“What’s the first step?” Blue asks.

“What colour do you want the walls? Grey is the usual colour.” April says.

“Ah, let’s go grey then.” Blue answers.

A grey wall appears out of nowhere. “This okay? We should have a big entrance hall as first room.” April states.

“Okay, we can do that.” Blue smiles.

A few hours later there’s a complete outline of a castle.

“Now we should furniture it.” April claps her hands. “A couch here, a painting there and maybe a plant there.”

“All the bedrooms can be the same, right?” Blue wonders.

“Yeah sure. You wanna do the bedrooms then?” April asks.

“Yep.” Blue gives a big smile.

“I’ll do the common room and the kitchen then. Oh and the throne room.” April laughs.

Blue heads off to a hall with lots of doors and opens one. The room is completely empty, with two doors on the wall opposite of the entrance.

‘Okay, a bed, a desk and a closet? What else should a room have?’ Blue ponders.

[Don’t forget a lamp and a night stand.] April answers her. She sends some images of how they look.

Blue quickly works on the rooms, making all of them the same. ‘Alright, time to go to the tower room.’ She quickly walks towards one of the towers.

‘April wanted a carpet and a big bed with satin blankets…’ Blue starts creating the room. ‘How about yellow walls, and a sky blue carpet.’

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After another few hours of work they meet at the throne room. The room has one big azure blue throne at one end. The whole floor is black, besides an azure blue carpet leading from the entrance towards the throne.

The walls are black as well, some flags decorate the wall. To end it, a big chandelier hangs in the middle of the room.

“Wow, it’s amazing!” Blue stares with an open mouth.

“Thanks.” April smiles. “There’s an entrance hidden under the throne, so we can have a secret room. Also behind the throne room is the courtyard.”

“Secret room? For what?” Blue asks.

April scratches the back of her head. “Secret stuff? Like a research lab? Or a weapon room? I don’t know, just things you don’t want others to know.”

“I see.” Blue laughs.

“Let’s go, see if the real world still exists.” April smiles.

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The trip took around seven days before they finally arrived. Most of the time they spent building the castle.

Moustache man’s guards arrive and lead April and Blue off the ship.

[Finally, I can’t live to survive another ship.] April sighs.

‘Seasick?’ Blue asks.

[I just don’t like standing on something that keeps moving. I’ll keep both my feet on the ground.] April smiles.

‘Why didn’t we hear anything from Julie and the others?’ Blue wonders.

[I think we’re too far, we need stronger souls to be able to reach them.] April says.

“Get in the cage.” A guard points at a cage in the back of a carriage.

[More traveling… I just want to walk.] April sighs as she hops onto the carriage.

Blue shakes her head as she follows.

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An hour passes. The carriage comes to a stop.

[Is this it? Can we get off?] April smiles.

Guards come and open the cages. “Follow.” One of them says as he points his sword at April’s back.

[They sure are impatient.] April rolls her eyes.

‘Weren’t you impatient before?’ Blue tilts her head.

[That… That doesn’t count!] April shakes her head.

A big mansion stands in front of them. It’s quite lively, with people walking around everywhere. They can’t see a lot of it before they are thrown inside. The guards lead them to a staircase, which goes down.

It goes to a long hall with prison cells on both side. You could look through the bars, giving none of the prison cells any privacy.

One of the guards open one of the cells, another one throws them in. Just like that they’re left alone.

[Well at least the side walls are actual walls.] April sighs.

‘So what now?’ Blue walks around her cell, looking around for things to do. The cell is empty, not even a bed. On the walls are some chains, luckily they aren’t chained to them.

[We wait.] April shrugs.

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The moustache man stands behind the bars with a guard. “Sorry for not visiting sooner.” He smiles.

The guard opens the door to let the moustache man in and closes it right after.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

April tenses up, cautiously watching every movement of moustache man.

Moustache man just smiles and stands in front of April. “Don’t worry.” He starts touching her head, stroking her hair. “I don’t have much time, but I’ll read the both of you a bedtime story later.” He stops stroking her hair, caressing her face instead. April looks disgusted.

Moustache man shakes his head. “You shouldn’t use expressions like that, they’ll ruin your pretty face.” He moves his hands behind his back and leaves the room.

[What a creep.] April stares pissed at moustache man.

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Twelve years pass, every day the same. Moustache man would visit them three times a day.

Blue stares at the bars with empty eyes. She grew out of her clothes a long time ago, they didn’t replace it. A scraping sound comes from next to her, she turns around to see where it comes from.

‘Ah, April is scraping the ground with something, I wonder where she got it from.’ Blue thinks.

Moustache man appears in front of the bars. He doesn’t have a guard with him, he stopped bringing them after the first time. He opens the door but doesn’t close it. Probably making it easier for himself to get out.

April gives off a deadly vibe while looking at moustache man. Moustache man just grins and starts removing his pants. April stands up and starts running towards moustache man catching him off guard.

Moustache man’s eyes widen in surprise as he stares at April. April pushes her hand against his neck, and he falls shortly after.

‘What did you do?’ They haven’t talked in real ever since they got locked up.

April twists her hand a bit more before pulling it back. She turns around with a grin. In her hand she holds a bloody icicle, and moustache man has a big hole in his throat. [I got rid of this trash.] Her eyes are a glowing yellow colour.

‘What now?’ Blue stares in confusion.

[Here, you use his robe, I’ll get his shirt.] April removes the clothing from moustache man, putting on his shirt. She hands the robe to Blue. Blue hesitates. The shirt looks like a short night gown on her and seems tight around her chest. The robe however reaches the ground, and isn’t tight anywhere. It’s clear April put Blue first.

