The outside of the house was dark and worn by the weather. The windows were impossible to see through and half the siding was missing. The inside appeared to be well kept, despite the cobwebs that hung in the tall corners. Directly inside to the right of the door was a small bench chest. it was open and inside was a red plaid blanket. A single shoe sat on the floor next to the bench. The walls were covered in brown wall paper, which was ripped in places, mostly around windows and the huge fireplace. The living room was furnished with a single couch, which was ripped and had stuffing coming out the cushions. The sofa was in the middle of the room, facing the fireplace. Next to the couch a small end table sat, the finish was chipped and one leg was shorter than the rest. On top was a dusty candle. The house was not equipped with electricity so consequently there were candles everywhere. There was a gas heater in the kitchen, which was through a small hallway left of the front door.
Kevin and Fredrick walked into the kitchen where a note was stuck on the old refrigerator with a letter magnet K. This is what it read:
Dear Kevin,
This house has been in our family for generations. Take great care of it. In my last years I've grown too old to mow the lawn and fix the siding, but I trust that you will do everything you can to make this house as wonderful as I imagine. Even though I am no longer there, this house was a dream of mine, I wanted it to look the way it did when it was new.
I don't ask that you fix it up like I imagined, my only request is this:
There is a mirror in the upstairs bedroom, it is 100 years-old. DO NOT break it.
Sincerly,
Your Great-Grandfather Richard
As Kevin read the words of what might be the last thing his great grandfather had written, tears weld up in his eyes. He folded the letter up and stuck it in his coat pocket. Wiping his eyes, he looked around the old room at all the antique decorations. A clock hung un-working on the wall next to the sink, no water came out of the faucet, and instead of a refrigerator, an empty icebox sat in the corner.
Stairs led up to the second floor on the other side of the small kitchen, Kevin walked towards it glancing at the cracked linoleum floor, the stairs squeaked as he remembered coming here as a boy. Running up the stairs to the little back bedroom playing superheros with his cousins. Oh, memories. reminisced Kevin. He couldn't wait to see what that old room looked like.
The stairs were narrow as they spiraled upward, small steps made it difficult for the men's large feet to make it up without tripping. "I want to show you something," Kevin stated to Fredrick, "down the hallway." At the last door on the left was an open door. The two men walked through, one after another. A bed sat on the right side of the room, in the middle of the back wall there was a window. Kevin walked slowly over, after wiping it off, he crossed his arms on the window sill, remembering all the great times he had in the old house.
Fredrick sneezed, he had picked up a dusty photo album off the bookcase opposite the bed. After flipping a couple pages he walked over to Kevin, book in hand, pointing at a black and white picture he asked, "Is this your dad?" Kevin looked at the photo, it was of four men: a really old man who looked to be 100 years old, a slightly younger man, an even younger man, who looked about thirty, and a baby. Words were written in cursive underneath the picture, they read: Four generations of Ricardo men. Jesse, Richard, Tony, and baby Lorenzo.
"Yeah, the baby is my dad. Wow, so that's what Richard looked like," answered Kevin.
"You never met him? I thought you said you used to come here a lot," questioned Fredrick.
"I did, but I was so little that I didn't remember what he looked like."
Fredrick closed the book and put it back on the shelf. Kevin led the way out of the room and into the one across the hall. "This is the master bedroom," announced Kevin. A large bed lay at the center of the wall opposite the door a window was directly above the middle of the bed, short blue curtains covered it. Kevin walked quietly over the bedside table, an old picture sat upright of a young lady; she was beautiful, with short hair and a pearl necklace, she looked like she belonged in 1930-something. There was a wardrobe that sat on the left side of the room, next to it on the wall a mirror hung delicately. It was large and round, coming off the mirror was an intricate silver design that looked like the tentacles of a hundred squid. Fredrick walked up to the antique and stared at himself, trying to imagine what it was like to live there. "Look at this," directed Fredrick.
Kevin walked over to the looking glass, "This must be the 100 year old mirror Richard mentioned in the letter."
"It's gorgeous," commented Fredrick, after a silence he added, "This place is warm and friendly, it's full of memories and wonder, but it's almost creepy, with the emptiness of the rooms and the lack of light. I couldn't live here."
"Neither could I," Kevin reached out with his hand and caressed the side of the mysterious glass delicately. He felt something on the back of the mirror, with his index finger he pushed on the strange shape.
Suddenly a chill swept into the room, and a loud noise sounding like a large rock was being rolled away; the boys looked around, trying to discover the source. They walked out of the bedroom curiously and cautiously. They looked around, the breeze was coming from downstairs. Creeping down, they got colder and colder. Out of the kitchen they walked back into the living room.
The wall to the back of the couch, which was previously empty, caught there attention. Instead of the hideously old wallpaper, the middle of the wall, the size of a large door, was empty. Concrete stairs led down underneath the house, but all the boys could see was a couple steps; darkness consumed the rest. A cold breeze was emanating from that point, it smelled musty and old, like the air down there had been sitting still for a hundred years.
The men looked at each other, with wide eyes they knew the question in the others' mind. Kevin nodded and put one foot hesitantly in front of the other, he ventured down the stairs cautiously. Fredrick followed slowly.
The stairs turned left every now and then. They seemed to go on forever. Cobwebs hung from every corner -- spiders hanging off some of them -- and the air smelled cold and damp. When they finally reached the bottom, a huge corridor opened up in front. Marble statues of men and women stood around the room, each holding a different weapon. There were nameplates underneath each of them, a particularly tall statue, holding the largest weapon, had a name plate that read:
Hugo Ricardo
Rank: Master Assassin
October 5, 1797 - July 3, 1850
Fredrick read the nameplate's of some of the other statues out loud. They were all a lesser rank than the first. "Dude," said Fredrick, "I think you're related to assassin's.""Yeah," said Kevin, so quietly Fredrick almost didn't hear him.
"That's awesome," Fredrick smiled, but Kevin didn't. He couldn't believe it; how could his parents not tell him about this, his own history!
Kevin walked slowly around the room, looking at all the statues and reading the nameplates. When he got to the last statue, which looked to be the oldest, after reading the name, he noticed a door hidden in the shadows. He waved Fredrick over and with one hand saying, "Over here! Did you see this?" he parted the cobwebs and stepped through; Fredrick shook his head and followed.
Kevin grabbed the dusty handle and pushed the door open. Through the door was a small room, inside by the back wall was what looked like a coffin. It was made of marble, carved in the middle on the side facing the door was a crest, Kevin recognized it to be his family one. Neither of them could believe what they were seeing. All around the room there were little treasures. Gold statuettes, expensive cloth's, and treasure chest's. Kevin crept over to one of the old dusty wooden treasures, he opened it using all his might; inside was full to the top with shining gold chips. Kevin sat amazed for a moment, he just discovered what could be millions of dollars. Knowing he couldn't take it, he closed the lid and stood up.
"This is crazy," stated Kevin, he put his hand on the pedestal he was standing next to.
All of a sudden they heard the same loud rumble from before. The two men looked at each other in panic and ran out of the room and up the stairs. When they got to the top the wall had closed back up. They stood, breathing hard, panic on their minds; they had been left to die. Horror was evident in both their eyes; it was so dark that they could barely see anything. Left with nothing else to do they walked back down the stairs, into the waning light from a hole in the roof.
Here's another story from the same prompt by my sister, Teacher, at her blog.
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