 
Refraction of Beauty

Shaanzaè Shahid

Published by Vohh Books

Smashwords Edition

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Copyright 2013 Shaanzaè Shahid

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The Magic Building

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### Table of Contents

Memories

The Meeting

The Past

Strange Reality

A Huge Traumatic Blow

The Next Transaction

Destination Holstridge Manor

Coming To Terms With It

Wandering

Getting Hotter

The Transformation

End of Flashback

Reunion

A Brief Meet

On and Beyond

About the Author

\-- CHAPTER ONE \--

Memories

Whenever we look back and try to replay our memories; a sense of indifference envelops us. Unless you're one of those people who look back and savour honey coated memories, where you did everything judiciously and just couldn't believe your luck with all its richly bore fruit and everything...then don't think you will be capable of understanding what I am experiencing. Are you a psychiatrist? A know-it-all 'analyzer'? One who delves into people's minds and heroically claims to find the point of irritation and befuddlement? If yes, then I'm afraid I can't be helped. All that I mean to say is, I have long foregone that time of my life when I would care about whatever the hell people would have to offer me. Good advice, alternative suggestions, the painfully clichéd 'forget it, don't think about it and move on' consolations and those dreaded comparisons with 'ordeal-conquerors'; are all time wasters for me. It's pitiful, disgusting and pathetic. I don't need it. I feel like my heart was dipped in lye and the rest of my skin succumbed to its excruciating corrosiveness. Like a thousand forks, bleeding with hot, boiling wax were repeatedly casting crescents of blood on my face, and then filling a crescendo of pain by wrenching the flesh off my bones. My soul is on fire; I'm burning. Don't you see? I'm already in Hell, because I'm not dying. Because, I'm cursed to living a wretched existence in a capsule of gory memories. My mind has been forever coated with black glitter. Glitter that is pukingly blinding it from seeing clearly...preventing me from resting. It's like mental seizure that won't stop because the constant infernal shining and glitz is madness, driving you off the edge every second of your creation. Black because of death; that refuses me.

As usual, it's raining. My window is stained with the bluish-grey dews of pelting water from the bluish-grey sky. It's exactly 4:33 p.m. and it feels like time had been paused and been coloured by a singular grey crayon. My apartment is dark from the inside. It feels like those mid-nineteenth century rooms where electricity was a novelty and dim, dull candles illuminated the way; except, I have not candles either. The only light that prevails is the half-glare of my window, which will soon evaporate and leave only further darkness to permeate my room. The halls of this building are as silent as a graveyard. My television set is a big box of concentrated blackness that looks as if it will switch on automatically, just to scare me. There is so much horror to be found in them. Tomorrow the people will come and take it down and rid me of its presence forever. Nasty thing was never really used by myself either. Always observed its screen from the corner...for not even the slightest, smallest crack. That's why I need the ghastly contraption out of my domain as quickly as possible. There is not a single mirror in my room. No bathroom mirror and certainly no small pocket mirror either. There can never be a crack on the side. Thus forth, I have never looked at my face. I feel my hair around to tame any unruly or electrified strands to their limp, dead and hanging positions. Next I use my fingers very precisely and circulate them all over my face for trace of any extraordinary minute defect that could render me incapable of public presentation. And clothes, I believe they look the same as they are off me. Red is not a part of my wardrobe and I refuse to wear anything that is of the particular hue; at least, ever since those...eyes. It is useless to bring it up. A blotched recollection of nails scratching a blackboard...and your own long, sharp nails perpetrating the act is all that's left of it. A feeling of immense irritation that is almost palpable. Irritation, pain and fear. But not your average kind of fear, either. It is instead, the kind that can leave you wide-eyed in a never-ending and inescapable nightmare. Imagine the overwhelming terror of actually never leaving it. Having it go on and on...and on.

\-- CHAPTER TWO \--

The Meeting

I must get my purse ready. And I must also get an umbrella. Not to forget my signature, rectangular black spectacles. It's exactly 4:56 p.m. now and I have a meeting scheduled at 5:10 p.m. at News Grove Garden, North London. A meeting, with my sister. It's a freak of chance that we premeditated a get together in the first place, having awkwardly run into each other on the sidewalk. This is the first time in 4 months that I'm meeting one of my only existing relations in the world. Last time we met was at the funeral...last time she or any of my two remaining sisters ever met each other or me. All I can think of right now, is hurrying, as I will need to get back to my apartment before 7:00 p.m. since my entire building is almost deserted and the 'guards', a pair of disgusting sleazy drunkards come out at that time. So in order to avoid potential rape, I need to get there before they do. Arrangements for my shifting apartments have been incessantly unsuccessful. I have meant to move out but fate just hasn't interwoven this scheme into my life yet. Anyway, who knows? Maybe after meeting Josephina, a setting for my new, even if temporary, abode might be made. Everything is so dreary. Crossing the road is such a nuisance as well. Of course the chivalrous drivers don't cease an opportunity of un-aiding a helpless, guardian-less girl on the street; so just at the nick of my proceeding onwards, hit acceleration to keep me grounded on one side. Prowling my way, eventually, all I need to do is look for her in the park, as it's right across the street. There she is. She's sitting in that same way. Even time couldn't erase that. Joe...

With the large tent as shelter, I lowered my umbrella and quickly patted my hair with my hand, as a way to secure a tame appearance. I had always had dead straight brown hair, so it was easier to keep them...well, dead straight. Approaching her with a weird nostalgic feeling, I am going to try my best to keep things formal.

'Hi? Josephina?' I began in order to signal attention.

'Carolina...hello. You made it!' She half saluted my arrival a little above her waistline and smacked it once she was done.

'How could I not? That would be rude. The rain is awfully glum. But then again, this whole damn town is glum. You tell? I get this reunion isn't exactly smooth because we're both refraining ourselves, and I don't particularly have a lot of time either...so what is it that you said required a 'specific' talk?'

'Car....olina...' She immediately finished my name, so as to eradicate any intimacy my nickname would have evoked between us. 'It's been too long since we kept this wrapped up.'

'What on Earth do you mean?' began I, erupting into spasms of anger. 'Am I to sashay what happened to us? Do you, in your right mind think we will be believed? Are you seriously aware of that? Public dejection is one thing...but the very idea of people questioning the authenticity of what went down; is mental murder for me. Because it did happen. She was taken from us. And we know it. That is enough.'

'Then explain to me how we may justify, that Anneliese's body is no longer in her grave? That's right. Two nights ago I went to visit her...I had been having some dreams and I thought of visiting her - what I now realize, my sisters were not strong enough for - when I saw something that I knew was coming...she wasn't there. They've taken her body. This nightmare hasn't really ended! Her gravestone is cracked Carolina!'

'That only happens to glass...'

'That is beside the point. Do you hear? Our youngest sister has been dug up and taken away from her own grave! We don't know where she is now. Except for our best guess...which leads to Holstridge Manor, again. I have been searching for your number, but was fortunate enough to run into you yesterday. I don't know the whereabouts of Roxanne and Delilah; but my friend Dean told me he'd send for possible addresses and numbers...or something...I don't know!'

I can't answer her.

'Well!? Don't you dare stand mute! I need you the most!'

I couldn't fathom her beyond Holstridge Manor. The name itself is an incarnation of horror. It is a frightful electrocution of a gripping and icy flashback that overpowered me. It is the scariest feeling ever.

'The oldest is now the most terrorized? I know you suffered the most. That night...when you witnessed the...transformation...I'm sorry. But please, we have to bring her back. Her soul is not at rest this way. She'll be haunted for all eternity! This torturous horror is never going to end. It's starting again...'

'Oh Lord...forgive us for we have sinned...forgive us for we knew not what we did...forgive us and save us from this nightmare...save us from this feat worse than Hell!'

'Carolina...grab a hold of yourself! Revert to who you were before!' She seized me by the shoulders and shook me with force. 'We need to find her, and burn her body. It's the only way she'll be free from the curse...because she's dead... And for that, we need to find Roxanne and Delilah. We have to go before she returns.'

'Madness! How can you win against them? You can't!' Suddenly I reached for her hand and uttered in an ominous tone, 'She's not ours anymore Joe. She's _theirs_!'

'No!' And she broke out crying, but pressed her hand against her mouth to choke the spasmodic sobs. 'She's ours...please, no!' It was too much. She couldn't control her emotion anymore and burst forth. I have never seen her so weak.

'This conversation ends now. I am not psychologically strong enough to hear this crap again. If you mean to tell me Annie is among the walking dead now, then it's a nature, WE, have no power to curb. She is in their territory and is one of them now. She died a Maggot and arose a Maggot!' The last sentence was uttered by a newly discovered thunder that surged from within me. I feel as though I have reignited my old authoritative self; and have shed the skin of the weakling that blanketed me. I feel surer all of a sudden and more awake. I have a grip on the situation finally.

'Carolina! Please! She still has our blood! She's still one of us! Oh! Let's not deprive her of that when she is dead! I don't even know if she was dead when we buried her! Don't you think it was a bit absurd the way she was left like that!? We couldn't possibly have thought such horrors would yield an abrupt ending? Remember?! Roxy even said she could hear her breathing! Nothing is making any sense! Stop! Don't go!' Josephina held my hand to stop me from leaving. An interesting sense of passionate madness has overcome her. 'Remember!? Remember we promised mom we'd be there for each other?! I can't let her live this way! She must be at peace or else none of us will be at peace because mom and dad won't be at peace because!

'Shush! I need time to think! And whether this wild goose chase will be worth it or not!' Having said that, I quickly took my umbrella and began to walk out of the park.

'Carolina! She's our sister!' Josephina almost half shrieked, her eyes wide in disbelief and getting further teary.

'Like I said before, she's _their_ property now.' And I exited with that air of finality.

The rain has stopped pouring at this time, and the streetlights are shining on the numerous puddles of water that have collected on the edges of the sidewalks. Racing down the road to my building, I turn to just one more glimpse of Joe. She is still standing there, stationary. And she is staring right at me. It's sending chills down my spine; and coupled with the cool breeze that is blowing, I feel uncomfortable and...guilty. However, I'm convinced I'm right. How can you win against a supernatural force? How? Why can't we just LIVE for once? This shunning life in our faces has doomed any sense of happiness we might have had on this damned planet.

Thank God I made it before 7:00p.m. If there's any relief of having to come back to this shackle, then it's definitely the strong essence of punctuality that is exuded here. Exactly four minutes later, Jackie Hansen and Morris DelVito, a pair of college students taking up this 'guarding' business for some extra cash appeared, and nestled outside the entrance, laughing more loudly than the honks of all the passing cars. Great to ward off any ghosts, I'm sure. But...reflecting on what went down today, I don't know what I can make of it. I'm already so fragile from my experience before, that the mere whisper of a playback of it is enough to kill me.

I've just switched on the lamp in my apartment and things seem...nicer. It's like a ray of sunshine opened up in the bowels of darkness. This is going to sound corny; but maybe I need to switch on the light in my attic too...that will help me locate the memorabilia I swore to always keep at bay. In other words, maybe I need to actually sit down and think those events over. Josephina is right. Anneliese's body is in their bloody possession right now...it's got to be. The crack...it makes sense. Babe Ruth's 'Never let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game' is what I begun to preach like non-stop...at least to myself, so where did my practice go? We're going to track down her body and finally set her free from this torment. Must call Joe immediately...

We're meeting tomorrow again, at 8:30 a.m. And this time we'll meet up with both Roxanne and Delilah and then head for...that place. Hn. This is the first time in the longest time that I've felt a smile escape and spread across my face. It's a self-pitying smile actually, because I'm asking myself to brace for the past and ruminate over those events. A little early for self-realization but perhaps the fact that I've been living in denial of the past and not fully accepting it, are the reasons for my misery. It is perhaps one of the reasons for anyone's misery. I believe it is what has kept me psychologically lost all these months as well, and so afraid. Facing them is what will set, even me free. So let's go back...back to it all. Back to my past. That's right. I have to do this.

\-- CHAPTER THREE \--

The Past

It started off as an average Sunday morning. In fact so average that I almost bragged about how boring it was. The only thing that was, I suppose, un-average about it was a rare golden sun that was shinning high in the blue sky. Dad read 'The Coast Analyzer' on his favourite periwinkle couch, feet resting on the matching footstool; surrounded by the coziness of his brown fleece slippers. Mom prepared breakfast, our traditional sunny side up eggs with two perfectly crisp slices of toast, each, and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. I, being the eldest assisted her in her large preparation, while Delilah, my fourth sister set the dining table. Roxanne, the third sister, was outside, plucking the grapefruits from our fruit garden. Josephina, the second eldest, who ought to be in the kitchen helping mother and me, was too busy shooting some hoops outside. Her extreme sporty side was on the high every morning, and if she couldn't let out her zealous energy through basketball; then a quick jog in the park, early in the morning, would calm her down and build up her already large appetite. And finally, Anneliese, the youngest, brightest and insanely prettiest sister of the lot...who had often, on many an occasion been dubbed celestial because of her enchanting visage, was practicing her ritualistic vanity in front of the large emerald framed mirror dad gifted her on her fifteenth birthday. Mom always made a big deal of the mirrors in our home as _special_ , because all of them were imported, or something. That one was a really expensive gift; dad had his friend bring from Argentina. Anyway, with her sixteenth birthday, just three days away, Annie had left no stone unturned to make sure her plans of a huge birthday party were executed well. Everyday she'd put new post-its on our refrigerator that would commemorate each stage of her life with pictures to charge at mom and dad's emotional vulnerability, and her age next to each picture. Tactful, very tactful. And right on time, she placed a new post-it with a picture of her, mom and dad at dad's friend Andrew's house. The cherry on top? That was the day she sang some soppy song about her being their little angel, little princess, and completely broke their threshold with a cascade of feelings deluging out. Since the rest of my sisters and I were considerably older than she was; like at that time I was 25, Josephina was 23, Roxanne was 22 and Delilah was 20, she was their and our 'protected pearl' inside an oyster of a family. Anyway, as soon as she came down, breakfast was served. Equipped with a preppy ribbon hair band, Annie chirpily bid her good-mornings to everyone.

'Darling, hope you slept all right?' mom asked Annie, as she poured her some fresh and chilled orange juice.

'Hardly, mom. My night was still plagued with those weird and freaky dreams. This is actually getting ridiculous. I mean, I KNOW I saw "Gory Mandy" when I was clearly supposed to be doing my homework, but wasn't three straight nights of torture enough? Thanks...' She finished off as Delilah added her toasts to her plate.

'You had those dreams again?' I asked, with a raised eyebrow, while sipping juice with my pinky protruding out of the grip I had over the glass. Consecutively dreaming the same thing had gotten a bit fishy.

'Yes...I did Carrie Warrie...' Annie cooed, mocking me by rolling her eyes later.

'What did you see this time?' Roxanne asked, interested.

'It was the same thing I've been seeing for a while now. Those three ugly witch-like things talking to each other about me. And GOSH! Their faces? Really disturbing...it's like a piece of ripped cloth dangling above their skinny shoulders for a head...with the triangular tip of the dilapidated cloth like their chins. Then circles, more like ovals, cut out for their eyes and face. It was a dark and misty place and as usual, I was hiding behind this really tall tree, praying and praying feverishly for them not to see me. One of them flew quite near the tree but just when I thought she had seen me...my alarm went off.'

