Sugar & Spice : To All Who Are Nice CHAPTER ONE & TWO

Chapter One

“Hey mom, Kids at school told me yesterday that my brother was a monster... is that true?”

“Monsters are a figment of your imagination. Stop believing what those stupid kids say at school.” My mother mumbled, before she left the house. Those very words were the only words she spoke to me in months. Hard to believe a woman who never wants to see her kid and lies to get her way, isn’t considered a “Monster”.

I grew up in a weird house, on a weird street, in a weird town in a weird City.

I don’t have any friends because in this town my mother and I with our family history are considered the “Weirdest Family”.

I don’t blame anyone for thinking that....

My brother disappeared when I was two, and I heard nothing about him since his disappearance. My mother says he was a worthless waste of her time and motherly love to care about anymore. But I think something bad happened to him that she isn’t spitting out.

My mother made it seem like he never existed. There are no clothes, pictures or toys of any kind. He was 16 when he disappeared.. so not having any of his belongings, comes off strange.

My mother is hardly ever around. When she actually makes an appearance, I remember why I prefer her to stay away.

She has a continuous drinking problem and she is constantly high on a new strand of whatever is new on the market. Every time the phone rings, I just think it’s the phone call that makes me an orphan.

One more year til I am officially an adult... but a lot can happen in a

Thankfully, my grandfather left my mom and I a huge fortune. So money isn’t a problem. He loved my mother and she ended up getting everything when he passed. I’m sure he didn’t realize what an ideal citizen she would become and give back to the drug community as much as she has been.

All that money probably would have completely disappeared if he didn’t hire on an accountant named Timothy.

Timothy has saved our fortune in more ways than one. Especially when my mother had her relapses almost over a dozen times now....

You can certainly see, I live a very normal life.

***If you can’t catch my sarcasm yet... then you might wanna find a less depressing and horrifying life tail I’m about to enlighten you on, because it won’t get any brighter going further.

My house has many rooms... each bigger than the next. My room is down a series of hallways and stairs. I prefer to keep my distance from the rest of the living in this home. It seems that the dead speak of more enlightening tales and happier days than this house could ever hold.

There are quite a few of haunted spirits in this house, but that’s just about anywhere on this big realm of darkness. My mother tells me I’m psychotic for even exercising the idea of it. But she has no idea of the discoveries I’ve made about myself.

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Chapter Two

Everyday I do the same routine I’ve done since I was five. Since my mother is never anywhere to be found, I normally do a house rundown to make sure everyone gets taken care of.

First, I check the kitchen to make sure the cook is supplied with everything he needs. Then the house keeper, then the gardener and then I go search for Timothy in his office.

I know he is in there when you begin to smell a faint cigar smell lingering down the main hall. It always warmed my heart because Timothy has always been a fatherly figure to me. He never had kids of his own and his wife passed a few years before he started working for my grandfather. So he took me in as his daughter.

As I follow the Cigar smell down the hall, I straighten my morning dress and put a big smile on my face as I open his office door.

Hair always perfectly slicked back and clean shaven, a White Collar Shirt with it tucked in nicely to his suit pants. Overalls in a matte black with a silver purple Tie.

I’ve never seen him dressed down. He always looks his best.

As I open the door wider, he looks up from his desk with the sweetest eyes and the most welcomed smile.

“Well good morning Ms. Delaney. Don’t you look ravishing. What can I do for you dear?”

“Well Good Morning to you Mr. Timothy, Thank you Kindly. Since my mother once again is no where to be found, would you be so kind into joining. me for breakfast this morning? I would like to pick your brain on some things. But only if you have the time too.”

With a deep intake of breath, he exhales and gives me a big smile. “I’d be delighted. Let me get to a good stopping point and I’ll head down shortly and join you”

I nodded my head with a big smile and closed the door gently behind me. Joy filled my heart as I made my way to the kitchen to let the housekeeper know I will be accompanied for breakfast.

As I sit patiently waiting for Timothy, I fidget and twirl the napkin on my lap Trying to think of the best ways to word my question...

“You know your grandfather had that exact nervous twitch before very important meetings”

Timothy’s voice said with a huge smile, entering the room.

I greet him with a smile as he gets comfortable at the table.

“Now you wouldn’t have invited me to this beautiful well thought out breakfast, if you didn’t have something important to ask me. So what’s eating at you, Sweetheart?”.

I felt my stomach drop and my nervous twitch worsening as my leg starts to bounce.

“I wanted to ask you about my brother..”

