The Time of Sanura
Excerpt:
On the eve of Sanura’s seventeenth birthday she decided to
face her fear. She had not planned on doing so when she woke up that morning
but things do not always happened as intended.
Like
before, Sanura was bringing in the linen when she took note of the same hidden
door that was normally closed. It was cracked open. Ada had warned her
to stay clear of the room but she could not help herself. Besides, the doctor
was supposed to be out caring for the sick all day.
She
placed the basket on the porch, grabbed a lantern and made sure no one was
around. After double checking she pulled the door closed after stepping inside.
For a split second she hesitated when she heard a clanking noise down below but
she had to see the origin of the sound, as well as the room itself.
The
further she descended the more the hairs on her body stood on end. It was not
just the slight drop in temperature, nor her nose alerting her to the strange
smell. It was the unknown. So she inched closer to the bottom, uneasy at
the thought of what might be revealed. When she reached the bottom step she was
forced to cover her nose. It smelled like urine and another odor she could not
quite decipher.
Even
with her light, it was still pretty dark. She held up her lantern to get a
better look but it was too dim. The room was huge. There were no windows which
was not normal for a cellar.
She
crossed the room, bumping into a hard object, and nearly dropped her lantern
from fear. Pushing away from it, her hand grazed across something sticky. Not
wanting to face what it was she just wiped her hand across her clean peach
dress. Trying to keep her composure, she moved around the object to go to the
other side where she spotted two lanterns. She lit them both before turning
around to face the inevitable, the truth.
The
room was far worse than she had imagined...
