Cloaked | Book 1

Epilogue

Dawn brought with it the bright sun, which spreads its warm tendrils across the dark sky. It's weak at first, the heat that came with the day. But Sophia knows it will grow and wash the land in golden light. Day and night were the only constant things in her life.
     Far above her, a bird circles the sky. It's a dark outline against the morning clouds, moving slowly on air currents, its wings never beating. Sophia adjusts her glasses, smiling up at it. How odd that it could see a mouse hidden in the fields from that height and yet Sophia could barely see the feathers of its tail.

    The countryside was always peaceful this early in the morning. It was a plain of stitched fields. Golden fields of wheat and lush green fields of corn. They were stitched together by the rows of hedges that divided the farmers' property and spotted with cows and sheep grazing the fields. Sometimes there was a ramshackle farmhouse or silo that interrupted the flatness and that was where Sophia spent her afternoons, hiding from the heat.
    Sophia clutched her worn book closer to her chest, walking through the dewy grass of her father's backyard. The woods bit at the edge of the property, unexplored by Sophia. She already knew what she would do that afternoon, as she did every afternoon. Read a book or two, recline beneath the willow trees that dropped by the pond.
    Today would be a promising day, she knew.
    
    Summer had only just begun and already nature had begun its due course. Brightly colored poppies and dandelions swayed in the warm wind. Budding flowers set nestled between leaf pods in the trees. Sophia inhaled deeply, relishing the sent of new air and new life.
    She spotted the old red barn she loved to lounge in just on the hilltop. Sophia powered on towards it, smiling at the fields that went on for miles. Her brown hair shined in the growing sunlight.
    Suddenly, a bang rattled the doors of the barn. Sophia paused, her fingers loosening on the book against her chest. She thought she had imagined it for a moment before it comes again.
    "Hello?" Sophia called softly, walking closer to the barn. Her arms fall to her sides and she raps softly on the door before opening it.
    Gasping, Sophia takes a step back. Crimson liquid stains the dust of the barn floor, staining the bottoms of her shoes. Her book falls to the floor and Sophia's eyes raise into the darkness of the barn. The blood leaves a trail, deeper into the barn's depths. Light beams stream through the cracks in the wooden planks and would usually seem hospitable to Sophia.
    "H-Hello?" Sophia squeaks out again, hands shaking. "D-does anybody need help in here?"
    She steps further into the barn. She's careful to avoid the blood trail. Sophia hopes it is only an animal that has dragged itself in here to die, too afraid to even think of the possibility that it might be a human.
    The trail ends at a tall stack of hay. She checks it and it's empty. She searches the top of the haystacks, any alcoves they might provide, but finds nothing.
    Sophia feels some pressure rise off her chest. It probably was an animal that had died here and was taken off by some predator. In the back of her mind, Sophia knew that no small creature could produce that amount of blood. But Sophia just wanted to leave, go back home and enjoy her summer. Watch the clouds listlessly, her every day pointless but enjoyable.
    She turns to leave, but something catches her eye. It's a crimson cloth peeking out from one of the empty hay lofts. Sophia walks to the ladder, mounting it and peeking over the top.
    She cries out, nearly falling off the ladder.

    A boy and a girl sit hunched in the corner, the girl wrapped protectively around the boy. The girl has fair features; raven hair and dark eyes. Her skin is pale and it seems naturally so, but it is also clammy. Her clothes are ragged and hands stained red. The boy lies across her lap, his hair and eyes dark, too, and they seem to appear brother and sister. The crimson cloth looks like a cape and Sophia briefly thinks of the news report she had seen weeks ago about caped vigilantes, but the thought is fleeting.
    "O-Oh My God," Sophia whispers out, hesitantly climbing up the ladder and into the hayloft. "I-I'm So-Sophia. Do you need h-he-help?"
    The girl pulls the boy closer, almost defensively and Sophia gasps as his head turns to her. His eyes, nose, and the apples of his cheeks are deeply burned black. his eyes are missing, leaving gaping sockets that cry bloody tears. Sophia whimpers, crawling back to the ladder. The boy is looking right at her.
    The girl nods, her eyes empty.
    "Please. Help us."