'Wow...Macbeth, thanks for the drear scare.' I sarcastically commented to break the silence that prevailed on the breakfast table. And partly because, I, myself had begun to feel a little worried at the oddness of her slumbers. So, quite typically, to evade this unnecessary feeling of chills...I tried to dilute the tension.

'Obviously...I'M Macbeth. At least I'm not a coward like YOU.' Annie remarked with ignited fury, to my utmost surprise.

'What was that?' I raged with my blood boiling.

This was a sensitive topic for me. A few months ago, there was a local carnival that took place near our neighbourhood. My boyfriend back then, Jerry, invited me to check it out and have a good time. I am under no circumstances an adrenaline junkie, and so we both had agreed to not sit on any ride that would leave me looking like an electrified cat. By the time we got there, however, most of the lines for the top rides were full, much to my devilish satisfaction, because Jerry was a huge fan of such immensely ridiculous thrills. Propelling our way through the hustle and bustle of the various attendees and attendants of the carnival, the night seemed wonderful. We treated ourselves to deliciously frothy and fluffed up cotton-candy, played games, and characteristic of super cute dates, I got myself a prize teddy-bear that Jerry won from playing darts. But soon Jerry's camouflaged happiness transformed into boredom. He held my hand and took me inside a tent, with people standing in wait of something. There was an open train type contraption on rails that generated immense hype, with people getting on it while heaving sighs, showcasing their bravado before diving down a cliff or something. Suspicious, but unwillingly to let any hints of Jerry's deception enter my mind, I sat next to him on the train.

'Is this some sort of tour train, Jerry?' I asked.

'Oh yeah...hold on tight babe...'

I tried my best to relax...but just as the supervisor came who examined us by asking various questions regarding our physical health and put these massive belts on us, did my panic arise. I looked frantically around and shook off that faithful puppy demeanour, and confirmed the peculiarity of Jerry's behaviour. It was the new ride that was supposed to be the most scariest and craziest experience for young thrill seekers; called 'Monster Munch'. My heart began to pound incessantly and felt death was just around the corner for me...because as soon as it started, it was to take you 132 feet in the air...and twist you around in a giant metal pretzel. Cunningly, there were no signs or boards in front of the tent indicating to Monster Munch, so unsuspecting victims were lured in and devoured in their fear.

'AAH! PLEASE! GET ME OFF THIS THING!' I snapped almost immediately following my discovery. 'I WANT OUT! GET ME OFF! NOW!!!' I screamed at the very top of my lungs. 'HEY! HEY YOU! TAKE THIS THING OFF ME! I'LL SUE YOU! I'LL SUE YOU ALL IF YOU DON'T GET ME OUT OF HERE!' Instantly, all the commotion stopped. I was hysterical.

'Carr!??? What the heck is wrong with you?! Chill out...I'm here! This is just a stupid ride! Chill!' Jerry sounded his dumbfounded reaction to the mad woman next to him.

'Shut up Jerry! You tricked me! HELP! HELP!'

'Geez lady...will you take it easy? God...relax...' The supervisor, Clarence, came and unbolted the belt.

'What a loser...' I could hear some people saying. And there were some snorts of disgust here and there.

There were tears in my eyes, because of everything. From Jerry's conniving self to the public humiliation I subjected myself to. It was so spontaneous - my fear, that I had almost no time to think. Looking back, I feel I should have just stayed quiet or done anything but shriek the way I did that night. Seriously shaken at my outburst, more than the prospect of riding such a ride as that...I headed for the exit, waiting for Jerry to come after me and say he was sorry or try to stop me. But, when I turned around, he was on the ride, with everyone still looking around at each other and whispering insults at me. I motioned towards Jerry to come and take me home. Reluctantly, he made his way toward me. We uttered no word the whole way. He dropped me back home and said the last words I ever heard him say:

'Hey...maybe it's time you and I took a break from one another.'

So ever since that night, I've only been blaming myself for my cowardice, and how it helped succumb me to another defeat. I was criticized enough as it was, for being 'faint-hearted' compared to my friends who could 'take on any challenge'. Thus forth, to be called a 'coward' by Anneliese once more was just...painful and once again, cowardly of me. So, annoying.

Anyway, brushing aside what she said, we all quietly had our breakfast. Joe had come in by this time, and began extracting her second glass of orange juice. A tall girl, 5'11", she befitted her status as a basketball player well, despite her height being equivalent to that of a desirable one for a career in modeling. But to say so to her would only jeopardize your relation. To her, life seemed...cool. To live and play, and bask in the thrill of its existence was her style – unlike me, the fantasizing, bookworm of a sister.

She pulled her chair and sat with her long legs stretched, and then rested one leg on the other, creating a number four. She looked very much like the way men sit, but mom had wasted only too much of her breath on her before, so ignored it.

'Annie, heard you've been dreaming those things again.' Joe pushed back her short red hair that formed spikes right up to her shoulders.

'Indeed I have, and choose to completely ignore it.'

'Heard they got closer to ya!' Joe grinned, whilst sipping her juice and grinning, mockingly.

'And next time...they'll get me. And I'll be free of you two losers!' Annie gestured towards Joe and me, and sarcastically laughed.

'That's enough! Finish your breakfast!' was mom's fierce assertion, which silenced everyone like little lambs.

As if trying to avert our attention, Roxanne switched the television on, with dad turning to the news channel. Little did she know that this was to result in the heightening of an already precarious situation...severely. Something peculiar was up. The news anchor was briefing us in on the breaking news that had left many feeling traumatized and shocked. The inauguration of the new revamped mirror store in our local vicinity was due today, but the unveiling scheduled for 9:15 a.m. wasn't on the cards. Each of the mirrors had diametrical cracks from the right side of the frames, shattering and completely breaking all of them – except for three lucky ones that survived the break, but had huge cracks, rendering them useless too.

'Oh my God. That's just messed up.' Delilah, who was the quietest mouse of the family, voiced out our inner thoughts.

'But...do they have the cause of it? I asked.

'Probing further into the crime scene, it seems whoever, or what ever was behind this, left NO traceable steps. Absolutely no lock was turned since its shutdown at 10:45 the previous night,' continued Roger Duke, the leading business and economic news anchorman. 'If our sources are to be believed, no reported activity took place in any quarter of the shop for the duration of its closure; except for a faint mist that was claimed to have appeared for exactly three seconds... Further interrogation is underway for this extremely perplexing affair – though our chief forensic artist and special effects detectives have coincided the event with one that took place nearly 45 years ago, as it too, had the exact same happening. Whether this derives from the same perpetrators, is a cult of some following, or was a psychotic prank, we are still trying to find the root cause. Stay tuned for more, I'm Roger Duke, and this is Alistan Prime!' And he rounded it off with his twinkling, whitened smile.

'OK, how fascinating! Finally a mirror store opens around here and _this_ happens?' Roxanne added, after a moment of quietude. 'I'd love to find out about what happened at that store 45 years ago!'

'Wash the dishes after you're done girls.' Mom added, appearing visibly troubled and getting up hurriedly from the table. She glanced at dad and they both, as if through some telepathic signaling, had to 'leave urgently' for the bank before lunch break closing time. Which was in another five hours.

'Carr, I need you to make sure Annie gets to school and the rest of you to work! Tell Joe we wish her the best of luck for her sports scholarship.' She and dad got into the car like two kids going to an all-you-can-eat candy store, except kids aren't so agitated. 'Oh! And sweetheart?' Mom added from the window as dad reversed, 'we love you. Promise me you'll be there for each other!'

'Of course mom! Don't worry!' I nearly shouted to sound audible.

She nodded in approval with visible tears in her eyes. 'Bye!' And she blew me a flying kiss after finally taking off.

I got back to the kitchen against the backdrop of Roger Duke interviewing the shopkeeper. Roxanne and Delilah had started to clear the dishes, while Joe had gone up to tone her appearance for the interview. Annie was still standing, appearing visibly disturbed too.

\-- CHAPTER FOUR \--

Strange Reality

I drove Annie to her high school, with the two of us exercising the same mental strain. I could gauge her provoked feelings as that of mine. She and I had always been different. She being this bubbly, beautiful and confident girl...while I was the awkward and well, nerdy one. My sweet, little, baby Annie. I wish I could have protected you somehow... The love I felt for her was indescribable at that point in time, and wanted to sort of eradicate all the troubles and worries she harboured inside of her. Two ends of the same pole but simultaneously two poles apart, I had to communicate with her, and allow her the comfort to engage with me emotionally.

'Anns?' I asked, as she stared out the window. 'What's on your mind?'

'Mom and dad...' She returned quickly, wasting no time essaying herself into the conversation. We both had been the straightforward ones in the family. 'Why were they in such a hurry? We know they weren't really going to the bank. Why is everything not the same anymore? Carr, I'm getting these bad premonitions...like the nearing of some fateful ordeal. Why am I having these dreams? Why is this happening?'

'Relax, baby!' I breathed a deep sigh, trying to think of ways to calm her questions without resorting to the necessity of truth. I didn't know anything myself. 'Darling...' I began finally. 'First of all, nothing bad is going to happen. I don't want you to take this unnecessary tension up your sleeve, all right? Second, mom and dad must have had something they had to do. We don't know whether it was the bank...or...maybe a surprise for your birthday?' And then suddenly brightening up, I laid emphasis on her sixteenth. 'Gosh Annie! Six...TEEN! You'll be SIXTEEN! Oh my God...I sure as hell can't wait. Bet it'll be a birthday none of us will ever forget, huh?' I said turning towards her.

'I guess...Carr, you'll be there for me right?'

Heart feeling the warmth I've probably seldom felt for anyone ever...I turned the car and parked it sideways in front of her school and looked at her. 'Annie, I'll always, always be there for you. I need you to be strong, though. Because remember, if I lose the real you, I'll lose my strength.'

She smiled and hugged me.

'Have fun at school!' I called out.

Nodding affirmatively, she ran inside the majestic building. Popping on the radio, I decided to take the long route back home. I needed some time to myself too. Suddenly, I thought of getting some 'Whipped cream extravaganza' ice cream, which was basically this amazing icy delight I had when I was a child. Mom and dad had just moved to Alistan Town with us, when we had it. However I also remembered how the police had later warned us about ever going into that territory again. They called it an immensely 'dangerous' place, due to 'disturbing people' residing there. I had covered nearly two miles in my temporary bravado, so had to take a U-turn and get back to our normal routes. Feeling really scared, I hoped to get out of there as soon as possible, when upon passing by some of the squadrons, I noticed something far more scary and unexpected...mom and dad's car. It was parked next to an orange, white and blue striped tent that looked like a mini circus. Intrigued and highly curious, I decided to pay them a visit. I parked mine behind the tent, just in case I decided to not arouse their attentions. And I was right. It _was_ mom and dad, seated on an eccentric large round table with a gypsy fortune-teller, looking quite the picture of dread. The gypsy was all crooked and wrinkly, and looked somewhat cat-like. She had sooty hair that were curly and highly thick, with the most pointy ears protruding out of her mane. Speaking in a low accent, she was hardly audible. So, I moved closer and hid behind the frilly magenta and purple curtain that covered the dark room both my parents and the gypsy were shrouded in. I could faintly make-out what they exchanged inside:

The gypsy, speaking in a shrilly and eerie voice, was alluding to mom and dad's fear. 'That is only the beginning. Time is getting closer and closer...' And then cackled, that was far more sinister and snaky than a mere mocking sound.

'You were right about her dreams. This was her fourth night.' Mom concernedly pointed out. I could hardly believe their point of discussion revolved around Annie's dreams. Their significance began to shake my confidence a lot more, and I shifted my head to extract far more sound. 'And the shattering mirrors, you talked about? That happened today. The local mirror store that opened again after so long. Blown to bits. What does it all mean? Why did you tell us this? How do you know about my life?' Mom expostulated, brimmed with agony.

'You must well be acquainted with your past and its ramifications on your present.' Continued the old hag, squinting with abhorrent glee at my disheveled parents.

'Yes...' Mom said after a silence of a few minutes. 'George and I have decided. We are going to tell Anneliese about it. About it all. She will now finally know the truth behind all this psychological torment. I will tell her to refuse the clause, so that she can be rid of them forever!' Mom claimed, exultantly.

'What? Adelyn, if you want your daughter to live, you mustn't do that. You will aggravate the situation and there WILL be severe repercussions...' The gypsy, taken aback for a few seconds, resumed in the same haunting demeanour.

'No...I refuse to see my child suffer this way – ignorant to the life that has been pre-destined for her. She must know the truth about her past! She must say no herself!' And with that mom hastily got up. 'Lets go, George. Tonight we'll tell our daughter.'

'Big, big, big misssstake...Adelyn...' The horrendous woman hissed with an insidious smile at my mother, and narrowed her glaring eyes that shone with evilness in the dark; sending chills down my spine. I hurriedly made a run for it to the back of the tent, and sat in the car, till mom and dad drove away. Waiting for a few moments till I was sure I had no signs of presence, I turned the keys and hit the acceleration pedal. My heart was racing and the perplexing words rung at my ears. Why go to a gypsy? Discussions with the family would have sufficed on its own too, but why the need to resort to such...superstition? My mind was attacked with a fusillade of questions that had no end. I drove straight home. When I got back, mom and dad were still not there. Joe had already left for her interview on her bike, and Roxanne and Delilah had, presumably taken the bus on schedule to their workplaces. This little de-tour of mine had taken a little too long for me to regulate everyone's leaving on time. Getting back home, I was totally unnerved. They had been divulging Annie's problems to some amateur fortune-teller wannabe? God knows what skeletons are hidden in the family closet. 'Truth! Truth!' WHAT 'truth'? But I decided on keeping quiet and letting things flow on their own first. I would know the reality of this nature sure enough...

\-- CHAPTER 5 --

A Huge Traumatic Blow

I spent the entire day lying on our family couch, sipping coffee, and surfing through magazines I found in our basement. Some were recent ones that got discarded there for storage, so I just skimmed through them and put them aside. But one magazine made me stop in my tracks and take a closer look. It was an old news-magazine of 1932, exactly 45 years ago. The front cover was enough to shrivel my soul, because it was the cover of that fateful day when the mirrors were believed to be shattered for the first time. I don't even understand how such an ancient magazine intermingled among our stash like that. It was almost creepily ominous. Anyway, turning its dog-eared leaves I began to read through. It had the same style of effect, but had four, instead of three standing mirrors left. Interestingly the fourth mirror was said to be completely undamaged or tinted, it was the other three that had cracked surfaces but not enough to be broken, though sufficient to be utterly useless. At that time too, the cause wasn't determined, save for an only account of its possibilities given by a gypsy. I moved the page closer to my eyes and realized in definite terror...it was the same gypsy woman I saw today, looking as coy and malignant as ever. The account she gave of the incident was that of a 'greater and more imperceptible feat no mortal had the capacity to comprehend.' I searched frantically for more information on the cause as the page was partially faded, but could not make out any more words.

