The long night transitioned into a morning sunrise, to which everyone arose slowly from their sleeping bags casket like. Yet another plate of vegetables for them. This time consisting of a salad compiled together from the vegetables of the greenhouse. The group downstairs sat in their usual circles. The three girls sat eager to recite the plan they formed the evening before. They figured it best to find another location for discussion, and asked Mrs. Berling to be excused early from breakfast. “May I ask what for?” Mrs. Berling questioned. “We…uh…want to look at the artwork Stu has been working on,” Sam said. “Hmm…” Mrs. Berling paused a moment, “You guys have been mingling recently?”. “Yeah, he showed us his artwork one day and we just wanted to go in to look at it some more. Maybe draw some things while the lights still out. Morning birds and stuff. Gives us something to do.” “Well…I suppose. Go on ladies,” Mrs. Berling agreed. “Thank you,” Sam said as they all walked away. “Well, it’s nice that they are starting to break out of their circle, isn’t it dear?” Mrs. Berling asked. “Indeed it is honey,” the bishop answered, after swallowing a mouthful of vegetation.
The three girls journeyed to the nursery and walked in quietly to discuss the sneaking out matters further. “So, here’s what well do. Mrs. Berling usually reads in the sanctuary by three correct?” Lila asked, to which the other two nodded. “Okay, and the bishop is away from his study at this time too, right?” To which the other two nodded once more. “So, we’ll do what we planned yesterday and sneak in and look for the key inside the book, then leave for about half an hour and make it back here before four. But no later than this. We don’t know whether Mrs. Berling will get a head start on her garden.” “Alright, sounds like a plan,” Sam agreed. “Are you alright, Nicola?” Sam asked. They noticed her staring at the easel, to which the page was left on the giant bird Stu had been illustrating diligently. “Wow, he’s a better artist than I thought,” Sam commented. “Might be a cool dude after all,” Nicola said. “Does a lot more than that loser upstairs,” Lila said. “Lila,” Sam corrected. “Looks a little unusual for a bird though,” Sam wondered. “Looks familiar. Like the one that flies past the window in here,” Lila said. They took a brief pause to dwell upon the figure illustrated on the large canvas, then a sudden bump was heard as the three girls jumped.
“You guys hear something?” Sam asked. “I think it came from the other side of the wall,” Lila commented. The three tiptoed to the door and glanced around the corner, to which they saw Lester mopping the floor. “It’s just Lester,” Lila said, letting out a sigh of relief. “You think he heard us?” Sam wondered. “Pff no way, that geek always has his earbuds in,” Lila commented. They walked back into the room to discuss matters more important. “So, three o’clock?” Lila asked. “Three o’clock,” Sam agreed. “Whatever,” Nicola muttered.
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II
Brody figured it best to stay upstairs with the slumbering cowboy, feeling at a slight unease from the evening before. Though he were not awake, his presence gave him a feeling of reassurance for a reason he could not quite place. He stared through the window once more but kept at the distance he normally kept at evening, and just an inch more. Midday had to arrive at some point, and when the sun prematurely reached the skies center, his stomach growled as an alarm clock for lunch. This time a little more vengeful for skipping breakfast. Downstairs he went. He walked down the long hallway towards the dining hall, almost bumping into the group of three girls. The more extraverted one of the group in which almost sneered at him, as if he were the plate of vegetables they would soon consume. The corner of his eye caught a glimpse of a yellow glow inside the nursery he almost ignored per usual. However, he decided for once to take a quick visit for no more than a curiosity’s sake. Upon entry, he took notice to the easel Stu had been working on, and the bird esque animal he had been sketching. The outline of which drew a striking resemblance to the one seen the night before.
