Chapter 3:The 'Unholy' Agreement
My body lay on the cold,hard concrete.My thin blanket over me covering also my precious books in witch I had snuck into the tiny room.I had been in the small room for about 3 weeks and i was starving,cold and weak...but I could not show it.I had read each book several times.I had taken to studying the stories they told not simply reading and forgetting as if it were a newspaper article.It was about midnight,perhaps,and the tiny window in the center of the brick walls did not let me see that through the earth that was surrounding the room.I sat and thought to myself,"That window could crack at any moment...that must be my punishment...he wants me to die here...".Just then A knock on my door had startled me and interfered my train of thought.
"Come in...", I said weakly
A girl with curly brown hair opened the door and peeked in the room.Her face showed concern and her brown eyes showed sorrow.," Well... isn't it little Maria.What to the pleasant surprise?",I asked calmly as if nothing was wrong.She was the youngest of the girls in the school.Around 6 when the rest of us were about 14 and 15 at the time.Like the others,besides Ember and I,she was abandoned here at birth.I mothered her at times witch made her and I close,yet she highly wanted to convert me to the churches religion.As much as it annoyed me she was something I could take care of,and that's what I needed.I adored her with all of my skill! In fact she even called me mamma...
"...Mamma...why do you keep getting in trouble.",she walked in asking,the baggy sleeve of her night gown wiping tears away from her eyes.
"I'm sorry love,but I just have to stand up for myself." I answered as I held her in my arms rubbing her hair gently.
"...I-I was in the crowd,Mamma.I saw what you did to Father James...Why did you eat his neck?"
I remembered how everyone stared in shock as I hollered at him as if I was insane;and how they ran in terror as I sank my teeth into his shoulder as if...well,as if I were a vampire.
"Maria,love,listen.You know how I snap at times right?"
"Yes..." was all she could say.I have told about my blackouts before,but she never believed it.
"Well,you see,I snapped and...what I did was not my doing,you must understand."
"But It was you,Mamma!," She yelled as she jolted up.Glaring at me with her small beautiful eyes."It was you Mamma!It was you! I'm sick of your lies!"
"Please!Maria,you must not become like the other girls-"'silenced as she slapped me across the face with a force I never would of guessed she possessed."....Maria....w-wha-",silenced again.
"I'm no longer your little girl,you unholy demon!I came in here for a reason!Instead you lie!
At that she stormed out,slamming the door behind her.The slam shook the room and I thought she may have broken the window with the force.Thankfully not.
I had just lost someone I called my daughter.My child,my light.I held back tears and sobs as I sit agents the cold walls; burred in my knees.Just then another knock upon the door had me slowly look up."Come in...",I said slowly,as much as I wanted to plea for them to enter.As the door opened,in came a gleam of raven hair falling off the shoulders of a story book being.The love of my life;my best friend had come to see me.Her emerald eyes looking at me from across the room.My mind,still focused on Maria,was tiring to make a reality out of the french beauty coming to see me after what she had seen.She was always kind and caring to me,witch my be why I had fallen so deep for her.As she walked in I noticed a bag in her hand.
"Oh...um...h-hello Ember...",I said trying to hide my slight blush with my hair.
"Melody," She said giggling kindly,"you really did a number on Father James back there.I hope your not proud of it,now.",She walked over to me.
"oh..um... of course not!",I said as proudly as I could.
She knelled in front of me and garbed
my arm.She ran her fingers across the length;I sat trying not to shiver at the touch.
"...your ice cold-",she was interrupted by my growling
stomach.Giggling,she dug into the paper bag and pulled out a half of a sandwich and a little carton of old milk."Believe it or not that is what the girls were served today at lunch.I was not hungry,so I snuck it in for you!",she said with a gentle smile.
I couldn't take it.It was not right.I looked the other way in shame.She ripped of a piece of the sandwich and put it to my face."Come on you must eat you'll starve!"
"I am more thirsty then hungry..."
We talked and giggled there as if we were the only two in the world.
We bonded more then I ever thought we could.We had so much in common I thought we were long lost twins.Silly right?I learned of her past,her interests,her fears,and my personal favorite;what she wanted out of a lover.We shared dreams,as well.She wanted to be a stay at home mother and I wanted to travel Europe and raise a child.She loved Vampires as well; in fact she had read Interview with the Vampire and she found it interesting.What I found very depressing was that her parents got rid of her for simply being a few pounds overweight;witch to me was an explanation as to why she never ate.
When she left I was light as a feather.Maria was nowhere on my mind!I damned myself for it but its true.I was relaxed and pleased for the rest of my sentence.
By the time I was let out of my cage I noticed something.Half the girls were missing;including my beloved Maria.I saw Father James walk by with a smirk on his face and the sent of rotten flesh on him.I dashed over to him.
I grabbed his collar, "You old bastard,where are they! Wheres the girls!Where is Maria!?!"
His grim smirk got bigger,"Oh...there at piece,my dear.I gave them a rest from there failed attempt of a job.The question is...what are you going to do about it?",He asked as he began to laugh.I slowly let go of his collar and he walked past me with his mocking laughter.I tear rushed from my eyes and I ran toward the cellar.I jerked opened the door and,to my horror,saw 10 butchered young girls.The weakest of the bunch I noticed.The center of the hacked up pile was my little angel.My baby girl.
I felt my heart race and my mind spin once more.My eyes burned and my salty tears turned to blood.As my nails grew my body began to race after the mental,sexiest bastard.But, two pale ares pulled me back and hugged me close.She put her chin on my head and kissed my neck as she told me to clam down.At that moment I immediately came back to sanity.
"Lets get out of here.Right now;just you and me...."
"Ember...."
"We have to...its only a matter of time before we are in that pile..."
"...I'll get my books..."
I gathered my books and the old necklace I still had from my mothers mirror.I met Ember at the front door and as we planed I kicked there asses as she started up one of the boys four wheelers.I jumped in and she punched it!We were free at last!the night air,the stars were brighter.My mind was clear of all troubles.The sight of the deaths still upset me but...what could I do now but save myself and Ember.We headed to New Orleans fast as we could.Our new story together was about to begin.