I could not understand exactly what everything was indicated towards, so sitting and pondering on it for a while, I finally decided I'd ask mom face-to-face before she'd tell Annie...tonight. I got up and started to clear away the magazines. I didn't want to involve anyone else before learning of it myself. So I began to keep my mind busy by trying my hand at baking a cake. By then it was already 6:56 p.m. I had gone and picked up Annie from school, at around 4. She appeared cheerful and didn't seem to care about what happened in the morning or anything that we talked about in the car. All she did was run upstairs to her room, crank up the volume to her songs and stay there till, the present time. Delilah and Roxanne came back around 7:30 from their job as art gallery supervisors, and Joe got back home around the same time, overjoyed at getting her much prized sports scholarship to 'Alistan's Sports League University'. To celebrate, everyone began to dig into the cake I had, luckily, made.

Mom and dad were still not back. I was the only one who seemed to worry excessively for their reaching home in time. But, after much wait, everyone retired to their rooms. The slow pace confused me, I thought what with everything happening, mom and dad would get home sooner and talk to Annie. I thought maybe something would happen still, but mom and dad still didn't appear, and by then it was around 11:45 p.m. I went back to my room and tried miserably to hit the hay too. Feeling the strangeness of inactivity right at the climax of such weird events, I couldn't sleep. I put on my night cape and went down the stairs to fetch myself the last slice of cake in the fridge. It was 12:33 a.m. and all was dark, save for the moonlight permeating through the windows downstairs. But all was not quiet. I heard a splattering, squishy sound, repeatedly dashing against something...and a low screechy foul laughter. The idea of mom and dad returning home struck me. But that calm notion soon commutated into a more horrific sound, with a loud outcry that pricked me. Hurrying down the stairs, I ran to where the sound derived from. It was the kitchen. And there my eyes beheld the thing that seemed to stop time for my breathing, my heart, and me. It was my parents, dead.

They were gruesomely murdered on the kitchen floor. Gaping for oxygen and forcing the movement out of my immobile legs...I saw her there. That gypsy. She was slouching, and had pupil like daggers in her yellow sclera, with a face that was as if hung out, loose on her skull. She held the knife in her decaying hand that dripped with crimson blood. It was splattered all over her sickly, right arm. She looked at me and let out a cackling that pierced right through me, and slowly amalgamated into a wild bloodcurdling laughter, whilst staring right into my soul.

'We're coming for you...' She let out after a baleful caesura, looking at my aghast face and snickering. She then slouched again and crawled out our kitchen window, like a giant lizard. Losing balance, I hit the wall; and the rest is a blur.

\-- CHAPTER 6 --

The Next Transaction

In the morning when I woke up, I was on the couch, and the living room was full of police officers, with special detectives convoluting the scene of the murder. Going outside, there was an ambulance service and several police cars. Inside our lawn, I saw a police officer talking to my sisters; who were crying beyond consolation. I ran over to them and embraced them all. The whole while we kept thinking about how life had suddenly taken a 360 degrees turn for all of us. We all sat in the lawn, waiting till the detectives cleared our house. My mind was mute and I didn't want to think. I wanted to breathe it all in first. Annie laid her head on my shoulder and would occasionally sniff. Joe, Roxanne and Delilah were all quiet by now, and I was in a complete catatonic state, as if in a trance. Then the officer told us about a relative who had come to pay her condolences...

'A relative?' I thought...and everyone began to slowly move away from our huddle to have a closer look at whoever the 'alien' person might be. For us, our family consisted of only mom, dad, and each other. We of course knew our family extended a little beyond our known perimeter, but were never told to indulge in on that fact, ever. We were soon about to know why. The 'relative' who walked up to us in the most unsympathetic demeanour was our Aunt Sora.

'Oh my dear! You poor little darlings! Oh my God!' She pretentiously ejaculated, standing mid-way in our lawn and gesticulated drama, by moving her hands occasionally to her mouth. None of us knew what the correct way of responding would be, so we just sat there on the grass, staring at her. She moved closer, and sat down in front of us, only getting up immediately and dusting the grass off of her black skirt, seconds later. She looked incredibly chic, too chic for an occasion where her sister was...... She wore a huge polka dotted hat that leaned forwards, covering half of her face, with big, rather, huge shades that hid the upper portion of her profile completely. The latter part had large sums of make-up pastried all over it, so a definitive glance of her features could not be observed. She then took out a red polka dotted handkerchief and pretended to blow her nose.

'Um, excuse me but, who are you?' Joe asked, since we had never been formally introduced. All my sisters turned towards her, and then back at the strange woman.

'Oh, it's me, your mother's sister, Sora.' She answered, not the least bit affected by our obliviousness. Fixing her hat, against the wind that began to blow fiercely, she added, 'Now, does anybody know how exactly 'the thing' happened?' Ending on a severe matter-of-fact way that irked me senseless.

'Yes, Aunt Sora, our parents were murdered!' I replied defiantly. I wanted to evoke some natural sympathy from her, but her persistent indifference made me resist any possible extractions of emotion, further.

'Murdered? Oh!' She moved her hand to her heart and faked panic, later fixing the glasses that shook due to her frenzy. 'Anything else?' She added calmly, and business-like.

'Yes.' I added, 'The creature that murdered my parents...is now coming after us.' This was the first time I had broken the news to my sisters as well.

'CREATURE?' Joe shrieked. 'What do you mean by CREATURE? And US?' She completely lost it.

'Yeah Carr, none of us ever asked what the heck you were doing down there when our parents got stabbed. An interrogation was carried over you too, by the way. To see if you were the one behind it; only because you were found there.' It seemed everything was springing out on the surface, as Delilah charged at me with this interesting piece of news.

At that point, I began to narrate exactly what happened, or at least, everything that I knew about. I also told them about the gypsy and her weird predictions earlier on. When I glanced towards Aunt Sora, her countenance had changed all of a sudden, as if the latter part of my discovery was...surprising.

'This is all happening so fast!' Joe broke out. This was a double-whammy for all of us. First, losing our parents, and now our home.

Annie and Roxanne stayed quiet, but their looks were moulded in the semblance of terror.

Aunt Sora, finally snapping out of the fixed, crooked stare she gave our grass, looked at me and asked seriously for the first time ever since her arrival, 'What are you going to do now?'

Her voice made me shudder. I don't know why. It was like enveloping me in an emergency of action. 'What do you mean?' I asked, solemnly, slowly.

'I mean, if, as you mean to say, something is after you...all of you – instinctively glancing at Annie, 'all of you must move away from this place. Somewhere you can be safe.'

'There's no time as well...if she's coming for us, then it means we run risk of getting found tonight too, right?' Joe asked me, apprehensively.

'Our payments haven't come in yet. Ricky won't give us any advances. Till we can accumulate enough cash, we have to stay somewhere else.' Delilah said, blackening the situation further.

All of us began to stare at each other's faces, worried, until of all people, Annie asked, 'Aunt Sora, why don't we stay at your place, till we can make ends meet?'

Aunt Sora, illuminating all of a sudden, quickly answered, 'With me? Oh no dear girls...my entire apartment is FULL of cats. Full of my precious little furry twenty-four cats. There's just no way, they'd not mind you.' She added unapologetically. 'However, I know...this um, place that was my friend's... _is_ my friend's, but she's gone on holiday and is free. It's a Manor.'

Ruminating, I added, 'Why bother you so much? The girls and I can stay at my friend Tracy's house. Not a problem.'

'Oh but I insist! The place will be all to yourselves. Besides, would you still be comfortable residing inside a town where the witch...'

'Gypsy.' I corrected.

'Err right, the um, gypsy, knows you live? Think about it. The Manor I'M telling you about is pretty far away from this place. It's a journey of six hours from Alistan Town; you'll be taking a train to a place that's also half an hour away from it! No one will find you. Make your ends meet,' looking at Annie, 'or whatever you want to do. But for the time being, there is no better alternative than Holstridge Manor.'

'Holstridge Manor? The name seems very familiar...' I asked, but absolutely nothing ringed a bell.

'I'm sure you must have read about it in your history books, darling!' Aunt Sora replied with a toss of her head. 'I would advice you to go there before it begins to get dark. That is my best intention for you girls. My and your Aunt Cora and Aunt Nora's best intentions.' She passed a thin smile that silently slid across her face.

'Aunt Cora and Nora?' Roxanne's forehead projected ripples. Clearly nothing had monotone answers for us.

'Yes, sweetums. Cora and Nora are my sisters...and your mother's.' She added dryly, that silenced us for a while.

Aunt Sora seemed to linger on with wanting us to go to the Manor. Roxanne and Delilah thought it considerate of her, while I, pessimistic as I still am, smelt something positively weird brewing. Joe was beyond distraught. Moving to Holstridge Manor meant a lot of things; saying goodbye to the life she knew and well loved at Alistan Town, the house she grew up in, dividing herself further from mom and dad's burials and a place she had always aspired on attending, the Alistan Sports League University. Annie felt she needed the most protection – and she felt right too, for when she heard, the visit to the gypsy had direct implications to her dreams, it made her stomach writhe. She later told me how she had no such dream the night our parents got back, and felt more perplexed than ever, though had a sense of respite sweep over her none-the-less. Hurriedly, we all packed our immediate belongings and took off. The Alistan Train Station was to be our transport, and Aunt Sora had given us the instructions to the Manor, once we'd get off Marlowe Davis Station, at the west end of London.

Two people had come to drop us at the station: Aunt Sora and Ricky. Aunt Sora dropped us off at the station and bid us her goodbyes. Again, I was amazed at her, almost, desperate interest in getting us onto that train uninterrupted. Ricky was Delilah's 24-year-old boss, and an art major. He was adored by nearly every girl who came across him, for his tall height, scruffy hair, handsome face, and above all, bad-boy demeanor. But with Delilah, he was different. He insisted on helping her and offering any possible assistance, and would melt into cream on talking to her. He came all the way to our house and paid his condolences to us. So deeply affected and moved, he even asked Del, if she'd like any apartments he could rent out for her, but due to the abnormality of our situation, she politely had to decline. He drove us to the station, and told her to have no hesitation in contacting him in any time of danger or trouble. Ignorant Delilah had no idea, how much Ricky was in love with her.

She waved goodbye to him and boarded the train, with the rest of us. Seated, I felt this strange sense of loneliness. I felt as if we had entered the Rubicon, the gates had been sealed, and there was NO turning back. So, when the train started, not only was it goodbye life at Alistan Town, forever, but the welcome of a darker, sinister and more obscure road, that paved its way ahead of me.

\-- CHAPTER 7 –

Destination Holstridge Manor

On the train, we had our separate compartment. Joe, Roxy and Del sat opposite me, while Annie was right next to me. This was the time we could talk about everything that happened more lucidly. The origins of our Aunt weren't opaque, and my sisters began to ask me all that I knew of our family's history. I began to delineate all that I _did_ know of, however limited. I had seen very little as a child, but had seen the most. Mom did have sisters...but not the kind you'd go to for emotional, or for that matter, any advice at all. 'Sister' was just a word that bound them together. Grandma Neema, with her signature round spectacles that magnified her eyes and frizzy golden hair, always tied roughly back in a bun, with two strands loose on each side of her face, had four daughters, that included our suddenly interested Aunt Sora. Aunt Cora, Sora and Nora weren't triplets, but were born three days consecutively, which was quite bamboozling and deemed 'medically inaccurate'. At the time of delivery, the doctors stated the babies weren't 'ready' to come out; in the sense that despite attempting several times, the two wouldn't move, after Aunt Cora was born. Resulting in severe exhaustion each time, Grandma Neema was made to rest, until through the prolonged periods of three days, she was finally able to evacuate her womb. Greatly resembling each other, they grew up rather...weird. They had a wild disgruntled mane each, that was as black as darkness; and all three of them had wobbly bodies that made them slouch or in some cases, produce a completely semi-circle hump when not walking. Their faces were always hidden – under layers and layers of unprecedented amounts of make-up, because they were obsessed with beauty. Not the kind you would encourage within healthy limits, but rather, a mentally disordered attempt at plastering good looks onto themselves. I don't know how they looked without their facemasks on. They behaved most despicably, and on ANY comment that negatively spoke of their looks, unleashed an uncontrollable perturbation that could not be hushed easily. Perhaps their real perturbation was the fact that they were really, very ugly. It piqued them beyond anything in the world, and anyone and everyone who had a charming delicacy to them – made them positively swell up with biting envy. Grandma Neema used to call them her maggots. It had become a family joke...since none of the Aunts ever displayed any ounce of even the minutest form of affection for anyone, but instead, only concentrated in hiding the insecurity of their hard-features.

Then, one fine day, mother was born. Her beauty exceeded every notion of divinity, and her ways and mannerisms evoked the fondest and most tender feelings because of their innate goodness and genuine stature. She had straight hair that was deep copper, framing a fresh, heart shaped face that had been cherry blossomed with the pink flush in her cheeks. Her eyes were a gateway into an abyss of onyx and midnight blue jeweled dreams that left many breathless. Her body was sleek and slender, perfumed with the chastity of snow. She was...exquisite. Nobody had ever quite encountered someone like her, and, not surprisingly she stole the show...lighting the fire to Aunt Cora, Sora and Nora's core. As mom began to mature, naturally, she bloomed a whole lot more. The Aunts went absolutely bonkers, and didn't know what to do, what method to adopt, to gain supremacy over their six years younger sister. They got plastic surgery done, too. But the surgery only disproportioned their features further...and if you ever thought they'd stop their pointless madness; then you were wrong. They disappeared. We don't know what happened to them but every night, they began to act more and more bizarre. Grandma Neema became frightened at her eldest daughters' descent downwards, and tried to talk sense into them one night; mom was out on a date then...with dad, when the confrontation took place. However, it failed to produce anything meaningful. Weeks later, Grandma Neema became plagued with an illness that took her life away. Mom, 21 at the time, had gotten married to dad, George Phoenix, a smart businessman of 23, and moved with him to Alistan Town after a few years. Aunt Cora, Sora and Nora had also moved out...but no one knew where. They were never heard of again, until Aunt Sora's visit today.

The entire compartment was aphonic, save for my voice penetrating its still air.

'So, mom and dad lost all contact with our Aunts?' Roxanne twisted her hair around her ear, and leaned forward, her feeling of restlessness transferred to us all, like heated molecules. 'Perhaps, they deliberately kept this a secret from us?'

'What secret, Rox? It's bloody obvious they detested mom. Why the bloody hell did we even listen to her? What's it to her if we die or live?' Joe broke out in a tone of severe agitation.

'Look...for what it's worth, I think whatever their issues and problems are, it shouldn't matter to us. I mean you all heard what Carr said? That thing is coming for US next. It's better to go somewhere remote till we get our payments and fly over to Uncle Dennison in Virginia, than stay in Alistan Town one more night. We'd be sitting ducks there!' Delilah broke out.

'Oh Delilah! You could have asked your boyfriend to give us loans!' Roxanne uttered in the most woebegone fashion ever.

