Burnington Secrets: Part II

Shiloh’s gaze was furious and unwavering from the grim building that was the Burnington Estate. It seemed as if the dark picture would only be complete if lightning were to strike overhead. The outer stone had gone a blue/black color over the years and climbing weeds grew in the crevasses of the stone. Lightning cracked overhead and another down poor of rain came. Shiloh frowned, a confused determination coming over her.

“Shi, I really hope your not thinking of going in there. The police have already looked everywhere…” Wes started to plea, but Shiloh was already stiffly advancing back down the trail to the gargantuan front doors. Wes had no choice but to follow after her.

As he tried to convince her that they needed to go home now, Shiloh was forming a plan. She didn’t care about the rain. She didn’t care that it was past dinnertime. She didn’t care that this was probably the most stupid thing she had ever done. All she cared about was getting Sammie. She had to be inside the Burnington Estate. And she was going to get her out.

Shiloh tugged at the locked doors. They looked about a thousand years old and as if the wood was rotting.

“Wes, do you think you could, maybe… “ She batted her eye lashes at him, and he clenched his jaw. Bracing himself for the blow, Wes ran shoulder first at the middle of the double doors. Just as Shiloh had thought, they blew right open, swing with a loud and haunting, WOOSH.

If she knew anything about Wes, it was that he was always willing to show off his strength. Football for ten years wasn’t all for nothing, right?

They walked in together, and inky blackness was all that could be seen inside. They both flipped open their phones like a flashlight, and suddenly Shiloh’s blood ran frigidly cold. Dark spots stained the floor. Not any kind of excessive bleeding, but little droplet’s from a small girl’s wounds.

The furious confidence that once inhabited Shiloh vanished like sand through her fingers. She clung to Wes’s arm, almost so tight she thought she might cut off his circulation. If he was in pain, he wasn’t showing it, but she saw equal fear in his dark eyes.

They slowly walked forward and Shiloh’s voice quivered. “Sammie?” she whispered, the silence unnerving her. “Sammie? Sammie?” they both whispered, each time gradually getting louder and moving deeper into the house. Then a heart stopping crash echoed throughout the house, making Shiloh and Wes scream. The crashing continued, as if it were coming down a hallway- towards them.

Shiloh turned around her heart beating so wildly it all ran together. It seemed that they had gone so far into the house that the dim light from the front door could no longer be found.

“Wes get me out of here,” She hissed as he had already begun to drag her out. A moan type scream came from somewhere behind them. Shiloh cut loose and split for the door screaming as if she had never used her vocal cords before. The front door finally came into view and just as they made it back out into the pounding rain, she turned around to see the dimly lit figure of a man sprinting after them, a knife in hand.

They ran past the glass house, past the overgrown garden, only to find the front gates closed, and locked. They pressed their backs against the gate, both thinking franticly of some kind of escape. Then, he was outside, running at them. A demented, twisted, torturous look cringed in his eyes, almost as if he were foaming at the mouth.

Hopelessly, Wes and Shiloh began to climb the gate. As she franticly tried to find something to hold onto, Shiloh cut her hand on a large, sharp thorn. Black sticky blood gushed slowly out of the wound. But she stopped, cold stiffness striking her when the man said her name.

“Shiloh, you don’t really want to leave, do you?” he laughed. “You came to get something, didn’t you? But you never thought of me.” He giggled at first, but began to laugh hysterically, the rain fogging his features. The clouds seemed to turn a strange grey/yellow above and the rain poured in buckets.

“Did you really think you were going to find her? DID YOU?” the man screamed. His lips curled to form a distorted smile, one side leaning down slightly, the other revealing far too many yellowing teeth.

“Who are you!” Shiloh shouted, her voice cracking and tears coming far to quickly. “What did you do to Sammie!”

A shadow fell across the man’s face and he took a few steps forward. Wes stepped in front of Shiloh. “You don’t remember me?” He smiled. “I’m Paul. From the day care.”

It all suddenly came rushing back to her in a heavy wind. When Sammie was a toddler, she had gone to a daycare. Paul had worked there, but Shiloh had never trusted him. He just didn’t seem completely right in the head. She told the director her worries, and it was later discovered that Paul had been smoking drugs at the day care, keeping a dense supply in his car. As he was being hauled away to jail, Paul had looked at her with the same, demented look he was giving her now.

“Guess what? I know where Sammie is.”

From inside the house could be heard a girls high pitch screaming- tortured, pain-filled screaming.

Burnington Secrets: Part I

Shiloh ran through the pounding rain, her bare feet bleeding against the gritty gravel road. Her chest heaved as she pushed herself forward away and away from the miseries that clung to her home. Sammie was gone. Forever and ever gone.

Daddy seemed to have forgotten his job at the college, and now spent the days vigorously cleaning. Momma didn't talk anymore. The eerie silence that hung heavy over the spotless furniture in the McFadden house was too much. The stillness of country life was too much. The fact that her only sister was missing… never to be seen again… well, it suffocated Shiloh’s very soul.

Turning forcefully into the abandoned Burnington Estate, Shiloh flew with all her might to the safety and comfort of the overgrown gardens. No one came to the Burnington Estate. No one had lived there for over sixty years, and the unlocked doors welcomed any who dared. While the youngsters in town came up with wild stories to haunt each others souls, and dared each other to face the “Burnington Ghost,” Shiloh only new this place as a sanctuary of hope and regeneration.

