Curiosity

Lila Abu-Saleh

Ms. Asuncion

English 9 Honors, Block 2

1 October 2015

Curiosity

The old house on the street sat rotting away.  No one ever went near there.  No one knew why, they just knew not to go near.  No one was ever curious, but I was.  I was the only one, the outcast.  I wanted to see what was in the house, to explore what laid beyond those doors.  The people of my town are wary and told me to stay away.  A curse is what laid beyond those doors, that’s what they all told me.  There was no curse, it was all a warning, at least that’s what I thought.  They have all stayed away from the house all their lives; how could they know?  How could they know what laid beyond those doors when no one tried to find out?  Parents kept their children away.  My parents even tried to keep me away, but one day my curiosity consumed me.

It was as normal day, as any other day.  It was just that today was my fourteenth birthday.  In my town being fourteen was a big deal.  I don’t really know why.  As I went on with my day, people gave me strange looks everywhere I went.  Everyone acted strange, even my parents acted strange.  It was like they were nervous about something, but what?  Whether something was to be good or bad, I don’t know.  I didn’t know what was happening, I just felt strange.  When I got home, something called me up to my room.  Something called to me, called to my curiosity.  I knew at that moment what called- the house.  I couldn’t stop myself, my curiosity got the better of me, all my common sense left.  I couldn’t just use my bedroom door with the way my parents were acting.  They would probably be waiting for that something to happen, they would see me.  So I used the next best thing, the window, my window.  My room was on the second floor so I had to jump, to take a leap of faith.  I landed and brushed my legs off and started running to the house.

I opened the door, it creaked slightly, and I entered.  It looked like any other house, but older, dust everywhere.  Looked like no one had lived in it for years.  It still looked pretty normal, so I started to explore.  Oh the wonders I found, contraptions of all sorts, things that played music using a flat disc, pictures with strange flying things and the ocean?  Looking at all the things in the house I felt emotion, I felt free.  Why would anyone want to keep people from here, we lived in such a plain world now, no music, no flying things, and no ocean.  The photographs on the walls people happy swimming, playing, dancing.  They looked like they were having fun.  When I finished up my exploring, my curiosity settled and I crept out of the house.                As I stepped out of the house, I saw everyone in town has gathered.  They were all staring at me, some looking sad, with their heads down, some with no emotion.  Before I could understand what was happening, I heard a gunshot.  At that moment I knew what the curse was.  Curiosity.