakfast, right?” Katie nodded.

He handed her buttered bread with an omelet and a cup of milk, and Katie sat down on the large dining table. Finishing it, Katie tried to place the plate on the sink- but Mr. Nash was even more reluctant to let her touch anything there for some reason.

Katie decided to not feel offended- cooks were sometime like that.

Exiting the kitchen, David was already waiting for her leaning against the staircase. “Done?” He asked. Katie nodded in reply. “So… ya coming?”

“Oh, yeah. Okay.” As she bid her aunt a ‘bye’, Mr. Nash suddenly called her from the kitchen. Katie told David to wait and ran to the kitchen.

“Um, what is it, Mr. Nash?”

“Ah, might you taste the chocolate?” He seemed really nervous, Katie thought, and he was fiddling every second. Must be very dedicated…

“Sure.” But the chocolate mousse tasted next to nothing like chocolate- tasteless and had a moss-like scent. Katie swallowed it with difficulty and fought to keep the scowl of her face. Katie couldn’t believe this was the production of Mr. Nash- he cooked amazingly, for heaven’s sake.

“It- it tastes nice, Mr. Nash!” Katie gave a strained smile as she almost threw the bowl on the cabinet and hurried out of the kitchen. “I’ll tell you more about it later, okay?” She hollered over her shoulder.

“What did he say?” David asked, leaning back on the door casually. 

“Huh? Oh- he asked me to review his chocolate.”  Katie left the part about flavorless moss. David nodded, and they got out.

***

As they were supposed to go with David’s friends, David and Katie finally arrived to the ‘Normal Valley Playground’. It was bland as the rest of the city, and missed the sounds of laughing children that were usually found in a park.

Neatly cut square flower beds decorated the entrance, with a large sign saying, “Normal Valley Playground”.  Inside the playground, there was a slide at the left, a set of swings in the right, some benches strewn around shady trees and absolutely nothing.

But there were, however, a group of teenagers standing nearby huddled under a tree. Katie assumed they were David’s friends. He waved at them, the group waving back. Five in total, they were all close to her age.

Katie muttered a ‘hello’, and David began to introduce her to them. There was Annie, the girl with the same shade of hair as hers clutching a Pikachu plushy and being somewhat shy. Then there was Sam, the opposite of Annie- slightly short and blonde but full of mischievousness, Adrian- the snake-eyed boy who was also the tallest one there and was supposedly Sam’s partner-in-crime.

Will, polite and somewhat introverted with jet black hair neatly combed back; and lastly, Courtney- a brunette with the loudest voice in the group who claimed to be in love with the gypsy fashion (in secret, of course) for whatever reasons.

After some idle chatting, they were currently on the way to ‘Someplace Else’, Courtney saying how amazing Maestro’s tricks were and Will leading the way with his own handmade map.

The path to the mansion was filled with fallen debris and trash, and Katie was tripping almost each second. She ran into Courtney once, and thankfully the girl didn’t even mind.

***

The mansion was really old- ancient even, and framed by hundreds of dead trees which added to the creepiness. It was majestic at one time; she could picture a laughing family having a picnic on the outside, or the masters sipping tea and talking in the parlor- but all had withered as time had taken its toll.

Fallen leaves on the ground crunched with every step she took, and they finally arrived in front of the entrance.

The gigantic door was broken into shreds, and almost nothing remained. Spider webs hung from top like a curtain. Katie scowled in slight disgust. How were those made again…? 

They slowly entered one-by-one.

 

The inside was gigantic and could easily pass for a haunted house with the state it was in. It looked even more horrible inside- Katie was afraid it would crumble right on top of them.

Checkered wooden floor- rotten and filled with cracks; dusty cobwebs stretched from wall to wall and a grand staircase with broken railings was standing in the middle, leading toward an indoor ‘balcony’ all around the area. There was no ‘Maestro’ in sight.

Katie felt rather unnerved. “Where’s the, err, Maestro?” She whispered to Annie. Annie shrugged.

“He usually comes out when we call him.” Katie blinked.

“Oh… okay.” She replied, not wanting to debate on the subject of Maestro. He was definitely creepy. She didn’t understand how anyone would find that ‘cool’- were they deprived of ‘cool things’ that much?

Courtney and David began yelling the name ‘Maestro, Maestro’ in sync, the sound bouncing of the empty walls- producing an eerie effect. 

As footsteps came from her left, Katie whirled around.

The figure of the person was concealed by the shadows, and the ‘tap, tap, tap,’ sound of his steps echoed all around the mansion.

“Well, well- stop shouting, David. I’m not yet deaf…” ‘Maestro’ had a rough voice, similar to the sound a chalk-on-glass would make, and trailed off at the as if he had more to say. His figure was concealed by shadows, so when he came into light, Katie was even flabbergasted at him.

