The Scars We Bare

Prologue

"Let's race!" Mimi was quick to jump up out of her seat and dash out to her motorbike and hop on. She grabbed her helmet and placed it on her head, watching her two best friends stare at her. "Well, come on guys!" School had just let out not even 10 minutes ago and Mimi was already excited to beat both of them in a race. "Where are we racing to?" Ralph asked her. She looked at her short friend and smirked, "Let's race out to the old abandoned mansion!" Jack rolled his eyes, "No." He walked over to his own motorbike and sat down, "You know how dangerous that place could be? It's been abandoned for years." Ralph walked over to his older brother and sat on the back of their motorbike. "You're just a chicken!" Mimi made bawking sounds and flapped her arms. She grinned as Jack turned to face her, "Fine, but once we get there, we leave. Promise?" Mimi nodded, "I promise." She hid her crossed fingers from both of the boys. After they both had their helmets on, the race began at the school. Mimi sped ahead of the boys, whooping loudly. She took a bit of a risky turn to get onto the long dirt trail that led up to the lone mansion standing atop a cliff, judging the city below it.
Mimi jerked to a stop in front of the rotting wooden steps and leaped off her bike "I won! I won! I won!" Jack pulled up not far from her and kicked out his kickstand, removing his helmet "Alright, you won, can we leave now?" Being this close to the house gave him a sinking feeling and he wanted to get far away from it. "What? We just got here! Can't we look around? Even just a little bit." Mimi turned to face Jack with a curious look in her eyes. "No, besides we aren't really dressed to walk in such an old house." Jack answered, he was kind of grasping at straws. "What's wrong with my outfit?" Mimi asked as she looked down at herself. Mimi was wearing striped tights with shorts over them. Her t-shirt was some band that she absolutely loved to death. Her black hair was pulled into a loose ponytail that sat down on her left shoulder. She wore riding boots. Jack was wearing blue jeans and a red t-shirt that had a saying about being a grumpy teen, also riding boots. Ralph wore a white t shirt with a jean jacket over it and tan khakis. "It's just probably really dusty and..." Jack was stammering to find excuses. Ralph hopped off the motorbike while both his older brother and best friend argued at whether they should go inside or not. He was very curious about this place and quickly made his way up the stairs and opened the slightly broken front door. Once inside the house, Ralph gasped out with excitement. The door led into an open lobby that had several different doors along the walls. At the opposite wall that Ralph stood at the door was a large staircase that led up into the dark upstairs. "This place is huge." He uttered as he wandered into the lobby, slowly turning in a circle so he could look at everything. "Ralph?!" Jack stood at the door, he didn't want to go inside. He hated this place. Mimi shoved passed him, "I'll find him, just wait here." She didn't care about going inside a giant, scary house. She glanced around the place, "Ralph? Where did you go?" Her voice echoed through the empty room. How could someone so short be so fast? She looked down at the fine layer of dust on the ground and noticed his footprints heading up the stairs. "Where are you going?" She asked herself as she swiftly climbed the stairs and hurried down the dark hallways, now calling out for her friend.

Jack stood on the porch that led into the house. Actually he was pacing back and forth, nervously waiting for both his best friend and brother to come out of the house. This place gave him the creeps. He could hear their footsteps throughout the house and tapped his foot, what was taking her so long to find him? "RALPH!" He heard Mimi scream and in a surge of fear for his brother, Jack raced inside and up the stairs. "Guys?!" He called out, trying to find them. This house was so huge and terribly dark as the sun was setting. He stumbled through the upstairs hallway, bouncing from locked door to locked door trying to find them both. "Guys!" He squinted in the dark, catching a glimpse of Ralph's white shirt and made a mad dash for it. Once at the end of the hallway, Jack saw Mimi leaning over his little brother, who was out cold on the floor. "What happened?" He barked and she looked up at him in a panic, "I don't know! I found him like this! He's burning up!" She had taken off his jean jacket, using it at a pillow for him. His glasses were on the floor a good foot away from him and cracked as if he had hit something and fell backwards. Jack fell to his knees and felt his brother's forehead and Mimi was right, Ralph had caught a sudden fever. "We have to get back home." He moved one arm under Ralph's shoulders and the other under his knees and lifted his brother up bridal style. "Get the door." He nodded to the room's door. Mimi jumped up and hurried over to the closed door and grabbed the handle, "It's jammed!" She was turning the handle as hard as she could and it would not budge. "What!?" Jack exclaimed and watched as Mimi stepped back and kicked at the door as hard as she could. The wooden door that was supposed to old, rotting wood, didn't budge an inch against her hard kick. She stepped back, figuring that she didn't have enough force and ran at the door, slamming the side of her body against the door, "Open!" She took in deep breaths. The door refused to move and now she was starting to fall into the hysterical part of panic, "Let us out!" She screeched, pounding the door with all her might. Jack set his brother back down and ran over to the window, grabbing at it and used all his force trying to open it. "Why is it screwed shut!" He looked outside and all he could see was thw dark forest surrounding the mansion they were trapped in. He banged on the window, "Break!" He wasn't worried that they were trapped, his mind was worried for his sick brother. Mimi began sobbing and sank down against the foor, "I want out!!!" She gripped ag her hair, trying to understand why they couldn't get outside. Jack turned away from the window and walked over to Mimi, placing a hand upon her shoulder, "Mimi, look at me... look at me!" The distraught girl looked up at her friend through her teary eyes and took a shallow breath. "Just take a deep breath, it'll be alright." He began to take deep breaths with her, hoping to help her calm down. "How?" She asked him. "I don't know." He admitted, "But we can't loose our heads right now. We have to be calm, for Ralph's sake, okay?" Mimi wiped away her tears with her dirty hands and sniffed loudly, nodding her head, "Okay." Her voice trembled as she slowly made her way over to Ralph and placed his head on her lap. Jack walked around the room, tapping at the walls; trying to find a hallow point.

