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This just wasn’t fair! Everybody in the town knew Kole was a coward who jumped at his own shadow almost dairy; in fact it was even a game the children played just to hear him scream or break out crying. It hadn’t even been his fault to begin with; if anything if that little brat Timmy hadn’t thrown the frog in his face then Kole wouldn’t have freaked out and spooked Mr. O’Hel’s horses causing them to take of running which resulted in the broken wheel on his wagon. As punishment Kole was forced to do something which he was sure by the end of the night would leave him dead, least they wouldn’t have to haul his body very far then.
A small whimper came from trembling pink lips as wide blue eyes stared at the graveyard just beyond the old Church, his light brown hair pulled back into a pony tail that tickled the back of his neck while in his right hand he held an oil torch that was shaking pretty badly and lit. Lately there had been reports of some sort of animal roaming through the graveyards, stealing chickens and the likes so for the next seven nights it was Kole’s job to try and ‘scare away’ the animal. A chill was starting to take in the air as the sun started to set, Kole pulling the hole filled jacket closer to his small frame as he started to walk away from the church among the stone heads. He paused only for a minute to look back up at the open of the church, seeking some comfort at the sight of the bell but the large stone gargoyle just under it ruined the peace Kole had been looking for. Had that always been there? Truthfully it seemed a little out of place.
With a squeak the seventeen year old turned quickly and hurried on his way, the shadows cast by the setting sun had given the gargoyle a rather… Unpleasant look, almost as though at any second it would simply spring to life and eat Kole where he stood. A shiver passed over Kole that had nothing to do with the cold then and the teenager walked a little faster then. For the most part Kole didn’t find anything out of place among the headstones marking the dead and every so often a large stone tomb for the wealthiest of the families but those were few now days. When news hit that the Black Death had come as close as the town nearby many had fled further away from it, for the poor – like himself – who had no means to be able to flee or were unwilling to leave their land that had been within their families for years they were forced to sit, waiting for something that was sure to come. Kole rubbed his paining stomach as it growled, the teenager sighing softly as he forced his hand away and kept walking.
When the sun finally did set Kole started the slow walk back toward the church, holding the torch more toward him as a means to keep warm rather than one to see. Truthfully he would have better luck simply using the moonlight to see than he would the small fire but at least it wasn’t a total waste. Kole turned his head to look toward something when a sudden sound of something breaking nearby almost caused him to piss his pants, turning sharply to wave the torch around wildly that he nearly put it out. Knees shaking and lips trembling Kole slowly looked around, longing to turn and run back to the village so that he could hide under his blankets until morning. It would be the easy thing to do anyway, but he wasn’t sure if the next ten years of being taunted would be worth it or not. Plus, he would never find himself a wife if he couldn’t at least do this, he was already poor. Kole took several sharp breaths, pulling the jacket closer around his chest as he started taking small steps toward where he thought he had heard the sound. Maybe it was nothing, just some village child playing another joke on him trying to get him in even more trouble.
Teeth chattering Kole started for looking for anything out of place but none of the headstones seemed to be broken, Kole slowly becoming less afraid and more confused as time went by. He was sure he had heard something breaking and it had sounded large too. Coming back to the church Kole gave one final look around but still didn’t see anything until his eyes went up to the top of the church again, staring for several minutes until something clicked in his mind. The gargoyle from before was gone now, no trace at all that the stone figure had been there to begin with. With a small frown Kole moved forward to try and get a closer look but he pitched forward when he tripped over something lying on the ground, the torch hitting the ground causing it to go out. How, he had no idea but it did casting the boy into total darkness. Kole raised his head up with wide eyes that darted every which way but it took his eyes some time to become used to the moonlight until he could make out shadows at least, the teenager pushing himself up onto his hands and knees. Looking behind him Kole found what it was he had tripped over, a large stone that he couldn’t recall if it had been there before. In fact when he looked around Kole could see a number of stones now that he wasn’t sure if they had always lain there, perhaps he had simply missed them when he had been looking around before?
A cricking sound caused Kole to drop to his stomach, hands over his head as his body started trembling like a frightened mouse. The noise didn’t happen again nor did anything come after it, Kole raising his head as he cast a longing look over his shoulder back toward where the village was but the night had only just started. If he ran back now then wouldn’t it be worse than later on? Besides… He was sure it was nothing, perhaps just the wind or the animal he was meant to be frightening off in the first place. Slowly Kole pushed himself back up onto his hands and knees, crawling slowly across the grounds causing grass stains to seep into his pants. Coming over a short hill Kole froze, staring down at one of the tombs which now had its gate wide open with a faint light coming from within it. There was no way that was normal, most likely a joke by one of the townspeople.
Kole stared at it with wide eyes before he slowly started to back away until he was back over the hill, the young male taking several deep breaths as he tried to calm his racing heart. He could do this; there was nothing to be afraid of. Running away now would only bring even more shame to his family name, which being the last of his family was not something he wanted to do. Forcing himself up onto his trembling legs Kole took one step at a time toward the tomb, ears straining to hear anything out of place until he stood just in front of the tomb. Which in fact wasn’t a tomb at all, the teenager leaning forward a little to look down a staircase where a single torch had been lit. Kole was a coward, but he was also a curious person. Those two things did not work out well together. Pressing himself up to the stone wall and lowering himself back down to the floor Kole scooted himself down one stair at a time, making as little noise as he could. He counted the stairs as he went down them, ending at thirty two until the stairs ended onto a small hallway. Kole raised himself back up onto his legs and inched down it, peering into the doorway at the end of it. He blinked in a surprise having come into a large room that held a large amount of statures around the back of it and a stone bed fit for three people in the center. Kole would have guessed that this was some sort of underground catacomb meant for the dead, but there were no dead.
Seeing no one within the room and yet all of the torches were lit Kole stepped into the space, casting a wary eye toward the statures before they fell onto the stone bed. Suddenly a metal gate slammed shut behind Kole causing the teenager to turn in a blink of the eye, slamming his frail body into the now blocked doorway but of course it didn’t move. Grabbing onto the metal bars Kole shook them violently for all of a minute before he suddenly sank to his knees, screaming at the top of his lungs as tears ran down his cheeks. “It isn’t funny! It isn’t FUNNY! Somebody help me! Is anyone there? Please, help me, I don’t wish to die here!!”
Wolfs Howl526 · Fri Apr 25, 2014 @ 11:52pm · 0 Comments |
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