Only three feet in height, a black cloak was draped on him, and he dragged it on as he walked. With a crooked nose and a face full of acne scars, he looked more like a fictional villain rather than a person loved by the children.

That is Maestro? 

Maestro turned his eyes on her, his irises yellow, and Katie felt the hair on her skin stand up. He smiled.

 “Ah… a new one, I see?” He walked toward her, and Katie was almost thinking how he’d trip and fall on top of them with the hem of his cape that long. “What is your name…?” He asked.

Katie gulped. “Katie. My name’s Katie.”

“I see…” He whispered. “That’s indeed a beautiful name… Katie. Hmm...”

“Do you know what Katie means, child…?” Katie was somewhat offended by being called a child, but shook her head nonetheless.

“It means… pure. Purity…” 

“O-oh.”

“What does my name mean?” Courtney asked. Maestro shifted his eyes toward Courtney; Katie was grateful for the distraction. She let a breath out that she didn’t know she was holding. 

“Yours…?” Maestro smiled, which turned to drawly laughter. Katie shivered. “It means you are from court or that, you have a short nose…”

“Huh?” Courtney pouted. The group broke into laughter. “That’s not fair!” She protested.

“I am not lying…” Maestro replied with a curved smile. “It is true… you can check it, if you like…”

 “That I will!”

In all the banter and laughter, Katie didn’t notice Maestro staring at her like a hawk. Like predator on its prey, observing, observing… for the best time to attack.

 

 

To be continued

 

Maestro could do a lot of tricks, and he could do it exceptionally well. He would vanish gigantic objects, like chairs, and then make them reappear right in front of the group of children. No matter how well Katie tried to see how he did it, she could find nothing and finally labeled it as ‘just impossible’.

Then he would lift objects with just a swipe of his hands and fly them away, and there was no wire, no nothing viewable. Katie was spooked and mesmerized at the same time. He did many other tricks, but the main focus still remained on the ‘thingamajig’ as Sam liked to say. 

Everybody was taking a break. Sam was trying to climb an ornate pillar, and Will was grabbing him by the arms to stop. Courtney and Adrian were laughing at the scene, and Annie chatted quietly with Maestro. All those times, she hadn’t let go of that Pikachu toy of hers, Katie noted.

“How was it?” David came to stand beside Katie.

“Huh? Oh, it was really cool.” She smiled. “But I really don’t understand how he does those stuff.”

“Well, told ya so.” He grinned, and followed it up with exaggerated hand motion.  “But at first, you were like- stupid, stupid, stupid.” Katie rolled her eyes.

“Anyone’d think that with the way you were describing.” She muttered.

“They will not!”

“They will!”

“Will not!”

“Will-”

“What is going on…?”

Katie choked on her own spit as the drawly, weird accent of the Maestro interrupted them mid-fight.

“Katie said I can’t describe!” David cried out, and crossed his arms over his chest. Katie gaped at him.

“When did I say that? I said you were stupidly describing things- not-”

“It’s the same thing!”

“No-”

“Well, well, stop fighting…” Maestro spread his hands in between them and Katie noticed for the first time that he was missing two fingers in his right hand (it kind of looked like the rock-n-roll sign, hilariously). His whole arm (at least the part exposed), was marred with the same red and angry-looking scars. Katie felt a shiver down her spine.

He turned to her, “Katie…”

“Y-yes?”

 “It was not a good thing to insult David…” Katie tried to maintain a cool face, where in the mind she was screaming – Who are you to tell me what is a bad thing or not- you magician-creep!?

David gave a victorious grin and Katie gritted her teeth in annoyance. Maestro was awaiting her response.

“Yes, it… it wasn’t.”

“So… as a punishment…” Katie wanted to strike him right in that acne-puss filled face. Punishment? Just what the hell? David looked so excited.

He tapped his index finger on his face, thinking. Meeting her eyes some moments later, he said, “You must say sorry to David.”

What?

Both Katie and David had the same thoughts.

“What- that’s not fair- just a sorry-” He protested, but a ‘shh’ from the Maestro silenced him.

“Go on, apologize…” He urged her.

Now, Katie really wanted to slap him. Both the Maestro and David. But instead of doing that, she turned around, glared at David, and mumbled out,

“I’m sorry.”

“Louder…” Maestro said.

Goddamnit.

“I. Am. Sorry.” She said sharply, in a louder tone that before. Maestro clapped.

“Good, good… Very good, indeed…” However, Katie didn’t see any good in it. She was even angrier at David. He, on the other hand, decided a sorry was better than nothing, and skipped forward to his friends with a large smirk plastered on his face.

