FLOORBOARD
A rotten cavity now exists where a floorboard once concealed this hidden compartment beneath your feet. A darkness seems to crawl from within the hole, spreading like a cancer to the floorboards around it. You hesitate, but reach in and feel around, letting your mind guide your hand through the pitch blackness until you land upon the journal and, surprisingly, a small note that you failed to sense earlier.
The journal belongs to young Virgil, Elsie’s older stepbrother. You sense a great heaviness in the journal, and you’re filled with angst and longing.
Reading an excerpt from the journal, you can’t help but feel as though it is heavily connected to the note left behind at the park kidnapping of Rose.
Fear and anger suddenly roll over you in a bitter wave, almost knocking you over. You glance up to find Virgil glaring down at the floorboards.
“You’ve got the wrong idea!”
“Nothing! I mean, nothing I’ve done! I don’t know! She was here, and then, gone! I know you’re thinking about what Charles was doing with those candles, that I had to have something to do with it and Elsie’s disappearance, but it’s just not true. I’ve done some bad things, but not that! Maybe people were right, and I do have too much of my father in me… I wanted to fight those boys, because I knew I could hurt them more. And I stole Old Lady Birdie’s gnome, and was going to smash it up. But Elsie was just a kid and my dumb little sister… and now she’s gone and I don’t know what’s happening…“
“Once we got back to the house, everyone was here, in the main room, except for Elsie. I saw the neighbor, Birdie, run up to my mom and start yelling about something. It must have been about the missing gnome I had taken. I remember that it was cold from the rain, and we were a little wet. Mom had made some hot cocoa so I grabbed a cup and ran to my room to make sure the gnome was well-hidden, just in case. When I got back to the family room… they were all dead! Jane was in the chair, and the salesman was on the floor. My mom… she was on the floor too… they were all dead! I ran into the hall and nearly tripped over the body of Birdie. I looked over and saw Emmett emerge from his room holding his stomach. He collapsed right then and there and I knew he was dead too! I ran back to the family room and hid in the corner… then I tasted it. The worst taste I’d ever had… like I had unfurled a roll of pennies in my mouth. My stomach ached, and I got dizzy. And then… and then I think I died.”
“I thought adults weren’t supposed to do bad stuff like read other people’s diaries? Charles found it too, and was so mad. I’m glad he only ever was able to talk to Elsie, otherwise I don’t know what he would’ve done to me. Yeah, okay, I wrote that letter, but only the letter! It was supposed to be a prank, cause everyone knew the family curse Jane always talked about was nonsense! I left the note and hid, and everyone was supposed to think the “curse” had gotten me, until I reappeared. But then I heard people shouting for Rose… She was just a little kid too, like Elsie… It was just supposed to be a joke.”
“The all-seeing eye
believes it true,
That seconds fly,
and half are through.”
Such peculiar writing.
Reading an excerpt from the journal, you can’t help but feel as though it is heavily connected to the note left behind at the park kidnapping of Rose.
Fear and anger suddenly roll over you in a bitter wave, almost knocking you over. You glance up to find Virgil glaring down at the floorboards.
“You’ve got the wrong idea!”
“Nothing! I mean, nothing I’ve done! I don’t know! She was here, and then, gone! I know you’re thinking about what Charles was doing with those candles, that I had to have something to do with it and Elsie’s disappearance, but it’s just not true. I’ve done some bad things, but not that! Maybe people were right, and I do have too much of my father in me… I wanted to fight those boys, because I knew I could hurt them more. And I stole Old Lady Birdie’s gnome, and was going to smash it up. But Elsie was just a kid and my dumb little sister… and now she’s gone and I don’t know what’s happening…“
“Once we got back to the house, everyone was here, in the main room, except for Elsie. I saw the neighbor, Birdie, run up to my mom and start yelling about something. It must have been about the missing gnome I had taken. I remember that it was cold from the rain, and we were a little wet. Mom had made some hot cocoa so I grabbed a cup and ran to my room to make sure the gnome was well-hidden, just in case. When I got back to the family room… they were all dead! Jane was in the chair, and the salesman was on the floor. My mom… she was on the floor too… they were all dead! I ran into the hall and nearly tripped over the body of Birdie. I looked over and saw Emmett emerge from his room holding his stomach. He collapsed right then and there and I knew he was dead too! I ran back to the family room and hid in the corner… then I tasted it. The worst taste I’d ever had… like I had unfurled a roll of pennies in my mouth. My stomach ached, and I got dizzy. And then… and then I think I died.”
“I thought adults weren’t supposed to do bad stuff like read other people’s diaries? Charles found it too, and was so mad. I’m glad he only ever was able to talk to Elsie, otherwise I don’t know what he would’ve done to me. Yeah, okay, I wrote that letter, but only the letter! It was supposed to be a prank, cause everyone knew the family curse Jane always talked about was nonsense! I left the note and hid, and everyone was supposed to think the “curse” had gotten me, until I reappeared. But then I heard people shouting for Rose… She was just a little kid too, like Elsie… It was just supposed to be a joke.”
“The all-seeing eye
believes it true,
That seconds fly,
and half are through.”
Such peculiar writing.