When Darkness Falls
Animals Among Men. Volume I
CHAPTER ONE: AN UNFORTUNATE BEGINNING
The wind blew through the tall oaks outside a white two story house on the edge of a wood. A blonde slender girl sat in the attic window of that house, the moon reflecting in her shining ocean eyes. Her eyes contained secrets, her eyes contained sorrow and darkness. An owl hooted from a nearby tree and the girl looked up into the midnight sky. She was beautiful in the moonlight, her hair dangling over the edge of the window.
All the lights in the house were dark, and the night was still. Not a movement, not a sound. Just a peaceful silence, and that was it. The girl looked down at the lush green grass below and at the wild woods beyond. How she longed to venture out into that grassy woodland.
But, she couldn’t, her family was here. She couldn’t leave all she knew and loved. Not that anything, or anyone loved her back. She was a lonely girl, in a world where people looked down on her kind. She had a secret that made her different from others. A secret that made others look at her with fear and disgust. She was an animal among men.
The cheerful songs of blue birds filled the stillness. The girl swung her scrawny legs inside the house. It was time for her to sleep, although there was but little time before she would have to wake.
Inside her room the girl laid down on the soft quilt bedspread that she had worked hard to make. Its color was a dingy brown, and it was thin, barely enough to keep out the cold snowy winter night breezes. She looked at the bleak wall, not decorated, just plastered with white paint. The floor was a wooden one, and nothing was furnished in the room but a tall scratched wooden bookcase in one corner, a dingy desk, and the bed. That was all, nothing more.
* * * * * *
The light of early dawn shone through the curtain-less window and onto the girls tear-stained face. She had been crying for many hours. She lay back with her head on the hard pillow she had been given for her birthday. She stared at the dry cracked ceiling, and listened to the silence.
Presently sounds of movement downstairs alerted the girl it would be just a few moments until her mother would barge into the prison cell of a room and start telling her the never ending list of chores she must do before her online class with her tutor. Her siblings went to school, but her parents said they were ashamed by her that they did not want her existence known to the world.
She had no friends, nor lover, in all the world. The only comfort she had in life was her love of music, and dance. The girl heard dulls thuds of feet coming of the stairway to the attic. The torn white door was thrown open and a thin, tall, woman stood there in an elegant blue silk gown.
“Get up Riley! This house is a mess! You will have extra chores to do before you get anything to eat or drink!” The mother said harshly.
Riley nodded, used to her mother's harsh stern voice. The tone she always used when talking to her middle child. Her mother left to go awake fix breakfast for her other children. She always cooked pancakes for Grey, Averlyne and Everlyne, but as for Riley. Gruel was served every morning to her. That in itself could be a punishment. But that was just an everyday thing for Riley, not that she hardly ever did anything wrong. Although there were on some occasions where she acted up. Riley dressed in her everyday outfit, made up of faded jeans and a purple t-shirt that was too small for her. She went to her bathroom and saw an extremely long list of chores her mother had written out for her. She looked at it and metally read.
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Scrub floors and wax them
Clean your siblings bedrooms and bathrooms
Clean your own bedroom and bathroom
Clean the office
Clean the kitchen, and floor
Clean out the garage
Mop all rooms
Dust the library
Tutor at 7:15 am.
Get out of the house till 6:pm
Fix dinner for family, we have guests so make Hungarian Goulash.
Have dinner ready by 7pm.
Re-clean your siblings rooms
Do your siblings homework
And do your own.
Riley frowned, and looked up at the old fashioned wrist watch. It read 5:30 AM. She was going to have to clean faster than normal if she was to get the first half of the list down before her tutor. She sighed and walked down the creaking stairs to the floor landing. Grabbing a worn out broom and a bucket, in which the handle had rusted off she dragged it to the library. When she reached it she paused a moment to stare at the variety of old and new books lining the enormous bookshelves. Each one held around two hundred books, and each one Riley had read millions of times. She went up to one of the bookshelves and pulled out a thin pamflet that her best friend had given to her long ago.
A boy, she had met him when she was at the park with her mom. This was a time before they found out her secret. The boy had midnight black hair and shining eyes. Riley had been seven at the time and the boy was around the same age, or so she vaguely remembered. They had become the best of friends, till, they weren’t. Something had changed between them, something that made their friendship fade. Riley opened the sheet of paper and read aloud.
“And so we loved with a love that was more than love,” she said in a melancholy voice.
A single tear of pain and hurt rolled down her pale cheek. Her blue eyes closed and she was lost in sweet happy memories of long ago. Her thoughts were interrupted by a metallic thud and the sound of swishing water. Riley swirled around, still clutching the poem firmly in her hand. Averlyne and Everlyne stood there, beside them on the floor was a puddle of soapy water, and the bucket tipped on its side.
Riley raced over and frantically tried to mop it up with one hand. When she had finished she looked up at her sisters. But Everlyne was not there, she felt her left hand being forced open and his note taken from her hands. Everlyne quickly opened it. Riley stood up and tried to reach for the beloved paper, but it was no use. Everlyne was to tall, and simply held it out of her grasp. Everlyne read it aloud in her nasal voice and grinned wickedly after she was through.
“Dwelling on old memories while you’re supposed to be working?” she sneered.
“We will make you pay!” Averlyne added in.
“He left you for a good reason! Like anyone could love you freak!” they said in unison.
Everlyne threw the note onto into the bucket, which still had some water left in it, and laughed.
“Burn your hopes Riley, no one will ever love you,” she jeered.
Riley stuck her hand and into the water and pulled out the damp note, the twins stalked off, probably to eat breakfast. Riley started to silently cry, they were right. Who would love her? Her monster self? No one, that was who. She dried her eyes and went to the nearest window and opened it, letting the bitter cold wind dry her tears. She lay the note on a table next to the window. It would dry and be as good as new. She went back and continued her chores.