1 Chapter 1: sad smile

A cold wind blew the rain drops from our hair.

As we stood on top of the hill, looking at the moonlit landscape below us and feeling the tender rain on our faces, it was almost like the old days. When we would go on, adventures, in the yard. Adventures where we faced off against imaginary monsters. But the monsters weren't imaginary, not this time.

I looked at my older sister. She was crying. This came to me as a shock, since she almost never cried. This made me feel more helpless about the situation. ("If even she had lost all hope, what wold become of us?")

While shivering, my older sister Allice took a deep breath, after which she wiped the tears and rain drops from her face with the back of her hand. This action cased her face to be covered in ash. But even in this state she managed to crack a smile. Suddenly she spoke, her gentle voice cracking from her repressed tears.

"We can't stay out here Gustave. The weather is probably only going to get worse."

She was clearly struggling to speak.

"Remember when we went exploring when we were young? I once saw an old castle past the third hill, at the foot of the mountain."

She stretched her arm covered in burn marks out to point in the direction of the mountain.

Looking at her burned arm reminded me of all that happened this night. It should come to no surprise that I could still feel the wounds that where inflicted to me by the same fire.

"If you say so, then we must go. "

I could hear my voice tremble under the weight of the memories from this night. But still I tried to sound confident. I tried, because I wanted to show my sister that I trusted her. And to show her that I can be as strong as her, so that she could trust me.

And so, we moved forward. As Allice predicted, the weather worsened rapidly the now icy wind threatened to blow us over the fields. The rain also increased. The raindrops repeatedly falling from the dark sky made it hard to see. But I believed that Allice new where the old Kastle was. I would always follow my sister.

("Because she was always braver than I was. Because she somehow always knew wat was going on and was the best option was.")

After walking for around half an hour we approached the castle. Its outline towered above us, blocking the starless sky from our sight. Allice hesitantly walked towards the giant dark wooden door. She pushed against it with al her might, but it didn't do much good. So, I tried to assist her in opening the door. But even with our strength combined, it did no good.

Allice also realised this and stopped pushing. Seeing that she stopped, I also took a step back. Allice started to walk around the giant building. I followed her every step. On the left side of the castle she found a cracked window. The glass shards where easy to remove, and with our strength combined we cleared the way in no time.

With the last few pieces of broken glass I became careless and removed them without much caution. This inevitably led to me cutting my finger. My sister found when she saw this but continued to clear our way.

Finally, we had removed all the glass from the broken window.

"Well then, should we go inside?" Allice asked with a blank stare facing the broken window.

I nodded, but she didn't seem to notice. Allice carefully made her way inside and stood now in the castle. "Come in." She said in a monotone, jet urgent voice. I was a little shocked. She never talks like this. Well it isn't strange for her to behave a little weird, considering what happened earlier. With that in mind I decided to follow her suggestion, or rather her demand.

It took me a little longer, but I finally made my way in.

The hall that we entered was dark and cold. An eerie wind blew through the broken window, but it was nothing compared to the weather outside.

The little moonlight that so now and then broke through the black clouds, entered the room by passing trough multiple windows in contrast to the wind. And showing the stone statues in doing so.

Allice started walking towards the centre of the hall. A loud echo accompanied her every step. Without looking back she once again ordered me in a tone without emotion.

"Come here Gustave."

She was standing in the middle of the room, frozen in place. I quickly did as she said. A fast tip tap sound was heard with every step I took towards her.

But there was something odd, something just felt off as I listened to my echo. It was impossible to indicate where the sound came from considering that this was an echo. But there was another pair of footsteps. One that didn't belong to me.

Now that I came near the centre of the hall, my sister turned to me. Tears running down her face yet smiling as if it was the best day of her life.

It was a sad smile.