Jack opened his eyes as there was very bright light shining in his direction. He moved his head and looked around gathering his surroundings.
Still inside the room.
When did he fall asleep?
He looked over to see that Mimi had fallen asleep against the wall, Ralph still using her lap as a pillow. He didn't look any better from the night before. Jack stood and made his way over to the window. The sun was rising and casting light upon the abandoned house. The light filtered through the trees and gave the forest a beautiful look. Jack stared at it for a few seconds longer before turning around and walking over to the door, giving the handle a try.
The door handle turned and gave a soft click as it let go of the wall and opened. How? How had the door not open the night before and now as the sun was up, it opened as if nothing had happened and they merely made up the issue. It didn't make sense. He didn't have too much time to think about it as the door gave a squeak, which woke Mimi. She blinked rapidly before looking over at Jack by the open door, "How?" He shook his head. "It doesn't matter right now, let's get Ralph to a doctor." He walked over and took his brother from her.
Once outside of the house, they noticed that their bikes were missing. Mimi was angry but they didn't have time to discuss that.

Hiking as fast as they could, they stumbled upon and older gentleman. He had an open wagon and was being pulled by a beautiful brown horse. It was a strange sight to see as no one in the city they lived in could afford horses. "Excuse me sir!" Mimi called out to the man, hurrying after him so she would get his attention. "Wooah! Easy Bessie!" The older man told his horse as he pulled the reins back to slow her. He looked over at Mimi, "Can I help you Little Lady?" "Please, can we get a ride into town? My friend is awfully sick and we need to get to the doctor!" She pointed over to Jack carrying Ralph towards them. "Oh, of course." The man smiled gently before he gestured to his wagon. Jack set his brother on the wagon and hopped up next to him. Mimi sat next to the old man as he clicked his tongue and moved the reins a little bit so Bessie would continue on her journey. "I have never seen you are here before, nor wearing such strange clothes, you new around here?" The man asked Mimi and she took a second to realize that the man wasn't wearing any kind of modern clothing. "Uh, yes sir. We're new to these parts." He chuckled softly, "Oh posh, with that sir stuff. My name is Clint Woods." Mimi gave a smile, "It's nice to meet you Mr. Woods. My name is Mimi Tagi and these are my two best friends Jack and Ralph Hagin." "So if you aren't from around here then, where are you from?" Clint questioned her as they got closer to town. "We are from a city called Reno, Tennessee." "Tenasee?" He asked her, "I have never heard of that place. You must be from the East."
She looked back at Jack in confusion. This man has never heard of Tennessee? "So what is the town we are going to?" Jack piped up from the back and Clint turned in his seat to look at the boy, "We are on our way to the beautiful town of River."
Jack and Mimi shared another look. River? They didn't know any town near them called River. And they were only in the house overnight. How did everything change? Why did it look like they were in an older time period?
"Uh, Mister Clint, sir, what year is it?" Jack asked and Clint shook his head, "Silly children. It is currently 1746."
"1746-!" They both squeaked out with shock before falling silent as they came into the town and Clint stopped out in front of a old western looking building. There was a sign on top of it that said "Doctor."