Like freakish doll heads, the girls' heads turned and faced the voice.
The tension was so unbelievably tight, it could boil an egg, or perhaps annihilate it. It was so abnormal to have so much tension in a backyard of someone's house, where sprinklers shimmied everywhere as usual, and birds tweeted. However, the birds were not tweeting in this backyard. Maybe they could feel the tension as much as the girls could if tension could even be tangible or feel-able.
But like always, the repeated motif decided to reveal itself once again, as it was, of course, a motif.
"WHAT DID I SAY, GIRLS?! GET OFF MY LAWN!!" The voice flew through the air as much as the sprinkler water did, and in great pursuit, the girls hurried off of the lawn, putting their tensional conversation on hold, casually leaving their high heels on the freshly-cut grass unbeknownst to the crabby old man creaking and cranking on his back porch like a squeaky door hinge, whining and moaning every time it was disturbed, telling the world of its presence. The boys quickly followed behind the girls, the evil prominent strewn across their handsome faces like a scar.
Humility practically hissed as the girls turned a corner and headed far away from the house and into the woods. Their dresses snagged against random branches as they ran, but for all Humility cared they could have been poisonous, what was important to her was who was joining her in her ultimate sacrifice - not if her dress was ripped permanently like some girls would have been, or Pride. Fortunately, Humility was not Pride, she was quite the opposite.
"OKAY. WHO IS THE GIRL?!" She twitched as she surveyed the girls. "YOU'VE GOT 8.16 SECONDS TO SAY YOURSELF BEFORE I BOIL YOU ALIVE IN MY FURY."
"It was me!" Generosity shrieked. "I thought it was best for me to give myself up, I am generous after all-" Generosity's wobbly voice was quickly cut off by the scissors of Humility's gags and cries. "I REALLY DON'T HAVE TIME TO HEAR YOUR LIFE STORY HUN!"
Humility grabbed Generosity by the arm and thrust her forward. The other girls could only watch in fear of the horror they were witnessing, for they were watching a great sacrifice. However, they could not stay forever. The remaining girls ran off into the woods, safe from the harm that was coming for the martyrs.
Generosity was thrown to the ground like a rag doll, her head bowing in front of the seven sins, her hair in tangles. Her face was wet with tears, not because she was sad because she was terrified. The sins parted like the Red Sea for the ultimate stealer and greedy man in the world, since he was in the back of the pack of demons.
Slowly, he paced toward her, letting a chuckle escape his lips. Once he was a foot away from her, he slowly went on his knees to Generosity's height and leered. His face slithered close to her like the snake he was, and ever so slightly, the magnanimous girl decided to breathe. His hand was swiftly out as he chose to make his mark on her. His fingers tenderly lifted her face up to see his, but the smug look was still present. Greed was not going to be pleasant like his fingers were.
"I got you my girl, and this time, I'm not letting you out of my sight." His throaty voice laughed, scaring the now imprisoned girl he had. Then like a genie, they both simply poofed away into thin air. The other six sins snickered at Humility, eager to see the fear in her, they didn't care that their virtue was running faster than a cheetah away from them. To Humility, maybe staying wasn't such a great idea. She was a leader in the other virtues' eyes, would they be able to survive?
"MY TURN." Pride stalked over to Humility, and grabbed her by the collar of her dress - or at least what was left of it. His hot breath was heavy on her, and unlike Greed, he had no immaturity for taunting. Humility cringed at Pride, but there was no emotion shown on his face if he had any. Pride flipped his hair and began his vociferate.
"That was a stupid thing to do, and to prove my anger to you, we will be doing some naughty things. You should know what haughty means, and you should be scared." Humility began screaming, screeching as loud as a whistle, but the cacophony was quickly cut off as Pride poofed away with his humble girl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Diligence, Abstinence, and Kindness had successfully freed themselves from the chase of their lives. By the time they had made it out of the woods, they were hardly recognizable as girls and were more like cavemen. "Guys, I'm scared," Kindness quietly said, gripping her arms. "And cold." Diligence nodded, while Abstinence solemnly looked at the ground. "I know. But we're safe at least." It was hard for Diligence to be positive at a time like this. Truly all three of them were terrified of what their lives had become.
Just for a moment, Diligence wished she was back in Inky's basement, playing video games, and just being normal. How long had she been gone? Were her parents worried about her? She shook, homesick at just the thought of her family. She missed them. Why was it her that had been picked to be in this craziness? It wasn't right that they were kidnapped in this way.
