Nevengton Valley

5: Phinn

I heard Kylee calling me so I ran to her. "Yeah what's up?" I asked calmly. She had set up an altar because we both studied witchcraft. I wrapped my arms around her "Thank you!" She nodded and grabbed her Tarot cards and sat on our bed. She started shuffling them and asking simple questions. I kissed her head and told her I was going to go explore the town. She nodded and kissed me gently on the lips. I giggled and put on some sweatpants and a t-shirt followed by some black and white arm warmers. I grabbed the house keys and left walking down the forest path that led to our house. I walked along a little bridge that went over top of a little stream of water. It smelled like flowers and pine outside. Everything in this town was quite sweet and sometimes even eerie. The clouds were bright pink because when we left it was still very early in the morning, so the sun was just rising. I walked over to a swing set that was in the middle of yet another forest area. I sat on the swing and pushed myself back and forth, using my legs to swing. As I did this a memory of when I was fifteen came crashing into me. I was walking through my neighborhood with my boyfriend who is now just an enemy of mine. I was wearing blue runners and a skirt with an oversized hoodie over top, at that time my hair was blood red. We were going to a party that was supposed to only have a handful of people, however it was packed. I looked at my boyfriend and said "Tyler why are we here if there are over twenty people here?" He just ignored me and laughed. We both started drinking, and got into a fight. It ended up with me getting punched and stumbling to my neighborhood's playground. My gay bestfriend Hunter was there to comfort me. He had blue dyed hair and always wore a jean jacket and skinny jeans, he was slim and measured five feet. He stayed with me in that park until it was safe for me to go home. Now back in the present a year later, very far away from the events of that night, I shed a tear to remember my late friend Hunter. I wiped my eyes and walked to the downtown area. I saw a shop called "Flower City!" I went in and bought Kylee a bag of sunflower seeds and I also bought an apple tree seed, and a few other things. I paid and left the store walking to and from different stores all along the pathways. I took out my water bottle and drank it to the bottom. I hadn't been taking care of myself and hadn't showered for almost a week so I was going to when I got home. When I got there I went to one of the three bathrooms and locked the door. I took off all my clothes and turned on the water. I stepped into the shower and let the shower clean me. My hair was all greasy and tangled but after I got out of the shower it was all poofy. I wrapped a towel around my chest and waist and started brushing my teeth. I spat the shit into the sink and cleaned up. It was so steamy there that I could write messages on the mirror. I laughed to myself because for the first time I looked like a boy, a hot one at that. I looked at my chest. I've been saving up for top surgery for the longest time and I almost had enough. I opened the door and turned the fan on, which I forgot to do. I went to the closet that had my comfy clothes and grabbed a pair of volleyball shorts and a sweatshirt. I went into the backyard to find Kylee playing with the dogs. I smiled and sat on her lap. She wrapped her arms around my torso. She pulled away after a little and laughed "Why hello there." My face was bright red and I was in a really clingy mood. So I just hugged her and sat there for a while. After about ten minutes I got up and sat beside her. Drip, Drip, Drip. The puppies ran inside the house. There was a big boom of thunder and then it started pouring. Kylee and I had already got in the house because we had followed Clouds and Bandit. There was zapping and then a powering down sound. The electricity had gone out. This was going to be a bad storm. We lit some matches and walked around the house lighting candles. By now it had been the evening so it started to get dark all around us. Kylee grabbed my hand and sat down with me on the couch. As we were very young still we had the bright idea to bring out a game, however like normal people who would play Monopoly or something normal Kylee and I got out a Ouija board. We both placed our hands on the Planchette and started asking questions. Nothing happened until I asked "Is there something hidden in this house?" It took a minute but the Planchette started moving around the board causing Kylee and I to take our hands off, normally it would stop but it did not and spelt BASEMENT. "Basement?" I tilted my head and we said goodbye. I grabbed a flashlight from the cupboard in the living room and turned it on. "Wanna come with me Kylee?" She shook her head. She was terrified of the dark, I was too but not as much as her. I turned the handle on the basement door and it opened with a very creaky noise. I made my way down the stairs and looked around. It was completely empty except for the big chest in the middle of the floor, so I bent down and picked it up. It was quite light but maybe that's because even though I was tiny I had muscle. I carried it up the stairs and shut the basement door behind me when I got up. I flashed the light on it. The chest was very old and seemed like it had not been touched for hundreds of years. The chest itself looked like something you would find in the late fifteenth century. It wouldn't open. So I grabbed a crowbar and snapped the padlock off. The chest opened but Kylee had to help me open the lid. Inside the first thing that caught our eye was a letter that read "Dearest Daughter if you are reading this I have breathed for a final time. Inside this chest are some of my favorite things that I collected through the years as a witch. Be warned though as some of these items might be haunted or enchanted in a way that is not so pleasant. Keep these items safe and never let them fall into the hands of evil. I love you my sweet, I will see you on the other side." I read aloud. Inside there were a number of things crystals, sage, old age Tarot cards, a stack of letters and notes, a bottle of Rum, a bottle of Whiskey, a bundle of black candles, white candles, some glass jars, incense ash and a big book titled "Valleys Of Hell" which was sealed