“Enjoying my gallery?” A voice asked dryly, met with a light startle from Brody. “I never see you much. How are things going upstairs?” Stu asked, as if the two were longtime friends. “Alright I guess,” Brody shrugged. “Nice…uh…drawing you have,” he said, taking another pause to look at it. “Thanks,” Stu said. “Is…is this some type of bird or…” Brody started. “Yes. I’ve been drawing quite a few of them. I see their shadows from the window. Their presence is always welcome since it gives me new ideas for my works. This type for example, I think it was some type of finch. I believe it was resting on the pane outside, hence why it is more perched than the others,” Stu explained, flipping the pages back a few. “Hm…” Brody thought, looking at the picture inquisitively. “Hawks on the other hand, I have trouble drawing since they fly past so quickly. Blink once, ya miss it. Which is what I believe this one was,” Stu said, flipping back to the page Brody was looking at. “I was lucky to catch this one since it slowed down that day. I think it may have even stopped on the window just like the finch,” Stu said with his tone now becoming more serious. “Really?” Brody asked. “In fact, it stopped for so long I managed to sketch another picture of it,” Stu answered, flipping over a page. The most recent drawing looked almost identical to the previous one. Though the wings were more defined and slightly more jagged. I sometimes wonder if it’s a bat instead, because of how late in the day it flies around here,” Stu said. The two gazed at this illustration a little longer than the last. Once it started to make them feel uncomfortable, Stu started the conversation again. “I wonder if it’s that owl that Gage complains about,” Brody wondered. “Could be. Tell me, what’s he like?” Stu asked. “I don’t know,” Brody answered. “Well, you’re up there a lot with him aren’t you?” Stu asked. “Yeah, but he’s asleep most the time” Brody said. “Gotchya. Welp anyway, guess it’s time for lunch. Would…would you like to sit with us today?” Stu asked. “I’m good thanks,” Brody said still mesmerized by the illustration. After Stu left the room, Brody still looked at the picture for a few more moments, then left with a slight chill down his spine.
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III
Mrs. Berling sat on a pew, catching up on her afternoon reading. A quiet time activity she enjoyed the most, for it acted as a nice distraction from her other churchhold duties. That and on days like this where she had to bear the burdensome task of not just cooking dinner, but giving it a bath as well. Of course, her book reading came to a quick end unfortunately, for the Westminster chimes of the grandfather clock of the hallway sounded 3:00 pm. Usually she would wait another hour before watering the plants and starting dinner. However, this afternoon she figured it best to get an early start. The chapter in which she read was slow and boring anyway. She walked into her husband’s study to look for the key which she kept in the tenth book down on the third shelf. Upon opening she discovered that the key was nowhere to be found. She looked around the desk drawers and underneath the desk and chair for the key. Nothing. After checking that her pockets were completely emptied as well, she walked back out the study and towards the cellar. After making it down the hard linoleum steps to the wooden cellar door, she opened it and walked past the various arrays of wine, up the wooden steps on the other side to the green house door. The door had a lock and chain lying next to it, and after looking at it inquisitively she walked to the greenhouse. The door on the other side of the large vegetable garden had another misplaced lock and chain lying next to it. Taking a pause to imagine why the locks were in their current position, she muttered “Lester. never remembers to lock the door”. Shaking her head, she walked back to prepare supper.
