9:03

And just with the pounding on the door, I found myself staring at the bland wood until it opened up. Revealed was a face that immediately made me feel like I needed to turn around and walk away. Again, I was stopped by my social worker, Sienna, who was responsible for bringing me everywhere I went. “Hey, hey, hey now, buddy. I need you to chill.” she said to me. I rolled my eyes and turned around. As I looked back at the person standing in the doorway, I noticed that it was a lady. A particularly large lady. Her arms were crossed over her short, round body. Her glasses were dirty and I was bothered by the terrifying frown she decided to use as a first impression.

Two boys who I could tell were my age barged out from behind her. “Mom, is that the boy?” I tilted my head, confused and annoyed. “Zip it.” she snapped back at them.

We stood at the door for what felt like hours long until the woman at the door held her hand out just to grab mine. “Hey, Mason. I’m Hollie. I’m going to be your foster mom for the next few months.” As she began to talk, her voice wasn’t as “getaway from me” as it might’ve seemed at first. Her hand was soft and welcoming, but I didn’t want to let Sienna know that I was starting to feel okay, so I looked at Hollie and let go of her hand. I started backing away, when Sienna nudged me forward. “Okay tough guy” she said to me as she showed me the step inside. “Alright. I’ve been working a lot trying to make this feel more like a home for you.” Hollie began to walk down the long, sun lit hallway. “I hope it has payed off.”

The house that I began walking inside of didn’t seem like a regular house. It was gigantic. A huge dome over the “living room” had the bright sun shining straight through it. It kept the entire main floor well lit throughout the day. “And when the sun starts going down, we have these huge blue lights that provide the same amount of light throughout the floor. You won’t even know when it’s night!” The two boys came rampaging around the corner. It seemed as though they were arguing over who shot the other in their video game they were playing. “Boys. Separate. Now.” Hollie whispered with gritted teeth. I could tell she was angry.

Both Sienna and I watched, mesmerized by the big glass dome. “Say, it looks like they aren’t going bankrupt anytime soon.” I whispered. Sienna tapped my shoulder. “Stop that.” As I started walking around, my shoes, tapping on the marble flooring, began to echo throughout the large home. I didn’t walk very far away from Sienna and Hollie. I mean, I didn’t want to get lost. I turned around and they weren’t where I thought they were. I didn’t panic, though. I began hearing small echoes of voices down the long hallway.

“But, this is going to be his room.” I was certain they were talking about me. “Alright, thank you!” I said as I burst through the door and through my bags over my shoulder onto the big bed. I turned around with a huge smile. I never usually smile so it felt weird. “Well you seem pretty happy. What did you find?” Sienna pestered me. “Nothing. I’m just having a good day. That’s all.” I had never heard awkward silence quite this loud. “So if you don’t mind, it’s starting to get dark, so I’m going to have to ask you to head out, Sienna. I mean, I have three under my wing now, and that calls for not only dinner but bathing and getting ready for bed.” Hollie peered, blinkless at Sienna. Sienna stared at her watch which read 4:13 p.m. “Okay?” she said has she leaned in to give me a hug. It was a little early for Hollie to already be expecting us to go to bed. Back at my last foster home, I was so used to staying up until one in the morning. “I guess I’ll see you soon. Call me if you need anything. You know my number.” She whispered as she leaned in to wrap her arms around me. “Okay.” I smiled, and again, it didn’t seem normal. For once, I thought I was happy.

She walked out of the room and Hollie sat at the edge of my bed. “We have to set some ground rules, and I’m warning you now, there’s a lot.” My hands began to sweat and my heart was beating faster than a hummingbird. The awkward silence decided to creep back in. I could hear crickets in my mind of the bland conversation that was supposed to be taking place. I looked around the room. Then, I looked back at her, and then back to the walls of the room.

She stood up. “Alrighty.” she sighed as she wiped her shirt off. “I’m going to head downstairs and start making some food for dinner. In the meantime, how about I finally introduce you to my boys?” I sat there and stared, but supposed I should say something to her. “Oh-okay. Yea.” I stood up and joined her in walking out of the tall doorway. The long walk to the living room was tiring, and I was even more wore out from remembering the real reason we went there. “This is Oliver and Rem.”

