I star out the car window at the drab and uninteresting landscape as I drown in my own bordem. We were heading to my uncle martin’s house in quabbin massachusets. I was going to spend the whole summer with him while my parents went to Kenya to build houses for the children there. They do something like this every summer, but this is the first time they’ve gone out of the country.
I love my parents and how they love to help others, but I did not want to spend the summer before my junior year of highschool with uncle Martin. I barley knew him and the last time I was there he was a total nutcase and only mumbled. He lives in the middle of nowhere too. The nearest grocery store is five miles away and he doesn’t have a car.
My parents white ford turns into a long gravel driveway lined with cactus looking plants that looked out of place with all the maple and oak trees around. I stepped out of the car onto the gravel driveway and looked up at the massive three story house infront of me. It was gray and there were three gray gargoyles up on the top of it. I followed my parents up to the front door, which was also gray, and my dad knocked on it with his largse wheathered hands. Then we waited, and waited.
Finally the silver knob started to turn from the other side and the door cracked open. A man with wirery old glasses and yellowed eyes appeared. “Uncle Martin! It’s so nice to see you.” My mother said cheerfully and stepped forward for a hug, uncle martin stepped back.
“Valerie, Rob, nice to see you too. It has been a while. And this must be sasha.” Uncle Martin said, I could tell his smile was fake.
“Um, Uncle Martin it’s Saya,, not Sasha.” I did the best to hide the annoyance in my voice.
“Saya why don’t you go inside so we can talk to your uncle” my dad suggested.
“ok, bye mom, bye dad, see you in two months. Love you.” I hugged and kissed both of them good bye and uncle martin stepped aside for me to go inside.
The first thing I saw when I entered the enormous house was gray. Gray everything! The furniture and walls even the ceilings were painted gray. I started walking down one of the hall ways leading from the fouer, there were three. I took the middle one next to the stair case. It was long and wide, there was a table up agaist one of the walls with a painting above it. I stopped in front of it. The painting was of clouds.this is going to one greattt summer I thought to myself sarcastically. As I was about to turn and continue walking I heard a loud scratching sound behind me, I whipped around and it stopped. Then it started behind me again, then above. I took off running down the hallway. The sound must have been mice, and I was dead afraid of mice.
I ended up in the kitchen facing the wall of windows behind the stove. I turned around Uncle Martin was right there staring me in the face. His eyes were full of hate and he didn’t say anything. “uncle martin I think you have mice in you…” he cut me off.
“saya you should bring your things up too your room. It’s the third door to your right on the third floor.” His voice was toneless, and he still didn’t move.
I walked past him and back down the hallway to the stair case. So far the entire house was carpeted in gray except for the kitchune, which got gray tiles instead. I really did not want to be there, what a waste of a summer. I could have been back home with my friends going to movies, shopping, and checking out cute boys, but no. none of that was around here, not even close.
I was still freaked out by the look Uncle Martin had given me. His eyes were just filled with hate. I’d seen strange eyes before, like mine. My eyes are a deep purple color, but his eye’s flashed a yellowy color the same way a wolf’s does when it reflects moonlight.
I got to the top of the staircase and started walking to my right. The first door had claw marks all over it, the next door looked like the bottom had been eaten by something around the edges. Then the third door was completely fine. I took a deep breath; please don’t be any mice please don’t be any mice, I thought as I reached for the silver handle. I cracked the door open and peeked inside, so far, so good. I opened it more and stepped inside. Of course everything was gray why did the color he decided to be obsessed with have to be so depressing.
The room was very dusty; it hadn’t been cleaned in months, maybe years judging by the amount of cobwebs and that musty smell. I put my bags on the hope chest in front of the bed. Ok, lets add a little color; maybe my mood will be better then. I pulled out my deep purple fleece blanket and laid it over the gray bedspread. My grandmother bought it for me to match my unusual eyes. That’s, a little better I guess then I walked over to the floor length curtains to my left I pulled them apart holding my breath so I wouldn’t breathe in any dust. “Aw, sick! I have a balcony!” I said to myself when I saw the French glass doors that led to an out side balcony. It was gray of course, but the view of the sky from it was amazing.
The trees around Uncle Martin’s backyard were pretty far back, so there weren’t a lot of braches crowding around up high. I had a clear view of the sky above me; I wonder what the stars will look like, I thought. My mood was defiantly improving. I turned back around to face the open doors and look at my room that now had some good light in it. My jaw dropped at what I saw. My deep purple blanket was being pulled into a hole in the wall were a painting had been just minutes ago. I screamed and ran out of the room back to the kitchen “Uncle Martin! My blanket! The mice took my blanket!” I yelled, Uncle Martin hadn’t moved an inch since I had left the room.
“What? The, the mice stole your blanket?” he straighted his back and was faceing me now.
“Yes, they did. The pulled the purple blanket I had put on the bed though a hole in the wall.”
“What color blanket!” his voice sounded alarmed, or frightened.
“urple, Gran got it for me to match my eyes last winter.”
“Your eyes are purple too!” he shouted in my face, I took a step back.
“uh, yeah. But what does that have to do with anything!” I shouted back at him.
“Saya you need to get out of here, I want you to just run straight back into the woods. You should be fine. Don’t come back until after midnight.” His voice was a whisper now.
“what! You want me to..” I shouted but he cut me off with a frantice shush.
“Saya please just go. Be back right after midnight.”
“but”
“Go!” he shouted again.
I ran past him to the sliding glass door and ran down into the lawn. I looked back at the massive house. Uncle Martin had shut the door behind me and I heard a loud crash coming from inside. I darted into the woods this time I didn’t look back. I didn’t stop running until I was having trouble breathing.