Blurb: A young woman runs into some inexplicable things during a night in a German castle.
Ever since I was young my family never let me have anything to do with supernatural things. They are so superstitious that when they found out my little sister had an imaginary friend they were almost scared to be around her. They sent her off to a boarding school the next week at six years old. Life has been pretty great. I’ve never got into trouble, finished high school with straight A’s. So why not take a gap year with my best friends in Germany. Mila Lene’s family is from Germany so she's kinda paying for the whole thing and Fern Jones is just in for anything at this point. Fern and I don’t really know what to expect other than we probably will be doing something off the chart because Mil is mad rich. We secretly joke that her family is part of the German mafia and that is why they still have the house in Germany that they never go to. It would also would explain the money.
It was about 26 hours from Washington to Dresden, Germany and at that point, I wanted to collapse and fall asleep, but Fern and Mila had no plan on relaxing anytime soon. When we arrived at her fairly big house Fern and I book it to the main room.
“If you guys think you're staying in this room then I’m shipping you back to America,” we hear Mil comment from behind us.
She gestures us to follow her and leads us into a room the size of my living room, back home. The walls were painted red at one point but years of “abandonment” left them faded in the corners of the room. Two beds sit in the corner dressed in silver silk blankets.
“You two will be staying here. I’ll be back I need to go find the groundskeeper.” Mila said as she left the room in a bubbly manner. I threw my duffle bag filled with clothes on the floor near one of the beds and plopped myself on top of the bed. The silk felt cool and the bed almost devoured me when I fell on it. I closed my eyes for a moment and I felt my whole body disconnect.
I woke up to the strong smell of coffee and bread. I slipped out of bed and start to stumble to the kitchen. Every step sent a shot of dull pain up my legs from sitting for the whole plane ride. As I came around the corner and saw Fern and Mila laughing and sipping coffee and taking pictures of their bread and marmalade.
“Are you guys going to eat that, or are you saving it for me?” I bearishly said.
“Oh good, you're awake! Hurry and eat so we can start our day!” Mila joyfully pointed at the coffee and fresh bread on the counter.
After breakfast, I got dressed in hiking boots and jeans with a plain t-shirt. Meanwhile, Fern was wearing the same outfit as yesterday, and Mil was wearing a sundress and beat-up converse. We left the house, and the crisp air was a slap in my stuffy sinuses. We entered the car and I whispered in Ferns' ear.
“Do have any idea where she is taking us?”
“She could be taking us to the German mafia headquarters.” She giggled back.
Mil turned around from the back seat and nearly blew out my eardrums
“First stop Burg Wolfsegg!”
Then she shared a devilish look with Fern who almost looked mad and then shook it off. First time out of the country, the first time without my family barking orders at me. It feels a little too good to be true. I thought I must have gotten a little too deep in my thoughts though because before I knew it we rounded a corner with the most beautiful castle I’ve ever seen.
“Carolin, Carolin!” Both Mila and Fern were trying to get my attention but I too starstruck to even come close to answering them. The castle sat perfectly on a hill its exposed white cement walls taunted me but, there was something melancholy about this place.
“Carolin!” Fern punched me in the arm and shook me a little bit.
“Yeah, yeah uh what?” I quickly responded.
“Are you ready, my groundskeeper hooked us up she gave us a private all exclusive tour of the castle!” Mil jumped up in down in her seat and pushed her long blonde hair behind her ears.
“Well can we please get out of this car we’ve been in here for three hours Mil.” Fern complained while clawing at the window.
Hmm it didn’t feel like three hours, to me it felt like a few seconds…
The closer we got to the castle the creepier it got. At first, I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, but something didn’t feel right. My stomach was tightening and the blood was rushing away from my face. I felt kinda light headed.
“Ah, lady Mila Lene I haven’t seen you in so long.” A strong German accent came from behind us Mila turned around and gave the man a gentle smile.
“Well let's get started shall we?” The man looked uncomfortable.
“Yes please!” Fern quickly said.
We started walking down the poorly lit hallway. The man pointed at pictures and rooms I could barely understand his mumbling. Even when he spoke clearly, I was too distracted by my stomach.
It must be the airplane food. I thought.
“Does anybody live here?” I questioned.
“No, why would they? This place is too dangerous.” Answered the man.
“What do you mean?” I leaned in to hear his answer closely.
“It doesn’t matter Carebear!” Mila pushes me away from the man and I give her a dirty look for calling me Carebear and we continued down the hall. I ran ahead of Mila and the tour guide to catch up with Fern.
“I want to leave.” I firmly stated.
“We can’t just ditch Mils.”
“Why are we here Fern?” I try to read her body language, but she stared at me blankly.
“To tour a castle dummy.” she laughed. I started jogging the opposite way she was going and as passed Mil I told her I would meet her back at the house. The hallway was long and cold and I couldn’t remember where I had come from. My head was in a cluster, I needed to get out of this stupid castle. Before I knew it I was sprinting into random rooms. I couldn’t find my phone to call Fern. Then I saw her, it was almost like I had seen an angel. A lady in all white moving swiftly down the hall like she had been there before.
