Lucius was the first to step forward,He tried his best not show it but it was obvious..the look in his eyes..Fear.
The twins,Emily and Ethan,looked they were going to faint at any give moment.They had always been the most sensitive out of us all.
I took one last glance at Grandpa Trevor before following the others outside.The town folks were already gathered and circled around the corpse.Some were shouting,Some shut themselves in their homes and some were too frozen and terrified to speak.
Then my phone rang..A sound that snapped through the air like it didn't belong there.I saw the looks Nadia gave me but I ignored her,my mind focused on as to why was it ringing..There was signal in Ashvale.
I hesitated but picked up the unknown number.Nothing...just cold,hollow silence.Then click...it ended on its own.I tucked my phone back into my pocket,brushing it off.
But the moment I turned my gaze back to the corpse town's folk yelled:"SHE'S GOING TO COME FOR ALL OF US NOW..SHE WONT STOP UNTIL SHE GETS HER SATISFACTION!"
My eyes darted between the man yelling,and the lifess body.My throat tightened, thick with dread...Like a clot of blood trying to rise.
Then it began again...
The whispers...
Rushing in like a flood,like they had been waiting for this very exact moment.
Lucius turned to me. "Uh...Aki are you okay?" He asked.
But my mind was spiraling.Drenched in noise.I only nodded and bolted...rushing back inside.
The bathroom.My stomach twisted violently and I fell to my knees,vomiting into the toilet.When I looked....BLOOD.
Just a little...but enough to make my chest cave in.
I rinsed my mouth furiously,scrubbing away any trace there might be as if that could make it disappear.
The Sheriff's funeral was held that very evening.Grandpa Trevor stayed home and so did the twins.We thought it would be fine.
As I was getting dressed,Nadia knocked at my door,peeking in. "Aki..you okay?You ran off fast this morning."
I nodded quietly,She stared at me for a moment then left as I followed behind.
No one brought flowers to the funeral.Nit because they didn't have them but because roses had now become a symbol of curse in this town of Ashvale.Anyone who touched one disappeared...No one had died before..No.This was the first death to ever happen in Ashvale in such...a gruesome way.No adults had ever been harmed before so everyone had the same question in their mind.."Why now all of a sudden?"
At the grave,the Sheriff's wife was crying.But why..?She hated him.She even cheated on him.
Then I realized..That wasn't sorrow in her sobs...it was FEAR.The way her shoulders shook,The way she trembled...Her cries sounded fake but the horror was real.And it irritated me.
I stepped back,unable to deal with the nosie anymore,I started to search for Lucius but couldn't find him anywhere...had he left..?
My eyes scanned the crowd and something caught my attention.A shadow behind old Lux tree.Still.Quiet...Watching.
She stood there.Hauntingly silent.And I guess the saying in the poem was true... "one eye open and one eye gone"
She never moved.Not even once,She just stared...the whole funeral.I tried to ignore it...Tried to ground myself.But her gaze..it clawed at me.
Until I found myself standing infront of her.I hadn't even relised I had moved.She was tall...Creepy,glowing eyes..Nad nothing..but a shadow looming.Her face half skeleton..Thrones and roses growing out of it and disgusting bugs and insects crawling in and out of her whole body.
And then...I whispered her name.Like it had been waiting on my tongue to be released for ages..like a whisper, I said.., "Daienira..."
The moment that word slipped from my tongue...She vanished,Like she had never been there.GONE. Like a gust of wind,like a candle snuffed out.
And where she had stood...ROSES.Red..Roses.Not one,not two but several of them.
All blooming in the same cursed patch of the Earth.
I stared...Frozen,Because a red rose in Ashvale meant only one thing..., TROUBLE.
My hand moved unconsciously, reaching out to touch one.But before my fingers could even brush a petal...
"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!?"
Nadia's voice rang in my ears as she pulled me back. "you NEVER touch a red rose..Oh my god..There are so many of them...Let's get out of here"
And just like that,We were home again.In Grandpa Trevor's room.Lucius was already there.Just as I had thought,he left early.He couldn't handle it.The Sheriff had been a father-figure to him.
Deep into the night,we all retreated to out rooms.Hoping...no.BEGGING,for just an ounce of sleep but I knew most of couldn't get it.
I couldn't.
I lay on the bed,eyes fixed to the ceiling.My mind spiraling endlessly.Daienira's face burned behind my eye lids...over and over again.By midnight I had enough.
I got up,opened the drawer and took a bottle of pill which was Grandpa Trevor's.This oughta help me. I thought to myself and pooped two pills in my mouth.
I lay back down,burying my face into the soft pillow and closing my eyes shut.Hoping...just HOPING,they would help me drift off.Even if just for a while.