.....The sun strained to pierce the overcast, leaving a blurred image of the ball in the sky. As the young lasses were walking down the country lane talking about adventure, pirates, hobbits, and love, they came upon a an iron gate. A soft, steady breeze stayed upon their backs, casting their beautiful hair to and fro around their faces. The twins were visiting their cousin, Bekka, for the weekend to catch up on the times and bustle of recent events, as well as reminiscing the youthful memories of long ago. The road was blanketed with leaves discarded by the winter branches. The pasture that lined one side of the road belonged to farm had not serviced to feed any livestock for many years and appeared rather unkept without the equine gardeners to trim around the posts. The wind storm from the previous night had taken a large tree down. The wide girth of the branch rested on the stone wall where the gate post was anchored, and the weight had put the gate on a slight bind. The blond haired Bekka pointed out the catastrophic occurrence and the affect it placed on the antiquated chain binding the gate closed. Anna curiously stepped up to the simple iron lock gazing into its history, wondering about the events that may have brought this gate to block out the world. As she twisted the lock to see the face of it something spectacular happened, like fate was begging for the ladies to explore. The old tumblers rolled as the lock came open. Then the gate pulled the end link from the lock, and the hinges sprung into motion. Anna jumped back as if she had expected the iron to violently push her out of the way, but the gate was not holding any tension created by the fallen tree. To the contrary, the gate slowly creaked open, breaking away what might have been decades of rust in the hinges. In one fluid motion, as if being pushed open by a servant of the house, the gate welcomed the guests into the courtyard. The three women looked at the opening, then looked to each other in wonderment. A smile began to spread across Jo's face as she first looked to her sister for encouragement. The smile quickly spread from her face encompassing her eyes and ears like a burst of energy taking over her entire body. It infected Anna as if the sisters were connected by their sense of adventure and the thoughts were shared between the two without any words being spoken. Then Bekka with a bit of concern in her countenance was overtaken with their joy as the worry was pushed from her completely. They all joined hands with Jo in the center pulling them through the opening, and as they passed between the stone pillars holding the gateposts a transformation had occurred. The three women in the twenties became as young girls again. They did not literally become little girls in body, but in soul and spirit the youthful imaginations occupied their being.
.....The courtyard leading to an old abandoned house lay under their feet. The front door drew Anna's mind to it as she could not resist examining the workmanship that had once adorn the entrance. Not a window in the house was left unbroken, and the house was clearly uninhabited, or was it? There was a gravity that the mystery of the house had upon the girls.