Magnum Opus I

The House of The Journal

The walls were constructed from deep red bricks; the same color as her hair, vines had began to crawl up the sides of the house, leading to cracked windows and hugging themselves around a chimney that was beginning to crumble apart like a cake that had been baked with too much liquid. She became intrigued by this house and almost ran off of the bus to see if she could sneak her way in.

She gazed upwards at the cracked windows and noticed that house seemed bigger than it had from the window on the bus. The frosty breeze kissed the back of her neck and whispered to her, urging her to find her way inside to shield her from the frigid air.

She placed her foot on the first step that lead up to the raggedy white door. Like the chimney, the steps were also crumbling. Cracked and tilted, the stones that made up the stairs looked as if they were tired, as if all they wanted was to rest. It was strange, but she had felt guilty climbing them, feeling like she was making them work when all they had wanted to do was sleep. The door was white and the wood was splintered. The small semi-circle window towards the top of the door was composed of bright pieces of glass that looked magical as the sun traveled through them. She reached for the dark, brass doorknob and started to open the door. The door slowly swung open, letting out a cry and revealing a huge open space ahead of her.

She looked around the living room of the tired house and cautiously made her way inside, praying to herself that there were no homeless people or raccoon's inside. As she looked around, the walls were cold and damp. The house had the aroma of fresh rain that had fallen on the cement sidewalks and seeped into the soil that slept between the cracks. She continued inside and almost fell over something that had been left on the ground. Looking down, she saw a black book that was about the size of an average school folder. She picked it up and swept the mountains of dust off with her hand.