Castle

I was holding Mom's cold hand in mine when I saw the doors. I felt a really bad feeling, like a plum pit sank to the bottom of my heart. 

They were even taller than Dad, and he’s like the tallest person I know. Mom stopped at the bottom of the steps and squeezed my hand so tight I pulled away!

“Ow Mommy!” I said, “you hurt me.”

“Sorry, sweety,” She said in a crackling voice looking down at me now.

 I had to look twice to make sure it was my mom. Her eyes looked like a swarm of bees had stung them, and her cheeks sunk in like a landslide forced the life to fall from them. Her skin was all pink. Pink is my favorite color but I didn’t like the way it covered her.

“Are you okay Mom?”I asked, 

Her eyes started to water, probably from the bee stings, and she turned away.

“I’m alright sweetheart, just be on your best behavior” She said, 

“O-okay Mom,” I responded and grabbed her hand again.

Ew! I thought, it was all sweaty and even colder now. But I didn’t feel good, so I couldn't let go. 

My dad and little brother Mikey were waiting by the doors, 

“It’s okay,” Dad said the same way he does when he’s mad. So I hid behind Mom, but she pulled me gently towards the doors. I followed behind her gazing up at the huge entrance, it was a really dark wood, and it had weird fancy designs carved into it. With Dad standing next to it I could tell I was right, it was almost 2 Dads tall and 2 Moms wide. 

Dad pushed the door open and it told me to leave with a loud and scary creek.  I jumped so high, probably the highest I’ve ever jumped. I peeked inside and all I saw was very dark black, and I’m kinda scared of the dark so I was a little nervous.

 The doors were prettier the closer I got but scarier too. They almost looked like the gates to some dark kinda heaven. Mikey turned away from dad and ran in through the open door.

And when Mom and I walked through the gates I felt the plum pit in my heart digest. Not like it went away, but more like it tore into tiny lil’ splinters. 

As we walked more I took in the sights, it looked like a king lived here. There was a big shiny light with crystals hanging from it. And the floor was made of pretty blue carpet.

And I learned in my class the other day, blue used to be the color of kings. But I officially knew it was a castle when I peaked out the closing door and saw a fancy rich people limo pull up. And the door slammed closed, 

“Hello,” I heard a fragile voice say, I turned around and saw a fragile looking old man that matched it. This was super cool for me, I had never met a real life butler before. He was bald and wearing a suit, just like the movies.

“I’ll give you a tour”, he said, “You have the 12:00 reservation?”

Mom nodded in silence. I was beyond excited, I had never gotten a tour of a castle before. 

We followed him through the first hallway which wasn’t very exciting, except there were secret rooms everywhere. I know because I kept asking to go in, and the third time the butler said they were off limits. Which I’m pretty sure means secret. 

We went through the first room and it was full of chairs, fabric was hanging everywhere, the walls and even the ceiling. And there were white curtains and the same blue carpet. 

I knew what it was when I walked in, the king's personal speaking room. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. 

But as we walked to the third room I felt the lil’ splinters of the plum pit dig their way into the walls of my veins, it hurt really bad. But when I turned to dad to complain I saw that he was busy wiping his eyes. Which was kinda gross to see cause I know he gets eye boogers.

The butler opened the door with a push and It yelled a creak so loud my ears hurt. But Mom pulled me in anyway. 

I gasped when we walked in. 

“Treasure!?” I yelled,

“Shh” Mom said sharply,

“Treasure!” I whispered. She doesn’t like when I use my outside voice inside. And I felt kinda bad since I was supposed to be on my best behavior for the king. So I didn’t even run and look in all the treasure chests. But every wall was covered in them, the whole room was filled top to bottom with the chests. 

The butler walked us around but didn’t open any of them, which wasn’t cool cause I wanted to see treasure. But I saw a small blue one was open at the end of the room. 

When he walked us up to it I couldn’t contain my excitement anymore. I wanted to see treasure.

So I ran up to it but it was empty. It just had white cloth and cushions in it. It was light blue just like mikey’s favorite color. I turned around and saw Mom, Dad, the butler, and…

“Wait, where's Mikey?” I asked, I was getting worried now. He was missing out on the castle tour.

“Not right now,” Mom said in a broken voice. 

“Please get away from the coffin,” the butler said sternly. 

“Oh it’s okay no ones coughing,” I said. 

“Come here right now!” Mom said, sounding angry, but sleepy too.

I walked back immediately, with my eyes still on the tiny treasure chest. 

“Hey Mommy,” I whispered, “That ones Mikey's favorite color” 

“We’ll have the blue one” Mom said,

“Do you know where Mikey went?” I asked, 

“Heaven,” Mom whispered, now crying.

“It’ll be okay Mom!” I said hugging her as tight as I would my stuffed animals, 

“I can’t wait till he’s back!”