'Whose boyfriend? What boyfriend? Ricky is NOT my boyfriend. He did it out of sympathy. You and I BOTH are his company's top employers. Why the heck would he want to lose us? Anyway, dad ALWAYS spoke about how we should never take loans we can't pay back, so I'm going to honour his words. Where else can we go that's NOT in Alistan Town? Everyone should know this is the best place we've got in such short notice. Far away and all.'

'Whether it's the best or not...I can't say. What I CAN say is that whatever happens, we have to look out for each other. Annie is precious to us all, and, if in any way, her dreams have been the root cause of it – which I KNOW is probably not true and was blown out of proportion, then by George we've to put our heads together, and work it out...LOGICALLY. There'll be much more to understand then.' I acquiescently acknowledged.

Annie, who had been huddled next to me, and had palpitations, relaxed on hearing what I said – particularly about her. She suddenly brightened, 'Yeah, for mom and dad, too!'

I smiled. 'Yeah, for mom and dad, too.'

*

Sure enough, the train's journey took us three hours. Everyone had fallen asleep, given the exhaustion that we had endured. I couldn't fall asleep though. Several thoughts paraded my mind, and I wondered if Holstridge Manor really was the best place for us. Regardless, we had reached Marlowe Davis Station, and it was time to board off. I woke the girls, amid grunts and snorts, and eventually we trotted out of the train and onto the wet pavement of Marlowe Davis Town. It was 9:52 p.m. by then, and we waited listlessly for a taxi to drive us to our next destination, but to no avail.

'Oh this is just terrible! Did our _Auntie_ forget to mention that taxis don't drive around at this time of night?' Joe bemoaned, pointing at her watch.

'OK, you're possibly right for a change.' I agreed, looking around the almost deserted town. 'But it doesn't make any sense. Taxis should never be, not available. Something's not right.'

'Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop! Before you go on into solving another Rubric Cube that'll obviously take you more time than want, I suggest we ask around here.' Joe, who was more irritable than usual, advised.

'Go on ahead. Let's see what you find out for us.' I sarcastically instigated, motioning her with my hand towards the help desk.

Giving me a stare, she walked off to the help desk. The entire station was enveloped under the depressing blanket of a scant few, dinghy tube lights, and the pelting rain, made no progress in lightening the mood either.

After a few minutes, she came back. 'OK, so the lady said she'd call in a taxi for us. She asked where we had to go and I told her, but she seemed, umm, _petrified_ for a few seconds. Even confirmed, TWICE, if that really was where we had to go.' Everyone looked at me, but Joe continued, 'I told her that it really was the place, and she told me to "beware the mirrors".'

I felt a strange lurch in my stomach.

'Any ideas why the lady was all spooky and keen on _dampening_ our spirits? Get it?' Joe added cheekily, and burst out laughing. 'Hey Annie! Cheer up! That JUST means you can't look at yourself twenty times a day.'

'Stop it Joe. This ISN'T funny.' Annie said, annoyed. 'I'm sure once she has a look at herself in a mirror, she'd understand their importance.'

Joe started to sniggle again, while I, caught up in my own calculations and the counter lady's uncanny warning, wasn't really sure if fixing Annie's vanity or pride at that time was suitable – given her serious attitude towards it.

'Quit it you two. Annie, forget mirrors. You don't need to look at yourself all the time.' I said absent-mindedly.

'Yes I do! You of ALL people should know! It's one of the things that keep me happy! Call it whatever you wish!' Annie retorted, aghast and even more annoyed.

'OK, OK! I don't have time for this right now.' I held my hand against my head; it had really begun to hammer with pain now.

'Carr! The taxi's here.' Roxanne said, pointing towards the pair of glaring lights that stood out in the dark rain, after a good, few minutes.

'Thank goodness! My feet have blisters on them!' Delilah exclaimed, holding up her luggage and giving it to the driver to put in the trunk. All of us got our stuff stuffed in the tiny cab, and seated ourselves, as it drove us to the controversial location.

After what seemed like forever, the driver told us we had reached the point. Feeling a sense of respite mixed with an unappeased sense of apprehension, we dismounted the cab, paid him and looked around, bewildered at the remoteness of the place, and gazing at the huge manor that radiated light from inside its windows.

'Um, excuse meh' sayin' sa Misses, but if I were ya, I'd stay packed n' be ready ta board teh next train to wherever n' away from these hellish grounds! Mark meh' words, you should!' The driver, who had stayed reserved throughout the journey, finally spoke up.

'You don't need to tell ME twice! Get back in the car ladies, we are going back.' Joe, who had been diluting her fear with humour, finally cracked, and dumped her bag back into the taxicab.

'And go WHERE? Spend the night at the train station?' I argued. 'No trains head back to Alistan Town or anywhere for another week! I checked the schedule. Today was the ONLY day the train had to come to Marlowe Davis. There's absolutely no other date that brings passengers here.'

'Well bully for us! I am NOT spending my night in a bloody ghost freak house, which every SINGLE person is warning us against! There's no way I'm staying here.' And with that, Joe sat in the car, and folded her arms, immutable, as in protest.

'Joe? Josephina! Get ou-...'

'Welcome darlings!'

As if gripped by some spell, we all turned towards the originator of the hauntingly familiar voice, with the same shrilly essence to it, the hairs on my spine tingling. It was Aunt Sora.

She was dressed in a long black robe, with her hair, dead straight, and face clearly visible – but appearing quite pretty...and Gothic. There seemed to be a remarkable difference in the face that we saw at our home earlier that day, and the one beckoning us then. The lights inside the Manor blazed more brightly all of a sudden. Aunt Sora held out her arms, her long black sleeves hanging down her wrists, like the long robes, wizards wore in medieval times, and her sleek black hair falling over her shoulders like a waterfall.

'I'm so glad you could come so soon!' And with that, she came and squeezed me, tight. Her velvety locks brushing against my face. 'Yes?'

Too dumbstruck for words, I only stood there, disconcerted by the sudden appearance of our Aunt - _Aunts_ , as there stood mounted, on the very top steps of the entrance, two more devilishly seductive women...Aunt Cora and Aunt Nora.

'Wha...? Aunt So...agh!' Aunt Sora went and gave a suffocating welcome hug to Annie, who obviously through the pressure of the caress, had the completion of her sentence suppressed.

As Aunt Sora, with her beautiful kohl eyes, and dark red lips, approached everybody individually...I couldn't help notice the change in her style and how on Earth she managed to get here before any of us. Perched on the top, Aunt Cora, the tallest, descended slowly. She had been stroking a piercingly white cat, juxtaposed brightly with her black robes. Stern expression, but hauntingly alluring face, I was seriously perplexed...right behind her was Aunt Nora, the shortest, and the only one with black frizzy hair that protruded out of her head in millions of twisted knots, following closely the movements of her elder sister, down the huge steps. You could hear the clicks of their heels beating against the concrete marble floor.

Aunt Cora approached me, and stared at me with her strong eyes...halting me with their icy seizure, making me shiver with a ghastly recollection of a blurry time when I had seen those pair of eyes somewhere before...but, as usual, coherent memory failed me. She walked over to Roxy and Del, who were mobilized together, and surveyed them from head to toe with her superior eyes. 'No, these are not the ones.' She spoke in a foreign accent that had tinges of Spanish in it, while both my sisters looked at each other in confusion. She walked over to Joe and her cat gave out a hiss and puffed up its fur. Joe hissed back at her, and Aunt Cora, now walked over to Annie. Her eyes widened, and both her and her cat's eyes shone identically in the moonlight.

'You must be Anneliese.' She spoke as if recovering some great, long lost artifact, her large grin spreading all over her face and revealing excellent white fangs, outlined perfectly by her scarlet lipstick. 'Welcome to Holstridge Manor.'

'Um, thank you...' Annie faltered, still looking quite disoriented.

'Oh, and terribly sorry for your loss, yes, terrible...' Aunt Cora half-heartedly, though surprisingly, spoke out – given the way she channeled her emotions from the start.

'For YOUR loss?' Joe whispered to me, upon getting out of the taxi, which the driver had driven away at the speed of light, after gazing upon Aunt Cora. 'What the bloody hell about your own loss too?' She held a hand to her mouth to prevent any audible leakage.

'You shall be staying here for a long while, yes?' She continued to speak with all her royal airs. 'Nora will show you to your rooms. And in case we haven't been properly introduced, I'm Cora, that's Nora and of course that's Sora', pointing towards everyone as she spoke. 'Now don't look like homeless vagabonds, come in and have a nice snack.'

Not daring to speak out against her, my sisters and I made our way into the Manor and right behind Aunt Nora. There was a lot I wanted to ask Aunt Sora, but all would be answered in due time, I thought...as we motioned ourselves into the massive mansion.

\-- CHAPTER 8 –

Coming To Terms With It

Walking into the Manor, we beheld luminousness that extended far out into the great hall we were ushered into. A magnificent chandelier crowned the brilliantly marbled floor with a circular pattern of several mosaics incorporated into one. There was a massive staircase that opened straight up, upon entering, and led into an almost never ending narrow hallway, carpeted, by a dark, dark shade of red. The passage was quite long, and stifling, with the smell of dust permeating the claustrophobic area. Candlelight was lit on both sides, projecting a dark, shadowy image. All of the other rooms were not in close proximity to one another, and we were specifically told to share the last room, though we were going to stay together in the first place.

'All five of you, in one room.' Aunt Nora directed with a raised eyebrow, at my observing all the closed doors. She spoke to me with the candlelight against my face. That made me look at her face more closely and for a second, thought it looked as if it wasn't _on_ her properly...but dismissed the ridiculous thought, as a deception of the shadowy light.

'Yes, please. We're new here and don't want to be frightened out of our wits.' I gave off a smile that was met with the stiffest expression ever. As I result, I stifled my own expression too.

Aunt Nora led us into the last room on the left, with the door creaking loudly, and told us it was the 'roomiest' to accompany the whole lot. We made our way inside and found a large four-poster bed against the wood paneled walls, with magenta pink cushions atop a fluffed up reddish-pink quilt. The room looked very mystical, and had, characteristic to the entire theme of the Manor, candlelight on all walls and tables. Roxanne went over to the huge window that let in the silver of the round moon; but moved back seconds later, as the entire room overlooked a graveyard.

'Oh yes...ancestors. This place was built 400 years ago. But you needn't worry – they're dead.' Aunt Nora replied matter-of-factly.

'Of course...right, dead.' I muttered, looking down.

'Victuals will be sent over shortly.' She gave a round look at us, and then slammed the door shut.

'What a welcome.' Joe said sarcastically. 'I couldn't care less for this creepy mansion and the creepy things that accompany it. But what I DO care about is how in the flabberjackers Aunt Sora managed to get here before us!'

'Yeah...that's honestly perplexing...' I admitted, scratching my head.

'I mean, to heck with our creepy self absorbed relatives – who by the way, Carr, are NOT ugly – well, at the moment at least, but like seriously, the train we came on WAS the only way back and front, wasn't it?'

'It was. I want to ask her how she did it, but frankly speaking, I'm also very much interested in how she and the rest of our Aunts looked so...so...sensuous!' I uttered the last part with both my arms dramatically punching the air, and myself propping on the bed.

'Yeah...I sure as hell know that wasn't the same Aunt Sora we met at our house today...' Joe went on, pacing up and down the room.

' _Yesterday_.' I pointed towards my watch; it was 12:02 a.m.

'Oh like that really matters!' Joe narrowed her eyes at me, stopping abruptly, and wore an expression of vexation.

Just then, here was a soft knock on the door. 'Girls?' Aunt Sora's head peered through the door, 'I've brought snacks.' And she entered carrying a plate full of chocolate chip cookies.

'I'm famished!' Annie cried, and advanced forward to help herself with the delectables generously.

'Oh you poor, poor darlings! I'm afraid that's all we have for tonight. Be sure to help yourselves to anything you can find in the morning.' She then cleaned her hand by rubbing it gently against her suede robes, upon coming into contact with Delilah's hand that tried to take the plate from her. 'Sleep tight...and don't let the scary bed-bugs bite.' She gazed menacingly at us with large protruding eyes, before exiting the room.

Joe, contracting her mouth in a way that clearly defined her disgust, voiced amid crunching the cookie in her mouth, 'OK, so with this place, we are definitely going to scan the...' motioning towards the bed and uplifting its covers, '...God knows how old bed sheets for any bugs!' And then went and sat down on one of the emerald green sofas.

The night seemed long, I thought. And with any bit of luck, we were going to have to adjust ourselves to the Manor. The Aunts seemed very interested in us post mom and dad's demise, no doubt, but we had to keep our heads together. They were the only _relatives_ we could rely on and we had to make the most of the secluded setting...there was no sign of the gypsy tonight, and it was 1:16 a.m. by then. Roxy, Del, and Annie slept on the bed, while Joe and I managed some slumber on the couch. Of course Joe began to snore away due to her unfathomable exhaustion soon enough, despite reassuring, 'Hey, I'll stay awake with you'...but I, just couldn't shut my eyes. However, despite my active mind...my body switched off, and eventually, I too, fell fast asleep.

*

The next morning came surprisingly quickly, with Joe and I up, way before the rest due to our aching backs – the couch was as benumbed as hard wood – and got ready to make our way through the dull, dreary and dark hallway together. Successfully managing to do so, we entered the great Hall, and from there we went over to the extensive kitchen. Aunt Cora, Sora and Nora were nowhere to be found, and personally, we wanted it to stay that way. Not knowing where and how we could make our breakfast, we scattered ourselves around to find any useful ingredients to mould food out of. Yesterday we got these amazing cookies and now, all we could find were cobwebs, dust, spiders, lots of dust, and more cobwebs, in all the cupboards. Every one of them was dingy and broken, with a horribly sickening light green painted on them. The only worthwhile thing about the mammoth room was the brilliant sunlight that graced the ancient kitchen with its light.

Unsuccessful in finding anything, we found our ways outside and began to stroll in the massive fields, and luckily, upon finding orange trees, plucked some fruit off and heartily enjoyed its nectar. The day went by slowly, as the sky suddenly changed to grey with the brilliant sunlight gone, and instead a canopy of clouds started to loom about. We went back into the Manor that had become dark and gloomy. All of a sudden, we heard a sudden clap of thunder, and the next thing we knew, it was raining cats and dogs. Roxanne began surveying through her cell phone numbers for any that might prove useful in bringing us some food. We were complete strangers to Marlowe Davis Town and the Manor was a complete stranger to us. With no food, our stomachs were growling incessantly, and we lingered on, listlessly.

Interestingly enough, Roxanne came back in the lounge where we had seated ourselves, gigantic cloths covering the Victorian furniture, and the great candle lamps atop the dull green wallpapered three sections of the room, which opened towards the hallway that had the entrance inside. 'Well?' Annie inquired hopefully at the securing of food. Roxanne sighed. There was no cell-phone reception.

'We'll starve!' Annie broke out, touching her stomach that began to grumble, for effect.

'Nobody's going to starve, Annie.' I droned. That's when I began to walk around. Delilah and Joe were by the fireplace, looking at the arranged pictures set on the emerald green granite. They were portraits of little girls. 'This one's got such a sour look!' Joe held up one of the battered frames for Delilah to see, who nodded, acknowledging. One of the pictures was of an old woman, who looked like an alien – small, shrunken, decrepit and wrinkled beyond recognition. There was something weird about her eyes, but because the picture was in black and white, we couldn't tell what; except for the way they were creepily enlarged, and looked as if they were in a shocked trance. I picked it up... 'Hmm...weird...' I spoke, frowning.

