Storm

Evie sat on her bed. In her hand was a small golden necklace- dangling from the delicate, glittering chain, was an eight-point star.

Evie sat on the edge of her father’s hospital bed.

“Take this,” he said. “It is the key.” When Evie asked what he meant, he didn’t answer. He drifted off to some distant place within his mind, leaving her with a thin gold necklace and a million unanswered questions.

It had only been a few hours since she acquired the strange little necklace. All she could do was stare at it. On her bedside was a sheet of paper with a list of things it could be the key to. A door, a trunk, a window, a diary…but none of those things made sense. Evie had never SEEN any of those items with an eight-point star shaped keyhole.

            “Destroy any evidence of who I am. After that is done, move to the apartments next door. That is where you will learn what you need to know,” her father had said. “They can never know.” That was what he had told her. Evie had assumed he was delusional- blood had been seeping out of his body, draining his already senseless mind of what sense it had left. Then at the hospital…this necklace. Either her father really was insane- meaning her mother was also –OR Rick Jakyl had just dragged his only daughter into a deadly otherworldly battle.

            Evie stood then. She must be crazy- what would anyone want with her drunk washed up father anyways? It didn’t matter though, whether or not Evie thought he was crazy, Rick had spiked her curiosity with the necklace. She needed to know what it meant and there was only one place to look.

            Evie donned a light jacket and pulled a scarf over her vibrant red hair so that anyone who might recognize her, wouldn’t. She climbed the rickety stairs to the top floor, a sharp pain exuding from her side, he little necklace clutched tightly in her fist. On the thirteenth floor, there was a thick carpet, sanguine, the color of blood. A long time ago, artists contracted paints from the subjects they were named after- a long time ago, sanguine was created with blood, giving it its deep red hue.

            Goosebumps ran along Evie’s arms, giving her a strange prickly feeling within. She took a step onto the carpet, puffs of ink black dust rising.

            How strange…Evie thought, prolonging  the moment when she would have to walk to the end of this dark hallway and open the door to the uppermost room of the uppermost floor. Taking a deep, ragged breath, Evie travelled the distance to the door. A tall mahogany door, brass numbers adorning the dusty surface. If she didn’t have a feeling that her whole life would change once she stepped through that door, it would have seemed completely unthreatening. She reached out a hand, berating herself all the while for playing into her father’s ridiculous games. Being shot isn’t much fun, it wouldn’t make for a good game, a tiny voice within said. Evie  tried to open the door, bracing herself for a world of wonder. The door was locked. Looking beneathe the handle, she saw a small star-shaped keyhole. Evie slid the necklace into the keyhole and the door clicked open. From outside, wind and rain pounded the building, the windows rattled. Lightning flashed like Evie’s life, changed forever.