Aurelia stared in horror as the door slowly creaked open. A gust of icy wind blew into her face like a blower, sending shivers down her spine. It felt straight out of a horror movie. Now, she wished that she had not searched for 'top 10 haunted places in the world'.
She took a deep breath. Since the door had already opened, it was time for her to step in. With a step or two, she was inside the living room. But the room was cold and shrouded in darkness. The curtains were pulled over all the floor to ceiling windows, swaying furiously as the wind hurled all over the room. She could almost see the lines the wind was tracing.
But, all she felt was the strong presence of magic. Aurors were supposed to do that, right? Although the blood of Healers and doctors were coursing through her veins, she had the sharp instincts of an Auror. But her brain was frozen with fear and refused to deem. Nevertheless, she remained focus and pulled out her wand. It felt so surreal that she had a bad feeling about it.
After all, Grandpa had told her stories of gruesome deaths and how Aurors helped solve them like detectives. After all, Aurors were considered the protectors of law in the world of magic. What if? What if the first case she would take up was the mysterious disappearance of her parents?!
Her heart somersaulted. She gulped and a cold gush of wind entered through her mouth, giving her a ticklish feeling. She coughed and headed to the kitchen, slowly and gradually.
"Mom? Dad?" she called out slowly, but echoes lingered among the corners, giving an empty feel. She suddenly remembered that she could stumble upon anything in the dark. So, she flicked her wand, "Glimus!"
Nothing happened. She sighed defeat. She held the wand in her palms and muttered, "Dear one, I cannot take care of you in the dark. Please light up!"
"Glimus!" she flicked her wand and again. And painfully, slowly, a tiny glow fired on the tip of the wand.
'A little larger, will you?' she channelled her thoughts into the wand. The light flickered before it extended its glow. Aurelia sighed. She would better check the first floor now. She slowly walked towards the stairway.
Her breathing was rapid and she could distinctly hear her rapid heartbeat. The silence was depressing. With her forehead creased, she stopped in front of the stairway. Under the light from the glowing orb, she did not see any sign of disaster.
'Was there a power outage?' she couldn't help but think. All she wished for now that she had learned the revealing charm to check for booby traps. Taking a deep breath, she put her right foot on the first stair. As soon as her foot landed on the stair, sparks lit up above her, and she knew that she was done for.
Tickling crackers [a type of magic cracker that tickles a person while cracking on them] started invading her out of nowhere. She fell on the ground on her back as she held her stomach, laughing. This was something she had least expected if she were to investigate her parents' disappearance. She laughed till tears flow down her cheeks and the tickling crackers had exhausted. They exhaust when they had made the person laugh until tears.
Something struck her odd. What if the intruder did that to stay on alert? She stood up, thinking of the possibility. But before she could stabilize herself, fairy lights started glowing in the darkness, changing their colours gradually. The curtains had shifted and balloons and colourful ribbons took their places.
Aurelia stared in surprise as the horrible scene before her; shifted into beautiful decorations. The railing of the stairway was coiled in white lights. Paper boats, stars, birds, etc., hung from the ceiling. She turned around, devouring everything with her eyes. Then, something caught her eyes. A table was placed in the centre with a three-layered cake. And in the background, paper cut HAPPY BIRTHDAY AURELIA was hung.
Aurelia blinked with confusion. She could hear footsteps in the distance, but could not see anyone. Finally, two persons came into view. Her eyes couldn't conceal the happiness. The persons were none other than her brother and sister-in-law. If someone was close to her after her parents and Grandpa, they were her brother and sister-in-law. If not for her brother, she could have never maintained her top-notch academic results. As for her sister-in-law, she had taught her handfuls of spells that Aurelia could pull off until now. Allen was eleven years older than her while Helen was nine years senior. They had been together for seven years before they married a year and a half ago.
Realizing that she was frozen in her place, her urge to hug them both overcame and she ran straight into them. Her brother, Allen, immediately dropped the huge white box in his hands and opened his arms wide. He immediately pulled into a hug. Then, he placed a kiss on her crown, "Happy birthday!"
"Thanks," she vocalised, "But I missed you."
"We missed you too," Helen, her sister-in-law, brushed a strand of hair from her cheek and pressed her palm on it, "Happy Birthday, sweetie."
Without a word, Aurelia hugged her as she petted her head. Aurelia looked up as laughter erupted nearby. Her parents came out of nowhere. They were holding a gift box in their hands.
"Allen had a brilliant idea, hadn't he?" Dad chuckled as he stared at Aurelia.
"Not at all," Aurelia pouted and glanced at Allen, "It was scary!"
"You guess what?" Helen put her arm around her shoulder, "You know how big of a fan of horror movies your brother is? He went to see one last week. And he designed it in that way."
Aurelia pouted and stared at her brother. He chuckled, "Stop staring and cut the cake already."
Aurelia nodded and sighed. She walked up to the table where the cake was placed.
"Red velvet!" she exclaimed with pure joy.
"Helen made it," Allen whispered in her ears.
"I know it better than you do!" Aurelia flashed him a lopsided grin.