[DISCONTINUED] Stolen Beauty

Stolen Beauty: Chapter Two | What now...?

                Chapter Two 

                 Heat of the morning sun splashed onto my face. Its warm rays seeped through the cracks and holes on the wall of our new home. The fire from last night had been put out and the silence of our small cottage was eventually broken by various sounds of the surrounding village Lindell. Although it would probably have been smarter to move to a farther away town, my sister had grown tired of running and decided to stay here. We were several nights away from our old home in Aurel, and when word of the massacre reached Lindell, fitting in became nearly impossible.

                I sat up from my bed and began my morning routine. My sister had already departed for work to teach at the nearby school. She had left her plate of yesterday’s leftovers on the table for me to clean. When everything was settled and neat, I left our home and walked to the village’s church house. Wary eyes followed every step I took from the moment I walked out of the small cottage. What was it that people saw in me that was so intriguing? Yes, I was one of the two mysterious girls that survived the Aurel massacre. But even before then, people have always watched me.

                Retreating into the church was the only sane way I could keep my mind away from remembering that time. The mysterious dusk that brought upon the deaths of so many innocent lives. I couldn’t help but wonder… how did my father know that those creatures were coming? Why didn’t he warn anyone else? Why didn’t he and mother escape with us? So many things were left unanswered and… I couldn’t help but wonder if my father were still alive. The beast had taken him that night. He killed everyone else except him.

                “Everytime you come here, you always seem so bothered, child.”

                I looked up to see the village’s priest. He was a kind and old man, one who I wanted to call ‘grandfather’ if it wouldn’t be rude. In Aurel, there were village elders like him. I never had the chance to talk to any of them much because of father’s strict rules. Don’t wander too far from the house. Don’t stay outside for longer than a minute. Don’t go near the village gates. Don’t enter the woods alone. I smiled kindly as the priest sat beside me.

                “I want to return to Aurel.”

                The priest looked at me suddenly with fear in his eyes. I could tell he was afraid of what may be waiting there for me. During our first nights here, there were many whispers and laughter heard in the darkness outside the village gates. It was those creatures. They drew out the village’s strongest men and we would find their bodies in the morning, ravaged and torn apart. Whatever was happening, those monsters weren’t being secretive about it. They wanted us to know they were near. So why hadn’t they attacked yet?

                “You have many questions, Alina.” The priest rose to his feet, “Many may or may not be answered in Aurel. Still, the dangers are still the same.”

                I nodded, “I know, fa…ther…” It was weird to say it. My father was taken away, most likely dead. It just didn’t feel right to call someone else my father, priest or not. “The villagers of Lindell were kind to give a proper burial for the people of Aurel… but…” My mind began to wander. My sister and I stayed in Lindell when all those people left to Aurel. I wanted to go with them, but my sister refused to release my hand. We were safer here, she said. “I feel as if… something is calling me back there.” That was a lie. No matter where I was, there was something that called me to be somewhere.

                The priest shook his head, “The devils whisper and dance around your home every night, Alina.”

                I smiled for reasons unknown even to myself. “The villagers live in fear that what happened in Aurel may also happen here in Lindell.” I stood up as well and walked closer to the large cross displayed upon the wall. “If I were to give them what they wanted… peace might return to this village.”

                Snickers were heard suddenly, echoing at every corner of the church. The room suddenly began to grow darker. The priest took a firm grip of my wrist and he protectively pulled me behind him. I could feel the cross on my back as we moved away from the front doors of the church. Darkness was gathering but outside, bright as day, no one seemed to notice it. There was only one sense of panic outside. It was near the school house where villagers were gathering. My sister ran outside, only to be brought to the ground by one of the creatures from the Aurel massacre.

                The priest’s grip tightened as the black mass formed the body of the giant beast. My focus was drawn away from my sister as the fiend let out a loud roar. As much as my ears cried to be covered, I kept my body still. A shrill voice cried out, “Run, Alina!!! RUN!!!” My sister was then silenced; her body limp after a hard whack on the head.

                I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I screamed.

                The beast advanced towards us, each step like a heavy boom that shook my body. The priest released my hand, allowing me the chance to run whenever I found the time to. He stepped towards the beast, only to be swatted away when he came at arm’s length of the monster. Only a few steps more until it would be in front of me. Was this what my mother felt when she walked to her doom that night? No… she calmly accepted her fate. She showed no fear. Was this it for me? Am I to die here?

                Each heavy step took control of my heart beat, as if my entire body was no longer my own. My eyes looked up as the beast took its final step towards me. It stopped and there was a sudden silence I was unprepared for. What now? Was it savoring this moment? The last villager alive from Aurel, right in front of him… ready to die. There was a grumble in the beast’s throat that sent a steady vibration to the floor and into me.

“At last… I have found you.”

            End