“does anyone want to order a pizza?” Emily heard Ashely yell from the kitchen, as she was in the living room. “a pizza?” Emily heard Nick say to Ashely “you have already eaten two large club sandwiches, a blueberry pie, the rest of one half eaten turkey, two bowls of pecan ice cream and five sodas. how could you possibly still be hungry?”, “i have had a hard couple of days” Ashely replied defensively “you know i eat when i am upset” with that Emily heard Nick laugh. “i understand” Nick replied “but you have almost eaten everything we have of food substance in the house, keep on like this and you are going to eat yourself into a coma” with that Emily heard Ashely give a grunt of irritation, causing Emily to smile. Ashely really was a hoot, and despite the circumstances, it was really nice to be home after being gone for so long. at the present moment, Emily was laying down on the sofa, thinking about really nothing at the moment. her family had habit of doing that to her, make her mind blank. they fought constantly and always made everything greater than it seemed, Emily found it easier to do nothing when around her family, to not get sucked into the drama. “hey, emily” Ben asked as he came down the stairs, “what is it?” Emily replied with a yawn as she sat up. “i was cleaning dad’s bedroom just burly and...”, “Wait” Emily said interrupting Ben “you were cleaning?” Emily said in disbelief. Ben shrugged “haha, very funny” Ben replied causing Emily to give a little giggle. “like i was saying” Ben continued “as i was cleaning dad’s room, i found this!” Ben finished as he held up an unusual key. the key looked old and seemed to be made out of pure gold, it had some unusual symbols on it. Emily had never seen a key like that in her life, it was certainly not something her military father would keep. “what do you think it goes to?” ben asked as he looked over the key, “most likely nothing” Emily replied standing up “it was probably something left in the house from mom’s childhood, this house is very old.”. “yeah” Ben said as he looked at Emily “but that doesn’t explain why i found it in dad’s room, or what it goes to.” Emily gave a thoughtful nod to that. “oh will you get out of the Kitchen, Ashely” Emily heard Sapheara say from the kitchen “i think you have eaten enough”, “but i am still hungry!” Ashely replied to Sapheara with a whiny tone. “don’t you talk back to me!” sapheara said, a sudden loud grunt of irritation sounded from the kitchen after that. a moment later, Ashely came stomping into the living room. “so unfair!” Ashely said as she fell onto the sofa “i am almost eighteen, sapheara can’t keep treating me like a baby, its so unfair!. why if i was in her position, i would......” Ashely trailed off as she saw the strange key in Ben’s hands. “were did you find that?” Ashely said as she bolted up right out of her seat, “in dad’s room” Ben replied “do you know what it goes to?” Ashely shook her head excitedly with that. “it goes to a chest in the basement, and old looking chest” Ashely said “dad said it belonged to mom, things from her past. i bugged him about it for so long but he kept telling me that he lost the key.”. “well” Ben said after a moment of thinking “it’s found now, lets go see what’s in that chest” with that both Sapheara and Nick entered the room. “chest?” Sapheara said confused but still sparing a glare for Emily “what Chest?”, Emily gave a sigh and related what happened to Nick and Sapheara. it took a few minutes to get everyone caught up on what was happening and a little longer to get Sapheara in the basement, she had always been afraid of the basement, even when she was little. the basement was exactly as Emily had remembered it, old, large, dark and dusty. it was filled with boxes and random old pieces of furniture, it was like the place filled with Emily’s past, a past she does not want to to much remember. “uh” Ashely said as she came down the stairs after emily “dad really should have cleaned this place, never went in her at all though. it was like he was more scared of it than Sapheara!” Ashely gave a laugh after that, causing Sapheara to give her a glare once she also came down the stairs. “i am not scared of the basement!” Sapheara said stubbornly “i simply think its dark and filthy”, “and scary” AShely added in. “if i thought it was scary” Sapheara started using her stern voice “than i......”, “so where is this chest you told use about, Ashely” Nick said trying to stop the fighting between Ashely and Sapheara before it got out of hand. with that Sapheara cut off what ever she was going to say and looked around the room for a moment. “it should be somewhere around here.....ah!” Ashely said as she pointed to a large brown box, covered in dust. “thats the one” she said still pointing at it, Nick and Ben both gave nods and moved to grab it. despite the combined strength of both Nick and Ben, who were in no means weak, they could only move the box a little bit away from its previous position. “man what is in this thing” Ben said once he and Nick were done moving it, “dad said it was full with things from childhood.”, “things like what” Ben continued “its probably just full with bricks, you know how sentimental mom was, saving everything she could. there probably just a bunch of bricks the fell off the house”. “well” Emily said extending her hand towards Ben “lets find out then shall we”, with that Ben gave a nod and handed emily the key. Emily than bent down and put the key into the chests really oddly shaped keyhole, a shape she did not know. Emily turn the key as much as it would let her, which was five times, and each time the key turned, the box made an odd clicking sound. upon the fifth turn, the latches around the chest that locked it, unlocked. Emily throw open the chest, and was amazed with what she saw. in the box was the most random assortment of junk imaginable, belts, boots, odd clothes and things that Emily had no idea what they were. as soon as the box was open, everyone started rifling through everything. “this is the stuff from mom’s past” Nick said holding an odd looking hat “this is a bunch of junk”, emily was going to mouth a reply of agreement but stopped when she came across small box. inside the box, a large diamond. “now that is what i am talking about!” Ben said gesturing the diamond emily was holding by the box. “have you ever seen a diamond that large?” Nick said as he stared at the pure colorless diamond, “never” Sapheara said “and i work at a jewelry store!”. Emily stared at the diamond for a few more seconds, and then reached to take it out of its case but right as her skin touched the smooth surface of the diamond, something happened. it was like a silent wave pulsed from the diamond, and suddenly the world seemed dark and consciousness vanished from her grip.

