Bound To Fall | Alastor

Chapter Two

(Please comment and vote) 1622 words without a/n at the bottom

HIS ARRIVAL

The day was warm. Almost too warm, in Mallory's opinion. Her brows were furrowed as sweat slowly built upon her brow whilst she continued to work on packing away the final boxes before Bethany came home from school.

Her brown eyes flicked towards the clock she had hung in the kitchen and groaned. She had two hours until Bethany would be home, and it almost felt like she wouldn't have enough time. There were several boxes left over, and she didn't want Bethany to be stuck pivoting around them for another night.

"There's the attic...i suppose?" She mumbled to herself, glancing towards the hatch in the hallway near the front door. Mallory looked to the boxes left, looked at their labelling and then sighed to herself. "I guess it wouldn't hurt..." she placed the box she had in her hands down and brushed her hands off before moving to get a chair from the kitchen. She couldn't quite reach the hatch.

The legs of the chair scraped horrendously over the flooring, to which made Mallory wince but she continued to drag it until it was underneath the hatch and climbing onto it. Her arms raised in the air, her fingers curling against the hook of the latch and tugging downwards, careful not to do it too harshly. With caution, Mallory got off of the chair and eased the stairs into the attic down, huffing at the dust that came off of it.

She should probably check its empty before shoving her stuff up in the attic. With a determined huff, she made her way up the stairs and into the dusty, dark attic. Its cold air ran shivers up her spine and she found herself frowning. It was practically barren, from what she could see.

Mallory frowned deeply, brushing her knees off before reaching towards a small string that would turn on the light within the attic, trying to make sense of what she could see. When she tugged, the room became dimly lit. The light flickered and never stayed fully on for more than five seconds before flickering once more.

There was a thick layer of dust over everything, including a lone box. At first, she looked over the box and continued to examine the attic, of which was unnervingly bare, before she snapped her gaze back to the box.

"Okay." She nodded to herself before making her way towards the lone box with cautious steps. It seemed so out of place, but the thick layer of dust told her it hadn't been moved for a while. But then again, there was a couple fresh finger marks on the corners of the box that caused her to frown deeply before she shrugged the doubt away. "Lord please don't let this be cursed or something." She mumbled before picking up the box gently and moving towards the stairs. She decided it was best to open the box in the kitchen, where she could see clearly what was inside.

The dust almost floated off the box when she placed it onto the kitchen counter, coughing a little as some dust had arised and floated into the air. She waved her hand a little before she cleared her throat and looked to the slightly discoloured and stained box. There were dark brown-ish stains, of which was rather suspicious to Mallory but she presumed it was just a really old box and it had gotten damp over time.

That was definitely it.

"Come on, Mallory, you can do this." She hyped herself up a little, waving both hands up and down as though it would help to ease her spiked nerves. The static in the air was back, seemingly making the moment far more intense than it was supposed to be. The hairs on Mallory's body stood up and her heartbeat quickened, her fear spiking but she gulped it down and reached out. Her fingers shook slightly, and she was frowning rather a lot, but when her hands came into contact with the dusty box, her nerves slightly eased.