((Sorry for the long delay in any updates to my fan fiction. But I have been vacationing in Hell and although the weather is warm this time of year and it is a nice place to visit, I wouldn’t want to stay there :-P))
The Time Draws Closer: Chapter Six.
“This way, not much further now. Hurry along there.” Mr Felsen encouraged into the unrelenting gloom, as the weary group trudged after him. “The sooner we get back to the Great Hall the sooner your adventure can begin. Isn’t this exciting?” He turned and gave everyone a hearty broad grin. “This old place does tend to feel creepy in the wee hours.”
“The only thing creepy about this place is that old hag.” Raphael muttered to Leo as he nodded his head in Maggie’s direction. “We’d all be better off if she just hopped on her broomstick and left.” Leo craned his neck to look at Maggie as she shuffled behind them, an enthusiastic Michaelangelo in tow babbling about spirits, the after life and did she really know next week’s lottery numbers? A sharp poke in his ribs jolted Leo’s attention back to his sceptic brother. “Don’t look at her!” Raphael hissed keeping his voice low. “She’ll know we’re talking about her.”
“If she’s physic won’t she know that already?” Leo questioned pressing onwards behind the quivering hulk of Mr Felsen. This time Raphael couldn’t resist the overwhelming urge to sneak a look at Miss Lydon. Her face was turned towards Michaelangelo, who sprang in step beside her, his mouth still chattering away. Maggie’s beady eye caught Raphael’s attention, was she looking at him? It had to be his imagination, a trick of the light, after all his eyes were tired.
“The spirits know you’re here disbeliever!” Miss Lydon cackled through her crooked yellowing smile. “They do not like your presence.” Her dark eyes flashed with a malevolence only a spiteful child could muster.
Raphael quickly faced ahead shooting Leo a ‘nutcase at 6 o’clock’ look.
The group came to an abrupt halt; Mr Felsen stooped, waiting in the corridor, to his right lay a door mirrored on his left by its partner. “How many rooms does this place have?” Michaelangelo wondered aloud.
“Hundreds.” Mr Felsen boomed echoing down the passageway. “Many of them to this day still lay u-n-d-i-s-c-o-v-e-r-e-d!” Mr Feslen wriggled his fat fingers, playing with the word as if to turn it into something more. “These are the rooms you will be spending the night, I strongly recommend in pairs.” Raphael’s face plummeted on this suggestion; there was no way in hell he was going to be stuck with Leo for a whole night. “On my right we have the Pink Room” Mr Feslen restarted clearing his throat. “Many paranormal sightings have been reported in this room. None more so then those of the Radiant, or Blue boy.”
Miss Lydon squeezed her frail frame to the front of the group and took her place beside Mr Felsen. After a short silence, penetrated only by her wheezing breath, she began. “When the hour of midnight sounds, when the witching time is upon us!” She thrust her thin skeletal finger in the air and shook it in warning. “A piercing cry, a moan of agony or fear would wake the slumbering guest of this room. The screams of a child, tortured, pain racked.” She slowly curled her finger back into her tight discoloured fist. “The noises were traced to a spot on the wall.” Once again Miss Lydon cautiously extended her emaciated finger to indicate the far wall.
“The wall was opened.” Mr Felsen burst in. “Revealing the skeletal remains of young male child.”
“The bones of his hands and his teeth were worn down by the child’s frantic attempts to claw himself from his dark tomb.” Miss Lydon’s creaky voice wavered. She closed her eyes and clutched her chest. “Terrible.” She breathed. Mr Felsen took Maggie by the shoulders and led her from the room. “My dear, I fear the strain maybe getting to much for you.” Maggie waved off Mr Feslen’s concern.
“Yeah.” Smirked Raphael. “She could wind up in the nuthouse.” Leo’s stern glare and discreetly performed ‘cut throat’ action across his neck soon silenced Raphael.
“It is alright Felsen my dear chap. Although it is very draining and I feel my energy slipping away. The spirit’s stories must be told.” She paused and took a dramatic shuddering breath. “So they can be at peace.” She flicked her eyes skywards and let out a lengthy sigh.
Leonardo quickly scanned his brothers’ faces. Raphael’s remained unreadable under a cloak of anger and shear stubbornness. Michaelangelo cast his eyes upwards, following Maggie’s gaze with child-like wonder. Donatello only seemed to be looking in at the room, but Leo knew his brother too well to believe that. Already Donatello was hard at work, examining, inspecting, proving and disproving his own theories. Leonardo allowed himself a glace over at their strange guides into the realm of the ‘unknown’. Mr Feslen was shielding Miss Lydon from Leo’s view with most of his massive bulk. Leo pushed out a long breath, letting his shoulders fall. What on earth or not of this earth had they let themselves in for? Still he couldn’t shake the feeling that not all was as it seemed.
((Thanks to Nikki of AOL’s Stressed Out Adults for compelling my to get off my backside and start things rolling again))