One by One

The Arrival

     (A/N) Screw Third Person P.O.V! New plan, First person P.O.V  - Alex (hope u all r ok with dat)

     The train doors yanked open and we promptly got off. Besides me, there was also Anya Crim, Laurel, Bill, Dale, and Detective Rubin. Since Detective Rubin said he didn't get an invite, four of the people that came with me were invited to the party.

     I went back on the train and looked into the boiler room and saw that the conductor had gone. Strange. The clock read 11:41 but it felt later. As I hopped off, I saw that besides the people on our train, there were three others. I found it strange because the invitation had said that there would eight people besides me. To top it all off, the train randomly departed right now and left.

     I assessed the people in front of me... There was a tall, lanky man wearing a tuxedo and top hat that was two feet tall. If that wasn't strange enough, he carried a cane with a crow head on the tip. I wonder if that was comfortable to hold. He wore glasses but the strange thing was that the glasses had no glass in them, the eyeholes were just empty. I think those are just a prop. He had a black mane of hair with a mustache to go along with it.

     Also, next to Anya, there was a fat, (I hope she doesn't know I called her that) plump woman with an abysmally wide face. She was wearing dark purple and reeked of perfume. She was also carrying a cane but this one was extremely thin and she didn't appear to be using it. Her hair color was... indistinguishable for she was bald. Other than here alligator (or crocodile?) handbag and everything else I just described, she could pass as a human. I mean, be a wonderful addition to this party!

     Finally, the woman across from Bill was tall, reasonably sized, and was wearing a red coat without a collar but had giant shoulders. Her glasses were upside down triangles and she bore an uncanny resemblance to someone I'd seen in the streets. If it was the same person, they would have taken the I was on, right? Maybe not. She also had curly blonde (or white?) hair. It was hard to tell as it was dark and there were only two lanterns. Finally, she wore a hot pink purse inscribed Made in China. Something was written on it as well, Property of Nina Pince.

     After a while, the tall man with the top hat said, "Hey, shouldn't we all be climbing St. Attucks?"

     Nina, or, the person with the handbag labeled Nina, said "Yes we should, but 'climb' may be an overstatement... This is by far the smallest populated hill I've ever seen!"

     After this short conversation, we started trekking up the hill and reached a large wooden gate with metal doors. The top of the gate had barbed wire and it looked like this was the only way in and out.  Luckily, the fat, squabby woman had a watch. I asked her what time it is and she replied that it was 11:48. She also told me that it was always six minutes off but couldn't figure out how to fix it.

     Since 11:42 had obviously passed, I figured that it was now 11:54. To pass the time, I asked Laurel the following question, "So, Laurel, if you don't mind me asking, why are you named Laurel? Why not Lauren?"

     She looked quite taken aback and replied, "No no, I don't mind at all. I like telling the story. So, once upon a time, my parents thought that the name 'Laurel' was better than 'Lauren' without even thinking about whether it was actually for the better. So, here I am! I actually don't mind the name 'Laurel' too much as long as people don't start comparing me to laurel wreaths... Also, I'm actually not sure why my parents named me that. That's what they told the doctor anyways. By the way, I'm an orphan."

     I saw that she was an orphan just like me. I proceeded to ask everybody else if they were orphans. Oddly enough, they all said yes... except for Detective Rubin, he said, "Well, for the most part, I'm not an orphan but both of my parents are dead."

     Just like that, the gates swung open. The fat woman had pointed out that it was 11:58 and not midnight. I figured that her watch said 11:52. We walked inside the gates to a lovely courtyard that looked well tended to even though I heard nobody's been here for years.

     We walked up to the front door and saw that there was only a brass knocker on the olden dark oak door. Bill finally decided to knock it. Knock, Knock, Knock. We waited for what felt like an eternity until the door finally swung open.

     We all gasped at the sight.