Just then, a chill went through us all. 'Burr...where in the world did that come from?' Joe shivered, rubbing her arms together. We all looked around and then back at each other. It had come and gone.

Annie who had been sitting farthest on the sofa, walked over to me. 'I'm hungry.' She said with crossed arms.

'Right...' I snapped, getting back on my original track. 'Let's all search the Manor some more?' I suggested. 'Maybe we can find something?'

'YOU can search the Manor. I'm already exhausted from all the fruit picking.' Annie sank back into the sofa, after lifting the cloth and unleashing a perfume of dust.

'Go alone? No thank you. Joe?' Joe turned her head in a sleepy manner from the fireplace, 'You and I'll go and search the west wing of the Manor, while Roxy, Del and Annie – well, not Annie, she can stay here all by herself because she's so tired, will go and explore the Manor on the east. We'll try to look for our Aunts – unless they've disappeared as quickly as they got here...' Breaking into an awkward silence.

'N-n-n-o! I'll go with Roxy and Del!' Annie, quick to her feet cried. The assigned parties, switched places with Joe coming over to me while the rest clustered together on the other side.

'Right, meet you all back here. Whenever we find _something_ useful.' I pointed towards our directed areas of investigation before setting off in the opposite way with Joe, only to be stopped by, 'Oh and Sherlock, in case this brilliant plan fails, I still want food! My skin's starting to look lump.' Annie's bratty side had re-surfaced.

Rolling my eyes, Joe and I made our way upstairs. The general colour schemes of the Manor seemed to be crimson, black and green. The rectangular roof was wide and high, all wood, the staircase took us up the first level and we began to walk on into some passageways. 'Should've brought my flashlight! It's in our room but only God knows where THAT is.' Joe mused, looking around the dilapidated walls, and the shroud of darkness we walked into.

Twisting and turning we found another staircase that was taking us further up, onto the second and final level of the Manor. Nothing but the creaks of the wooden floor behind us, there was a small door, glazed with the silvery golden sheet of sunlight from the top window, against the dark wooden wall. I went ahead and opened it and to my surprise; it was the biggest library I had ever seen. I felt the gustation in my mouth as my eyes beheld all the books I could gobble down, while Joe just stood by the door and sighed.

'I believe BOOKS aren't going to solve anyone's hunger, Carr.' She said begrudgingly.

'A minute?' I excitedly asked her. 'Just one minute!' And ran over among the shelves and their harboured treasures.

Joe grunted and followed me in. Interestingly, what happened next, was the exact opposite of what one would expect after pitting a compulsive book reader and an avid sports player in a library together. As I delved deeper and deeper among its many shelves, I saw another little door towards the back. Curious, though cautious, I went over and opened it. 'Joe?' I signaled.

'Yeah?' She voiced back almost immediately, and I heard her footsteps behind me.

'Follow me...' I said to her, assuming she was right behind me and so didn't particularly mention the door, though I should have. This was because Joe got side tracked due to stumbling upon some sort of photo-album on Alistan Sports League University that she had to check out; forgetting I ever asked her to follow me. However, I was completely oblivious to Joe's occupation and walked inside the door. It led into an even narrower little passageway than the one we had for our rooms, darker and more claustrophobic of course. Towards the end of the passage, there was a strong, binding light, reddish and yellowish...and it shone brightly from the last room, with faint voices coming from the end...and a terrible, terrible smell of decomposition.

'Joe, I think there's something going on there. What do you think it – Joe?' I turned around and saw an empty passage; she wasn't there. Suddenly, as if conscious of something, the light dimmed, the voices lowered...and the next instant, I had the strangest feeling of something big crawling over my head...

I got a tap on my shoulder, and feeling a sense of relief, 'Ah, Joe...' I turned but let out a shriek instead. It was Aunt Cora.

'What on Earth are you doing here?' She asked, her alarm hiding behind the fake pretense of a smile, and her large eyes gleaming maliciously; surrounded by the blackness of her hair.

Losing focus and myself as I was too astounded as well, I finally stuttered how we were looking for them and wanted food.

Her eyes loosened their wide glare and she let out a laugh between gritted teeth, and muttered, 'Oh, yes, food... Come, I'll show you the food.'

She led me out the narrow passage, and locked the door behind her. Then she led an equally flabbergasted Joe with us out the library and into a spare kitchen...

\-- CHAPTER 9 --

Wandering

We were all ravenous; stuffing ourselves with sandwiches till we could stuff no more, despite Annie eating the sandwiches as if they were some exotic delicacies she was never to receive again – she was insatiable, snatching away Joe's share too because she 'is _way_ more beautiful than us simpletons and so deserves _more_ ', conveniently eating up from Roxy and Del's share too. I got full quickly– lots of things didn't sit well with me at the moment. Anyway, after the little meal we returned back to the bedroom, and for a while, stayed quiet. Of course, Annie, Roxy and Del were informed about the mysterious room with the intriguing 'activity', but none of us talked about it again. Truth is we began to feel scared of Aunt Cora. It was like she was something incredibly _gruesome_ on the inside, but painfully tried to conceal it, and it was like she had to keep on reminding herself of something that kept us alive. Or else, her eyes alone would have sliced us off. Uncertain of what to do, or where to go, we just stayed put. The day was no help either. It was extremely gloomy outside and the hours froze solid. Amid all this excitement, Joe and I had a fight. We fought over the shade of a pencil. I said it was silver – which it was, but Joe persisted it was grey. Anyway, it quickly heated up and Joe left the room, and instead moved into the one that was a few blocks away, with her spare hoodie, torch and basketball. Annie fell asleep – out of boredom maybe, poor child. Or her other reason, 'Well, I can't look as dead as all of you now, can I? Obviously not. I need my beauty sleep to preserve all that's left of me!' Right, so for the sake of my sanity, I believed the first reason, as I'm sure you will too. Roxy picked up a book, 'My love, my love' which was all about a girl finding her love, and Del began skimming through 'work' notes in her bag – which we believed was a façade when she was actually going through pictures of Ricky.

I, on the other hand, was thirsty. I took candlelight with me and made my way down to the spare kitchen. Joe was in her room and was sitting angrily on her bed, bouncing her basketball back and forth against the wooden walls. Her room was themed yellow, with a golden carpet and golden bedcovers with golden curtains to match. Joe was dashing her basketball against the brittle wooden wall so much that as she dribbled away, the ball broke through it, with shards of broken wood flying across here and there. Desperate and gasping to look at the damage, it slowly disappeared from her mind, because the wall opened into a long and narrow passageway, too. Tingling with adventure and gripped with reckless bravado, as I have so many times been victim of, she grabbed her torch, broke off the loose panels of wood, and went ahead to investigate.

Downstairs, I was plagued by a sudden desire that completely overpowered me; to go and pluck one of the oranges from the orange trees outside, and to squeeze myself some fresh juice – we were really addicted to it. Leaving the candlelight inside the house, I opened the massive main entrance, and immersed myself in the chilly atmosphere outside. It was nice and windy...though the trees shook fiercely, causing the dense clouds to sway over the sky like fast waves. I went over to the millions of dancing branches to choose the perfect fruit for myself, but to my disappointment, there were no juicy, healthy oranges to be found anywhere. After rummaging through the tempestuous trees, a truly gorgeous orange finally caught my eye, I reached out for it, but my grasp wasn't strong enough and it fell, rolling away – with me, hot on its trail. It went and hit a small underground cupboard door, at the back of the Manor, that was in front of an unusually tall tree. I couldn't remember why that tree felt like déjà vu, but it just did, making me feel intimidated without proper reason. The cabinet door was faded emerald green with scathed blotches of wood peering onto the surface. It had a large lock on top of it, with the icy cold rusty iron bars producing a loud tapping sound when I held it to assess the potency of its lock. The little door seemed odd and peculiar...and what it harboured had to be revealed. I didn't want to go all the way back into the manor to get help, and then come all the way outside again, so I looked around the vast gardens and discovered right next to some colossally wild bushes behind me, a pair of orange-rusted shears, and began to smash the area around the lock in order to simply cut it out, as the wood was not only considerably venerable, but also damp from the rain earlier on. After much deliberation, I was successful, and so, breaking apart the door was a piece of cake, however, messy. Inside the darkness, a staircase was revealed that led its way down the dark recesses of the forbidden and locked up room – a theme the entire Manor seemed to execute rather brilliantly. The room was large...but it wasn't empty. There were numerous rectangular shaped objects, aligned in a set of rows, packed very, very closely. The only space was the small circle that the objects made right in the middle...intentionally set that way...it seemed. I turned one of the shady thingamajigs towards the door to face the evanescing light and discovered it was...a mirror. I looked around more keenly and realized how surrounded I was by them. Why were so many mirrors taken from God knows where...and stacked away into the pit of the giant house? However, before I could ruminate over that, I sensed the scary little feeling at the pit of my own stomach, when the mirror began to crack from the bottom. I immediately pushed it back into the caliginosity with its brothers and sisters and made a run for it...back to the Manor...without my orange.

Returning to the kitchen, I found some water and turned to face the massive lounge as I drank promptly. My eye caught the many pictures set on the fireplace, and I urged to look at them again...though I knew, my prolonged stay ran the chance of the Aunts finding me...but, defying time, I still made my way to the fireplace, leaving the glass half full on the counter. The pictures were all in black and white, and all the frames were torn and in terribly shabby condition. The picture of the old lady struck me, it was the biggest picture there with a large frame and she had the same eyes as mom and Annie's, and greatly resembled them too, though of course the former's eyes were permeated with sickness. The wind was now blowing fiercely outside, and the windows shook. My candlelight also went out. Apprehensive of the grey-dark, I quickly shuffled through my pocket, successfully producing a matchbox, and tried to alight it again. In my hurry, I dropped the matchstick, burning with the tiny flame of fire at the tip, which hit one of the coals in the fireplace. The coal it hit was the second right one in the third row of coals that triggered a sequence. The coals suddenly began swirling in a cyclone and the fireplace moved backwards, revealing a flight of stairs downwards. Adrenaline pumping in my veins with a mixed feeling of fear, I grabbed the candle, blazing with the hazy blue-orange flame that transients into the yellow one, and descended the stony stairs into an abyss of darkness. The fireplace closed behind me. Unnerved, I walked on, and entered a small room filled with boxes of memoranda; scattered all around the floor. Light falling on the walls, I found a switch that lighted a single bulb above my head, projecting a depressing yet illuminating cast. I bent down on my knees to survey through the boxes, with the slight chill of the stony floor penetrating through my legs, like that part of my body being dipped in ice-cold freezing water. I pulled close a box, and found old documents, concerning the Manor and its days of construction. I remembered Aunt Sora telling us about the Manor belonging to her friend; which would mean her friend was 400 years old, since the date of the house was 1577. Several documents stated numerous couples' pledges to leave the Manor immediately given to 'strange happenings'. Many newspaper articles had also covered up stories on the mysterious disappearances of the seventeen couples' daughters and often wives too; and how they were just 'taken' and never returned. I turned over the stack of papers that crinkled due to their ancient age, and noticed how each time a woman or daughter was taken, they all had recurring symptoms like the victim's eyes turning bright red. An interesting thing about the complaints that were registered against the place was of insidious cracks that appeared in the mirrors and glass frames they had around them. Reports thus dubbed the house haunted, as each time an adversity befell, it was followed by the cracks in the mirrors and shadowy 'things' passing over the room. I also found this miniature key...that looked like a white shard of wood stained with blood. Curious, I put the key in my jacket pocket.

After exploring the box full of the documentations, I switched to the other boxes. They all contained pictures. The pictures were of a multitude of beautiful women, with beautifully thick hair, gorgeous smiles and gay eyes. I later realized that the pictures were odes to deceased lives. Each and every one of the girls pinned in the albums were dead, with their dates of departure scribbled at the bottom of the photographs. These pictures were assorted into picture albums that were laden with dust and cobwebs. Such practices were common in the nineteenth century, if I recall correctly. I spent a great deal of time going through the many pictures of the several ladies, and felt, though they were all beautiful, none of them stood a chance against mom and Annie. I then turned my attention to the last photo album and turned over its leaves, where I saw three pictures that were loose and not fitted into the slots of the album yet. Fixing the loose strands of my hair, I turned them over, and drew back in horror. My hands began to shake and took seconds before I consciously began to take control over myself. The pictures of the dead girls were of Aunt Cora, Sora and Nora. The dates were scribbled at the back; 1967, and looked just like them except they didn't have the penetrating eyes. If those really were them, then it would have to be physically impossible to retain such young looks for such aged people – as they ought to be. It became too much for me, I hurriedly put all the albums back into the boxes and took my light up the fireplace, which opened up, quickly scurrying outside. I turned to look at it once more and saw the giant portrait of the four sisters hanging over it. With that last glance I ran upstairs, back to Annie, Del and Roxy, who had gotten seriously worried at the time I took. Joe made no responses to us calling her...and so, another tension remained. Meanwhile, the portrait above the fireplace did not remain the same, because minutes later, there could be seen; a crack on the side. Some thing had been there after me... _again._

\-- CHAPTER 10 \--

Getting Hotter

I had become much better at finding my ways around the Manor, which meant I was with my unaware sisters in a flash. There, my discoveries evoked a lot of unrest and distress...obviously.

'Are you POSITIVELY sure, it was them?' Annie asked, who, after a good beauty nap, had also awakened profound anxiety in her.

'One hundred percent positive.' I spoke in a sober tone. 'They can't be dead, can they?' I had completely forgotten about the orange-mirror episode as the latter one frazzled me considerably more.

'Ghosts! Zombies! Vampires! They're the undead! I want to get out of here before they kill us!' Roxanne practically shouted, and went to pack her things in haphazard frenzy.

'Stop! You'll only be endangering yourself further. The Aunts don't know about my wandering...if they knew all that I had seen, then we'd be in trouble – and we're practically in the middle of nowhere – so let's just pretend we don't know _anything_ till we can find a way out of this place!'

Having said that, there was a large creek at the door, and the knob turned slowly; we all clustered together, sure it was one of the Aunts, but it wasn't, it was Joe. Heaving sighs of relief, we all asked where in the world she had been.

'Exploring,' said Joe mischievously. 'And you won't believe what I've found out.'

Gauging her confidence, I challenged her, 'Is it any where near as shocking as the three of our Aunts _dead_ , interesting?' Then when she looked at me with a look of surprise, I told her all that I knew. Joe's tone turned grim and she felt the trepidation seize over her when she narrated all that she did.

'There was a large door that was locked. It smelt of a thousand carcasses rotting away...with their flesh slit off and exposing the raw of their insides...' She spoke slowly...while Annie and Roxy made faces of disgust, Del, twisting her nose as if psychologically aware of the heavy bloody stench.

'And there were scratches on the door...but apart from that the entire passage was empty. There was also a very small keyhole...kind of like a spike, really...'