Katie was fuming underneath.

Teenagers and creepy magicians are horrible.

***

 Shoelaces are horrible, too. Katie thought as she tied up her sneakers where they had loosened. When she exited the mansion, it caused her to trip. Right at the filthy ground with dried leaves and god-knew-what. Her left knee had reddened quite a bit, and it hurt.

She had stubbornly refused to get any help from the Maestro. What if his bandages were originally used by mummies? It was illogical- but hey, you can never be too sure. And she still held that grudge against him for making her apologize.

Katie told the group to go on, not wanting them to see her wailing at a simple kneecap bruise. She hated them- anytime she’d try to stand up or sit, it would start ringing. Gah.

As she stood up, cursing words that shouldn’t be uttered by a twelve-year old; she felt something tickle at the back of her neck. Thinking it to be some annoying bug, she scratched the place, and instead of meeting a little black insect, her hand met something watery and gooey.

She brought it in front of herself, and nearly screamed in fright. Black, thick slime licked at her fingers, dripping down slowly.

“What the hell is this!?” She scowled in pure disgust, and turned around to see what was there that caused this monstrosity. And she let out a real scream this time. Same slimy, gooey hands reached out to her, stretching from an open window and almost touching her face.

Her first instinct was to run, and she did exactly that. Shrieking like an ambulance alarm, and her knee sore forgotten; and soon, everyone in the group was running at her. Katie threw her arms around whoever was the first one she found, and it was poor Will.

“W-wait, Katie-”

“That freaky- slime- black slime is chasing me! P-Please help!” She cried out. Everyone stared at her, completely dumbfounded.

“What are you talking about…?”  David asked confusedly.

“Can’t you see!?” Katie shrilled, almost in hysterics, and held up her hand. “There’s those black t-things on my hand and my neck-”

“I can’t see anything.”

Katie was going to scream again, but when she looked at her palm, it was true. David was right. There was no slime, nothing there. She uncertainly reached for her neck. There was no foreign substance there, either.

“What’s this about, Kate’?” Courtney asked, frowning slightly. “Is this some weird drama or something?”

“You sure a good actor, Katie.” Sam was laughing. He placed his arm around Adrian. “You nearly scared us there!”

“Yeah!”

 “I’m not-” Katie began, and let go of Will, who was currently busy massaging his neck. “I wasn’t acting! It was real-”

“Kate, Kate,” Adrian stopped her, “Your play’s done. You don’t hafta pretend- just tell us this’s a cool thing you planned and let’s have a laugh.”

“Yeah.” Annie agreed. Katie stared at all of them. She lowered her eyes.

“Fine,” She said, “I’m sorry.”

***

“That’s so stupid!” Katie mumbled to herself, burying her face in a pillow which caused her words to come out as a jumble. “There was something! I wasn’t hallucinating!”

But then what was it? Her mind retorted.

I don’t care what it was. It just was something.

Oh yeah?

It was stupid- she was just arguing with herself. Katie sighed. Today was a bad day- really, really bad day. First, she got into a fight with David- though they forgot about it after some minutes- and then she was proven a fool in front of the whole group. And they were nice to her! And what did she do? She responded by being a bitch.

She moved the pillow away, clutching at the bed sheet, and closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling deeply.

Sheesh. I’m going to get depression if this continues.

Pulling out The Stand from under her pillow and covering herself with a light blanket, she willed to forget the events and continued to read the book until she fell asleep.

***

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

“I’m not.”

“Then why are you-”

“’To live, to truly live, we must be willing to risk. To be nothing in order to find everything. To leap before we look.’”  

“Since when did you start reading these… books?”

“Tom likes to read aloud.”

“…Whatever. You still should be careful.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“That’s the exact thing I should be worrying about.”

“I’ll trust my heart. And besides, I haven’t got many options, do I?”

There was a long sigh. “Do as you wish.”

 

 

To be continued.

Following the advices of Miri Fern and TessaFlora (Thank you!), who kindly pointed the plot holes and (horrible) typos, I finally decided that I should revise the story from chapter one, and edit them- instead of fixing one word or letter, which is crazy and probably exhasparating. T.T

Did that make any sense...?   

The first and second chapter has been revised, I changed the plotline a bit, and now have a definite idea how to progress. :)

 

So if you would take the time to read the chapters, I will be VERY happy! :D

There might still be errors, so correctionz are still (and always will be,) loved. ^u^

Thank you!

 

EDIT-EDIT:

I've edited them again... I'm so freaking paranoid. But  I removed the unneeded dialogue, and cleaned the story AGAIN. But anyway, thank you for reading and please gimme some constructive critisism! :3