She lowered herself down to the bench inside the glass house. It had two doors from the trail and another pair of doors opening over the large, plant-filled pond. Shiloh opened the doors and slipped her bloody, pounding feet into the icy water.

Her brown hair dripped rhythmically on her arm. Shiloh’s golden brown eyes, once filled with sunshine and love, now were clouded by lose and doubt. She ran over that night again, slowly swishing her big toe back and forth next to a water lily. After dinner, while the evening still glowed orange, Sammie announced that she was going for a walk. She wore her favorite pink dress and the necklace that Shiloh had given her on her seventh birthday last March. On it hung a small silver anchor, a symbol for Sammie’s love for the ocean.

No one had thought anything of her walking by herself. It was normal in their small town. Sammie did it all the time. But six hours later when she didn’t return, the police went out to search for her. Shiloh had sat in her room crying and praying and worrying. But none of that helped, because two months later not a footprint had been found.

Suddenly Shiloh’s phone rang, ripping her from her memories. She pulled it out of her pocket and seeing the name “Wes” flashing, she chuckled.

“Hey Wes,” Shiloh mumbled in the only tone she could muster.

“Hey, where are you? I was wondering if we could talk,” he voice was sincere and he seemed concerned about something. It’s just like him to worry about me, she thought.

“I uh… I’m not at home right now…” she started, not really wanting to reveal her secret hiding place altogether.

“Let me guess. Your at the Burnington Estate?” He asked, coyness in his voice.

“How did you-” Shiloh began, but jumped rigidly at the gentle tapping against the doors into the glass house. She swung around to see Wes standing outside in the rain, a phone to his ear. Though slightly shocked at him finding her here, Shiloh wasn’t all that astonished. Wes knew her almost as well as she knew herself. They’d been best friends since diaper days.

Shiloh let him in, and he shook his shaggy brown hair, sending water droplets flying in every direction. She squealed in response, and then hit him on the arm, not bothering to ask how he found her. He’d probably known all along.

“I uh… wanted to see how you’ve been. I know you and your family have been cooped up in the house for the last few weeks. We haven’t talked that much.” They sat back on the bench, and again dipping her feet in the water, Shiloh clenched her jaw. The attack of tears was an evil force that she had been determined to overcome. She had only let herself cry a little, but never showed any of the pain.

But she couldn’t hide it from Wes.

Looking into his eyes, Shiloh searched for something to grab onto as she slipped deeper into the cold, damp darkness of depression. She put her head on his shoulder, looking out at the constant patter of rain on the pond, and she cried. Shiloh let the pent up tears flow out in heaves and fits of rage and exhausting sadness. Wes knew to hold her in a hug, and just let his hurting friend hurt.

When the rain had lightened and the sky had grown a darker shade of grey they stood up, beginning to walk back to the road. Wes had his arm around her shoulder, and Shiloh slowly drug her feet. Then, a silver flash caught her eye somewhere in the garden. She turned her head to the right, looking over the dense green and growing weeds- another sparkle in the light rain.

Shiloh walked in a trance towards the object. Pushing her way through the shrubbery, she could feel Wes’ concerned gaze on her. Then, she saw it. It just sat there… as if it had no knowledge of its being.

There, thrown across a tall growing weed, was the silver broken necklace chain, and the small silver anchor laying still on a leave. Covered in blood.

All this makes me want a nap...

It seems that my dearest blog has been forgotten in these last few weeks. How sad. But it's not difficult to imagine in the craziness of the past few weeks. Turning fourteen, having a spiritual awakening, starting high school, trying to frantically brush up on my french, and the awesomeness God's making happen at Freedom Church. So, as best I can, let me try and sum of the last few weeks.

Well I turned fourteen (joy!), which brings two surprises to me. 1. Sweet! I'm another year older! And I actually feel older. 2. Crap. I'm still younger than everyone. Poo. Overall though, I am enjoying the smaller space in years between my friends and I.

I had a pretty awesome realization at the end of summer. I have grown so much over this summer, mostly thanks to God placing me at Freedom Church. The people there have helped me to mature and learn more than I have in months. I began to see what God was trying to teach me, and understood for a while that some of the bad or uncomfortable things we go through in the end leads to God doing some amazing things in our hearts.

High School. First thought - "Well FINALLY! I'm so sick of middle school. I'm here! I'm really, really here!" Oh the excitement. Second thought- "Well crud. This is no fun." On the one hand, I so love high school. It's not middle school, I'm making friends, it's not middle school, my teachers are awesome, and it's not middle school. Did I mention that it's not middle school? On the other hand though, its still school. My French II class is pretty intense. Mrs. Duvall does not like English. At all. Pout. So now I'm having to remember everything I can possibly remember to form a sentence.

This weekend had to be one of the most intense, worshipful, joyful, and funny-as-heck weekends in a while. Freedom Church hosted a youth conference called ENGAGE 09'. It was an all day thing with bands, speakers, food, growing, and life-change. The worship that went on Saturday absolutely blew my mind. Then, to double up the amazement, Sunday morning J.R. Lee's message on Honor absolutely rocked. (We even had an old school choir come sing. Those girls could sing!) So this has been a very crazy and exhausting end of summer and start of the school year. I cannot wait to see what happens next. (Although I would like a nap before that happens...)