Every room had been searched. Every nick and cranny analyzed two times over.
The mystery had been fun. Until it wasn't.
Yona was silent. Her eyes desperately searching her younger sisters. for answers neither of them had.
Gola places her hands over Yona's which clutched the candle stick a little tighter. Too tightly. "I want to believe just as you." She breathed lower than a whisper.
Yona sighed deeply, perching herself at the edge of the bed. Pulling her sister down into her arms in the process. A repeated action done many times by her mother to her. "Look there is an explanation for all of this. The shadow demon isn't real. He's just a story parents tell to make their children behave.This is most likely some technology issue that can be fixed."
Gola wished to tell her she was wrong. That she'd seen him countless times haunting her dreams. And endlessly in the shadows. But all she wished for tonight was a good nights sleep.
"Besides, if were being haunted it's by that demon from the bridge Ethan danced on." Yona laughed and Gola did too.
And as they slept, a man parading as a silhouette emerged from the shadows. Extinguishing the candle a little too close for comfort to the bed and raising the room temperature. And when he was done, the walls once again sang. Alive with the sound of music.
Thick fog clouds rolled down from the mountain tops, greatly obscuring most things. Such as the sun and the truth.
Gola tried her best to keep close to Yona. And Yona tried her best to shake off annoyance.
The trek to school was a long one. Though appreciated by both sisters. It was peaceful to walk through the small wood, and observe the scenery. Nothing could quite clear the mind like the autumn wind whistling it's tune.
Gola occasionally snapped a polaroid or two. All while Yona often hummed her favorite song.
The almost agonizing cry of ravens resonated through the fog. Their song dreadful yet familiar. Gola found herself certain they called out to her.
"Child of roses, beware of the prince within the shadows. He comes with moonlight in his hair and a melody for eternal sleep."
They chorused.
"Beware."
There were no further inquiries. Only an acknowledging nod and a thank you so quite it was mistaken as silence.
Her sister Yona wasn't unaware to her strangeness. But she couldn't blame the motherless child. She hadn't been raised right. Perhaps a push in the right direction would right her.
Death seemed a kinder fate than normality. At least then her body wouldn't be left soulless, in a never ending winter of slicing off pieces of her heart trying to fit in. They needn't how deep the abnormally ran in her bones. Needn't know that she had long since heard the call of ravens and crows, the harmony of the wind through the trees, witnessed the dead speak.
Brooksville high sat on the horizon gleaming in the shivers of morning sunlight slicing through the fog like golden ropes to the sky. The doors made the building look as though it were smiling. Sneering, really.
C H A P T E R • O N E
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