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IV
The trio of girls walked down a semi-dilapidated gravel road, and looked at the crumbled world outside as if it were brand new, with their eyes meeting every object in a sense of awe and wonder. “I’m glad we got to do this,” Lila said. “Heh, yeah,” Sam agreed with a slight nervous chuckle. “At least everything looks like death. For if it didn’t, I would’ve gone back,” Nicola grumbled. “Nicola,” Sam and Lila groaned in unison. “Where should we go?” Lila asked. “Nowhere too far. Remember, we have to make it back before four” Sam answered. “Wanna see what’s in the woods?” Lila asked. “Uh, sure” Sam answered reluctantly. “Whatever,” Nicola shrugged. “Well come on, daylights a wastin,” Lila said enthusiastically. They dipped away from the gravel road into the nearby woods and found exactly what was to be expected. An archetypal set of bushes, undergrowth, trees, and so forth. Though, the color of the trees were off as if everything were slowly dying. In fact, not a single croaking frog atop a lily pad was to be heard, nor the chirp of a bird, nor legs of a cricket. What started off as an exciting adventure slowly evolved to a funeral march. “You think we should’ve brought some knives from the kitchen?” Sam asked. “What for?” Lila said. “I don’t know, just seems like a good idea. Safety, in case we have to cut something,” Sam suggested. “What’s the matter, afraid of some old bat brains? It ain’t even dark yet. Sides Brody probably took them all again,” Lila mocked. “Well, you never know,” Sam said. “A vampire would make things more interesting,” Nicola remarked. “Well, we already have you in the group so there’s one so far,” Lila quipped. “Whatever,” Nicola moaned. The group traveled along in a somewhat melancholic state, careful not to step in any poison oak or mud and stopped at something that caught their attention.
There was a graveled pathway that were barely visible beneath a patch of undergrowth. “Wait stop guys,” Sam said holding her arms out to halt the two next to her. “What’s this?” Sam asked. “Looks like an alternate road. Should we travel down this path?” Lila asked. “I don’t know. It looks like we were out a little later than expected” Sam said, now looking at the barely visible darkening sky above. “Who’s got the time?” she asked subsequently. They all checked their pockets for simultaneously. Then checked them again, and again and five times over. “We all left our phones at the church, didn’t we?” Sam asked futile for she knew what the answer was; to which Lila and Nicola answered with a “Uh huh”. “Aw man we didn’t think this through very well,” Lila groused. “Yeah, and this was all your idea Mrs. Enstein” Nicola snarked. “Well, we didn’t hear much insight from you. Mrs. Dark and Brooding Batman wannabe,” Lila retorted. “Excuse me Mrs. enthusiastic unicorn rainbow poop?!” Nicola shouted. “Guys, guys! Let’s just focus on getting out of here. We’ve already wasted enough time as it is. Now, should we take the gravel path or not?” Sam intervened. “I think it’s an idea. What about you two?” Lila asked. “Alright,” Sam sighed. “Whatever,” Nicola answered. “Well, I suppose we had better get a move on,” Sam said, and down the missing path they went.
The graveled pathway slowly turned into red dirt, which started to cake beneath the bottom of their sneakers, making it more difficult to walk. The nightfall seemed to creep up on them much sooner than anticipated. “Maybe this was a bad idea after all. We should probably go back the other way instead,” Sam wondered. “No way, we’ve already made it this far,” Lila said, eager to press onwards. “What is this stuff we’re stepping in anyway?” Sam asked in mild disgust. “Some red dirt I think,” Lila said. “It’s a little bit darker than usual, isn’t it?” Sam wondered. “Could just be our eyes. Afterall, we haven’t seen the outside since we were like five,” Lila said. “I wonder how much longer this road has until we’ve reached the-” Sam stopped once she bumped into something. Upon closer examination, it appeared to be a tombstone cracked in half and the three looked upwards to see a hundred of them. “Woah,” Lila observed a little nervous. “Now things got interesting,” Nicola said as she perked a little beneath her dark gray hoodie.
