Frightmare Mansion - Chapter 7

magik4283 (62)in #writing • 9 years ago (edited)

I enter this very large bedroom, Oh my God! It looks like it came right out a 1960's teen movie. Obviously this room must of belonged to a teen aged girl around my age from back then. The walls are painted in blocks of different bold, brilliant colors, big brightly colored daisies on the walls, and along the trim, with a cool large peace sign over the bed. Over the peace sign hand painted flowers surround the name Lila. Obviosly the name of the girl who lived here.

To the left, an amazing antique doll collection. At least a dozen of them on a shelf, neatly in a row.
Justin picks up one of the dolls, fumbling with it, "I never seen dolls like these at the store."
I quickly pluck it from his hand. "Give me that you butt stain, before you break it!"
Justin sticks his tongue out at me.
"Toad boy!"
He runs out of the room to explore the rest of the house.

He's so annoying, maybe he'll fall into the cellar and we don't notice he's been missing for the next several hours. Anyhow, I'm so amazed by these dolls, I can't help but admire all of the fine details on the clothing. I can tell they were hand-made. I wonder if the girl that lived here made them. Was she creative like me? I wipe some of the dust away from the doll's face I'm holding, and carefully place it back on the shelf.

I marvel at the faded posters of once popular bands of the 1960's still pined to the walls. A shag rug on the floor, like grandma Mimi had. A beaded curtain separates the room from the closet. Oh I just love that classic lava lamp siting on a dresser, and next to the dresser a bean bag chair. In the corner, a tulip chair sits by an old portable television on a roller stand. I've seen stuff like this at thrift stores. We started going to them after Dad died and money got tight.

Incredibly cool psychedelic designs are hand painted on an amazing old study desk. A record player sits on it with record albums stacked near it. I remember Dad having some albums in the closet. He would take them out and play disco music. One of my older uncles who was a teen in that era gave him the set up.

As I begin thumbing through the old albums I start thinking about this old teen beach movie I once watched with Mom years ago. It was on one of the cable channels. It showed kids of that era playing a record player, and dancing the "Twist". It looked funny to me, but I'm sure it was the coolest thing going on at the time.

Mom enters the room - stopping dead in her tracks, 'Wow, very nostalgic! This is really cool, far out man!
It always sounds funny when Mom tries to talk teen, even retro teen. She then glances over to the doll collection.
"Oh my, they're beautiful," she walks over and picks one up and examines it paying attention to all of the detailed work.
"These are extremely well made honey."
She notices the name painted over the bed.
"Lila?"
"That's the name of the girl who lived her in the 60's.
"Mom, why would an old man keep all of these dolls in here, and just look at this room - like it's stuck in a time warp or something?"
"Just memories I suppose, he was probably very lonely. Maybe his daughter left them behind, and he wanted to keep everything the way it was.
"I think she died Mom," shuffling some dusty stuffed animals on the bed."
"Huh? Why would you say that?"
"Yeah, she died, and her dad wanted to keep everything the same, he was broken hearted." I honestly don't know why I'm saying this stuff. Where this is coming from I don't know.
"How do you know that?"
"I'm just feeling it. I want this pad, it's boss." That didn't even sound like me. Even mom is looking at me funny.
"Boss? Well, okay, once we start cleaning, I’ll get these dolls out of here."
"No - I want to keep them, they're fab."
"You want to keep them because they're fab?"
"Yeah, I want to keep them, they belong here. In fact, I like all of things in here, I like this retro look, we'll just clean it up, and keep most everything the same," Mom notices I have a smile for the first time concerning the Mansion.
"Okay, you got it, we’ll clean everything up real nice.," I know Mom is tickled that something about this place has put a smile on my face.