She grabbed for their hands. “Rem is wild, but if you need to have a heart-to-heart conversation, he’s the one to go to.” His face said otherwise. “And this is Oliver. He won’t talk much, but he interacts with Rem, and that’s what matters. Brotherly love am I right?” She laughed, but no one joined her. “Okay, so, how about you kids go on and play. I’m going to make dinner. Just don’t kill each other.” She giggled and walked away. I wasn’t getting the friendliest vibes. I was starting to miss my old family. I know they didn’t miss me, but I’m sure they would appreciate me more than these two boys. I stared into their eyes. They stared into mine and I felt them staring into my soul. I had never felt that before. I looked away. Shocked. I didn’t know how to feel. I turned and looked at the marbled floors. I then, looked again at Oliver. His eyes were a light blue, reflecting the blue lights from above. “My mom said you were special.” I wasn’t aware of this. “I’m special?!” I questioned. “Yes. She said you were a certain type of special. A special that we had to get used to.” I began to become even more confused. I didn’t want to be here, and I think they knew that.

My palms were sweaty. I held my hands in my pockets. I felt like I needed to put on my jacket. It was chilly. I hadn’t felt this type of temperature since it was just transitioning to spring from winter. I turned around, confused from what Oliver had just said to me. How was I the special one? What was I to them? A monster? I turned the corner rapidly. I quickly glanced at the large clock hanging in the middle of their waterfall-wall. The time read 4:57. What was I supposed to do until I went to bed? I walked into the kitchen. Hollie looked at me as if she were expecting a question. I quickly through a question off of the top of my head. “Um, where’s the bathroom?” “Turn around.” I did. “Walk into that room.” I followed her directions and found myself four feet away, in the bathroom. “Thank you!” I shouted as I closed the door. I sat in there wondering what I was going to do. I didn’t need to use the bathroom. I was ready for bed. I’m sure it was 4:58. I peeped the door open to see if I could see the clock from where I was. I couldn’t, sadly.

I waited. I opened the door. I walked out and realized I hadn’t even flushed the toilet to make them believe that I had actually used the bathroom for its purpose. 5:04. Well this was awkward. No one seemed to notice anyway. “Dinner is ready. Oliver, Rem, and James. C’mon.” I didn’t know where to go. I watched the other two boys stand up and run down another long hallway. I followed them. They slid around the corner in their fuzzy, colored, animal socks. The grunting and awkward noises coming from themselves about the food that they were clearly excited for, made me very uncomfortable. They pulled out and welcomed a chair for me. I sat down and they scooted me back under the table. “Alright. We’re not having anyone go to bed hungry. Eat up!” I allowed myself easy access to a spoonful of mashed potatoes. I plopped them on my large plate and began eating. “Dinner roll?” Rem asked me. I hadn’t heard him talk yet. He laid it on my plate gently. “Thank you.” I smiled. He looked at me and then looked back at the placement of the pan. I began eating. The food was so good.