“It’s crazy to think of how many have passed away,” Sam said. “This is even larger than the church courtyard,” Lila said as the three started to examine the large tombstones. “These graves are ginormous,” Lila said. “Yeah, and they all have similar last names. Bancroft, Damian, Serafino. I see rows of people with names like this. Strange none of them have crosses,” Sam noticed. “One large pretentious atheist family probably,” Lila smirked. “That mausoleum’s insane,” Sam said taking notice to the large mausoleum at the very core of the ginormous cemetery. They all walked curiously over to it and noticed a rusted plaque next to the large gate, with a stone carving of a crying face upon it looking akin to a Melpomene mask. “Raul Van “Uncle Sal” Salvatore” Sam read. “What else does it say?” Lila asked. “1707-1762. The leader of our group. Fought bravely in many battles against our mortal foes. Widely respected in our family and our brethren, earning his title of “Uncle”. Though deceased for a long time, the world will not forget him. We all miss him dearly and are waiting for the day we will see him again in heaven,” Sam read. “Interesting,” Lila noted. “Cool,” Nicola chimed in. “There’s more,” Sam said, “It says here at the end: As per daybreak we have lost and were fed to the Lion’s Den. As per nightfall we shall rise and take this land again. Every morning has its evening. Every bat to its dove. Another chance in the next century under the full moon from above.” “Can we go down there to explore? I don’t see a lock on this gate?” Lila wondered. “Wait, that might not be a good-” Sam started, but was interrupted by Lila pulling on it. The gate clanged a little, but would not open. “Odd,” Lila wondered. All three of them now stood by the gate. The center of the gate had the same Melpomene mask from atop the mausoleum, with a circle surrounding it with an inscription of some sort. “For My Beloved Children and My Children’s Children,” Sam read.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind flew past them. As they looked to the setting sun above them hastily, they saw what appeared to be a giant bird fly past; making its way towards the church. They all paused shaken, and instinctively huddled close to each other. “Did you see that?” Lila asked. “It looked kind of like a hawk or eagle or something,” Lila said. “I don’t like the look of this. I’m outta here!” Sam said as she started to race back towards the red path. “Right behind you,” Lila said starting to run after her. “Fun while it lasted,” Nicola retorted following suit. They raced as fast as their small legs could carry them back to the green house door and cellar, locking both doors respectively. After locking the cellar door back in place, they stopped and bent over to catch their breaths. “Who wants to put this key back?” Lila asked. “Why don’t you do it?” Sam waxed bold. “What?” Lila questioned in shock. “We’ll it was your P-brained idea, wasn’t it? And you were the one to grab it so put it back!” Sam commanded. “Actually, I’ll take it off your hands,” a voice from the back of the cellar echoed, to which the three girls jumped.
The outline of this man was made visible from the hallway light behind him. He emerged and revealed his male patterned baldness as his eyes leered from the shadows through his round glasses. “Les? What are you doing in here?” Sam asked. “Mopping this floor for the millionth time this month. What are you guys doing in here?” Lester retorted. “We, well, we…” Sam started. “Well?” Lester asked. “We…sigh…we snook out for a walk,” Sam admitted guiltily. “It was her idea,” Lila fibbed, pointing to Sam hastily. “What? Lila!?” Sam said in disbelief. “You all agreed on this. Or else you would not have gone out altogether. Right?” Lester intervened. The three girls looked as saddened as a puppy dog in front of Lester. “You know what could’ve happened to ya’s. Huh? With the current state of our world right now?” Lester said, as if he were their father. The girls kept silent, for it were no use trying to state their peace. “You know what this means?” Lester asked. “You’re going to have to tell Mrs. Berling on us?” Sam asked. “That’s what I should do,” Lester answered disappointed. “We understand,” Sam sighed. She then started to walk towards the entrance door to the cellar, as the hall light shined on the four in the basement. “But…” Lester started, to which the three girls turned slowly to face him once more. “I consider myself a reasonable person. So, why don’t I offers ya an ultimatum?” Lester said, with a light smile on his face. The three girls turned a little more and perked up as he said this. “You’s guys help me clean and plunge toilets for the next month, I take the key back from you’s guys and I keeps my mouth shut. Deal?” Lester offered, holding a glove out to collect the key. “Ew no way am I cleaning toilets. That’s cruel and unusual punishment!” Lila guffawed. “All right, I understand. Hey, Miss Berling? Ya up dare?” Lester yelled. “Okay, okay we’ll do it!” Sam agreed quickly. “Sam?” Lila asked. “Well, what choice do we have? It’s either this or getting on Miss Berling’s bad side. And if we do that, we’ll be lucky to even be able to look out the window upstairs,” Sam explained. “Fine,” Lila said gritting her teeth as she gave the key to Lester. “All right, you’s girls betta get upstairs, or Miss Berlin’ will have a cow again this week,” Lester said. “Yes sir,” they all said in unison. And off to dinner they went. “Poor kids,” Lester sighed as he observed them walking away saddened, and back to mopping the floor he went.