Before Timothy had a chance to scoop the eggs from the bowl, his eyes met mine with a look of sorrow and shock.

“Now I know your mother said....”

“I don’t mean to interrupt you Mr. Timothy, but my mother is never around to ever give me full sentences let alone to explain what happened to him. I know you knew him, so I wanted to talk with you. Maybe even find out what his name was?

“Now Ms. Delaney. I promised your Grandfather I would not speak to you about your brother. It’s not my place nor my position to be telling you about him... But I can tell you one thing.”

He paused while he poured his coffee like he was thinking it over that what he was about to say would be aloud.

“I promise you I won’t tell a soul. I just wanna know a little about him that’s all.”

“I understand your curiosity Ms. Delaney. But you must understand that once you learn more about him, you can’t unlearn them.”

I nodded my head anxiously.

“Now What I can tell you is, there is a place in this house that you can discover yourself. So that I would not get reprimanded.”

He took a sip of his coffee and then took a deep breath.

“Go into your grandfathers office and there is going to be a book called Sugar & Spice”

“Mr. Timothy, I have looked in that book many times for old recipes grandmother used to make. I saw nothing..”

Timothy put up his hand to pause me and to let him finish.

“In that book you will find highlighted pages and on those highlighted pages there is a highlighted word. Say those words in order and a hidden door will appear. Enter that door at your own risk. Ms. Delaney. I must warn you. Once you do this there is no turning back to your innocence. I would highly recommend you to not touch ANYTHING except the journals that are on the shelf.. if you touch something in that room that could unleash things that your grandfather worked his entire lifetime capturing.”

“Capturing? What on earth do you mean Capturing?”

My eyes widened and my mind began racing.

“A door would appear? Like a magic door? I’m confused... won’t you go with me and show me Mr. Timothy?”

“Heavens no, Ms. Delaney that room is not made for immortals.. you are of blood so you may enter that room with no risk of a trap... I’ve only entered the room once before your grandfather passed and it was to make sure I eventually show you where to go. And since you’re practically an adult and your curiosity is rising. I think it is best that you know.”

“Um.. hold on. Did you say immortal? Does that mean I’m.... no no. I can’t... I don’t believe you. Why would you speak of such childish games... my mother always told me that grandfather was a mumbling old fool who believed in nonsense. What makes me think I should believe you?”

“Ms. Delaney, believe on what you wish to believe. I am only telling you of what I was told to inform you when your time has come. But I should be excused. I have lots to do today with making sure your mother continues to not spend more than what her normal allowance is.”

He arises and pushes his chair in, wiping his suit pants off and straightening his tie. Before he headed to his office he stopped and turned to me and said.

“Your mother has been many things to you, but a truth speaker was never one. I’ve only ever spoken of truth to you, Ms Delaney. I just want you to have the same successes that your grandfather had, because you are truly different in all the best ways. Choose what you wish. You know where I’ll be.”

My mind is spinning and my heart is racing, I have always known deep inside that our family is different. But I just wanted a simple answer with what happened to my brother... not a endless road of secrets that seem to be deadly.

How do I go to school now after that conversation...

I excused myself from the breakfast table with eating not a single piece of food. I head to my room to gather my belongings for the day, replaying Timothy’s words in my head.

I wrapped the strap of my bag on my shoulder and headed down the series of halls to the main hall. My heart sinks as I approach my grandfathers office door. My ears begin to ring in a high pinch tone, almost unbearable. I drop my bag and cover my ears and close my eyes.

“What is happening to me?”

The sharp noise disappears and I uncover my ears and open my eyes. The door to his office was now cracked open, and it looked like the lamp on his desk was on. I’ve read enough books to know that I should probably run. But something in in me wanted to know.

I grabbed the knob on the door and pushed. The door was heavy and made a loud creak as I only opened enough to poke my head in the door. The office was still exactly how grandfather left it and dust collected on just about everything. No one has the heart to go in this room anymore since my grandfather passed. Too many memories... no matter how much my mother spoke poorly of him. My grandfather was adored by everyone he met.

The office walls were bookshelves filled with all types of books. Some in other languages and others that didn’t look like any language I’ve seen before. The books were endless. I never really saw my grandfather read but he spoke of his books often. His desk was very simple, just a typewriter, a lamp, a notepad that was never used and a ink pen that gracefully sat in its old fashioned pen holder. This office seemed more like decorating than someone’s work space. But who was I to judge.

The lamp flickered as I walked over to the shelf of “Grandma’s Favorite Books”