shut. There was a lot more in that chest which included an Occult Tarot Deck, a spell book, a potion book, a spirit board, a bunch of bags holding herbs, plants, salts, stones, an Oracle Card Deck, an old notebook and also a golden quill. Kylee and I were so excited and we put some of the things on the altar and left other things in the chest. The power turned back on and we saw all the things in detail. They were very very delicate and have been preserved for around six hundred years. The items in this chest have never left it and the chest hasn't left the basement ever. I read through the spell book and giggled "This is so fucking cool babe!" I said excitedly. She smiled and kissed me and I kissed back. "There is so much sage in here that we won't need to restock for years" I continued but she stopped me "Phinn we have to find the owner of this chest or an ancestor because they need to give us permission to have these items." I nodded, "Who do you think owns this?" I asked and she smiled happily. "Well I bought this house from my Cousin so we could ask her." She suggested. I agreed and we waited out the storm which had been going on for hours. "Want me to do a Tarot reading on you Kylee?" I asked "Not right now love, we have some research to do and we need to cleanse this whole house bottom to top, you can give me one later though!" I nodded and went to the bedroom to read through the spell book. I was intrigued, except the book was written in very old English so it took me a while to read it. I then flipped through my spell book and started taking lots of notes. Hours of this and just this but it was fun for me. I learned quite a bit about olden day spells and how they work and what they did and most importantly how to cast them. Kylee had left to go find her Cousin. After she was gone I grabbed the stack of letters and notes then started reading them. The first one was a short letter written in very fancy handwriting. It read-  Dear Wife, how are the children doing? I apologize for not writing to you sooner, the war has gotten very messy and I have some bad news. In my most recent battle I was injured very badly and the medic had to amputate my left leg. I can no longer play ball with the kids, I may as well never come back, the kids will start to hate me. I know it's true. farewell to my love-Raymond John Lee. This letter was dated March thirty first 1940. I grabbed another one and read it- Ma, I haven't seen you in ages, the kids have gone hungry and I have no money to pay the bills. I really need some help out of my debt could you please send me a small amount of money to help me out- Your Daughter Hailey Smith Lee-1960 Nevenington Valley press. Huh strange my Grandmother wrote this letter to her Mother back in the sixties which means she had my Dad when she was thirty three. I grabbed one more which was quite lengthy. It was also my Mothers handwriting which shouldn't be possible because these letters were locked away for years. It read - Dear Sarah
The way you are sickens me and makes me feel unsafe, frankly I am glad you ran away, I don't miss you, all you did was whine about being female well guess what, you are and always will be just a girl, I didn't raise you to be a tranny see you in heaven, oh wait you are not going to heaven you disrespectful child. I roll my eyes. "Oh Caroline you sneaky little shit" I said to myself just remembering that my Mother was a witch. I completely ignored the whole letter because she was just trying to get under my fucking skin. I put the letters down for now and decided that enough was enough. I grabbed an envelope of cash and walked down to the town hall even though it wasn't legal to change my name yet and frankly impossible I did it. My name is now and always will be Phinn Rey Scarlet. I smiled after walking back home, climbed up to the roof, and started dancing. I took out my phone and turned on some good old rock and roll. I banged my head to the beat and jumped up and down. As I did this I saw a figure disappearing into what looked like a tree house. I walked over to the tree where it was and climbed up the ladder and immediately jumped. But before the person could do anything their voice broke the awkward silence. With a strong Scottish accent they said. "Hey, welcome to the Tree! My name is King Poison and I rule this part of Town." I looked at him. He had purple hair and a very small build. He was wearing a hoodie with a crown on the front of it and some old patched up skinny jeans. He must've been in his early thirties. "Your Majesty, I am Phinn'' King Poison smiled and grabbed my hand and pulled me to a fairly large junk yard which surprisingly did not smell bad. "This is my kingdom Skyline Victoria, all the people here are outcasts who come from all over the world which as you know was destroyed and brought back to life the very next year by an evil supernatural force which we call The Watching Ones, an-" I interrupted. "No I do not know what happened to the world" King Poison nodded "Let me explain, about twenty one years ago   
In the year 2001 there was a supernatural phenomenon called The Doll Suit Apocalypse, a group of scientists in a small suburban town found a way to steal the lives of innocents and put them in dolls however while they were kidnapping people one of the scientists brought a bible of the deceased into work and started reading it to everyone. He said the phrase "Open the gates and release them into the Doll suits, doll suits" and they came to life and went on a rampage slaughtering millions and causing the reactor core of the town that they were in to overwork itself resulting in  a devastating explosion that wiped out half the planet and now this new group uses dolls to spy on people, mostly on troubled youth such as orphans or defiant teens." I nearly zoned out but that last sentence grabbed my attention. I thanked the King and walked back to my house. I went straight to my computer and looked up "The Doll Suit Apocalypse" and of course I found nothing so I refreshed and scrolled down a bit. My computer flashed red and then the words "Always Watching" blinked on and off the computer. I turned it off frightened and backed away and then I saw it. A rope around a doll's neck. A hanging doll. I looked into its eyes and saw red. I prayed to myself "I hope my child never becomes an orphan."