Forums » General Roleplay » The Charred Manor

Within a Ghost Town where the former residents have all faded or moved, there stands a large manor. It is burnt and scarred by the flames that once raged through it. Soot and ash still line the deserted home, and the belongings are damaged. Age seems to have further crippled the structure, leaving decayed flooring and walls, layers of dust, and an eerie silence only broken by the sound of a piano that forever resounds from a bedroom on the highest floor. A feeling of loneliness and cold seems to encompass most that enter the solitary structure, a semblance of the manor's past...

But even though it was in such poor condition, it was a place that Natalia could stay warm. It was bigger than any of the other run down buildings and some areas were still in good condition. The one thing she hated though, was the loneliness. It was better than the possibility of being attacked though.
Natalia whimpered as she entered and started looking around for a blanket. The house was certainly eerie.

A moving van rolled down the street, carrying the furniture of the Hale family and their only daughter Cassie in the back. She had insisted on riding in the back of the moving truck so she wouldn't feel so lost in the car, after all Cassie was blind.

Parking in the long driveway, the movers got out of the front and opened the back, helping Cassie out. She nodded towards the sound of their breathing, her hearing more advanced then a regular humans, and took her walking stick from the couch where she was sitting. She walked carefully up the steps and ran her fingers along the burnt wooden railing on the patio.

"Poor house, you must be in pain." she said sadly, grasping the doorknob in her pale hand and opening the door. "Be careful Cassie!" He mom called from the car as she got out, ready to tell the movers where to put everything. "I won't be long." Cassie called back, walking into the narrow entry hallway, running her fingers along the burnt walls.

She walked along the hallway, running her walking stick across the floor for weak spots. "You need a nice family." Cassie said, talking more to herself then anyone else. She heard a piano playing from somewhere in the upper floors of the house and stopped a second to listen to it, humming along to the familiar tune.

"Hello?" she called timidly as the tune stopped and a new one started, slightly louder then the last. Cassie loved the piano, but could never play because of her blindness.

Natalia let out a startled cry as she heard an engine. She thought nobody lived in this town!
She quickly found a place to hide and curled up in a ball, shivering with fear until she heard a girl's voice.
She poked her furry, shark head up, "H-hello..." she responded.

Cassie stopped and listened for the feminine voice. It had come from the left of her, timid and scared. Cassie waved her stick to the left and hit the door frame of a room. "Please keep talking." Cassie asked walking into the room with the help of her stick, searching for the girl invisible to Cassie.

"O-okay..." Natalia Said quietly, "W-why are you here? No one else lives in this town..."

Cassie finally located the girl under the damaged and burnt bed, Cassie could tell this place was badly burnt from the charcoal walls and the smell of ash that lingered in the air. "I know they don't, my parents just moved here so they could make the town what it once was." Cassie said sitting against the bed and blindly staring at the wall, literally.

"Nobody is going to come back here... And be careful... This house could fall apart. There was a bad fire here a long time ago I guess."

"I can smell it." Cassie said, she knew people who lived here before wouldn't move back, but what if it became a tourist attraction. She pondered this while wondering why this girl was in the house. Cassie tuck her hand under the bed and introduced herself. "I'm Cassie, and if you don't mind me asking why are here?" she said, her motor mouth acting up again. Sometimes she was quieter then a mouse, other times she could give nudge from maximum ride a run for her money. Cassie loves books too, especially maximum ride.

(Those were good books )

"I-I'm homeless..." she said quietly, "I-I was hoping that I could find a place where nobody would hurt me... Y-you won't, will you?"

"Not at all." Cassie said, a smile on her face. "If you want, I could ask my parents to let you stay with me, as a helping friend." She said, shooting the idea off without hesitation. Cassie had little to no friends because of her blindness, people thought she was a freak 'cause she couldn't see.

"B-but... Would your parents mind that I'm like this...? Homeless and not human?"

"They would do anything for me." Cassie exclaimed, slightly shocked at the not being human part. That's what she get for being blind, she can only judge people by how they feel, sound, and smell. ((Lol)) "If your not human, then what are you?" Cassie asked innocently, hugging her knees waiting for the girl to come out.

Natalia finally stepped out of her hiding spot gently grabbed Cassi's wrists, her furry palms and soft pads on her fingers revealing she was an anthro.
"I'm part shark and part fox..." she said quietly, "I look like a shark but I have fox fur..." she said quietly. She knew that a lot of people were racist towards anthros and it was part of the reason she wasn't allowed in any shelters. Most were human only since a lot of humans didn't care whether homeless anthros lived or died and Natalia had to survive on the few dollars she occasionally got from a kind soul.

Cassie giggled as Natalia's soft paws ticked her wrists. She ran her hand over the soft fur on Natalia's arm, giggling as it tickled her. "Can you swim well?" The question came out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Laughing a little, she smiled up at where she heard Natalia's voice last, a little to the left of where Natalia was standing.

"K-kinda... Not as good as a regular shark. My fur slows me down... And my ears. I have fox ears," she commented and sat down then leaned against the wall.

Abruptly, the sound of the piano would halt. Voices had been heard carried throughout the old manor, new voices. The ghostly form that had been once playing now ceased. She was listening, listening intently.

Her form was currently immaterial, unformed. After all, she was unaware if these beings were dangerous. Yet, even so, the sound of her footsteps would echo on the creaking wooden steps as she walked down them.

Curious blue eyes gazed at the two ahead and - pointlessly - the ghost pressed her form behind a door as she eavesdropped.

Natalia froze as the piano upstairs stopped playing and her sensitive ears picked up the light creaks of feet on burnt wood, "Th-there's someone else..." she whimpered.

(Can I join?)

The clicking of metal books echoed through-out the massive charred building. The creeping of loose floorboards and broken stairs drifted toward the people who occupied it. From what seemed like a small fire, shadows danced across the wall giving the place an even more gloomy feeling. The rattle of swords against armor drifted quietly throughout the house. "Let the shadows dance." A low raspy voice came from the top of stairs. "Let them. Let them." The shadows then exploded engulfing the house in complete darkness. A high pitched scream cut through the air eliminating any noise from the people's mouths. A soft pitter patter sound came from the ceiling. The liquid oozing from the cracks, it was a deep red, blood.

There was a pause as she was noticed. This was bad. She remained silence, immaterial and unformed. Who was it that had entered her home, abandoned for so long?

Then there came a voice. It was a low voice and one that further startled the apparition. Darkness had filled her home, followed by a screech that made her grab for her ears. Terror was exploding within and her heart would have raced were it still beating. No, this girl was but an apparition, a wandering spirit, tied to her home.

Blood. Blood was seeping along the ceiling. Finally, it was too much. The spirit let out a shriek of terror. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" followed this. "GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!" she cried out, frightened.