The House

I wrote this for an assignment when I was around 24 or 25. So, a few years ago. I do not remember where I was going with it or what the end would be but this is the Intro to a story I started.

The House

Intro

Dust lay like a gigantic furry blanket over every inch of the run-down Victorian. Gingerbread hung loose from the doorways attached in all directions with cobwebs and dust balls. Every door and hinge seemed to creek with the gently nudging of the wind. The beautiful oak and strained glass front door quietly opened filling the house with the sweet smell of fall and a few stray leaves. A slender figure appeared in the doorway carrying a brown leather purse on one arm and attached to the other was a long red suitcase on wheels. Amanda was busy studying to be a chef at the local culinary arts academy. She was planning on finishing up her bachelors degree in culinary arts at the local academy before going on to New York city to study at the academy of arts and design. She had recently left home just a few miles away to live on her own. She and her father talked and came to the conclusion that she needed to live on her own for a while. Life seemed to be dealing her some hard blows lately and it was decision time. Amanda’s father felt that if she lived on her own for a while she would learn to cope with some difficult choices she would eventually have to make. She had been dating a really nice guy for about 6 months now and he was beginning to talk marriage. Amanda was very excited about the prospects of becoming a wife and having her own home and family that she was ready to quit college and get married right then. But her father didn’t like her boyfriend not by any fault of his own but because he wasn’t rich. You see, Amanda grew up without a mother and with a father that showered her with everything she could ever want or need. She was beyond spoiled when she was little growing up with a father that was a large investor. He was asked for an interview with fortune magazine but refused saying it would cause to much unwanted attention to his then teenage daughter. He wanted her to be successful and to have money like she had always had. He never wanted her to have to live from one paycheck to the next, scrimping on groceries, and decided which bills to pay that month like he had so often done in his days before his riches. He wanted her to live on her own and come and adult so a few weeks earlier he bought Amanda a house. Not a new one because he said the older ones had more character and were fun to try and fix up. He had set up an account for her at the local hardware store and with several major companies online in order for her to acquire any and all of the supplies she needed to fix her house up. She had specifically asked that he get her the house at the end of the block right in front of city hall. It was a small town so City Hall wasn’t big or busy. It was a dilapidated house that hadn’t been condemned but if work wasn’t done soon it would be headed there. She had always been intrigued by the house. It was talked about around town that an old women used to live there in the 40’s and 50’s. She was supposedly someone famous and wonderful but those types of stories seem to change and develop into something they aren’t throughout time. Years and passed since the old women had died. The house was locked up by her family and was never opened. The family forgot about the few things she left there and soon were ready just to get it off of their hands. It was up for only a few thousand when Amanda’s father checked in to getting it for her. Paying for it was just like pennies in the handout jar to him. Amanda and he had talked several times about the possibilities of her marrying Luke but he was always trying to tell her not too. Luke was in his last year at the community college to become a math teacher. He had always wanted to be a teacher and help unprivileged kids even if it meant living with less money than most. She was torn between what she felt in her heart and what she knew her father wanted her to do. Her father had spared her nothing in allowing her to fix the place up but he hadn’t come with her to hold her hand through it all. She was expected to find her own way and discover how hard it is to be an adult. Her father wanted her to see what life was like making money and taking care of a house before she ever thought of giving it all up to be a wife.

She looked around the room and determined that tonight she would sleep in the great room by the fireplace. She had always wanted to do that. As a child she was told not to because the fire might spark and catch her clothing on fire while she slept but tonight she thought It was worth taking a chance. She quickly started to clean the fireplace out and get it ready for a cozy fire. “Now where is a broom.” she said to herself. “ know there as to be one around here somewhere.” she began to look for the utility closet. But unlike modern homes there wasn’t one just a dusty and creepy coat closet under the stairs. She opened the little wooden door and peered inside. Just hten the lights flickered on. She jumped back and took a deep breath. She had forgotten that her father was going to have the power turned back on for her. The contents of the closet became clearer to her as she stepped closer to see what was inside. It was dark but the hall light brought some things into view. The floor in that area was a different color than the hall. The walls had holes in them from years of neglect and people just throwing things in the there that hit and punctured parts of the walls. Amanda felt around until she found what appeared to be a broom. She pulled it out and to her surprise there was hardly any bristles left, but just enough to clear some of the soot away. She walked back to the great room and examined everything in sight. There was an old Victorian couch that was covered with a white sheet but it was the only piece of furniture in the room. She stared at the drapes that were half on the windows and half on the floor. Most of the fabric was dry rotted and moth eaten but the huge brass curtain rods were still as bright and as beautiful as the day they were first put up there. The windows reached from ceiling to floor letting in the last bit of daylight for that day in. It gave the room a soft and romantic glow bringing her mind back to the nights she spend over Luke’s watching movies and eating popcorn snuggled up by the couch. She shook her head trying not to think of him but of the task ahead of completing the a beautiful house by Christmas time. It was August and there wasn’t much time left.

Amanda sighed heavily and walked over to the massive fireplace. She could just about stand up inside of it. The had to be very big back then to allow the whole house to get heat. Sometimes the even had double fireplaces, one upstairs and one down stairs to allow heating both floors. She stared dauntingly at the task of cleaning out the entire fireplace. She reached up and opened the flu. All kinds of dirt, leaves and branches fell out into the opening to the room. Amanda jumped back with her hand over her mouth trying to keep some of the dust and dirt from filling her lungs. She waited for most of the dust to settle before she took the broom and began sweeping out the fire place. She left a few ashes to help start the new fire and put the rest in a bucket to be dumped later. “ Now, I need the wood.” she whispered while searching through her purse for some matches. She found them in the bottom of one of the side pockets and immediately went to the front porch to unwrap the wood she had bought just before coming down to the house. She took the wood inside and pulled the plastic off then neatly sat each one in the fireplace putting crumpled up paper between each piece. She then pulled the matches from her back pocket and began to light the fire. Not long after, a beautiful golden fire burned hot and bright in the marble fireplace. Amanda stepped back and stared happily at the fire. Her first accomplishment.

Amanda yawned and began to feel a little sleepy. The fire was so relaxing. She quickly went back outside and opened the trunk of her car. There were boxes of cloths, blankets, pots and pans, hair products and pillows, She didn’t have any furniture but looked forward to seeing what the house held and what garage sales had for her. She pulled the first box out and shut the trunk. Before long she had the box unpacked of all her blankets and pillows and was laying them out on the floor in front of the fire. She grabbed her cup of cold coffee and placed it almost in the fire to warm it. As she watched the fire jump and leap all around she fell fast asleep. The fire burned for a while then as quickly as it was made flickered out and all was quiet.