“oh, my head!” Emily said once she started to wake, pain choking her brain with every breath she took. with a struggled effort, she managed to open her eyes and sit up. scattered around Emily, all looking the same as she felt, were her brothers and sisters. watching them groan as they struggled to awake fully, Emily looked at their mothers box in front of her and discovered it, closed. the lid was locked tight and the key was missing, and everything they had taken out of it, including the diamond, was either gone or most likely back in the box. “uuuh, what happened?” Ben said once he was on his feet, and rubbing his neck. “not one clue!” Emily said as she also stood, brushing the dust off her cloths. “where’s all of mom’s old things?” Ashley said sounding confused, “well” Nick said seriously “I would assume that we were robbed!” with that concern appeared on everyone’s faces and they all rushed up stairs, to see if anything else was missing or out of place. looking around the whole house, Emily nor her family found a single thing out of place, the doors and windows were even still locked. during their search, Emily felt a most unusual feeling, something that she did not feel before they all lost consciousness. it was a hard to describe feeling to Emily but if she had to put words to it, they would be “a balloon ready to pop!”. every part of her felt bloated and tight, but she looked no different from what she could tell from her reflection she saw in the kitchens marble counter tops. added to that, Emily also felt thin, light, weightless. she felt like she had not eaten if seven days, and from the growling noises her stomach made, she was starting to think that it was the truth.

walking up the stairs to the second level, Ben paused and leaned on the stair railing. a massive heat wave washed over him, and suddenly he felt like he had an unbearable fever. he could feel sweat rolling down his face, focus leaving his grasp. with a few deep breaths, Ben walked the last couple of steps up the stairs and went straight to the bathroom to splash water in his face.

