Prologue~

The family of four practically bursted into the house. Kathryn remarked how the old wooden door didn’t pop off its hinges.

Summer was first to break away from the group. Her braids swung in the air as she sprinted through the entryway.

The rest of her family stood in awe. Well, in all honesty Deliah didn’t see the appeal. However, she was only freshly 2, her steps were still wobbly and she much rather clutch onto her mother.

The couple marveled at the ornate chandelier. The light layer of dust coated the statement piece in a thin coat of dust bunnies.

“ ‘Oh don’t buy sight unseen, we’ll be lucky if it has four walls’” Kathryn mocked nudging her husband.

“ Ok, ok, ok, I’m wrong! Praise the almighty Kathryn!” Alec relented nudging her back.

“Yeah.. yeah… I still don’t think you’re convinced.” Kathryn surmised looking her husband up and down.

“Sorry! Sorry! I am allowed to think all Victorian homes carry an *energy*” Alec responed making a sparkling gesture.

“ BAH! Down! Mommy! Down!” Deliah yelped swinging her small fists.

Kathryn plopsd the toddler down as Summer started her second lap around the house.

The toddler ambled to the living room on unsteady ground. Only to flop on her face. Sobs ring out in the acoustics. Summer groaned, which stopped her laps as she fell to the ground downed with a classic case of older sister anguish.

“Oh for the love of!” Kathryn moaned. Deliah screamed for her mom, her face the class shade of toddler angry red.

As Alec plodded over to his wife and daughter he examined the area where she had fallen. A random outcrop of wood discolored with a yellow-gold doorknob.

~~~

Long after the morning meltdown bled into a bleak cloudy afternoon and early evening of unpacking. All but Alec’s study was set up, not like he minded, moving is about a good of an excuse as any.

Kathryn sat down on the couch next to him, dejectedly taking a bite out of her cold pizza.

“If only being right about everything came with a better reward.” Kathryn says with a gleeming fox like smile.

“Hmm..” Alec responds barely acknowledging her remark. “What do you think Deliah stepped on?” he asked, his eyes unmoving from the spot in the living room with the yellow gold knob.

“Have you met her? Probably the air.” Kathryn surmises with thick sarcasm, channel surfing with a numb tired look on her face.

“No, just look..” Alec says standing up his brows furrowed.

“Is that like? A door?” Kathryn asks picking her head up. “Not a basement… but like… the storage attic equivalent.” she ponders walking towards it.

“I mean we wouldn’t know, Miss unseen now would I?” Alec says his brows furrowed further in frustration.

“Ok… let’s relax…Mr. Grumpy face. I’m not gonna be married to a man with frown lines at age 35.” Kathryn responds with a small smile on her lips.

“Well.. what do we do?” Alec asks crouching down to doorknob.

“I’m gonna… say open it.”

“Well aren’t you a budding Sherlock.”

This jab earns a shove from Kathryn who has crouched next to him.

Alec, incredibly lanky and unbalanced falls foward onto the door in a crash.

The door whines and groans, but the echo after it scares the pair the most. A creaking echo. Not unlike opening a giant door to an empty barn.

“Shivers…” Kathryn interjects, her voice only a whisper still dampens out the echo. As if it were polite.

“Well.. Screw this!” Alec whisper shouts swinging the door open.

As the door clanks back with the same sturdiness as the front door a humid breeze fills the house, a smell of salt and sweat tangle the air of the living room candles.

The space is cavernous, even after the first breeze, balmy air continues to filter out. A narrow staircase is the only visible infront of them.

“Someone’s gotta go down there!” Kathryn whispers excitedly. Alec turns back with a judgmental raised eyebrow. “Uh… to like check for mold and dry rot you know?” She whispers, more causally.

“I’ll go.. you stay here… the girls probably woke up from the crash.” Alec decides grabbing the candle from the nearby coffee table and a bandana.

“Fine… just… just be safe…” Kathryn says shakily. Alec notices this is the first time she looks truly fearful.

With a peck on the cheek from his wife he starts down staircase, his bandana wrapped around his face and the small jasmine candle as his light source.

The stairs get narrower as the descent continues. Alec feels something slimy underfoot after the first dozen stairs. Bummer. He really liked these socks.

Treading further and further, the balmy breeze grows. Whipping his curls back.

Finally, at the end of the staircase a pathway splits into three cavernous trails.

The space is expansive, like the inside of a tomb.

Alec approaches a monolith looking brick tower in the center. A small piece of tattered looking watercolor paper is tacked to it.

‘Laurel and Cheyenne want to play.’ Is scrawled in haphazard crayon. A pair of stick figures are drawn below it.

Alec can almost feel his heart dropping to his feet.

After all Alec, Kathryn, Summer and Deliah were the Laurels.

As he climbed further up the stairs his heart sunk further.

Kathryn’s maiden name was Cheyenne.