After the long awkward silence of the entire meal I stood up.”Thank you for the delicious food” I said. “Of course.” She said. “Alright kids, it’s time for showers and bed.” She pointed to me. “You want to go get ready?” I nodded and was on my way to my suitcase. She followed me down the hall. We both ended up in my room. I grabbed my clothes and she directed me to a different, larger bathroom. “Okay. You can have as much hot water as you need. Our water heater is big, don’t worry about using all of the hot water.” “Okay, thank you!” She left. I locked the door after she shut it. I began to undress as the water got warmer and warmer. Before I knew it, I was stepping out of the warm shower and onto the matt. I had been in their for a while now and wasn’t keeping track of the time. I dried off and put my pajamas on. As I brushed my teeth, I hadn’t heard anything. I had felt like this was weird. It was a loud household. I opened the door with my dirty clothes in a wad within my arms, and began to walk across the hallway when I heard loud, running footsteps coming at me. The noise distracted me from realizing the lights that Ms. Hollie had told would always be on, weren’t on. The person swept me off my feet and threw me into my room and slammed my door. I was in the dark. Pitch black. I had screamed but clearly wasn’t acknowledged. I was so confused. I stood up and feeling my way around the walls until I found the lightswitch. I turned the light on. On the bed was  folded piece of paper. “James- don’t leave your room after 6:02, EVER. Don’t ask questions. Follow this rule.” I didn’t know what to say. I looked at my clock on the nightstand. 6:12. I was scared. I tucked myself into the blankets. Hours went by. I woke up to the lights off. Did I turn them off? No. I needed water. I was coughing as if something had fallen down my throat. I looked at the clock. 9:03. I walked over to my door and opened it very quickly. Coughing and out of breath. I walked fast down the long hallway. I got to the kitchen and heard a lot of talking and walking around upstairs. Pitch black. I walked over to what I thought was the staircase. “Hello? I need a cup. Where’s the cups?” Everything went silent. I placed my cold hand on the freezing cold wall and immediately found a switch. I flipped it. That was quite possibly the worst decision I have ever made. Right in front of me was Oliver and Rem, but it wasn’t the boys that I had known before. They were lightly there. I mean, they were hollow. See through. Tinted, and as if they were a cloud. Both crying. “Mom! Mom! There’s a ghost!” Rem shouted at my face. “Hollie! Hollie!” I screamed as loud as I could as I backed up. My cough from before had tired my voice out and left me with a scratchy noise coming from my mouth. “James. I said not to leave your room!” She turned the corner and was completely floating above the ground and she looked like a ghost as well. She floated right in front of the two ghostly, crying boys. “Hollie? Hollie!” She floated above me. Angry. I ran as fast as I could back down the hall. I opened my door and slammed it behind me. “Hello?” I heard a voice say from my dark room. “Who’s in here?” I turned and heard someone in here.” The lights flickered on and revealed a room that was not mine.

There was a man who stood up from an old, wooden chair. He, too was a ghostly figure. I screamed and tried to open the door, but he held it closed. “I want to go home!” I shouted as a tear krept down my face. I turned around and saw many pictures covered in cobwebs hanging on the walls. There was the family who’d I had met earlier, except they were more human looking, and there was a man behind them. I pointed- speechless. “Yeah. That’s my family. After the fire, I was pushed aside into this room. I miss being human. Ghosting around isn’t as fun as it might seem.” The man started saying. I finally opened the door and saw Hollie floating right behind it. “YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO EVER GO NEAR THIS ROOM!” She shouted at me. I ran to the next door and slammed my door. I ran to my bed and started crying. What had just happened?

I sat there for a few hours and pieced all of the information out one by one. The pictures from the forbidden room looked familiar. It was the family that was all over the broadcasted news years ago from a house fire. They had all died. How could it be possible? They were dead. But they had been alive all day before. Just then, a pounding on the door. “You gotta go.” Rem came floating in. I backed up until my full body was against the headboard of my bed. “You made Hollie mad. You better go before you see the conscience she’s planning. Last time the last foster kid made her mad, she pulled a box of matches out of her pocket. Oliver and I aren’t hers. We were once foster kids ourselves. We each messed up somewhere along the line and she didn’t handle it well.” Just then, the smell of fire became more and more infested within myself. “And now you’re going to learn the lesson of not following directions!” Hollie came barging into the room. “It’s okay! You can be like one of us soon!”. Just then, the smell of pancakes graced my nose. I opened my eyes. I sat up. 9:03. It was morning. I yawned and put my slippers on and walked out of my door. My palms were hot. The air was warm. “Good Morning sunshine!” Hollie said to me as if nothing had happened. It hit me and it had really woken me up then. “I had the craziest dream last night Hollie!” I said to her. “Really?” she said as she turned around. “Tell me about it as you get a plate of food.” She said to me. I turned the corner and just happened to notice she wasn’t wearing shoes. Her feet were gone, and so were her legs. She was floating. I knew I needed to leave.

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