Pass It Along/4

As the tour continued the kids lost interest very quickly. Dylan and Divinity were soaking in the architecture, the history, fascinated by everything dull and adult about the building in to which they are moving. Ophelia tried her best to be as interested as her parents, and spent time observing every carving, painting, and stylized piece of furniture they came across. The dining hall was enough to distract their attention for an hour or more, with a painted Muriel around the perimeter of this unnecessarily spacious room. The Muriel depicted the anthology of residents that had previously lived here, each depicting a different tale. Presumably it was all painted by the handyman, or someone like him. Divinity made a note to ask Frank about it later.

Barrett had lost interested all together. By now he had slipped headphones into both ears, unnoticed, covered mostly by the t-shirt he war, and his hair long enough that a small bud could easily hide beneath it. He was listening to his usually mess of gangster rap and heavy metal. His siblings thought him weird, even insane, for finding enjoyment in such music. His mother always failed to understand his taste, but tried to anyway, as only a mother could. He figured the music would drown out the incessant, life-draining explanations and, if he could just pretend to look at stuff, no one would be any the wiser.

Aaron and Brittany, on the other hand, were becoming less and less interested the tour itself, and more interested in mystery of the invisible children. Could there really have been no one there? But who gave him the note? Could it be ghosts? Fairies? No, neither of them really exist. Vampires? Brittany trailed over thought after thought in her mind, until she was distracted by her brother.

"Hey Brittany," Aaron whispered when they came to a stop in the dining hall, "do you really think there was no one there?"

"I dunno." Brittany was as much amused by the whole thing as she was puzzled. It's not like mom and dad to lie about that sorta thing, but someone must've given you that note!"

"But how come no one else saw them, and why'd Mister Mollister seem so nervous all of a sudden?"

"I saw'd them." Amanda, who had clearly been listening in to their whispers, shocked them both to silence at her nonchalant intrusion. "Those big kids outside? I saw'd them like you did."

Aaron and Brittany both looked at each other curiously. The more they discovered about this bizarre place, the more they were excited to pursue their own investigation.

"Hey Mister Mollister." Brittany quietly got the man's attention to the back of the group.

"Please, call me Frank."

"You said this place was worse than a haunted castle right? What'd you mean? Are there any ghost stories?" Frank looked nervous once again. Brittany knew she had him, and she wasn't about to let him get away without finding out who those children really were.

"I shouldn't. It's best you just put it all out of your mind."

"Please sir." Aaron chipped in, as eager for information as his sister. "We promise we won't cause any trouble."

"Any trouble? Ha! That kinda trouble is more than my life is worth..."

"Mister!" Amanda's small voice chimed in once again, much to the frustration of the thirteen year old. Why can't she just butt out of it. "It's just a story. There wasn't really anyone there, we just likes making scary stuff up." She sounded so sweet, so innocent, in the way she spoke. She was the perfect menacing genius, hiding it all beneath her princess looks.

Frank thought for a while, before he figured he couldn't hold out against such an adorable face. In truth, who could?! "All right, you got to promise not to tell your folks. There was a girl 'ere,not too long ago. A little one just a bit younger than you Aaron. She lived 'ere with her folks, just them."

"What happened?" Aaron and Brittany spoke in perfect unison.

"She went missin." The mouths of the kids opened slow.y as they processed what laid before them. Their eyes lit up as they realized they'd be confronted with a real life mystery, on the first day living here! "But that's not the strangest thing. The fold moved away from 'ere a year later, forgettin they even had a daughter in the first place!"

They didn't even remember her? Brittany thought that must be horrible. She could barely imagine what her parents must feel like if they lost one of her siblings, but to not even remember them?!

"But what does this have to do with the kids we saw outside?" Aaron wasn't getting it.

"The story says not so long ago this forest was home to a Pixie, who roamed 'round 'ere like he owned the place, when a new family moved in to this 'ere mansion. The Pixie was always curious about humans, so he took shape of a boy just as he always did, but never could tell much a' the difference between us and girls, so he still looked girly like in the face. The family had two boys who took a fancy to 'im, and convinced 'im to stay the night with them. That's when they did some nasty things to 'im..."

"What kinda nasty things?" Brittany and Aaron were deeply intrigued by this point.

"Must I spell it out for you? They raped 'im." Mollister leaned in to whisper that bit, positive he shouldn't be talking to the kids about it, and certain he wouldn't want the parents finding out to he was doing so. "The folks wouldn't believe 'im of course, not over their own flesh n blood. Says the Pixie was hurt, an' angry. I would be too mind you! He put a curse on this place, so the story says."

"What kinda curse?" Amanda chipped in again, mimicking her sister in the way she spoke. Brittany reeled at the thought that she was even still a part of this conversation, but supposed she couldn't exactly shake her now.

"The kind that drives a family mad is what kind. The youngest son, he was about eleven he was, started goin' mad, dressin strangely if at all, always actin weirdly around other kids, doin' who knows what with 'em. Boys and girls, mind, never all that choosy! Some says he even got one lass pregnant. He was a world of trouble, but always had a way of charmin kids and parents. Nicest cursed boy I ever heard of! The rest of 'em all started botherin' him less and less, 'til a year later they left to a new home, one son less than they'd came with. Story says they didn't even remember they had a second son."

"But that's just stories though, right?" Brittany quizzed. There didn't seem to be nearly as much concern in her voice as there should have been. It seemed, like her brother, she was more curious by this mystery than they were before. "There's no such thing as a Pixie?"

"That's what I thought when I started workin' here and was told them stories. But then the last family came, with a daughter. Only nine years old the poor thing! She started goin' mad like the boy did. Gymnophobic when she arrived, but before long she started talkin and actin in ways not right for any kid. They stayed two years before the girl went missin'. She was such a sweet little one, always so polite even til the day she vanished, but somethin changed her it did, specially when she was with any a the kids from the town down the hill. The folks left forgettin' they even had a daughter."

"Is that the same girl?" Aaron, like his sister, was growing ever more curious. "But I still don't get what is has to do with the kids in the garden?" Aaron's slow deduction rewarded him with a gentle smack on the head by his sister.

"The strange Pixie boy, plus two kids that went missing!" She explained like she was talking to an idiot. "Could that really be true though, those are the missing kids?"

"I dunno. Maybe it's true and this place really easy haunted by a Pixie who steals kids. Or maybe I'm goin mad and imaginin' it all. Or maybe those really was my kids in the garden and I made the whole thing up to give you all scares." A grin appeared on Frank's face for the first time that day. "But you hear me right kids, you best be fogettin' those stories and thinkin' nothing of 'em. Now, where were we..."

Frank trailed off as he prepared to lead the group prematurely from the artistic haven they were in. He left Brittany and Aaron wondering why he even told them the story in the first place if he didn't want them investigating it for themselves. Aaron looked slowly at his sister, who shared the same look he did.

"We're gonna investigate right, 8pm at the swimming pool?" He asked, more hopeful than he needed to be.

"Duh! What kind of Schultz's would wee be if we didn't?!"

There was one small detail they had forgotten as the glowing, irresistible eyes of a six year old looked up at them.

"Can I come?"

--Jackmaster (talk) 01:10, 19 August 2018 (CEST)

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