Instinctively, I held out the key. 'That's probably it!' Joe pointed. 'What do you think is behind the door?'

Feeling the need to find out more, I tossed the key and caught it in my hand, and clenched my fist tight. 'Only one way to find out.'

Joe, grinning from ear to ear, nodded. I got up from the floor and said how it had to be done quickly then. We reached for the door when Roxanne caught my arm and expostulated on the increased risk of all these endeavours, but we couldn't leave any more unanswered questions hanging in the air.

We slid through the opened panels in Joe's room that she had put back. It was a long corridor with no doors on either side, and nothing but the big black door beckoning us at the end. I held out the key and inserted it in, giving a silent crack, as Joe held the torch against it. 'Perfect fit' I mumbled. The heavy stench was oppressive, and weighed down on us like a bloody massacre. I pushed back the door, and held the torch against it, drawing back in revulsion.

The whole room was full of brutally mutilated corpses. There were heaps and heaps of bloodied bodies stacked together on the floor, that had been showered in a massive sheet of red, with the features of their faces gone – as if they had been twisted like cloths, in extracting every bit of life they had. They were useless, and remained stagnantly decayed. The walls had freshly slaughtered bodies of women hanging, as their bodies weren't decrepit, and the areas around their eyes were cut out. Joe, who had distorted her face in absolute horror, backed away and dared not move – terror had too powerful a grip on her to let her proceed any further. I held the torchlight with all the firmness I could conjure, and walked inside. Three slots were vacant on the wall, as if some bodies were removed. I further realized that the bodies were only 'skins', and that they were hollow on the inside. Their entire skeletal bones had been scraped and scooped out from them, leaving the empty vessels. I recognized some of the faces from the pictures I had seen, and understood the 'odes to the dead' were for the dead locked and concealed away in this forbidden chamber. There was a huge mirror at the front of the room, of course blotted, with spots of blood on it, but what really directed my attention towards it was the sudden 'clinking' noise that could be heard, and to my horror, as the light I directed towards it, was because of the zigzagged crack that appeared at the corner.

'We have to get out of here!' I screamed, clutching the door and struggling to lock it with the key that kept sliding from my sweaty hands. 'They're coming!'

Joe was in a state of shock, and upon shaking her head to come to terms with the necessity of rushing out of the corridor, ran as fast as I did towards her room. 'Who's coming? What's going on?' She cried.

There was no time to think, we just had to get back to the rest. The coast was clear so far, I thought, but just when we entered the girls' bedroom, Aunt Cora, Sora and Nora were already there.

'Oh you dears! Where were you?' Aunt Sora began, sashaying her long sanguine nails. 'You look as though you've seen a ghost!' Her white face was staring at me.

'Umm...no, err, just...' I began, but stumbled miserably.

'Carr, the Aunts have come to wish me a happy sixteenth!' Annie broke in, gleaming.

Realizing the circumstances, I quickly glanced at my watch; it was 12:04 a.m. I quickly looked up. 'Right! Joe and I came rushing in to wish her! But look – we're four minutes late.' I glanced back at Joe, who was still breathing heavily and contracted my mouth asking her to play along.

Getting the drift, she quickly threw her arms around Annie and wished her a happy birthday.

'We have arranged for a special celebration of Annie's birthday tonight.' Aunt Cora cooed, clasping her hands together. She then turned towards Aunt Nora, who was by the window looking at the moon, and then nodded affirmatively towards Aunt Cora. Her excitement could not be contained, for some reason.

'Tonight?' I asked concernedly, while Annie grinned so much I felt sure her jaw was going to drop. 'Tonight...we're all tired. Let's do it tomorrow.'

Aunt Cora, who had been smiling at her sisters, stopped short and looked me in the face. 'Dearie, we are GOING to celebrate tonight, Annie darling?' She held out her arm to Annie, who came forward and nestled by her shoulder like some, little bird. 'You're not tired, are you?' She immediately shook her head. 'Oh...' Aunt Cora began, stroking her face. 'You are so, so beautiful...' She said dreamily. Annie smirked and added, 'I know!' But Aunt Cora kept caressing her, which disturbed me. She began to run her fingers through her golden-peach hair, and said, 'Adelyn wouldn't have stood a chance against _you_. No... _you_ ARE the one.' Her eyes shone. I could see Annie get a little uncomfortable herself.

'We have prepared a special surprise for Annie...' Aunt Cora spoke, as she twirled around with Annie, still very close to her. 'A gift. Come with us...'

'We'll come too.' Delilah asserted, that was hushed by the glare Aunt Nora gave to her, while brushing past them and joining her sisters. 'This one thing, is a gift of ours, to not only An-nie, but also to Adelyn. We've been saving it for so long'

This wasn't going well, so I chimed in, 'we would love to know about the generous gift you have undoubtedly been saving for Annie. Mom had told me, before the', stopping short, but continuing after regaining myself, 'she told us to always stick together. _Surely_ YOU of all people would want your sister's last request to be carried out.'

Annie agreed with me earnestly. Whatever awesome plan was in store, she needed an audience to display it in front of. 'I won't go without Carr!'

Aunt Cora looked at me slyly. 'Very well. Only YOU may accompany us then.' Annie looked happy, while the others, disappointed.

The Aunts turned to go, still clutching Annie closely. I seized the moment and quickly grabbed Joe; the others came closer to me as well. 'I need to get Annie out of there! I think I have a pretty good idea of what's coming up next!' Roxanne and Delilah didn't understand, and I knew Joe would explain the rest, so giving a serious glance of reliance, I ran to catch up with the party of the dark. I heard the door lock itself, and knew they had been trapped in the bedroom too.

They were making their way to the second floor, and as I guessed correctly, to the library. Annie kept asking them where she was taken, but was ignored. Throughout this little journey, all I could think of were those nasty nightmarish bodies...and what exactly was going to happen now. As expected, we entered the library and into the small door...I was about to see the prohibited room finally, too.

It was...a lair. There was a big black cauldron in the middle that cast a light of dirty yellow in the entire room. There were also spots of blood on the floor around it. As soon as we entered, I felt something funny tug at my mouth; like something sewing it's way between my lips. I brushed them with my finger, hoping the irritation would cease. Looking towards the Aunts, they had gathered around the cauldron, with Aunt Cora leading Annie to a long wooden desk, by the hand. They glanced at the moon once more and back at Annie, grinning for all. It was a full moon. Aunt Cora, then held Annie by the arms, and spoke. I felt myself unable to proceed forwards, for, my feet had stuck to the floor and my mouth was immobile. I had been bewitched. I just stood from a distance and watched it all unravel, helplessly.

\-- CHAPTER 11 \--

The Transformation

Aunt Nora lifted her eyes and saw me struggling; she and Aunt Sora exchanged conniving looks at one another and back to me. It was all according to plan.

'The gift we have planned, Annie...' Aunt Cora began, lifting her _skin_ – the way you lift a dress from falling down your chest – 'is one in which your beauty plays the key role'.

'My beauty?' Annie asked, in a non-serious manner.

'Yes...you see, in times like this, people compete for the crown – but Nature creates the biggest foil to that...' after a pause, '...with old age'.

'Old age?' Annie was not obviously getting at what the thing was saying.

'I'm talking about a feat, that, forget Nature; GOD won't even be able to stop Annie. Something that annihilates everyone else's looks in their faces...for all _eternity_.'

Annie lifted her arms out of Aunt Cora's grasp and looked down. 'I'm sorry Aunt Cora but...'

'Immortality, Annie!' Aunt Cora broke out, her eyes getting bigger and bigger.

Annie stopped short and stared. Aunt Cora knew she was understood. 'Ever wonder what it feels like to know you're perfect and that your perfection can NEVER be taken from you? That's what we will do tonight... All we need is for you to sign this clause that will preserve your beauty, till the end of time.'

I fidgeted massively at 'clause'. THAT was what mother and father and that gypsy were talking about! THIS was what mom meant for Annie to say no to! I began to murmur loudly to help gage Annie's attention, but she couldn't hear me.

Annie was now getting jewels in her eyes at the prospect of eternal beauty. 'How can you make my beauty immortal?' She asked them. 'I want this so bad.'

Aunt Cora's fangs were visible once again. 'We're witches, darling. Black magic is our art.'

'Mother wasn't a witch! Grandma Neema wasn't a witch...how are you three witches?'

'We...were the only ones that learned the Dark Arts. Beauty was what inspired us. Tonight, the night of your birthday is one where our powers are at their prime – which is why we need you to sign this quickly. It gives us your word and honour – it makes Adelyn's wish come true.'

'What wish?'

'To see beauty live on...forever... She died in vain. Such an ephemeral face could not be preserved, which is why, she bequeathed her face; only ten times more amplified...to the one who would fulfill this prophecy...you.' Annie stared with an awe-struck expression. 'So now...for Adelyn...for beauty...for forever...sign this...'

After a moment's pause, Annie finally said the thing that set my heart on fire. 'I DO want to look the _most_ beautiful, although you can't really improve upon my perfection!' Annie was acting more arrogant than usual...her arrogance was almost becoming defiantly dangerous. 'And I'll BE the most beautiful while my friends turn wrinkly and old as prunes!' She giggled. 'Give me that paper...you Aunts are the coolest! What a present I'll remember..."forever"! And began to giggle again, shortly before uttering a grave mistake... 'Why...after this, even GOD Himself won't be able to outdo me! I'll be even MORE perfect than Nature itself!'

I mumbled, moaned and groaned, and moved my head violently...but it was a force field that divided us – making Annie immune to my minute sounds. I watched as she actually signed that fateful contract...I watched her make that fateful mistake...

'Done!' Annie smiled, and bolted the pen back. 'When does the magic start?'

'Right nowwww...' Aunt Cora hissed in an abominable manner, as Annie watched in bewilderment, her eyes began to turn bright baby pink. Her hair began to grow and grow, turning wilder and whiter...her skin turning silver with warts and crumpled creases...her fingers turned long and sour and crooked, with blood penetrating from her broken nails...her eyes became red now. Red, blood stained eyes in a silver face that sunk, sucked into her skull, leaving behind hollow cheeks and the disfigured bony features. Her forehead backwards became bare with the thick cotton wool of silver hair dangling downwards and her teeth disappeared – save for a few blackened teeth here and there. She was shown her mirror; all cracked from all corners, and Annie gave out an ear piercing scream.

Hot, salty teardrops plummeted down my eyes; it was the most terrible scene of my life. I was helpless and I couldn't protect her.

'WHAT'S HAPPENING!?' Annie shrieked...but it wasn't Annie anymore...it was an old skeletal witchy little creature...whose nails bled, and eyes bled tears of blood.

'You made your own choice, stupid girl!' Aunt Cora cackled, her own skin beginning to vibrate. Seconds later, Aunt Cora, Nora and Sora, shed their bodies...the empty carcasses fell to the floor, leaving behind floating faceless creatures; slouching and moth-eaten.

'You...you! You were the witches? You haunted me in my dreams!' Annie cried out in horror.

'And still, you didn't get the warning.' Aunt Sora chuckled, who turned her limp cloth-face towards me, and the bewitched effect wore off.

I ran to Annie and held her, afraid. 'Annie! Annie!' I stuttered, inconsolable, shivering and lost. 'You FREAKS!' I shouted. 'WHY? WHY DID YOU DO THIS?'

Aunt Cora transfigured her hole of a mouth to make it like a snigger. 'Why? She never knew what it's like to be ugly! Horrible, gory, despicable, ugly! Why can't she experience that now? Before she eventually dies.'

I went paler than before. 'No! You will reverse this! Change her back!'

'We can't. She wanted to dance with the devil...and so she took the plunge. Her soul has been sold.'

'Then the whole nonsense about immortality?'

'That was for us. We NEVER specified WHOSE immortality we talked about. Now she and Adelyn will rot in hell!'

'SHUT UP! IT'S YOU WHO'LL ROT IN HELL!' I clenched the pen on the table and threw it to her face, feeble and hopeless, it just went through the torn bits all over her.

'We won't. We will live forever. Unfortunately, if our stupid sister didn't protect her first four daughters, you worthless insects would be dead by now. But then she had FIVE.'

Annie, who began to breathe heavily, turned her head to the floor. I was running out of time. 'What do you mean, five? I'm quite surprised you didn't hang our dead bodies on your filthy walls!'

'Oh believe me...even our _filthy_ walls are too good for the likes of you. Before Annie becomes ours for good, in just a matter of minutes, I suppose we CAN afford to tell you what we've done.' Aunt Sora and Nora flew closer to their leading sister. 'We are going to use her body as the ultimate sacrifice. Her looks are bound to Adelyn's, which means we will get the amplified looks of the supposed deity of our family; creating the most PERFECT bodies for ourselves. We will be the gorgeous ones now.'

'Why didn't you use my mother's body?'

'Adelyn had _our_ immediate blood in her – to use her would be ineffective. The idea is to combine heterogeneous blood types that DON'T match ours, for the ideal bodies that would have a unique blood type, after all those combinations of course. Annie doesn't have traces of our blood, because unbeknownst to our prophecy Adelyn had a fifth child, the chain reaction of four sisters had been broken – however, YOU worthless four DO have our blood, and can thus be protected by Adelyn's clause. Which is why we couldn't _kill_ you, and violate the laws of her clause, rendering our spells obsolete.'

'What laws? Why kill mother? Why Annie?' I was sobbing beyond reproach now.

'Ah, you weakling... Adelyn knew about our witchcraft. We were punished from our very birth – by being _born_ ugly. Adelyn was Miss flawless throughout! The one who was unequaled, unblemished, and infallible! We tried everything to become nearly as pretty as HER. But failed. Our mother hated us, because we were ugly. She loved Addy, because she was beautiful. So we went to the most extreme length of securing celestial looks for ourselves too by adopting black magic, after a series of mortal procedures failed exceedingly. However, the black magic had a grave side effect...and it changed us and made us like _this.'_ She pointed to her cloth–like body and torn scarf face, with moth eaten bites and no features. 'That's when we started _wearing_ bodies instead. Bodies gifted with undeserving beauty – that they didn't even appreciate. We bound them to ourselves with our witchcraft, temporarily, and have been transferring bodies ever since.'

'...And the laws?' I asked cautiously.

'We had predicted Adelyn would have four daughters and she did. But Adelyn bade us not to harm them; she made us confirm it in the clause that prohibits us from killing you...because if we do, our blood will reverse the effects we wish to gain...and that of beauty. Also, we won't be able to wear bodies anymore...it will make us completely useless! We dispose of bodies at OUR will, not because of some stupid clause!' She turned to Annie. 'But our prediction was wrong, and much to Adelyn's horror and our delight, _she_ was born. A fifth child. The clause never armoured the last one and so we were free to use _her_.'

'But...she's dying! Her beauty is of no use to you!'

They began to laugh – sinister and provoking. 'Excellent. You really _are_ smart!' Aunt Cora guffawed. 'Her beauty has already been taken. She's plagued with the old age, the age the hundreds of thousands of girls we murdered – who were cut off from a normal life cycle - would have had. In a matter of minutes we'll perform the spell and dip ourselves in the cauldron and live beautiful forever.'

