Fragile

42. Lake

"Fox I'm so tired, how much longer?" I mumble after an hour of desperate hiking.

"I think we're about ten minutes away from the first interesting place to see." He tells me.

"Just say we're lost, I won't be mad I promise." I sigh very deeply but Fox laughs out loud at that.

"I assure you that I know these grounds, this was my second home as a little kid." He explains with a smile tugging on his lips.

"I don't know if that's a good thing or... not so good?" I ask while holding support from Fox's shoulder as we climb through the vegetation.
His hand is on my waist to prevent falling.

"It's a good thing of course. I love this place, and you're gonna love it too." He promises.

"Not so much right now-" My sentence is cut short when I see two foxes across from us, only about fifteen feet away. They're playing with each other, and behind them is a... "What the fuck is that?" I breathe out in enthusiasm.

"It is a castle. Old castle as you can see." Fox, my Fox, tells me with a bright smile.

"Wha- woah. Oh gosh, that is enormous." A smile is tugging on my lips now as I examine the building for a good time. Moss had covered its grey cement walls, or maybe they had been white before. Whatsoever, now the castle had broken bits all over its walls and floors. But no matter how many cracks that building had, it was still standing as strong and stable as ever. There must be over five floors if I count right, maybe even more.

And on top of all, grey and highly ornamental balconies made everything look very fairytale-like. Enormous windows covered the walls, though most of them were already broken throughout the years.

"Fox, it's- it's- woah." I manage to get out finally and he laughs friendly.

"I knew you'd like it. Come on, wanna see inside?" He begins to lead me closer by his hand on mine.

"Inside?! Are you crazy? That's so dangerous- what if someone is there? Or an animal?" I panic a little, trying to halt us.

"Nobody is here, that's the point. This was abandoned sooo many years ago that I don't think it's anywhere in public knowledge anymore. At most there'd be a lost animal, but they're always scared and run outside before I even see them properly." He explains while pulling me towards the foxes and castle.

"Wait, so how often do you come here then?" I ask but decide to just give in and let Fox lead me.

When we step into the courtyard, I can see how the two little foxes are stunned about us and they quickly run off back to the woods. They haven't probably seen a human being in a long time, if ever. My Fox is keeping quiet and acting mysterious, annoying me slightly. "I always come here once in a while." He finally answers my question.

I can sense easily that he does not want to continue with the subject, so instead I ask, "Will we be having the picnic here?" after a while of just admiring the castle now from close.

"Nope, I still have a couple things to show you." He smirks.

"Shit." I say amused.

Fox holds the door open for me like the gentleman he is, and I step in through the heavy wooden double-doors. They're ornamental too, but just covered in moss.

I gasp when I'm inside the tall building. Very tall white/grey walls are surrounding me, except for the huge cracked windows letting air get in.

There's luckily no animals, nor creeps.

"Woah." I sigh out loud, eyes on the high ceiling above which had numerous cracks. My gaze sweeps throughout the huge room in search for stairs until I find them in the back. Of course it's a spiral staircase.