Creative Writing: Looking At The Gargoyles

... The chilled breath of Mid-October wind washed through the house. Continuous bursts of children's' laughter filled the living room while a record player serenely spun classical music. It was the definition of a perfect day, one on which kids should be jumping in leaf piles and couples should be wandering through parks with picnic baskets in hand. In the Howell residence, today was the perfect day for taking a load off and enjoying a game or two. "After what seems like hours meandering through the cryptic woodlands, the road takes a sudden turn to the east and a castle looms ahead. The sight before you is barbaric, with aging towers of stone and the reek of decay present all around you. Eyes seem to follow you, keeping a silent watch over …show more content…

Let me get a good look at those gargoyles. I have a feeling they're not just statues." "Phil, you're looking at the gargoyles?" Dan asked, his voice deepening and tone stiffening for added authenticity in his role. "That's what I said. Any chance that those suckers might be real and not decorations?" Phil pondered with a quirked eyebrow. Dan took a second before looking down at the book, accessing his friend's options. When he suggested that the boy makes an intelligence check, Phil groaned irritably. "Does my Investigation skill apply?" Phil asked, already making at grabbing motion for the dice. Once again Dan found himself checking his book before nodding. Phil took the dice in his hands and lightly chucked them across the game cloth. "Ugh. Seven," He murmured with a defeated sigh. "They look like decorations to you. What a shame," Dan said with a smug demeanor. Phil bit his tongue before saying something about Dan's mum again and decided to shrug it off (only after throwing the dice with a direct hit on Dan's nose). "Can I just go inside the castle …show more content…

Phil just said something funny," Dan said nonchalantly, gesturing his head towards his friend. The room went silent, as if in anticipation. Dan's mother's eye turned dark and unreadable. It was hard to tell where her look of confusion ended and her look of fear started. Squatting down to Dan's eye level, Mrs. Howell "Dan, darling..." It was almost too hard to continue with the lump of tears threatening to stop her speech, "Phil isn't here. He has been gone for a long time now." Dan could not tell whether his mum was being serious or joking. But his mum never joked about things this serious. "What do you mean mum? Phil's right here." Dan gestured again to the chair that Phil occupied. When his mother looked over, all she could see was an empty seat, slowly collecting dust. Mrs. Howell's eyes became misty. Clasping onto Dan's cheeks, her hands were still cold from the sudsy water that she hap wiped off. It looked as if she was going to weep. Instead, she responded with: "I love you, my little star. Do you know that?" "Mum, stop acting so weird!" With that, Dan's mum pulled a forced smile and left the room. There was a long silence after she exited the room. Dan turned to face Phil with a confused look. Phil's facial expressions were just as unreadable as his