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V
Evening came. Everyone was tucked away in their sleeping quarters once more, and it were that time of night again for Brody to traverse the long staircase to the second floor. Walking past the sleeping Gage in the corner, he walked to the window to look outside once again. Of course, deciding to watch from a safe distance. The moonlight created its somber glow on the ground beneath and through the window again. However, the wind was howling a little louder than it was the previous few nights. In fact, it started to gradually increase as moments passed. Abruptly the howling wind was accompanied by a large winged animal that flew right onto the bottom stone ledge. Brody jumped a little and sighed of relief once he saw that it was nothing more than an owl. It tilted its head at Brody as it looked inquisitively at him making soft hooting noises. This were short lived however, when a loud “Bang!” was heard from the corner, as the brown owl flew out to the nighttime sky once more. “Agh! Varmint keepin’ me awake!” Gage grumble drunkenly, as he placed his pistol sloppily back down next to him. “Gage!” a series of voices yelled from beneath. “You should be grateful. You guys could’ve had owl for dinner tomorrow,” Gage responded. “You keep it up, and we’re taking your liquor away!” a voice echoed from beneath the stairs. “Agh!” Gage groaned as he tilted his Stetson over his eyes and placed his hands behind his head. Brody froze from shock for a few moments, then once his stomach had settled as he found there were no threats to worry about, he fell asleep underneath the attic staircase.
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VI
“Help!” a voice whispered. Brody startled awake, then figuring the sound came from the dream he was having, closed his eyes to sleep once more. “Help!” the voice whispered, now sounding a little louder. Brody opened his eyes, he looked around a little more, to which he found nothing and shut his eyes once more. “Help! I’ve been hurt!” the voice whispered a little louder. To which Brody sat up and found no one again. “Will the one under the staircase help me!” the soft feminine voice whispered. Brody felt a chill run down his spine as he slowly and reluctantly got up from beneath the staircase. He turned his head slowly around the side to see a pale blonde woman kneeling in pain on the lower corner of the stoned rectangle. The woman panted rather heavy and looked up slowly as her eyes matched Brody’s. Her face mesmerized him, as she were as beautiful as a painting come to life. Her eyes and skin where of a perfect hue, with not a single blemish to be found, and her luscious red lips complimented her quite nicely. “I’m hurt, will you help me?” she pleaded softly. Brody was now staring at her in full view from beneath the staircase and kept completely still and quiet. “Please?” she pleaded once more. He looked over to the sleeping Gage on the floor and looked slowly back at her. “Don’t worry about him. You can help me,” the woman said. Despite what his gut told him, he walked slowly towards her. Stopping directly in front of her, their faces matched each other as she appeared more beautiful than a few moments ago. She looked to be only two years his senior.
“What…what happened?” Brody asked anxiously, partly intimidated from meeting a stranger and partly because of how attractive she was. “I was shot,” the woman panted, unclenching a side of her abdomen to reveal a dark red splotch. “Oh! How did this-” Brody asked. “Agh!” The woman groaned interrupting Brody, to which he jumped a little. “Ma’am, are you alright?” Brody asked a little frightened. “Yeah, the pain is starting to subside. Will you let me in? I think I just need some Neosporin,” the woman said. “I…” Brody started, to which he looked behind him at the slumbering Gage once more. After looking at him for a few seconds, he turned to face the woman again. “Never mind him,” The woman said. “How did you see him from this dista-” Brody started. “Ooh!” the woman groaned in pain once more as Brody jumped again. “Ma’am, let me get someone to-”. “Shh!” the woman interrupted softly, placing a finger on his lips. It was colder than he expected, as his lips quivered a little. Slowly taking a red fingernail off his lips, she continued. “You know, you’re kind of cute,” she smirked, taking a hand off her side as the blood started to crumble away like powder.