April sees Blue stare at her. [Just take it, we’re gonna find something better soon.]

Blue sighs and puts the robe on. April smiles at her. [Great, now hold on a second.] She rips the chains of the wall and ties it around the neck of Moustache man. [Let’s go.] She leaves the cell, dragging the body of moustache man behind her. She still has the bloody icicle in her hand, people would think twice before attacking her.

Blue quietly follows April. They walk past all the guards, the guards just stand still with an open mouth. Some of them whisper to each other.

The entrance comes closer and closer. April opens the doors and drops moustache man. She stretches her arms. [Finally, freedom.]

Blue smiles, together they head out. The people in the street make way from them, acting just like the guards. ‘I guess it’s because April’s eyes are glowing…’ Blue thinks.

They arrive at an open space. It seems to be a gathering spot of some sort.

A man stops in front of them. “Halt! We won’t allow you demons to live any longer!”

April tilts her head. “We?”

A horde of people marches towards them, carrying pitchforks. “In the name of God, we will exterminate the demons!”

April steps in front of Blue, arms wide, to protect Blue.

‘What… What’s happening?’ Blue stands there confused.

The horde doesn’t wait for Blue. They start poking April with their pitchforks, staining her new shirt with blood. Everything blurs as April falls down. “APRIL!” Blue shouts. Something pushes the horde a few steps away.

Blue puts her hands on her head. Everything spins.

“We know that you went out.” A stern voice says.

Another voice comes in. “I thought the rules were clear.

A younger voice shouts. “We didn’t do anything!”

“I told you it was a bad idea.” A boyish voice says.

Something pulls Blue’s hand.

“Think you can run?” The stern voice laughs.

A door closes loudly.

“We need to leave.” The younger voice says.

“And then what?” The boyish voice says.

“We’ll figure it out later.”

“Really? Later?”

“We don’t have time for this, Thomas.”

“It’s your mistake in the first place.” Thomas sighs.

“Sam, are you alright?” The younger voice asks.

Blue tries concentrating on the voice and sees Lilianne.

“I thought you said we don’t have time for this.” Thomas laughs.

Lilianne shakes her head and opens the window. “Let’s go.” She pulls Blue towards the window and climbs out. Even Thomas follows.

And thus Blue, Lilianne, Thomas and Nick run out.

“Just keep running okay.” Lilianne says to Nick and Blue.

A full moon stands proud in the sky. ‘No…. Not this... ‘ Blue wants to shout to stop them, but nothing comes out.

“Look at that, Sam is already overcome by fear. How useless.” Thomas snarls.

Lilianne ignores Thomas and leads them further.

“I… I… Can’t run… Anymore…” Nick says after a while.

Lilianne sighs. “Let’s slow down then.”

“Oh sure, let’s start walking.” Thomas sighs.

They walk at a fast pace. Lilianne leads them forward, rushing towards who knows where.

“Come on, we can’t stay here. We started this and we have to go through with it!” Lilianne grinds her teeth.

Thomas abruptly stops walking, looking mildly annoyed. “Lilianne, are you listening to yourself? You decided this, running away in the middle of the night.”

Seeing Thomas halt, the others come to a stop as well.

Lilianne goes to face the boy, she stands in front of him. “Thomas, you either come with us or stay here.”

Thomas doesn’t back down and looks Lilianne in her eyes.

He starts talking a bit louder than usual. ‘He’s getting aggressive..’ Blue thinks.

“Look at them!” He points at Nick and Blue. “Which part of you decided it would be smart to bring them with us?”

Following Thomas’s finger with her eyes, Lilianne looks at Nick and Blue. She sighs before staring back at Thomas. Clearing her voice she calmly starts talking.

“There’s no way we’re leaving them behind. We’re siblings, and even though they’re obviously different it just means we need to protect them. They didn’t choose to be different and we could’ve been just like them.”

Suddenly loud footsteps approach, breaking the silence between them.

The corners of Thomas’s mouth are raised slightly, giving him a weird smiling look. “I guess we have visitors. It’s your choice now, are you going to take them with you or not?”

Not waiting for an answer Thomas runs away into another dark alley.

Looking at Thomas running away and then at Nick and Blue, Lilianne bites her lip and grabs their hands to run after Thomas.

"We know you're here, don't try to hide." A man's voice echoes across the alley like a creepy monster.

Thomas slows his steps to get next to Lilianne. “He said “we”. There’s only one pair of footsteps following behind us. If I were you, I'd be worried about the whereabouts of the other part of the “we”.”

Lilianne coldly responds. “I know and you aren’t helping.”

Thomas reacts to that with a smirk. “I gave you enough advice already, you just aren’t taking it”

The footsteps come closer and closer. ‘No… Don’t come closer… I don’t want to see this again… Please… Stay away…’ Blue panics.

The voices blur. Blue doesn’t focus on them at all, lost in thought. Something grabs her arm. ‘There they are… I want to go… Why can’t I move… Let me out!’ Blue shouts in her head.

Something cold touches her neck, it stings her and brings her out of her thoughts. She stares at Lilianne full of fear. ‘Don’t come closer… Don’t do it!’ It doesn’t help at all.

Lilianne growls and runs towards Blue. [Take my soul.] Lilianne’s voice appears in Blue’s head.

Blue feels herself fly in the air and lands head first against the wall. She tries to look up and sees Lilianne smile at her. Lilianne softly starts talking. “Seal… Memories…” The adults ignore it and laugh. Soon screams fill the air and everything turns black.