Helios's Point Of View

"Please follow me up to the guest room."

The maid directed me so I followed her.
She looked to be in about her mid thirties, she had what seemed to be long brown hair, but I couldn't tell the length as it was tied in a bun, the woman also had brown eyes, she was just maybe a little bit shorter than Jack.
As we made our way up the stairs, the mood of the mansion felt different from when I first walked inside. It felt more gloomy but also restless. The flooring was hardwood, as were the stairs,
one fall could probably seriously injury oneself.
The presentation of the home wasn't exactly warm or welcoming as one might anticipate for a home to be.

In fact, it did not feel like a home at all, it felt like a house.
A building with no welcoming, a building with no joy, a building with no living liveliness, a building with no sense of belonging, a building without love.
The building was nothing of a home, the building was nothing of livelihood, no, the building felt more like a prison, with perishing happy memories. But a few aspects did linger in the home, nothing like one might expect.
The mood of the atmosphere, the feelings that lingered in the house, was nothing but sadness, loneliness, remorse, confusion and hatred.
Although the house had rows of candles, it was still dark in the light, although the house was moderately bright.
Along the way and down one hall, darkness was kept awake with a couple rays of light that came through the clear wall. (Window)

One thing caught my eye in particular within the hall, is what kept in the darkness, roaming within the halls,
with shallow movements, not making a sound, but within these four wall, they were still bound.

"Miss, I do have a couple questions that will be rude of me to ask. I didn't think Aisha would know because she has not talked about her family much to me." I said.

"Go ahead and ask." The maid smiled.

"What is the name of this house?" I asked.

"This is house Savelli." She replied.

I had to do research on every noble families background when I was in training for being a priest, I also had connections.... At first, house Savelli wasn't wealthy but house Jordan was... Of which, the two families were united by marriage, it was so big that it made headlines in the newspaper. House Jordan consisted of a family of five. A husband, a wife, a son, and two daughters. But in the year 1870, the Jordan family fell into ruin and all of the family except one of the two daughters, mysteriously vanished out of high society, and I was unable to find any other information on the explanation as to why house Jordan fell or where house Jordan went. Putting that together, it still would not make sense. Why would an extremely wealthy house suddenly vanish without a trace, and leaving their daughter after her marriage?

My thoughts were interrupted when I was questioned.

"Sir, before you ask anything else, may I get your name and may I know how you met my lady?" Nina questioned.

"Oh.. Yes! How rude of me for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Helios Churchill. I am 16 years old and I am a pastor in training from the Baptist Church in town." I replied.

"She went all the way to town? Without telling anyone? Oh no... Master Savelli will not be happy about this..." Nina mumbled.

"Why would he be upset?" I asked.

"Umm... Nevermind about that." Nina quickly redirected.

As we walked through the hallway something caught my eye and made me stop. There was a huge portrait with a beautiful woman who looked like Aisha but older.

"She is beautiful, isn't she?" Nina smiled.

"Yes... Yes she is. Who is she?" I asked.

"She is my lady's mother, Ashley, but unfortunately, she is no longer with us. She was an extraordinary woman. She was not only extraordinarily beautiful, but she had an extraordinarily big heart with great compassion for others. She was the only light and breath of joy in this mansion before my lady was born. Are you still going to ask me your questions? I will try to answer them to best of my ability." Nina smiled.

"Oh, yes... Are both of her parents still living?" I asked.

Nina hesitated for a moment.

"No, the young miss's mother passed away when my lady was very young." Nina sighed.

"May I know her mother's maiden name?" I asked.

"Her mother's maiden name was Ashley Jordan." Nina replied.

"I have confirmed part of the story of Aisha's mother now." I thought.

We continued to walk and finally made an abrupt stop at a door.
"Anyways, here we are. You are right next to the second guest room, beside the second guest room is my lady's room." The lady smiled.

"Thank you." I said.

I opened the door, and walked in, closing the door behind me. The room was huge, the walls were dark, and there were two windows with cloth covering them, there was a bed, big enough to fit two people with clean sheets, there was a vanity, a standing closet, and even a standing coat rack. Everything seemed to be made of dark oak.
It was eerie, but beautiful.
I walked to the coat rack and hung up my coat, and placed my boots below it on the dry carpet below. I then walked back to the bed and placed my bag on the bed.

As I sat down on the bed, this unpleasant feeling came over my head as a chill ran down my spine. The room felt stuffy and intoxicating, I felt a sense of fear that one might of though was my own, as it was drawing near.
I knew that at this point it was time to address this facade, for someone in this house that is misunderstood, or taking a figure of another to cause them to be misunderstood. I grabbed my bag, and pulled out a notebook, along with my fountain pen, placing it beside me on the bed.

"I know that you are in here out of curiosity, and I am here to help you, so you are now my invited guest. Come take a seat by me, use this pen to write what you want, I know that you're capable of doing so." I stated.
Once I said that, I could hear small footsteps slowly make their way towards me, along with a cold but peaceful presence beside me.
"It's time for your story to be told, it's time for you to speak up." I stated.

.
.
.
.
.
.

I opened the notebook to the first page, as it was a new notebook it smelled heavily of paper.
"Who are you? Write down your name for me, please." I asked.
The pen was picked up and a name was carefully written down on the page.

Alina

I had this tingly feeling throughout my body, and a sick, almost twisted feeling in my gut.

"I feel like you're lying." I thought to myself.
"I know that you are capable of showing yourself and I know that you are capable of talking. You are already beside me, show yourself, let us have a conversation."