Noticing the awkwardness, Diligence quickly decided to take charge of the situation. "Hey. Listen. Things AREN'T okay." The other girls groaned. "THAT'S cheery!" Abstinence said angrily, sarcasm dripping from her words.
Diligence flushed. "That's not what I meant, but things aren't exactly fabulous either. I'm just being straightforward. At least we're out of the woods, right? That's a good thing!" The other two girls smiled slightly, but there was still sadness. Diligence was trying to bring hope into the situation, but how could she when there was none to start with? Even though she was a good person, she wasn't the hope...
"Hey! That's a good thing!" Kindness pointed at a building near them. "Let's go there! It's a hotel! We're saved!" The girls' sighs of relief were audible. Perhaps the hope had arrived after all.
Moving quickly, the trio quickly checked in for a night. The managers gave odd looks at their interesting hair and ripped clothing, but still let them in. Little did the management know that the girls were not going to pay for their hotel room at all, and in fact, leave before they realized they had to pay. None of them had any money.
Wrapped in bed-bug blankets and happily munching hotel snacks, the girls finally felt comfort despite everything they had been through. They were happy that they were the surviving three.
"It's so great to have a bed!" Abstinence commented, and threw her body onto the mediocre mattress. Diligence internally disagreed. Being the most athletic girl out of the bunch, she didn't like sleep very much. Just because she was on the run, didn't mean she was going to lose the thing she valued most.
Kindness, however, looked very wary of the situation at hand, or at the foot of her. Her feet were aching because of all the running she had endured throughout the day, and she was beginning to feel sick because of her life on the run. She also didn't enjoy the company she had at the moment, she wished for someone else, someone better to satisfy herself.
"Hey," Diligence whispered in a guttural voice, a sneaky smirk creeping up her face as she grabbed a flashlight that was conveniently in the hotel they were staying in, in case of a power outage. The other two girls exchanged worried looks, then worriedly looked at the girl that looked like she was about to have a cackling mad scientist moment.
"Since it's late at night, why don't we tell some lovely ghost stories?" Diligence's voice cracked an octave, giving a creepy vibe around the room. Without waiting for a reply from the two wide-eyed girls, Diligence criss-crossed her legs and moved the flashlight under her face, creating a sneaky silhouette of her face in the already dark room.
"Once, there was a girl who had been on the run for DAYS, and she finally stopped at a hotel for a while to rest."
"Wonder where she got that idea from," Abstinence whispered to Kindness, who giggled and vaguely nodded.
"She checked in, and went into room number 444."
Abstinence rolled her eyes, and got up suddenly, her hair swishing around. "This is stupid," She muttered, and with that, turned on the lights. The other girls stared at her in horror.
"Hey! You turned on my lights! I'm melting, melting...," Diligence slowly crumpled to the ground, and twitched her fingers for effect. Kindness's eyes went huge, and she covered her face with a blanket she was holding. "Stop! You're scaring me!"
"Diligence, you look like a doll with horrible eyeshadow. Kindness, would you stop acting so scared?" Abstinence walked over and ripped off Kindness's blanket, sending her hair flying. She promptly stole Diligence's flashlight like a mean mother, and put it away, while Diligence looked like a teary five-year-old. "It wasn't even that scary. Kindness is just a scaredy cat!"
"AM NOT!"
"HEY, MY STORY WAS SCARY!"
An argument erupted from nowhere, and soon pillows were being thrown like potato sacks, feathers exploding everywhere.
"CAN WE ALL JUST NOT lose IT?!" Abstinence screamed, looking at her two friends.
"Why yes, can we?"
The girls froze.
"Who said that?" Kindness whispered after a few seconds.
"Oh, me?" The voice chuckled, sending shivers down spines. "You know me. I was simply enjoying the scary story in this comfy closet until you toddlers immaturely ended it. Luckily, I know the ending."
Once again like doll heads, the girls' heads turned toward the closet. They didn't realize how dark it looked, perfect for a monster to hide in. They all took in the voice - it was scratchy, almost lethargic, and beyond creepy, especially since their recent conversation.
The disembodied voice continued, like nails running down a chalkboard. "Not long after the blood had dried into the carpet, the piano was playing again. The girl's brains were splattered all over the walls, but that was insignificant to the body of her. Her body lay on the bedsheets, in her eternal resting place."
Abstinence subtlety got off of the bed she was once sitting on.
The voice chuckled once again, the girls not even noticing the gradual crescendo in the voice over the last minute.
"Just like I'll do to you."
"Boo."