♠️ Exceptis Centrum ♠️ ✔︎

Chapter 13

“Alfred? Alfred.”

With a weary groan Alfred opened his eyes, his vision focusing as he gained consciousness. His bedroom was still dark and his alarm clock was telling him it was still late, but he was now wide awake for some reason. He slowly sat up whilst rubbing his eyes to get rid of the sleep dust that had built up, yawning and eventually stretching out his stiff muscles. He scratched his neck thinking he could go for some milk and some late night cookies, it might help him go back to sleep. The last thing he needed was to go to work in the morning sleep deprived.

“Hey Alfred.”

Alfred flinched when he heard his name being called, looking over to see a young girl leaning against his bed.

“You,” gasped Alfred, recognising the little girl from a dream he had before, wearing the same frilly dress and her large eyes looking like a sky of stars. “Am I dreaming again?”

The girl giggled and shook her head. “No, not tonight.”

Alfred sighed with relief but that didn’t explain why the girl was here, or who she was, what she was, or how she got in here in the first place. “You’re not going to take me back to that door are you?” Alfred wasn’t in the mood to get dragged back to that scary chained door.

“Nope.” The girl gave Alfred a reassuring smile. “I have confidence you can do it.”

“Do what?”

“What needs to be done,” replied the girl. “I can’t tell you everything just yet but like I said, I believe in you.”

Alfred raised a brow. “Why can’t you tell me?”

The girl looked away from Alfred for a moment, curling a finger in her fine hair before looking back. “I can’t spoil the story Alfred, it wouldn’t be right, but enough about that for now.” The girl suddenly hopped on the bed and sat next to Alfred. “How are you feeling?”

Alfred felt a little uncomfortable having a such a young looking girl sitting next to him in his bed, and he couldn’t help but scoot away from her. What was this all about? Why was this girl here and why was she suddenly curious about his feelings? The last time he saw this girl she guided him towards that accursed door and scared the living hell out of him. Looking into her eyes he could not help but shiver at how they looked like a pair of eerie voids of emptiness and yet at the same time they were full of life and mystery. Her smile seemed pure but there was just something about her that gave Alfred the creeps, she was acting all innocent and sweet so he couldn’t help but act suspicious.

“I’m doing well,” he answered, trying not to act awkward.

“That’s good,” giggled the girl, giving Alfred a sweet smile. “I caused you so much stress before, I’m sorry about that. I had to you see, but I’m glad you’re doing so much better.”

The apology seemed sincere but Alfred wasn’t going to drop his guard just yet. “Don’t worry about that.” The girl’s smile widened upon hearing that and a moment of silence passed. “Y- you’re not a ghost are you?”

“No,” laughed the girl, highly amused by the idea, “I’m just someone who’s lived here for quite some time.”

That still sounded like something a ghost would say. “Who are you anyway?”

The girl looked a little hurt for some reason and she pouted. “We met before Alfred.”

“Well yeah,” admitted Alfred, “but that was when you took me to that scary door-...”

“No, no, before that.” The girl’s smiled return as a look of nostalgia spread across her pale face. “We met long before that.”

“We did?” Alfred was certain he’d remembered meeting a girl like this one, she was very unique looking so it would be hard to forget someone like her. “When?”