He offered her his umbrella, tilting it shyly above her head. She laughed, a million twinkling bells, saying she loved the rain.

So, they walked, drenched, droplets clinging to flowing silhouettes. Shoulders brushing, sneakers splashing through puddles, laughter and the occasional sneeze punctuated the air. Every streetlight seemed to glow with a tender light, every raindrop a gentle caress.

They didn’t say it out loud, but both of them- they’d remember that walk long after they were in the close comfort of their homes.

No one believed the sky would collapse, or that stars would fall- but she kept folding them anyway- tiny paper ones, tucked in glass jars that glimmered under the silver kiss of moonlight.

They were too eternal, too distant for human hands.

No one had been to this sacred place in years. She shouldn’t have gone to the old lighthouse, not alone, on a night where danger lurked around shadowed corners and ominous whispers permeated the very essence of the air. One could never know what happened under the stifling blanket of darkness.

For those who haven’t read the prequel to this story, here is the link-(The Box In The Attic (Part 1) | Mili’s Mindscape (miliscape.com))

Enjoy!

A few days. A few hours. That’s how less it can take to completely change you. It’s almost amusing, when your life seems normal, you’re on your daily routine, grabbing a cup of coffee, running for the bus because you’ll be late to school or work, birthdays, Christmas, a happy, picturesque, maybe monotonous, sometimes boring, typical week. Restart. Repeat. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Sundays, stretching on and on and on. Nothing extraordinary or abnormal…right?

The dark gray sky thundered with a menace and the clouds were an angry red. Lightning flashed across it and the heavens hurled rain down at Earth. Susie flinched, hearing the sharp sound of thunder. Downstairs, her brother Liam called to her. “Susie, are you talking to your imaginary friend again?”, he asked mockingly. Their mother sighed, although she knew Liam was right. This was the fifth time this week that Susie had been speaking to “someone” in her room, and her mother was extremely fed up with it. She had tried to rid the habit of this in her daughter, but her words seemed to fall on deaf ears.