“Hello?” I called out to her, but she walked out of sight. I left the bedroom I had been in and chased after her.
“Please wait a minute I need help!”
She again turned a corner out of my reach. A dead-end hallway put her to a stop. Her long golden hair lay shaggily on her back as she stood looking at a portrait of an angry looking general. I neared closer to her. I noticed that this must have been one of the hallways they don’t heat in the castle because it was almost like a frozen tundra.
“Miss, I don’t mean to bother you, but I’m lost I just need some help getting out of here.” I reached my hand out to tap her shoulder, but in a blink she was gone, as if she had melted into the floor. I rubbed my eyes to see if they were playing tricks on me. I heard Fern galloping down the hallway. She needs to make an entrance no matter where she is.
“Hey! looks like she took her own tour!” Fern laughed her raspy voice sent shivers down my spine.
“I thought you were leaving CareBear.” Mil came up from behind Fern and looked concerned.
Maybe she can see the distress on my face. I thought.
“I-I, um, got lost.”
I felt dizzy and like I was going to throw up.
“Here, let's get you out of here.”
Fern looked sadly at Mil and grabbed my hand to guide me through the halls…
I got in the car and felt a breath of relief.
“What happened in there Caroline?” Fern buckled her seatbelt.
“I um, saw a lady I guess.”
I rubbed the back of my hand uncomfortably. Fern instantly looked up at Mila and got the same look of anger but she didn’t shake it off this time.
“Nobody else was in that castle Carolin, you were probably just seeing things because you're tired, we all are. We only got a few hours of sleep.”
Mil looked unbothered by the whole situation which means she was probably right.
“Then I say we take the rest of the day to rest.” Fern looked almost angrier, but I agreed with her. Back at Mila’s house, I rushed past both of the girls and went straight to bed. As soon as the pillow met my face everything went dark…
“Get off of me!” a woman pushed her raged husband away from her.
“This is unacceptable and you will pay!” The man burst out of the room and slams the door...
I woke up in a cold sweat like I had been floating above myself the whole time. I opened the curtains and the sun came beaming in. The housekeeper had already made coffee and bread. Really!? Bread again. I’m craving a breakfast burrito about now. I walked into the other room where Mila was sleeping and I launched myself at her.
“Wake up!” I screamed and ruffled her hair. We shared a quick laugh and shortly after Fern came in and jumped on us.
The second day of Germany was a lot better than the first, even though I missed my family and my house. I think Fern felt the same way. Every now and then I catch a glimpse of her looking at her phone contemplating calling her family, but she never does. But as the day went on I felt sicker than yesterday. A headache like you wouldn’t believe and a stomach ache worse than before.
“You don’t look so good CareBear.” Mil reached her hand out to touch my head.
“I’m fine.” I laughed back at her.
There's no way I’m getting sick in the first week I’m in Germany.
“You’re burning up Carolin! Why didn’t you say anything sooner!” Mil pulled her hand away in disbelief, and then Fern reached for my face. I swatted her hand away from my face, feeling a little irritated that they didn’t believe me when I said I was fine.
“Guys, I don’t feel sick. I’m fine!” I lied to myself and them.
“Okay well next we are going hiking, are you up for that?” Mil questions.
“Of course, I’m fine!” I yelled at her.
The hike was great the view was amazing.
“Hey, guys I’ll be back I‘m just going to take a picture over there.” I lied.
Instead I ran over to the cliff I threw up everything that I had ever eaten. Seriously it was a whole lot of puke. I sat down feeling light-headed. Well, more like fell down my legs dangled off the cliff.
“Jump.” A chilled voice was next to me that made me feel even sicker. As I looked around I saw no one.
“Excuse me, hello?” I screamed. The feeling that I was alone scared me.
“Jump.”
The voice sent shivers through my whole body the hairs on my arms stood up. I felt a rock slide up my throat. Guess what, more vomit. Everywhere. I stood up and tried to find Mil and Fern. The tall rocks around me helped me keep my balance when I started to fall.
“Mil! Fern!” I screamed as I tumbled down the rocks.
My head felt warm, and wet?
“CareBear omg!” The high pitched tone gave me a headache. Or maybe it was the rock I was laying on I couldn’t really tell. I stumbled to get up.
“I’m fine.” I tried to muster out the words, but I didn’t think they heard me.
“CareBear we need to take you to the hospital.”
“I’m fine Mil, let's just keep hiking.” I felt the top of my head and the warmth spread down my neck. I pulled my hand away from my head I felt wet hairs stick to me. My hand was completely covered in blood.
Later at the house.
“I'm beat.” Fern mumbled
“Me too, that’s why I’m going to bed.” I giggled and shut off the light...
The air filled my lungs harshly. My bare feet suffocated into mud burning with every step from walking a long time. In the distance I see the moon lit castle. Many emotions flooded through my body, but they didn’t feel like mine. Nothing felt like me. I blinked around trying to find something or someone but it was just empty field and darkness.