“Come on, Lennart,” Elli said as she pulled on her brother’s torso with all her strength. “You can make it.” With the help of his elder sister, Lennart heaved himself through the window, landing on the floor in a half-tumble.
“Are you alright?” Elli asked as she helped Lennart to his feet, checking his hands and arms for scrapes.
Lennart merely grunted silently, an expression Elli normally took as a “yes.” Lennart was not exactly the most talkative ten-year-old.
Outside, the thunder roared and the wind rushed, spraying droplets of rain into the room. Elli hurried over and closed the window tight. She then turned to scan the contents of the old, abandoned house, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness.
The reception and dining room, lit only by the street lamps outside and the occasional flash of lightning, was completely empty save for a dusty, raggedy rug which lay rolled up near a corner of the room. The hardwood floor was cracked and worn, and the walls were covered in grime, somehow giving the abode an even more eerie appearance. The windows shook and whistled as the storm outside raged on, and the house let out a deep, rhythmic groan, making Elli feel somewhat uneasy. Elli looked to her right to see the kitchen, which was too dark to make out anything but the faucet stationed under a small window. Ahead of her was a small bathroom, the door of which was ajar, and a flight of stairs leading upward.
Elli’s attention snapped from the room to Lennart when she heard him sneeze. She pulled his shivering body close to hers. “Come on,” she said to Lennart as she slowly walked him towards the bathroom, “we have to get you changed out of these.”
“Can we see if there’s one upstairs?” Lennart asked silently, his voice slightly shaky. “I don’t like it down here.”
“Alright,” Elli assented. From her backpack she conjured a large flashlight and shone it up the stairs. With her little brother still close by her side, Elli slowly began to make her way upstairs. As the two creaked up the stairs, Elli felt a rush of fear hit her. While it was easy to sneak into the house, she had not imagined how difficult it would be to explore it. Still clutching her brother close to her, the thought of a phantom or some other dark creature bursting out of the darkness and pouncing on them invaded her mind, though she quickly stifled it along with her fear.
The two met the top of the staircase to find themselves in a short hallway. One end of the hallway led to a small closet and two empty bedrooms, while the other led to a large room Elli took to be the master bedroom.
As Elli and Lennart entered the master bedroom, Elli lowered the flashlight, careful not to shine its beam on any of the windows, and closed the door. She then proceeded to check the adjacent bathroom.
“It’s alright,” Elli said to Lennart once she had finished, beckoning Lennart to enter. Without a word, Lennart took his backpack from his shoulders and entered the bathroom. She half closed the door after him, letting the flashlight illuminate the bathroom, removed her own backpack, and from it pulled a thin wool blanket and a set of clean clothes.
As Elli changed out of her soaked garments, events of the past few days began to race through her mind.
Ms. Braddock, Elli and Lennart’s foster parent, had put her hands on them for the last time. Ever since that monster took them in, Elli and Lennart spent day after day in constant fear, worrying that each new day may very well be their last. Memories of being punched in the head, kicked in the stomach, dragged by the hair, and threatened with death were still fresh in Elli’s mind; her entire body was still bruised and aching. Even worse was what that horrible woman would do to Lennart when Elli was not present. It was only the other day, when Elli walked in on Braddock molesting her brother, that she finally thought to herself, “We have to get out of here. No matter what lies ahead of us, we must escape this living hell.”
Elli still remembered the day her father passed away. Though she was only three years old at the time, the image of him lying on the floor, clutching his chest and reaching out to her, calling her name, never once left her mind. Her mother had died giving birth to Lennart. With no other family left to turn to, Elli was left all alone to look after baby Lennart. Though still a young woman, the countless obligations and hardships which were cruelly thrust upon Elli had aged her far beyond her fourteen years.
“Are you almost done, Lennart?” Elli called once she had finished changing.
The bathroom door creaked open, and Lennart emerged in a set of dry clothes, his backpack in one hand and his soaked shoes and garments in the other. His eyes looked so old. Looking at her brother now, Elli felt so sorry he had to spend his best years in such a horrible environment.
“Good, just leave your things right here for now,” Elli said, motioning to where her own things were. While Lennart did so, Elli seized the flashlight and the blanket. The two then huddled together under the blanket in a nearby corner of the room.
“What’re we gonna do now, Sis?” Lennart asked quietly.
The question raised in Elli’s mind a new worry. What were they going to do? How were they going to take care of themselves? How were they going to eat? There was so little they would be able to do without their “guardian”.
Elli hugged her brother tight and rested her cheek atop his head. “I don’t know, Lennart,” she said sadly and tiredly. “I don’t know.”
The two sat silently for the next half hour, listening to the pattering of the rain and the rumbling of the thunder.
“Lennart?” said Elli finally.
Lennart looked up at his sister with a questioning grunt.
“I’ll make you a promise. I promise you, whatever happens from now on, that we will always be together. I don’t know how, but I promise you we will survive, and that someday, we will find a better life for ourselves.” Elli took Lennart’s hand and held it tight. “Okay?”
Lennart merely grunted quietly and leaned into his sister. Elli wrapped her arms around Lennart once more, and once he had fallen asleep, she turned off the flashlight and lay there with her brother until she drifted unto unconsciousness.
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