Annie began to cough violently. 'I...I still don't understand. Why is Annie suffering?'

Aunt Cora's cut out eyes suddenly blazed. They appeared for a millisecond – evil and adder like. 'Because of Adelyn, you fool! Adelyn G. Phoenix! Why was she so beautiful? Everyone loved her so much! SHE was supposed to be the maggot. NOT us! You can't imagine the feeling of sheer ecstasy I had when I finished her off! Slit her good-for-nothing husband too! After HER death, NO ONE can stand in our way!'

My body began to shake mad. 'You were the gypsy? You were the monstrosity that killed our parents? Why this façade, witch? Why did you wait for so long before killing my mother who was the most radiant woman ever born?'

Aunt Cora yawned. 'Your interview is verbal exhaustion. Killing even Addy darling has its ramifications...it puts a loophole in our powers. WHY do you think we didn't do it any sooner?' Her voice, that sounded like the voice of many little girls, tiered together, began to increase its volume. 'We had to do it because Adelyn was going to tell Annie about the clause and that was a direct violation. Even though she was unprotected by it, her clause states, " _If any of my offspring shalt object, thy spell will be refracted...right choices thou shalt witness even in their oblivion."_ Thus death was the only consequence.'

I lowered my head.

'So that is why if she knew, she would have denied it, and we would be unable to do it. Addy always had the winning cards, but we twisted the words and instead claimed the trophy!' Aunt Cora's serpentine eyes flared, and she added, pityingly, 'I _wish_ I could kill you, though. But upon doing so, I'd only put my best interests in peril...and I've come TOO far to do that again...so, I would much rather watch you suffer than see harmless, peaceful death sweep over you.'

I was quiet. I was dumbstruck. I was defenseless. But before I could shake myself out of the perplexity I felt circumference me, I unconsciously asked her in a low voice... 'Do you know _why_ all those mirrors broke?'

Aunt Cora looked at me at once. 'Eh? Well aren't you an annoying little inquisitive cookie.' Aunt Sora and Nora glanced at each other...I couldn't really make out their expression because of my misty eyes, but they didn't expect the random question, and weren't exactly pleased. Aunt Sora and Nora began to whisper things to Aunt Cora...who cantankerously bade them to shut up. 'What's the stupid point of concealing this when she bloody well knows the rest?' The two Aunts backed off a bit. Aunt Cora's hollow, icy gaze thus fell on me. 'We...were the reason they broke. It is our curse.'

I averted my gaze from Annie and perused her ghostly moth-eaten face.

'We cannot look at ourselves in the mirror. It shatters. So since we could not see ourselves in them, we decided _no one_ should; which is why all the mirrors broke in that store at Alistan... The curse entails a prophecy stating the predictions of our existence through the surviving mirrors that do NOT shatter. The second time it happened, there were only three mirrors surviving, signaling Adelyn's death. But ours were always cracked... that is when we knew, getting to Annie was ultimate, or else we would remain beleaguered by our haunting physical disgust. We had to snip away all barriers. And we did. While we don't look into the mirrors, they don't break...but the cracks appear when we merely pass them by.'

My brows furrowed together. 'So, we amassed our own collection of mirrors...stored away since all those years...till we can finally look ourselves in the eye and smile at how beautiful... _most_ beautiful we shall become!'

'A reality nearing its fulfillment.' Aunt Sora piped in, glaring at Annie viciously.

Having disclosed their surreptitious secrets, Aunt Cora grabbed Annie, who could barely keep her eyes open, and flung her into the boiling cauldron, which released a smoke of bright orange. I screamed, for it was the only thing I could do. The Aunts were laughing triumphantly. Then they, one by one, sank into the cauldron themselves, that began vibrating. I thought the vibration would lessen or stop...but it grew worse, and began to hammer down onto the floor.

'Sister...what is happening?' Aunt Sora whispered to Aunt Cora.

Aunt Cora's eyes were drawn maliciously towards the possessed cauldron.

'I don't understand either...quick! We must immerse ourselves before the spell wears off!'

With that, the three of them dipped the rest of themselves into the cauldron...reciting ' _On...beauty live on...let beauty live on...forever...forever_...'

However, the cauldron began to break apart as its boiling intensified like a volcano itching to erupt and devour the world in lava...until finally, a huge explosion sounded...and with a big cloud of purple smoke, it broke.

The entire room was blown apart, the windows broke into smithereens, and the walls and roof fell. Trying to gain consciousness from the explosion, I saw Joe, Roxy and Del approaching the sight; they had somehow managed to break the door and now beheld the scene beyond ordinary perception. Getting up and walking towards the broken cauldron, I saw that the Aunts weren't there. But the impact had been such that it tore the fragments of their loose bodies, scattering them all over the floor mixed with the liquid of the spell for immortality they had been preparing. It seemed as if the spell itself had proved too much for them and it sort of made them...vanish.

But Annie was still there...on the floor. She wasn't moving. For those who had just come, it was confusingly shocking. For those who had been there to witness it, felt the magnitude of their loss.

*

We walked on till dawn covered us in its tender pink-golden embrace. We walked on and on, blisters welcoming the pilgrim's plight on us, till we found a Church – on the west coast of Marlowe Davis' countryside. There, we gave her a burial. Though initially frightened at her state, they simply said, 'what a terrible thing, age is.' And we nodded, silent tears pricking our cheeks. She was only sixteen.

A ride was arranged for us, and we decided to go our separate ways. Nobody knew where the other was going. We couldn't really 'speak' to each other. We were all lost...and sad.

\-- CHAPTER 12 \--

End of Flashback

I picked my bag up from the small, little grey bed and locked my apartment, for good. For once, I don't even care what time it is. All I'm doing is walking. The dim, drab building will now, also, be just a memory. Delilah is picking me up. I never knew Ricky proposed to her. She set our bus ride. The bus will take us to Marlowe Davis. Roxy and Joe will also be with us. And we're all going there, together. It's not raining, but it's cloudy. I've just exited the building...and I see them. They're standing by the car, waiting for me. Wasting no time, I ran to them and hugged them tight. We all started crying, this is the longest any of us have ever been separated from one another. Feeling the warmth of their embrace, we got in the car, on our way to the train station.

'Del, it's massive!' Roxy admirably spoke of Delilah's, truly massive, one-carat diamond ring, who in turn, held out her slim finger for all of us to see.

'Thanks...though can you believe Ricky insisted on bigger?' She blushed pink.

'Oh! It's so beautiful!' Roxy continued. She had always been the romantic one, so for her, this held more meaning.

'When's the wedding?' Roxy perused the ring some more. 'Just know I'm the maid of honour!'

Delilah burst out laughing. 'Yes, you are!' She then looked at her ring again, dreamily and appreciatively. 'The wedding's soon. In about three month's time. Ricky suggested it would be better to complete the deal with his company first.' Roxanne nodded, understanding. 'You know...he told me, the night he proposed to me of course...' de-tracking again, looking abstractedly ahead of the car (she's sitting in the middle) '...when we had gone to the park together, at night, under the brightest stars, for a walk...' she then turned, gazing at us, '...he said, there's something about me that immediately tells him I'm his...'

Amid Roxanne's 'awwws', I smiled... 'That's what dad said to...'

'...Mom.' Joe and I said it together. We looked at each other and gave wistful smiles. I had my partner in crime back.

'Del...' I leaned over to her and hugged her. 'I'm really, very happy for you... Who would have thought? The second youngest the first to get married!'

Suddenly there was a long silence. That was the first time anybody had mentioned her – even if indirectly. And it made us all aware of why we got together in the first place.

'Ma'am...we have arrived at the bus station.' Del's fancy chauffeur just informed us.

Shaking from the long spell of silence, I opened the car door. We all got out. Everyone looks so ill equipped. It's like we just left all that we were doing and decided on the journey. We can't bring anyone else with us, because they'll kill them. We on the other hand, are shielded.

I see the bus waiting for us. None of us ever went back to Alistan Town, but instead, all my sisters came to meet me at News Grove...and from there, we were boarding the bright purple bus together. The driver was an old man, with a polite looking face, hidden by his round spectacles, and a crisp white uniform to match his crisp white hair.

'Welcome ladies! It looks like we don't have many passengers.'

No...just us.' I add awkwardly.

'Well now, I wouldn't be surprised. We ARE going to Marlowe Davis after all. Damn town has all sorts of rumours circulating about it.' We all sighed, which immediately prompted the driver – as if we had been the recipients of his ill conduct, to add, 'Not that they're real of course. Only rumours.' And he turned to radiate one of the most assuring smiles ever, though we know how dead wrong he was.

Inside, Roxy and Del sat together, gossiping away about all the romantic rendezvous Del had with Ricky, while Joe chose to sit at the end of the bus, looking out the watered window.

'Joe?' I put my hand on her shoulder.

'What do you think is gonna happen now?' She looks so apprehensive; there are tears in her eyes.

'I don't know myself.' She looked away; disappointed. 'But, hey, listen...' I pulled myself closer to her, 'I know the worst. I know we're going there with a purpose. We may not be able to save her...we may not know the answers...we may not know how long this happened...but we, will, not, give, in...' I can feel the tears coming in my own eyes now, but don't remove my steady gaze away from Joe's eyes.

'Carr-oli...' She tries to finish my entire name again.

'Carr...' I coax her once more.

'Carr...we may not find her there even... What if... _they_ moved?'

'Then they moved. Not much we can do then. You need to know properly right now that the chances we have, our minus infinity from the start, against them.' I stopped, a sudden comfort sweeping over me. 'But Joe, we shouldn't worry too much. After all we're protected by mom's clause remember? They can't so much as touch us. It'll backlash.' I can see Joe relax a little. 'So we are just going to go and save Annie...which we will...somehow...I can feel it.'

Joe began to push back the loose fringe on her forehead. 'I guess.' She looked out the window and just stared. 'I...had a dream about mom.'

'Mom?' I'm a believer in all dreams now.

'Yeah, mom. She told me...she...has faith.' Joe breathed a heavy sigh. 'And she said... _you_ won't let her down.'

This is very fascinating. I hope I'm hearing what Joe said correctly. 'Why me?'

'Because...'

'Ladies, we have arrived at the destination.' The bus driver, Mr.Polsky announced right then.

'All right...' I said, getting up. 'Let's bring her back.' I said to Joe, who nodded fervently. She's perked up with the same gloss of adventure I had remembered her with.

We got off the bus and onto the wet stony pavement. Once again there was not a taxi in sight, and we realized there that we had no other option but to walk to Holstridge Manor.

'Will we ever learn?' Joe said, laughing sarcastically, as the furious, cold rain pecked at our heads. 'We should honestly have our own car by now.'

\-- CHAPTER 13 \--

Reunion

After much arduous exercise...we entered familiar grounds once more and walked upon the infamous territory of our inextricably linked nightmarish past. Mounting the steps towards the broken entrance, I breathe in deeply...this could be the end or a wonderfully damned beginning.

It's the same from the inside as we last saw it. A powerful tide of nostalgia surges within me. There stands the crimson-carpeted staircase, with the green marbled floor, and the ominous, yet majestic lounge to the right...with all those pictures. It is so dead yet vividly alive, altogether.

'So...what now?' Joe casually remarks. A casualness that irks me.

'What do you mean? Bloody well find Anneliese and get the hell out of here!' I barked...literally.

After that brief 'comic-relief' as Joe puts delightfully, we began to scan our ways around the lower level of the Manor, for any signs of Annie or them. But there's NO ONE anywhere. We decided to kick it up a notch and explore the second floor, where we had all the rooms, gaining some apprehension. We checked everywhere...and even had the audacity to call out to Annie. Roxy also checked all the bathrooms.

'What would they be doing near stink holes?' I heard Joe complain.

'Well, that's absurd! Maybe they had to go.' Rox added matter-of-factly.

Joe hit her palm on her forehead and patted Roxanne on the back, shaking her head in disappointment.

Unsuccessful yet again, hearts racing, we decided on the investigation of the third and final floor. And made our way to the fateful room behind the library. There was still no one to be found.

'Wrong address, maybe?' Joe said, backing away after I gave her my 'you're-not-helping' glare.

Staying close to one another, we made our ways back to the first floor. While we do, something just doesn't seem the same. Realizing, I now see the entire portion has turned pitch black.

'So they know we're here...' I slowly uttered. 'Hmm.'

There is no light, except for the cigarette lighter Joe illuminated for us; it is only now that I can safely say that I'm glad Joe took up smoking – well, not really.

'Hey? Carr...?' Delilah shakily asked. 'I think I saw something there...in front of the lounge entrance...' She pointed in the direction with an unsteady finger. 'It's someone attached to a chair.' And clenched my arm tight.

I moved the lighter towards the once emerald green lounge. There _was_ a shadowy figure there, clasped onto a small seat with several prickly looking ropes binding it to the chair; suffocated. The head was dangling forward with wet strangled hair curtaining it. Trembling, we walked inside and towards it. I put forth my hand to push back the locks and reveal the face and found to our dismay that the person, is none other than our long lost sister. 'Annie!?'

Astonishingly enough, it isn't the same mutated, cursed Annie we had buried four months ago, but the same Annie who had just turned sixteen. Her face is back to normal...though appearing a little drugged...she is not wrinkled and skeletal-like.

'How is this possible?' My glasses slid off my nose...I am perspiring out of unwavering nervousness. 'How come she's not the same way as before?'

'I don't understand either...' Joe grabbed my hand and lifted it towards Annie, trying to get a better observation of her. 'She's breathing Carr!'

'She's alive!' I can't believe it. 'Get those ropes loose!' We tried unknotting them but it was a grueling ordeal.

'We have to get out of here! As soon as we get her free, we'll evacuate this place! It'll be over then, right!?' Joe asked as one of the thick ropes scratched her fingers.

' _Destined for something thou mayst never obtain, here lies a deal. When conjuring fates too intertwined with thy never-ending rancour, the accord of my breed will help ye get where ye desire.'_

'What's that?' Roxanne asked, frightened. The voice derived from behind Annie. It was intimidating...and resonated like a screechy prolonged whisper...

' _Should they will it themselves, an elixir of their externalities might be contrived_ _,_ _without thy snipping their life thread, for heed well, their internalities in contradistinction to thou, are too divine.'_

'Wait a minute...' I moved the lighter ahead of where Annie was seated...and widened my eyes to make out the familiar auditor.

I see a pair of crooked, limb, stuttering legs...walking towards us. As they get closer, and my gaze is able to peruse the figure long enough to decipher its nature...I am met by her evil sinister smile.

'Aunt Cora...' I barely make out.

From behind her appear our other remaining relatives: Aunt Sora and Aunt Nora.

'Didn't you miss us?' Aunt Sora slithers, while the large grin over their half human-half cloth like face continues to be plastered over. I see the transformation only worked half way...it _did_ work though.

'Quite a lot. And as you can see, we were practically drawn to you.' I turned to face Annie, who was murmuring...a sign that she is gaining consciousness, and back to the Aunts. Their faces look disgusting – like a human head that was in the microwave for a long time and boiled over.

'What did you just say?' I need to know, the language was so familiar.