stepping outside, into the backyard, Sapheara wrapped her arms around herself as she suddenly felt extremely cold. at first she thought it was the wind, but once a few minutes past and no such similar breeze passed through the air, she became unsure what was causing her body to freeze. it was odd, but sapheara could never remember being this cold before, she had been sick many times and had many colds, but nothing like this. her body was shivering uncontrollably, her nose was starting to drop snot, her teeth were shaking and hitting each other so much that they were actually making a chattering sound. “it.. must.. be... some... bug... that... is.. going.. around!” Sapheara said to herself, stuttering and shivering with every word. “that... stupid... , Emily!” Sapheara continued “she.. probably.. was.... the... one.. who.. made.. me... sick, bringing.. home.. germs... from.. that... ratty... little... place.. she... lives... in!” with that Sapheara rushed back inside, hoping to warm herself up.

sitting down on the sofa, Nick exhaled a long sigh. he could not explain it, but his body felt extremely tired. it was not the normal kind of tired however, it was more like his body just did not want to move any more, like every step he took or any move he made, was an unnatural thing. his muscles also felt stiff, and his mind very uninterested in anything. pushing away thoughts of himself, Nick made a yawn and proceeded in the only task which seemed acceptable to him at the moment, doing nothing.

Ashely looked around her room and through her things with a new sense of energy, she felt like she could run thirty miles and still have energy to do a little dance at the end. “it must have been the sandwich i ate!” Ashely thought as she made sure nothing was taken from her room “or possible the soda, they did taste kind of funny!” shrugging off those thoughts, Ashely walked out of the room. almost right as she passed the door frame, Ashely two odd feelings. the first was a feeling of hunger, but that was not too different from how she usually felt. the other feeling was a need to eat, or at least chew, everything around her. it was a most confusing thing, something she had never felt before. she wanted to chew on the wooden door behind her, she wanted to lick the paint on the walls, she even wanted to take a few bites out of herself. “my juicy juicy self!” Ashely thought, and then shook her head sideways. “okay!” Ashely said to herself “that was one of the weirdest things i have ever thought about myself!” with that Ashely paused and noticed a trickle of drool sliding down her chin. wiping it away with the corner of her hand, she rushed downstairs, to find something to eat. she was really, really, really hungry.


walking into the living room, at almost the same time as everyone else, Emily stared in confusion at her brother and sisters. Ben seemed to have trouble standing, and sweat covered his face. Ashely seemed full of energy, her very body seemed to flinch every couple of seconds. Sapheara stood shivering, her skin looking pale. nick, looking and acting the most normal of the group, just not for himself. he sat on the sofa, every bit of him looking still, even his chest burly moved when he breathed. that was nothing like Nick, he always had to be doing something, and never does he just laze around. from the confused looks on the others faces, they noticed what Emily did. “something... is... not... right!” Sapheara said, stuttering and shivering the whole time she spoke. “why.. is... it... so... cold?”, “Cold?” Ben said breathing hard and sounding a little woozy “its freaking hot, i could cook an egg on my forehead right now with how hot it is!”. “i don’t know why you two are complaining about the temperature!” Nick said in a very relaxed sounding voice “things could not be more perfect, just sit down! take a load off!”, “okay!” Ashely suddenly said in a loud and accelerated voice “i need some food now! come on, some one tell me where some more food is! there is nothing more in the kitchen. come on, please. oh you people are no help at all!” with that Ashely stormed out of the room and into the kitchen, never gave anyone so much as a chance to answer her odd question. the usual behavior of Ashely made everyone pause for a moment, and look at themselves, Emily included. although she did not feel hot, cold, starving, or extremely relaxed, she did feel something. “um.......” Emily said feeling unbalanced “i need some fresh air! maybe all go to the gym or something!” with that everyone else murmured similar comment in order to leave the room. “i.. am... going.... to... take... a.. hot.. bath!” said Sapheara in her shiver voice, as she ran upstairs. “the pool for me!” Ben said as he walked towards the back door, drifting side to side as he did. the only person who did not say a thing, was Nick, who seemed to zonked out to even speak. grabbing a set of keys on one of the living room tables, Emily walked out side, got into the car parked onto the driveway, not knowing if it was Nick’s, Ben’s, or Sapheara, but also not caring either. Turning on the car, Emily drove out of the driveway and onto the street, the car making a screeching noise as she drove away.