Awaited Magic Part 1(Reimagined):

Ch. 1 Moving In

We moved to an old manor out in the middle of nowhere. Mom and Dad were the type of people who buy fixer upper houses, flipped them, and sold them back to the world. Was I excited about moving away from my friends and starting a new life in a house that could be haunted? Well, while it might be cool to live in a one-horse town where everyone knows each other, the abandoned manor at the top of a mountain wasn’t as appealing. We drove through the town on the way to the road where the asphalt met the gravel as the path took us higher into the mountains. As we drew closer to the house, the road became covered in fog which made the driving for dad more difficult.

“Geez,” I said from the backseat. “Where did all of this come from?”

I leaned forward in my seat to try and get a better vantage point up the mountain.

“I don’t know honey, but you need to sit back in your seat. It isn’t safe to get out of your seat; especially in this foggy weather.” My Mom advised from the front.

“Don’t worry kid. We’ll be there in a few minutes. The gates should be right up…” My Dad stopped midsentence as the iron gate quickly came into view.

Mom, Dad, and I were all taken aback as the car started traveling in reverse. The light from the car’s headlights slowly had begun to show the gate and what laid behind it at its full capacity. I unbuckled my seat belt, opened my side door, and walked carefully up to the gate. The walkway leading up to the gate that followed to the entrance of the manor was created out of larger stones. It looked like no one had touched the gate of the walkway in awhile since they were all covered in moss.

Dad turned the keys in the ignition to the off position and we all ventured out of the car into new territory. I felt like I was walking into a horror movie with the barren trees leaning down towards the gate, the fog roaming throughout the air, and the distinct smell of something nearby that might have died. I thought the smell alone was going to take away from the majesty of the manor, but as we walked down the mossy path, the house came into view. I had to stop walking forward in order to look down towards the ground. There, in the hidden shade of dead grass, popped a bright blue flower from the ground. It was the purest sky-blue color I had witnessed in all of my years of trying to find that perfect color in my paintings. My easel, paints, paint brushes, and canvases would have to be taken out of the car later after I explored more of our new land.

I continued down the path until Mom, Dad, and I reached the large iron door at the front of the manor. It reminded me of the same style of door that I saw in the Haunted Mansion movie; it’s big, scary, and not very welcoming. But Mom pulled out the metal key that the realtor had given her when she and Dad signed the deed. Mom turned the key into the upright position and slowly pushed the door open. It creaked like the opening of a coffin in one of those old monster movies. I really hoped that Dracula, the Boogey-man, or the Mummy jumped out from behind the door!

I walked into my family’s new house with astonishment because of the grandness of the place. This old house has been here since who know when, but it’s big. The long hallway leads to the kitchen. To the left there is a large sitting room and further down the hall is a bedroom with antique everything on the walls. Even the carpet looks vintage. On the right side of the hallway is a landing leading up to the higher floors. I looked up through all the stairs and handrails to see at least three more floors above the ground. I thought most of the stuff in the house and outside in the gardens had been tended to before we arrived, but it looked like there was a lot more work to be done to make the manor come back into its prime.

I knew that the manor looked haunting, but I couldn’t wait to explore and see what interesting secrets I could find out about this place. The possibilities of adventure were endless as soon as I had the chance to run off. However, my parents had different ideas about what we should do first.

“Lilly, could you come help your father unpack the van please?” my mother yelled from outside.

I was tasked with helping them unpack the car, so that we could eat dinner tonight with most of our belongings in their new permanent places. I stood there still staring until my mom came in and jolted me out of my reverie. There was something about this house that made me feel… odd. Like hidden in the walls was a secret only I could uncover.

End Part 1