A thousand nights

VIII

There was an abandoned house in Murrey.

They call it ''Villa Age'', which, to be frank, sounded more like a nightclub than an abandoned house, but I digress.

Villa age was situated between two small groves close to the end of the football field and the town's old primary school. In the depths of these man-made woods, the old imposing detached house was still standing in all its dishevelled splendour. Nobody knew when it was built and nobody knew why it was abandoned nor for how long it had stood quietly observing the curious old cytidine.

The house was made of deterring brown bricks and ebony wooden tiles, its windows were strangely still intact, and they would have perfectly barricaded the house if it weren't for the creaky moulding red door.

Kids from nearby neighbourhoods challenged each other in touching the brick façade of the house without getting "killed", in a very Jem and Scout Finch type of way, someone would say, except for the fact that kids in my days didn't believe that someone like Boo Radley lived inside that house, as the Finches did. They were more terrorized by the idea of a supernatural fictional character such as Slender man patrolling the ''woods''.

I observed their another tireless attempt in touching the old house's façade as I returned home. I, for once had decided to go for a walk because strangely, I felt like some fresh air would have made me feel better after the disappointment I came to learn that morning.

It was the second day of winter break, and I was already bored, a surprising statement from a kid who spent his whole life enclosed in four blank walls. I wanted to do something with dad, but he was at work; he still had two days left, and he was going on a date after work anyway, so I had a lot to despair about. Dad and Lauren were an actual thing. I didn't hate the woman, but the idea of dad dating sounded so odd and foreign to my ears.

After three hours of incessant agony, I called Hamlin to ask her whether she felt like coming over, but her answer wasn't quite what I expected.

'I'm sorry but-'she paused 'I'm actually at the airport right now' she said through the phone, I could almost picture her with that face she had every time she tried to communicate something not particularly pleasant. An almost cringing expression and eyes not quite meeting yours.

'At-at the airport? Why are you there?' I asked swallowing. Was she going back to the US?

'My family and I are going back to Boston, for the holidays' she said the last part quickly to clarify. 'Look, I didn't tell you before because Dad just told us this morning, and I had to pack my luggage and my revision stuff-'

'It's okay' I lied 'Everything is fine don't worry'

'I'm sorry Park' I could tell that she was being honest.

I wished her a joyful and restful holiday, and she told me that she would call me as soon as she could. After the call, I fell into an abyss of desperation and sleep which terminated with me walking past Villa age.

'YOU'RE SCARED AREN'T YOU?' One of the kids mocked in laughter, extrapolating me from my thoughts.

'THEY SAY THAT SLENDER MAN SUCKS CHILDREN'S BLOOD' another one said. I looked over to where they were playing. A group of seven youngsters had cornered a boy who couldn't have been more than eight years of age. They were prompting him to walk up to the house.

'Slender man is not a vampire' the boy said folding his arms over his chest. 'Plus slender man comes out only at night'

'I say that this one is scared!' A girl shouted 'Come on, if Slendy comes out only at night why won't you simply touch the house?' All the other kids snickered with her as the boy in the middle narrowed his eyes at them all. He was intimidating for an eight-year-old. The scene reminded me so much of the years of elementary school, when I stumbled upon Shailini Dara, otherwise known as Shai, and Logan McKinley.