Just Don't Ask

The Mystery of Skull Mountain: Part One

The Mystery of Skull Mountain

(Amy’s POV)

“Not too long ago, there was a great tragedy on these lands – in fact this tragedy took place but a few yards from where we sit now. The first family to live here was an ordinary family; a few kids, a mother and a father, and a cozy sod house. Throughout the first five years they lived happily, they discovered how to work the land and how to get water, their livestock even started to grow and reproduce. It was them who planted all the trees we see around us now, some of which the walls around us are made of.

“One winter a couple years after their land and livestock started flourishing; all the hares they had kept in a small pen went missing. As the long winter went on more and more of the animals disappeared – all but the cows and horses. Once spring came along they were left with only one black rabbit, along with their large animals. The family figured that a wild animal stole the livestock, because it couldn’t find any other food during the devastatingly cold winter. Spring finally came and the trouble left, or so they thought.

“The youngest boy – Jack, went out to fetch some water one morning, so he left the house and climbed over the large hill they had named Skull Mountain. It was named that because of the tree branches above it, which made an eerie skull shape. Now normally it would only take Jack about a half hour to get the water, but three hours later he still hadn’t returned. The rest of Jack’s family went out to look for him; thinking he might have fallen on his head again, but they didn’t find him. Day after day they went out to search for him, and came back empty handed.

“The family lived in a great pit of despair, and eventually gave up hope, all but Jack’s twin sister Jill. She continued to search day and night, only stopping if she was needed in the house, which rarely happened. One night as she crept through the dark forest she heard a blood curdling scream echo around her. ‘JACK! Jack where are you?!’ she yelled, but the only reply was a horrible moan. Jill stumbled over tree roots, branches cutting at her face, running blindly toward the sound.

“Jill kept running until everything went quiet, breathing heavily she stood frozen as the wind played with her hair. ‘Stab… rip… kill… hop.’ A sinister voice whispered, as it seemed to surround her. Terrified, Jill started to run again; no particular destination in mind, just to escape the awful thing the nightmarish voice surely belonged to. She cried out as one of the unforgiving roots finally tripped her, though her legs ached and her body was covered in scratches, she managed to get to her knees and continue moving forward. Jill crawled on even when her hands met wet, warm, and oddly sticky ground, thinking it was from a rain storm a few days before.

“Out of the corner of her eye Jill saw something move, after a moment of hesitation she gathered her confidence and slowly crept towards it. As she drew closer a shadowy figure became apparent, it was a person. ‘Jack?’ she whispered loudly, and began to turn over the body. Jill upon seeing the person’s face had to stifle a scream of horror; there wasn’t much of a face left. The only sign it wasn’t Jack was the one eyeball dangling out of its socket was brown, and Jack had blue eyes.

“Jill pushed the body aside and backed away from it, unfortunately she slipped on the wet earth and landed on her butt. The liquid on the ground started to seep through her skirts, and stain her legs and hands. She shrunk back further into the trees, her eyes never leaving the corpse. Jill swiped her hand across her forehead in an attempt to dry her clammy skin, but all she did was smear the sticky liquid from the ground across her face. She noticed an odd smell, she looked down at her hands in haste, to see that they were actually covered... in blood.

" A choked sob and a direful moan escaped Jill as she wrapped her arms around herself in fear, she was ready to give up; give up searching for Jack, give up running, and last of all give up her life. 'Jill?' a timid voice ripped through the deafening silence of the cool forest. Hope suddenly restored, Jill scrabled to her feet and ran in the direction of Jack's voice, until she saw him. 'Oh Jack' she cried and threw herself at him, she weeped as they held on to each other in a heartfelt embrace. 'Jill, we have to run before it gets us,we have to..' Jack cut off as his body went rigid, pulling back,Jill saw thick ruby red blood blossoming from somewhere and drenching his shirt.

" Jill pressed her hands against Jack; trying to stop the bleeding, but instead of an open wound, she found a horn protruding from his chest. In the next moment another horn pushed through his neck, severing hs spinal cord. Slowly, Jack's freshly dead body started to rise into the air as if it were levitating. Jill gasped as she finally noticed the huge furry beast with burning red eyes looming behind her brother, lifting him up with the two huge antlers that skewered through Jack's body. The beast tossed its head, throwing Jack's body into the air, as the body fell back down it swallowed him whole.

" The beast roared at Jill, exposing its two rather large front teeth while it spat flesh and blood at her. Jill screamed and screamed, she took no notice of her surroundings, all her thoughts were focused on the gruesome death of her brother. The next day her remaining brothers found her curled up, pale, damp, and covered in blood, lying in a pool of it. As they hauled her back none of them realized the black rabbit was following them, bloody, chewing on what would appear to be an eye, more accurately a blue eye.

"It just so happens that we live on the same property Jack and Jill did, and it's rumoured to still have a black rabbit running around." a boy with messy brown hair finished his story, I shivered; it looked so much warmer inside the little log cabin, even with the sun hitting my back it was still a chilly day.

"Mother it's not true is it?" one of the smaller boys who listened to the story asked.

"Oh poppycock! Beasts!? The child was eaten by a cougar and the girl simply had a mental breakdown, now all of you need to tidy your rooms before lunch. Off to it now!" a woman with graying brown hair ordered, the children filed out of the room and she followed behind to whack any stragglers with a wooden spoon.

I stepped away from the keyhole I was looking through and strolled between the rows of trees. I occasionally stopped to admire some unicorns nibbling at flowers or watch the griffins peck at the apple trees. I sighed happily, it was quite entertaining to listen in to that storytelling.

" You know it is awfully rude to eavsedrop." a snotty voice made worse by a terrible British accent came from behind me.

I turned to see a black rabbit, no, no, no the black rabbit, "Pft. At least I don't stalk people like you do. Not to mention I don't turn into an ugly creature thing. Also, normally accents are like the coolest thing since sliced bread, but you totally can't do it, just don't even try. Oh and you have some eyeball on your hideous bowtie Mr.Bunny."

" MR. BUNNY!? That is not my name!"

" Ya, well I don't care enough to find out your name... if you even have one."

Mr. Bunny seemed to get really ticked off - who knows why.

" MY NAME IS SHIRLEY!" Mr. Bunny yelled... wait a sec, how am I talking to a rabbit in the first place? Ah well, not a very impressive rabbit, its eyes are just that boring red color.

"What? My mother told me I had beautiful eyes!" he exclaimed, oops did I say that last part out loud?

"Yes, YOU DID!" Mr. bunny roared again. " I told you my name is Shirley!" wow I've really gotta stop doing that.

That seemed to be the last green straw for Mr. Bu.. er... Shirley, because he squeaked in rage and sprouted some deer antlers.

"JACKALOPE!" I yelled.

Shirley charged toward me as I skipped towards him with my arms wide open, realising I was about to hug him Shirley tried to turn, but it was too late. I caught him as he slid into my arms. Naaaaw he is such a cute lil' jackalope. I squeezed my eyes shut as I cuddled my new vicious pet, but when I opened my eyes again all I saw was my white ceiling, and where my fuzzy jackalope was supposed to be... my little puppy that I was hugging just a little to tightly lay. Oopsies. What an odd dream. Randomly lightning lit the sky in an odd rabbit-deer shape... then the power went out.

[A/N] Hoped you like part one people! Vote vote vote! Oh and comment comment comment!!!!11one

Part two is yet to come!