Midnight Dreams & Nightmares ~ A short story collection

Abandoned

The mansion looked and felt abandoned. It seemed to have been left to nature decades ago. The garden was wild and plants crept over the remnants of a stone path. Pieces of the wall and of the roof lay scattered over the floor, some already covered with moss.

I figured many storms must have helped the decay of the large house along. I walked around and marvelled at the beauty of the place. The way the ivy crawled up the walls and into the broken windows... I sighed and looked up at the blue sky. Clouds were rolling by and it made me feel ... timeless.

I entered the house through the rotten doorway. Inside, the once plush carpet now gave life to blooming flowers. The rain had left the floor soggy, it felt nice under my bare feet. Standing still, my toes digging into the muck, I looked around.

Some time ago a seed must have found its way to the plush soil, as there was now a small tree growing out of it. It stood almost as tall as I did, bathing in the sunlight.

Near the broken windows ivy spread inside like a verdant wave. At the parts where the ceiling had holes in it the wallpaper was replaced with moss, at other places it simply curled from the wall.

There was a sofa right beneath a leak in the ceiling—I could tell by the large, dark circle and the occasional droplet falling from its centre. Rotten leaves rested on the cushions, but also in all the corners the wind had managed to blow them.

The old fireplace was filled with debris but nestled within the cracks several plants were gradually taking control. The picture frame above it hung crooked, but the glass was still intact. I walked over to see what was behind the grime, but the picture had faded beyond recognition.

I walked upstairs, careful to mind the rotten steps. There was a large hole in the ceiling, and a big tree branch was sticking through. It was dead though, and I guessed that it had probably come to rest there after a storm. I carefully manoeuvred myself around the many side branches into the first room on my left.

It was the master bedroom. The windows were all broken, and I didn't dare go in too far because of the glass—I didn't want my feet to get cut. The bed was brown, mossy, and several small plants danced tunelessly to the gradual breeze that blew in.

I walked on. The next room seemed to have belonged to a child. The windows here were still intact, protected by wooden shutters. I wondered how long they would be able to protect the glass though, as they were very rotten and several bars already dangled in the soft breeze. I figured the next storm would also take this room.

There was a closet on the right and I walked over to it. To my surprise, it was filled with clothes and old wooden toys. My eyes fell on a stained porcelain doll, but the thing that really took my breath away was a big, brown, knitted teddy bear. It was staring at me, with a button for an eye, from the very top shelf.

I stretched as far as I could and was just able to touch the teddy. It took quite some effort, but I finally managed to get enough wool between my fingers to pull it down. It fell into my arms and I looked at it. The one button eye looked to be welcoming me and I couldn't resist smiling. The other eye had only an inch of black thread coming out of where a similar button had once resided.