Don't Tell Ellie | Complete | Open Novella Contest

Chapter Eleven: The Nursery

Benjamin's arm is extended, his palm open and waiting for me to take it and all I can do is stare into his eyes. I was right, in the brightness of this room the light reflects in them just so and they shimmer like two beautifully polished gems.

I don't know where I've gotten the nerve to stand here with him and accept the fact that in my mundane life peppered with tragedy and uncertainties, there are doorways to the past granting me an opportunity to make sense out of all that has happened to me.

Any rational person would run, hands flailing and screaming from this house, but I don't want to. I step forward and place my hand in his, "I'm ready."

He pulls me to him gently and studies my face before speaking. "I never wanted harm to befall you, Eleanore, but my family—our burden..." his voice falters. "When your time came I couldn't bare it and I'm so very sorry." He wraps his arms around me, and I can feel tears burning in my eyes. I have no idea what he is talking about, but I'm not afraid of him, I only want to know more.

"What are you saying?" I whisper into his chest. "What do you mean when my time came?"

"I think you know that you weren't supposed to make it this far."

I pull back and look up at him, "What are you?"

"Not yet." He shakes his head, "You're not ready, yet."

"Benjamin, I'm here, willing to walk through these doors with you, risking my life to see whatever it is you think I should know, please tell me who or what it is that you are."

"I will, just not now." He steps forward and ducks below the doorframe, guiding me behind him, our hands still linked.

As I enter the room on the other side, there's an intense feeling of deja vu, the feeling always makes me uneasy, like I'm about to do something I shouldn't be doing.

The door slams behind us and I jump. "It's okay," Benjamin reassures me, "It will unlock when we are done."

"I thought you said the doors only open every six days at midnight?"

"That's only the one in my study."

I look around the room we've just been sealed into, and it's oddly familiar, but I can't place it anywhere in my mind. The same wallpaper covers the walls—clouds and teddy bears, though it's smaller than the room we've just come from.

There's a white crib against the far wall, and dozens of stuffed animals seated on pink wooden shelves. A name is written above the crib in large block letters painted in a soft pink and it reads, Eleanore.

I gasp and Benjamin squeezes my hand, "Is this my—"

"Yes, this is your nursery."

I move toward the crib and try to drop Benjamin's hand but he holds it tighter, "You can't let me go," he says, "it's the only rule when we are on the other side."

"Why not?"

"Just trust me." He says in his authoritative way.

Why the hell not? I think. I'm already in the thick of it. I pull him along with me as I lean over the crib and stare down, but it's empty.

"You're not here quite yet." He answers my unasked question.

"Not born yet?"

Benjamin nods and I move around, looking at the Dr. Seuss books in the bookcase, and at the white toy chest that matches the crib, this I do remember. I had it up until my family passed away, but they wouldn't let me take it when I moved into foster care.

Benjamin tugs in my hand and moves me back toward the door we came through, "What are you doing?"

"Watch," he says pointing to a second door that leads into the rest of the house.