Holy War: Two Worlds and an In- Between

Chapter 2: Merlin Says

I trembled. No, I shook. I shook violently as I stood a mere five feet before the wardrobe.

Moonlight beamed in from behind the passing cloud, casting light on the wardrobe. I didn't know if I could still even call it that.

It seemed to be a dramatic understatement. The once brown wood appeared to be a pale white with gold streaks down the doors. The walls sparkled with thousands of tiny rough shards of glass almost as though they were tiny dim stars.

The door opened slowly and a bright light escaped through the gap. Gold rays of light glimmered through the white light. It shined more and more as the door widened filling the room with brightness little by little.

It was so alluring. I felt as though I was being called. As though I was drawn to it.

I don't recall just when my feet began to shuffle towards the light. I don't recall when I got so close that I could see the edges of each tiny shard of glass. I don't even recall why I wrapped my hand around the cool smooth handle. The truth is, I didn't even know that I was slowly guiding the door open. The only thing that I could remember processing was that there were soft whispers speaking from the bright light behind the door.

"No," I whispered to myself. I gently pushed the door closed.

I let go of the handle as a cloud passed over the moon and blocked the light. The wardrobe reverted back to its original bland state with its light brown color and sad empty keyhole.

I walked back to the empty bed behind me. I never released my gaze from the wardrobe, even when I sat back on my bed, I stared at the menacing thing. Just a piece of furniture.

"I really do need some sleep," I thought to myself. I laid back and stared at the ceiling, "I'm starting to see things."

My eyelids grew heavy as I listened to silence for the first time in a week. There was no muffled music filtering through the cracks of the wardrobe. There wasn't a click or a creak of opening doors. There was just me and my thoughts.

"Just seeing things," I whispered with my words dragging out at every syllable.

I was just seeing things, right?

***

At breakfast the next morning, I felt warm and refreshed. It was the first time I had gotten a good night's rest since Michael and I moved in. I felt the weight under my eyes begin to be lifted already. We sat in the gallery and ate as we watched the sunset peak through the tall trees. Scarlett and grandma sat at one end of the bench while Michael and I sat opposite them.

"You seem well-rested," Scarlett commented. There was a certain glow to her that day, yet I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

"I am," I responded nodding my head, "the music stopped, so I could rest easy."

"So no prying open my prized possessions?" Grandma joked. Her grey hair seemed gold as the sunset over it.

"No promises, old lady. One peep out of that thing and I will bring out a chainsaw," I joked. We all laughed and continued to eat.

She nodded and continued her meal. Michael talked about his imaginary friend, Merlin and told us about their nightly adventures.

"Last night, Merlin told me a story. It was about a magic fairy that lived in an enchanted forest, and they had a magic tree, and..." he kept going on and on, but I couldn't focus on anything.

The only thing I could think of was what Liza said before. I didn't even understand why she called this place the Henderson House. I figured it could be the past owners' names, but it didn't seem right. I couldn't understand why she wanted to know where grandma came from. I didn't even know why Olivia wanted her to stop asking questions or why Jack even cared. The only thing I did know was that something was going on that Olivia didn't want me to know about.