Aunt Cora tilted her head, her half face textured with melted candle wax. 'It was Adelyn's clause, of course. I was just reading out the part that states where a...truce can be reached...between us.' She came a little closer to me. 'I see that our plan worked...'

'Sweet Annie...even all that glitter couldn't change our appearances. Wasn't _enough_ actually. It nearly killed us, you know.' Aunt Nora's girly voice addressed us.

'Yes it wasn't...so unfortunate is it not, sisters?' Aunt Cora continued. 'Now four will have to pay the price of one.'

We froze. I can sense this is not going to slide easily as butter – something dreadful is heading our way.

'Now that we've restored her back to the way she was...the way _they'll_ be combined, should be interesting.' Aunt Cora licked her lips, while addressing the Aunts. Her snake-eyes glisten with the menace of her inhibitions.

I step back. The girls back up behind me. 'What did mom mean in the parts you read out? What accord can be reached between US and YOU?' I desperately ask her. 'The clause clearly states using any of us four is forbidden. Your powers will be rendered obsolete!'

Forming a semi circle towards us...their skinny arms rising in unison, Aunt Cora addressed us directly. 'Do you want to save your precious sister?'

'Of course we want to save her!' I screamed at her ludicrous question.

'Then listen carefully Carolina G. Phoenix.' Her tone has suddenly become sober and stern. 'Your sister was never dead. The transformation was never over. It worked half way because Anneliese's beauty alone was not adequate enough to change all three of us...only gruesomely mutating our guises further. So we put her under a spell for the time that we would take to recover from the unplanned explosion...and execute the prophecy properly; it took us very long but now all our time shall be paid off with the tempting fruits we have sought all our existence. This we will do by using _all_ of Adelyn's daughters...for every ounce of our sister's God damn beautiful face!'

'The clause!' I spoke defiantly, yet still.

Aunt Cora eyeballed me for interrupting her. 'You insolent little brat! As I was saying...in order for you to save Annie permanently, all you have to do is sign it.' She tilted her bruised head towards a crinkly sheet of paper that flew into the air, with a pen floating next to it.

'What?' Joe asked, stupefied.

'Sign the same contract Anneliese signed precisely four months ago; your mother's clause. We need you to make some alterations to it. Her life will be spared at one small price...'

'Go on...' I gesticulated the idea with my hand for her to continue.

'You may cross out Anneliese's name from the clause, and instead sign in your own names.'

My heart feels lumpy...what is she implying?

'Adelyn very specifically states that we not kill you, or else nothing we conjure will effect us' – staring at the clause – 'but she _also_ states we can use you if you consent to it, provided we don't kill you, as I suppose Addy meant by "internalities". We never realized it would come to that, as we assumed Anneliese alone would change us completely. But, despite similar blood residing in your veins, she says your "will" can act powerfully on our...I mean, _your_ behalf...'

'As your impotent Anneliese depends on this decision.' Aunt Sora chimed in.

'...Thus,' continued Aunt Cora, 'all we want to do is extrapolate all the _outer_ beauty you harbour...and let you live...just in a state of enfeeblement. This we'll do after your names imprint themselves on this testimonial, showing that you have consented to our plea yourselves.' She exchanged grins with the other creatures.

'Why would we do that?' I exclaimed out of sheer annoyance. 'What good will does it do to Annie?'

'That is the only way you will save her. And this time, she will not be spared.'

I watched them in disbelief. 'You knew we would come...you knew we would come for Annie! You used her as bait! We walked straight into your trap!'

'And now the games really begin.' Aunt Cora smirked. The blackness that encapsulated the Manor began to withdraw to the ceiling, like a hundred shadows collected together by a head puppeteer, revealing forlorn, derelict walls behind them. Aunt Cora turned to face Annie. 'I'll make sure you watch her be disemboweled in just a matter of minutes if you don't make your choice quickly.' She spoke through gritted teeth.

Roxanne, Joe and Delilah fell into a state of frenzy. 'Sacrifice all of us to save one sister! That's an immoral decision! What do we do? I don't want to turn old and ugly...they'll make us die a natural death...ingenious! It's just one sister...against all four of us...but no...we WILL save Annie. Let's sign it... Yes, I suppose so... Carr! Carr? Carolina!' While the rest took time in trying to make up their mind in doing the right thing, I had wasted none in squabbling over what had to be done. The pen was in my hand, and I had already proceeded to cross Annie's name out, and then sign the contract with my own, I would not lose her twice. She's been through enough already. My sisters stopped and observed me...then one by one; they penned their signatures down too.

'It is done!' Aunt Sora squawked. 'They have rendered Adelyn's clause as useless! We may use them now!' She was in a state of ecstatic disbelief.

I feel mute.

Joe, Roxanne and Delilah are also silent.

Annie was immediately released from the chair; the ropes snapped and fell to the floor like wriggled, monstrous snakes.

'Now...let her go...' I tell them solemnly.

'Hmmm...I don't think so!' Aunt Sora delighted. 'We forgot to tell you, you see, we plan on using all FIVE of you for our prophecy. It's the only way we can make sure we've done it right this time!'

'All five of you will bequeath to us the fairness that was denied to us since birth!' Aunt Nora vociferated.

'But you' – pointing towards Aunt Cora - 'made me cross out Annie's name! You can't use her now! She or WE don't consent to this! We deny this!' My eyes widened at their preposterous assertion.

'Sorry...your names are a testament to your consents. Besides, you merely crossed out Annie's name, you didn't ERASE it.' Aunt Cora added, staring at me. 'How stupid of you...the second time around.'

'Why you...AUNT CORA!' Inconsolable and frantic, I thrust my arms in front of me, in the hopes of strangling her. It is a ridiculous notion, as she has no neck. My hands were only slapped by Aunt Cora's feeble excuse of a hand...with specks of her gooey melted wax-skin to come flying on my cheek.

'ENOUGH OF THIS! IT BEGINS NOW! WE SHALL BE TRANSFORMED NOW!' Aunt Cora thundered – her excitement is profoundly ferocious.

In the maniacal chaos that ensued after Aunt Cora's fanatical exuberance, it caused all of us to disperse. It was of no use. The Manor began to corrode from the inside and started emitting acid that scalded our skin when we got too close to the self-destructing walls. Annie was still on the floor, motionless; and though she's breathing...I don't know why she isn't waking up. While trying to make her conscious again, they began to chant some prayer, which was nothing but the resonance of evil. The witches then pinned us to the floor and oozed the dark tar-like substance that had previously collected in the ceiling on to us...and the painful extraction went underway. It feels as if the tar is like a thousand pointy leech's teeth that are sucking away at my tissue...my face...and my soul. Our screams are deafening. This feels like hours.

Gasping for oxygen beneath the leaden tar blanket, I see them. Through eyes that are drooped from the weight of what must be like a hundred wrinkles...I see them. They're...gorgeous. They are a mixture of my sisters' and my best physical attributes. They look magnificently supreme.

'Oh Sister! Oh! Could it be...?' Aunt Sora gushed. She ran her slender fingers over Aunt Cora's face, which looked soft and silky...blooming with honeysuckle hues.

'Yes...it has come true! Oh!' They run their hands through each other's hair...almost appearing a little unhappy at their individualistic beauties it seems, with Aunt Sora comparing her hair to Aunt Cora's, as if they each had a right to beauty's sole gift only.

'We must do what I have waited 58 years for!' Aunt Nora squealed.

'The time has come for the prophecy's FULL fulfillment!' Aunt Cora cried, rejoicing at their triumph.

Turning around, I see Rox, Del and Joe get up. We're all sickly and silver...and we each have magenta pink eyes. I am so tired...we look as though we've crossed 200 years... Annie is still motionless...

The Aunts give us discerning looks. 'Get up! Witness our contrasting beauty to your repellant selves! FEEL our misery before you wretched creatures live life like _that_! While you know that we are the most beautiful people in this world...for generations to come!'

I know where they're going to go. All four of us follow them outside the Manor...while it continues to melt and obliterate itself slowly but surely. Despite all that is happening, I can't help but look up and notice the ebony sky that is fluorescently decorated with a multitude of stars...twinkling graciously. My mind seems so distracted right now...like I don't even care what happens next...

Joe noticed my lack of fear.

'Carr...do you know where we're going?' Joe inquired, passively, anxiously.

'To the mirror basement.' I don't look at her, but whisper my words coherently.

'The what?'

'They're going to _see_ themselves.' I answered more decisively.

Upon reaching, they opened the little cabinet door, pushing us ahead. The internal glow of the acid from the other side of the house, shown a dim dark green. 'That's it...almost...' Aunt Cora began. However, as soon as the cabinet door creaked open, the mirrors began to clink.

'Why are they still cracking?' Aunt Nora asked perplexed.

'Because of THESE ugly wretches, Nora! WE are more divine than the whole of Nature combined. WE are immune now.' Aunt Cora's passion raged on.

Suddenly, she shoved us inside. 'Get in you brutes! In!' And upon doing so edged closer to the mirrors. They cracked a lot more.

'Ha Ha see! Sisters! It IS them! Time to see our gorgeousness ourselves!' They began moving inside.

'Get out of here!' I instantaneously warned my sisters, who slid out upon the Aunts' entry...leaving me unable to make my move just yet.

All the mirrors had been turned; none of them faced any one yet.

'Why are they still cracking?' Aunt Sora asked aggressively and even more annoyed. 'Is it because of her?' pointing towards me. 'Grab her!'

It feels as though I am on the brink of dying. My feet aren't even carrying me forward. My sisters are on the ground, exhausted and senseless. We are beyond the normal aspects of old.

Aunt Nora drags me belligerently to the centre point I remember seeing. The roof has been corroded at this point; and I can see Annie lying on the marble floor up yonder. She too shall be consumed soon... My head can't even lift itself...but resounds the familiar, though dramatized final orchestra of the sonorous mirrors, much to the agitation of an unappreciative audience.

'Now, sister, now!' Aunt Sora shrieked. 'Turn them! Face us!' She is getting too excited.

Aunt Cora lift up her beautiful hands and cried, ' _Undo the curse upon this night! Reveal to us our true glory sight_!' The mirrors began to solemnly turn upon her command.

As they turned, it revealed to the witch sisters the same grotesque cloth-like selves they had before. They did not reveal the bewitchingly beauteous women that stood before us earlier - the perfect ones. 'WHAT! NO!' Aunt Cora screamed upon seeing her reflection. And as a result, the mirrors didn't crack, but exploded, the spell could never grant them the beauty they so craved for because they weren't pure souls on the _inside_...their trials and errors were for the wrong thing all along. Thus directly looking at themselves prompted the curse to eradicate them forever. It released a barrage of sharp shards of glass that breached the skin of the witches and caused their bloody fall. I am staggering to cope with my own injuries...and am almost out of the basement...just three...more...steps to go...but... My eyes close.

\-- CHAPTER 14 \--

A Brief Meet

I don't know how long my eyes stayed shut. My body still feels numb...but I know I'm surrounded by something good...

'Carr? Sweetheart?'

'Mom?' I can hardly see much, except for a beautiful light.

'You did well, honey. You protected your sisters.'

'Dad?' Despite my shuteyes, I could feel them water. 'I...I've been a coward... I distanced myself from Joe, Roxy and Del for a year...how did I do well? I couldn't stop Annie from the transformation...I...I don't even know if she's alive...or any of the others...'

'You displayed so much strength of character...'

I then slowly open my eyes...and behold my lovely parents standing in front of me. 'How are you alive? Am I dead?' I ask in disbelief.

'No darling...' Mom, with her gorgeous midnight-blue eyes, came towards me, 'We're here to visit you...and tell you how proud we are of you.'

'You have been there for your sisters, taking care of them. You were willing to sacrifice yourself for Annie's safety...you didn't hesitate...you just knew.' Dad puts his gentle hand on my shoulder, sitting next to me. 'And you destroyed my evil sister-in-laws...that was by far the best.'

I laughed. Joe really has inherited dad's amazing sense of humour. I haven't felt this feeling of warmth in a long, long time... The tears in my eyes reign supreme...and finally drop down. 'I love you, please don't leave me...' I hold my hand out to them, but they get up and go higher and higher.

'Darling...we'll be waiting for you...for all our five daughters when the time is right...' Dad's angelic, soothing voice says to me, as the light becomes stronger and stronger.

'Five?' I ask.

'Your sisters need you.' Mom smiles. 'That Ricky...he seems nice...' She winks at me. And I can feel the life pump its way back into my heart.

I am overpowered by the binding light that takes them away from me...but feel comfort all the while...

'We'll _always_ be there for you.' With that mom blows me a flying kiss. And their waving at me becomes dimmer and dimmer against the backdrop of the beautiful light.

\-- CHAPTER 15 \--

On and Beyond

After some time, I wake up and realize I'm in the orange orchard...besides that same tall tree. I smile. It's 5:00 a.m. and the twilight is transitioning into dawn. The cuts on my arm have stopped bleeding...and I know I'm being thoroughly examined by a group of peering eyes as if I were a dissected frog.

'Carr?' Joe pulls me by the shoulders. I groan. 'You're okay!' She flung at me. Ouch. Her hugs are tight. My chest still has the bruises.

I stare at Joe. 'You're back to normal!' I exclaimed enthusiastically.

'We all are!' She excitedly shook me, and backed away. There stood Roxy, Del...all normal...and there stood Annie.

I get up quickly. 'Annie?' She's not dead. She's okay too!

'Carr!'

We all embraced, laughed, cried, and, rejoiced.

The Manor had deteriorated completely. The final explosion coupled with the self-corrosive acid had demolished the physical structure and caused it to dismantle...the horrific building no longer stood before us.

I turned to the basement, just in case, and saw there were no surviving mirrors. The witches had been expunged forever.

'So-ho...' Joe began with a raised eyebrow. 'Ready for our victory walk, detective?'

I let out a laugh. 'Ah, never gets old, eh?'

But right at that moment, Delilah motioned us to Ricky's car that had appeared at the gate. To our aid and Delilah's romantic ebullience, we were rescued by her worried fiancé.

Relaxing in the comfort of the deluxe car recovering from our adventure...we gave each other wistful smiles. Remembering suddenly, I turned to Ricky, who was eyeing Del with admiration and relief from the front seat, and mentioned to him, 'Ricky...I'm glad you're going to be a part of our family. Something tells me mom would have approved.' Both turned to face me, the delight overflowing from their elated faces.

I pulled my sisters close and hugged them. 'Now can we please officially start planning the wedding?' Everyone agreed unanimously. 'Yeah!'

'So Del and Ricky, what kind of music should we play at the reception?' Joe, who began exuding her uncontrollable energy asked, grinning.

Delilah, jittery as the bride-to-be she really is, replied, 'Um, I don't know Joe! Whatever you girls like!'

I put my arm around Annie and smiled. 'Oh, I've got a few songs in mind...'

And with that, we sang away...because after all, we had all the right reasons to celebrate.

###

About the author:

Shaanzaè Shahid is a budding Pakistani author, who has ventured into the writing sphere for the second time with this thrilling novella. Also read her other ebook publication, "The Magic Building", available online.

### Connect with the Author:

Email: charcoalmagic@gmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shaanzaeshahid
