𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 ✰ 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝

✰ i ✰

"aaaand we're here!" kate exclaimed, dragging out the 'a' in 'and'. nora looked around as she felt the car slowly coming to a permanent halt. the teenager looked out the car windows in awe. the house was huge. even huge was an understatement!

"are you sure we're at the right place?" nora asked her mom. kate lightly chuckled.

"yes, of course. do you see any other house it could be?" this was a joke. the giant mansion was the only building in site for at least a few miles. although it was weird that this was the only house nearby, nora didn't think anything about it. she was just so amazed at the size of the structure.

she giggled at her moms response. "no... but still. we're going to get lost in her, mom. you know it's true, we suck at coordinates"

"this house has nothing to do with coordinates, it's directions that matter at the moment." kate told her daughter. she rolled her eyes.

"okay, sure, yeah.. same thing."

the whole time the duo walked up to the house, nora couldn't take her eyes off of it. how could she? it was bigger than any other building she had ever seen before in her life. there was no way she would be bored!

the should car ride nora was stressing about boredom, and living conditions. after all, she would be staying here for a long time. living here, for a long time.

"mrs grose?" the girl heard her mom call out. coming back to reality, nora looked at where her moms voice was coming from. she had entered the house. the short teen scurried after her mother to not be left behind.

when nora entered she forgot she was in a mansion, therefore looking for her mom instead of looking around at how big the house was.

"who are you looking for?" nora asked her when she finally caught up with her. she looked up at kate, who was looking around.

"the housekeeper." kate simply replied. nora nodded slightly. she was sticking close to her mom, in fear of everything. nora had a hard time adapting to new places that were big and empty(ish), also unfamiliar.

there wasn't a comforting warm welcome about this house that her own house has. it seemed very bland, despite it's size. and you bet it was scary, but nora didn't think it was scary. mainly because she wasn't observing much. she didn't want to. she missed home dearly, it hadn't even been 2 hours.

suddenly a small girly voice screamed 'boo!' and pushed both of noras legs. she screamed, but not that loud. when nora turned around, she was greeted by a little girl, with long dark brown hair. along with big brown eyes. she let out a small giggle, revealing her teeth. she was missing her front right tooth.

nora smiled back at the little girl. she was tiny, couldn't be older than eight.

she rocked her body around, still smiling up at nora. her hands were folded neatly in front of her at her stomach.

"hi! i'm flora!" the girl said cheerfully, now jumping up and down. kate was now facing flora too, watching her happily bounce while looking at her daughter.

"hi.. flora.." nora stammered, still shaken up from the push flora gave her. not to mention her anxiety from a new (semi permanent) environment. flora now turned to look at kate. kate smiled.

"you must be kate" flora declared.

"yup, that's me! oh, hey, flora, do you know where mrs grose is?" flora nodded vigorously, and pointed straight ahead of them. it seemed to lead to a kitchen, but the hallway was so long it was hard to be for sure.

"thank you!" kate began walking into that direction. as nora tried to follow her mom, flora tugged on her shirt. she swallowed hard, turning around to face the little girl.

"follow me. i'll show you around the house, and to your room."

-

"and the room next to yours," flora said. they were at the end of the hallway on the third floor. ",is miles' room."

"miles?" nora asked. "who's miles?"

"miles! he's my older brother. he's the best. you'll meet him... soon. maybe."

for the past fifteen minutes— maybe twenty— flora had been showing nora around the house while kate was talking to mrs grose.

"oh! i have an idea! let's go to the stables."

"stables?" nora questioned. flora was only seven, but nora already felt like her big sister sort of. she was a sweet girl and they got along nicely.

"yeah, we have horses you know... cmon!" flora grabbed her hand and ran down the stairs with nora.

trying not to trip, nora ran down the stairs with flora, and out the door they went. flora dropped her hand and began walking.

"do you ever get lost in your house?" nora blurted. she had completely forgotten about her anxiety until they left the house and remembered where she was, and how big the house was. flora looked at nora like she lost her mind, but her expression quickly softened.

"of course not silly. ive lived here all my life. if i didn't, that would be different."

they kept walking and nora didn't ask any other questions. flora didn't make any other comments.

when they approached the seemingly-abandoned stables, noras heart began pounding. it gave creepy vibes. and old.

"are there any horses?" nora asked, when they entered the stables.

"yeah? why would we have stables with no horses." flora giggled. nora didn't smile.

"i dunno. it just seems old. kind of broken down."

"hasn't your mom ever told you not to judge a book by its cover?" flora sounded kind of annoyed now, making nora feel bad.

"sorry, sorry..." it got silent until they approached one of the horses.

"this is delilah. she's my favorite. you can pet her nose if you want." delilah stuck her snout out at the girls, sniffing the air and puffing. nora smiled and scratched her nose. the white horse swished her tail around in happiness, causing both of the girls to laugh.

there was a sneeze of dissatisfaction coming from the other end of the stable. nora turned around.

"hey, who's that?" she asked. flora stopped petting delilah and turned around too.

"that's just samson. he's always grumpy. he only lets miles ride him."

"damn straight." a deep voice hissed. nora jumped, she was startled by the abrupt unexpected voice.

"w-who are you" nora asked, an obvious croak of fear in her voice. the figure opened up the gate and guided the horse out.

"miles." he simply said. when he came out with samson nora got a better view of him. her heart fell out of her chest. she didn't know why though. correction, she maybe did know why, but she felt weary about admitting to what it was. so maybe she didn't know.

"i can ask you the same thing." he told nora, approaching her. their faces were awfully close together. she began breathing quicker.

"my names n-nora. i'm the nanny's daughter."

"your name is similar to floras" miles said, smiling. his smile immediately made noras tense body no longer tense. she smiled along with him.

samson started digging at the ground with his hooves. miles turned around.

"well i have to tend to some important business." miles said sighing. "i'll see you later, nora." while miles was walking out of the stable with samson, he kept his eye contact with her.

most people would have thought it was creepy, weird, even, but she didn't. it gave her heart that same feeling, beating faster.

"so now you've met miles!" flora exclaimed "isn't he just so awesome?"