The Journal - 'The Haunted' Fan-Novel

Chapter 1 (New Ver.)

"Armen, stop being a lousy child and hurry up, we can't miss the ride!" a voice groaned from the bottom of the wooden staircase.

Armen twitched his sea blue eyes while manically packing his suitcase in his bedroom, luggage full of odd bits of Zelda cosplay and casual things you would normally put in a suitcase if you were moving out. Have I missed anything? Fumbling with his prized diamond axe toy model he got from winning a chess tournament at Ruby Shire School a few years ago, he arrived back at the thought of moving away from his closest friends...

The voice coughed impatiently downstairs, "Don't leave me hanging here all day, we gotta go," his elder brother added a grunt. Armen had to go, there was no use idling around his bedroom thinking unnecessary bits of memory. Sighing, he sealed his suitcase and dragged it out of his bedroom with strain.

Little did you know that a small eight-year-old child with scruffy chocolate hair and freckles had to carry a rather over-weight suitcase for his strength.

Making his way out of his long-beloved bedroom - full of memories where he used to play with his toys, make indoor tents out of duvet covers and chairs along with a torch, hiding under the bed frames, watching stars from his window, reading books - he took a deep breath, knowing that he may never step into that room again.

Then, what to do with his rather heavy suitcase? Frowning, he ran down the wooden staircase where his brother stood at the bottom of it, folded arms and eyebrows raised. Not pleased at the slightest but a little relieved at the sight of Armen until Armen spat out words clumsily at him, "The-suitcase-is-too-much-for-me, you-take-it." and regretted speaking without thinking beforehand. Armen let out a short laugh of hesitation and gave a wobbly smile. "Would that be okay?"

At first, Collin replied with a look of disapproval. He rolled his eyes and tutted while he couldn't resist cracking a twisted smirk. "Well well, alright then. But you owe me," He whispered quietly enough so their parents in the other room don't hear him, "I choose my room first when we arrive, then you get the room that's left."

Armen nodded in acceptance and Collin swiftly climbed the staircase.

He equipped Armen's luggage from the landing next to his bedroom door and without further ado, Collin slowly progressed down the stairs and soon made his way out of the front door and onto the gravelled pathway where the other suitcases were grouped along with his own.

Behind the suitcases stood his parents; Stephen - the father, whose black hair matched the scruff of Armen's and had the deep blue eyes that Collin - and Abigail - their mother, that blossomed in ginger-gold hair that lifted the spirits of others around her and had sapphire eyes that Armen shares - who had wrapped her arm around Armen who seemed to be suffocating because of it.

Favourite child, huh? Collin thought, letting out a somewhat chuckle. Looking behind him to have a last look at the house that was soon to be owned by an elderly lady who had an odd obsession with petting grumpy cats and feeding them chocolate cookies, he let out one last small laugh and handed over the suitcase to Armen whilst grabbing his own.

"We ought to catch the train to Ravenfield, we better go." issued Stephen, and as you guessed, they all went off with their luggage to the train station that located a few blocks away from the local school of Ruby Shire.

When they had arrived at Ruby Shire Train Station, there was a man who might have been good-looking only if he didn't look like he was smelling something awful from under his nose. He was dressed in ripped jeans and a bright highlighted orange vest and stood behind the till reading through receipts, grunting quite audibly.

The family stood from a reasonable distance from the peculiar ticket receptionist and Stephen lowered his voice and told the rest of the family to wait while he bought the tickets. As soon as he left, Abigail cleared her throat and looked through her black leather backpack, in search for sandwiches.

There was a distant train whistle which alerted Collin to look around. He had never truly left Ruby Shire before, he had always lived in that small village. Unsure how to take in all the information about moving house made him question life.

What was the purpose of all this?

Ruby Shire was probably his favourite place to be; Ruby Shire was all he could remember; birthday parties that poured into the roads, camping trips in which Armen had always accidentally burnt his marshmallows and leaving Collin's all nice and gooey on the inside and crisp on the outside, solitary owls hopping onto Collin's window board outside, the humour of the trees which they pop up at random areas of the village every so often, the village people most of all and out of all the people, Chris, his one best friend. Unfortunately, Collin never got round to mentioning that he was moving out of the worry that he may bring up discord between their friendship.

"Collin, what are you waiting for? Come on!" A deep voice cried impatiently.

Collin flashed back into reality and realised their train was to leave soon. Stephen already had his pockets filled with train tickets, and the rest of the family was already inside one of the train carriages. Sprinting off towards the train with his luggage to reunite with his father, they both hopped into the carriage and the doors shut firmly behind them.

Inside the train, it was not at all cold at on an autumn evening. The aroma of cinnamon rushed into the noses of the entrees and they fed their eyes on Danish Swirls; wallpaper in the train was a sunset orange with dark red vintage patterns scattered across the walls of the carriage inside. Brown cushions furnished the seats as blurred windows gave a glow of light in the midst.

The carriage began to shake and the distant whistle was heard once more. Keeping his balance against the rocking of the carriage, Collin placed his luggage onto the shelf above his seat and sat next to Armen who was happily consuming a delicious classic called a ham sandwich.

Collin didn't really concentrate on the conversation with anyone on that journey, he was just pondering through his thoughts on what more he should he expect of the moving of homes as an outcome. His eyes became heavier at the thought of this, and he soon drifted off into the dark abyss.