“Pardon?” Brody asked a little more anxious. “I’ve been watching you sleeping for some time. Doesn’t it get a little lonely up here?” the woman asked, starting to lean her chin on one arm as her curvaceous figure swayed a little. “Uhh…well…” Brody stammered. “Aw! You’re nervous. That’s so cute,” the woman chuckled as she tickled his chin a little. “Well…” Brody started. “From the way you’re acting you’re a virgin,” the woman said. “Yeah, well…” Brody stammered once more. “I can take care of that if you want to?” the woman said, moving about a little more sensually now. “Pardon?” Brody asked. “Come on. Let’s have some fun! Let’s crawl up and down these old walls with our legs wrapped together as I scream,” the woman whispered. “Well, I…” he stopped once he saw her laying completely stretched out, defying the laws of physiques as the bottom half of her floated out the nighttime sky. “Woah!” Brody said. The woman laughed playfully as she spun around one time. With the bottom of her face looking up at his as she lay upside down. “All you have to do is kiss me and I’m all yours forever,” the woman said. “Huh?” Brody asked. “Come on, you know you want to,” the woman encouraged smiling a little more. “Lady, I don’t know if I shou-” Brody was interrupted once more. “What’s the matter? Afraid I have cooties?” the woman asked flirtatiously. “No…I mean…well…” Brody stammered. “Come on, I won’t bite,” the woman smiled. Brody suddenly lost sense of reality as his eyes matched hers, causing him to be even more entranced than before. Then he slowly leaned in for a kiss with his eyes closed. As his face inched closer to hers, her baby blue eyes turned red, and her puckered lips grew a pair of fangs waiting to catch his neck in her mouth.
The woman then let out a shrilling scream as she flew out into the nighttime sky. Brody opened his eyes as a firm grip pulled him back. Gage was standing in front of him, with a combat knife in one hand and a large cross in the other. The combat knife had a trickle of blood drip from it, and the woman was held aloft in the air by a large set of red bat like wings. She held her chest where the knife had offended her, with her mouth bleeding extensively as the two inside the building waited for her next move. The woman’s scowl slowly faded to a smile once more, as her once light blue eyes shone red as she glared at them. After coughing up blood, she took one last breath and said, “Thank you, and say hi to my brother for me.” Her eyes were blue again, as a bloody tear trickled down her cheek, and her body disintegrated like dust as the wind blew her remains away.
Gage looked at his combat knife. “I just sharpened this thing,” he grumbled putting his cross away in his satchel. “You alright kid?” he looked at the shell-shocked Brody. “Lemme see your neck,” Gage said, tilting Brody’s chin firmly as he looked at his neck. “Well, that was a close one, wasn’t it?” Gage chuckled a little from relief to which Brody nodded awkwardly. “What’s that ya got there under ya sleeve?” Gage asked puzzled, holding Brody’s arm out. “No wait that’s-” Brody started, but was interrupted when Gage pulled his sleeve back, revealing some freshly made cuts and scars on his arm. Looking at Brody awkwardly with one eye, he released his firm grip and said “Man, one feisty gal wasn’t she? Good thing she didn’t bite your neck, or I would’ve had to kill ya,” Gage smirked. To which Brody remained silent except for a nervous gulp. “Guess I gotta go tell the other’s what happened. Come on kid,” Gage nodded his head indicating Brody to follow him. Gage stopped once he reached the stairwell, and paused to look at his own arm. Looking behind him at Brody he hollered “Well, come on now, we ain’t got all night!” And down the long staircase they went.
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