As I said that there was a sharp pain in my chest as the air grew colder, making it harder to breathe, and with every heaving breath that I took, it felt almost as if small needles were relentlessly stabbing me in my chest. My head felt stuffy, almost as if I had an ear infection, then I felt shocks bolt in every direction, twisting and turning in my body.

"How old would you be today?" I asked as I struggled to take in every breath of oxygen that I breathed in.

Carefully a number was written,
13.

"Is there anything that you would like to tell me?"

Everything was still for a moment until writing started to appear again,

The key... To the box... Open the box...

"I think that we have had a good enough conversation. It is time for you to show yourself in front of me. I will not hurt you... I promise under the name of God and the church." I smiled.

As I finished my vow, a creaking noise came from the bed and the sound of small footsteps made their way until stopping in front of me.
Slowly a skinny figure manifested itself in front of me starting from the feet.
With bare feet, the skin was porcelain white, slowly manifesting its body, a white gown appeared, and then hands, then arms, and shoulders with platinum hair.
The girl was looking down and slowly started looking up to me, and finally within that moment a white face with blue eyes met face to face with me.
A complete replica of Aisha stood before me. There was only one difference between the two girls, the girl who claims to be someone named Alina had different eyes.
Her eyes were the same shape and the same color as Aisha's, but her eyes did not glitter, no, they were dull.
Coldness emitted from the girl and it made me shiver. The girl held out her hands as if asking for mine in hers.

I was still on edge on whether I could trust who or what stood before me, but slowly, and ever so carefully, I placed my hands in hers. I slowly looked back up to her face, she smiled as she placed her thumbs over my hands and slowly caressed them.
The moment she caressed my hand, the poking feeling in my chest felt as if someone was punching my chest, and with that, unconsciously, my right hand grabbed the front of my shirt, twisting it because of the pain.
Within that same time, another guest had come to visit, the exact same girl, or what was thought, was now around the house.

Aisha's Point Of View

I sat up in my bed, and made my way to my window.

"It's still not dark yet.... Anyways, Jack. Let's go to the kitchen, I'm thirsty." I whispered.

"Alright my lady." Jack replied.

We made our way out of my room and down the hallway, then down the stairs, but something caught my eye.
As I looked out the window of the door, I saw her. Alina. She was at the well. She turned around and started walking to the right side of the house until she disappeared.
"Jack! Hurry! Let's hurry to the kitchen!" I said as I grabbed his hand and we took off.

We made it to the doorway of the kitchen, and Jack walked to the cabinet, opened it and grabbed a glass. Then made his way to the sink and filled it up with water and handed it to me. I looked out the window that was closest to the back of the house.

She was here. In the backyard. She wandered to the cellar door, the wind started twirling around her and she disappeared.

I unconsciously dropped the glass.
"JACK! SHE WAS OUTSIDE! SHE WENT INTO THE CELLAR! HURRY! I HAVE TO GET DRESSED AND GO LOOK!" I screamed and went to make my way until a sharp pain in my foot had stopped me. I lifted my foot, glass had gone through my sock.

"Tsk. Whatever you saw can wait. You have glass in your foot that we need to take care of. Don't move." Jack said as he swiftly picked me up, placing me on the counter. He picked up the pieces of glass and threw them away, then picked me up again and aimlessly started walking out of the kitchen.

"Wait! I can walk!" I whispered as I felt my cheeks turning red.

"My lady, respectfully, keep quiet and stop arguing with me all of the time." Jack sighed.

"Okay, I will try not to." I sighed as we scurried up the stairs. We were shoulder to chest, almost too close to comfort i would say. We made our way back through the chilling hallway, passing the portrait of my mother.
We got to my door, Jack opened it, turned on my lamp and placed me on the bed.

"You're frequently sick so I would assume that you have an aid kit in your room, correct?" Jack asked.

"Yes, in the drawer of my nightstand."
Jack walked over to my nightstand, pulled open the drawer and pulled out the small aid kit.
The kit included cotton, wrap, needles, a small bottle of alcohol, a cloth and tweezers.

Jack opened the kit and placed it on the stand, pulling out the cotton, alcohol and tweezers. He carefully removed my sock and it made me wince. He took cotton and applied alcohol then placed it down, then picked up the tweezers.
"Squeeze my shoulders if it hurts."
I did just that before he started. He squeezed my foot and it caused pain.
Jack then ever so carefully removed a piece of the glass.

"Ow! Jack that hurts, you idiot!" I yelled.

"I know my lady, just bear with it." He huffed.

After he was done he wrapped it.

"Jack, it still hurts you big meany." I whined.

"The pain will go away soon, just relax. It's time to go to bed, my lady." Jack said as he covered me and got in my bed.
"Don't worry, I will leave you alone. Get some rest. In a couple hours we have to get up to investigate." Jack said and I drifted off to sleep.

Later I was awakened by a knock.
Jack got up and opened my door and he was met with Helios.
"Helios, you look tired. Did you sleep at all?" Jack asked.

"I could ask you both the same question of if you got any sleep at all.... Because what games were you two playing to be making all of that noise?..." Helios asked.

"We weren't playing any games. What do you mean?" Jack raised his eyebrow.

"You sounded like a bunch of wild chickens fighting." Helios replied.

"Wow, you're so funny." Jack rolled his eyes.

"I know, right?" Helios smiled.

"Helios... We saw her again." I whispered.

"When?" Helios asked.

"About 15 minutes ago." I replied.

"Hah... That's funny." Helios scoffed.

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Because I just met 'her' about 15 minutes ago too." Helios smiled.

[Reminder (I got lost for a minute myself):]
(Current year: 1884, Bill and Ashley were wedded in: 1870, Aisha's birth year: 1871, year of Ashley's death: 1876)