˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ The Name of the Abyss. (chapter 1)

Atop the hills of western Washington, a small wooden cabin stands alone.  The wind-chimes gently blow and sing a tune of praise.  On the patio sits a girl.  Her long gingerbread-colored hair blew softly in the wind, while her olive eyes darted around the surrounding land.  She was a wiry thing and had moles dotted around her arms, legs, and face.  She put her hand on her chin, and softly bit her lip as if in thought.  “What an odd day…”  The girl’s cat came along behind her and gently meowed.  She pet the cat’s soft grey fur as she look up into the vast purple sky.  The clouds formed all sorts of odd shapes in the sky which made the girl chuckle a bit.  The door behind her opened, which startled her and her cat.  A tall woman stepped out the door and stared into the girl’s eyes.  “Come in” the women said in a gruff voice.  The girl got up and walked inside.  “What were you doing out there?” The woman said, her brow furrowing.  “U-uhm, just looking at the clouds.” She replied.  The two continued to walk through the busy house.  The house was full of children ranging in ages from two through sixteen.  One of the younger children came up behind the woman and hugged her.  The woman did not like this and threw the kid off her backside.  “Do that again, and you’ll be out of here.”  The young kid ran away in tears.  It felt like they had been walking forever but soon they arrived at a small room with a large table.  The room looked inadequate in size for the large table inside.  The woman rung the bell and all the children ran to the table.  The table shook with all of the frantic feet running around.  Around the table was a wooden bench which could sit almost everyone on it.  The girl sat near the end of the room so she could leave swiftly after the meal.  Children came from left and right for dinner.  Once everyone was seated, the woman sat down at the end of the table.  “Alright everyone!” She called loudly.  “Before we eat, let’s say our prayers.”  All the children responded in resounding agreement. After prayers they all began eating.  Dinner was a small portion of salad, a plate of mashed potatoes, another plate of meat, and a small glass of milk.  People were chatting with their friends, or quietly eating.  The girl looked around and noticed something peculiar.  Her friend wasn’t there.  She would always come for dinner, in fact she looked forwarded to it.  She ate the meal while thinking about this.  Loud cries came from the other side of the table as a young kid refused to eat the food served to him.  “No! No!  I won’t!” The boy was no older than five and seemed to have recently arrived based on his uniform.  Everyone at the building wore almost the same thing.  For the girls, a white dress with short fluttering sleeves.  The dress was worn with an apron tied around the waist, white socks, and black flats.  You were allowed hair accessories but not a lot of girls did so.  The boys however wore a white button down, blue shorts, white socks, and brown boots.  The boy crying seemed to be in a rush as his shirt was wrinkled and his shorts were stained with mud; or at least she thought it was mud.  The women at the end of the table stood up and walked towards the boy.  She leaned down and whispered in his ear.  The tears stopped flowing as he went back to eating.  The children didn’t seem so surprised as this is what she told the misbehaving children.

“If you don’t stop this, I will call up the devil who lives in the basement and tell him to kill you like he killed your parents.”

All of them knew it because they were all told it at least once.  The women sat back down as a hand raised.  “Excuse me Madam Oda!” The voice came from a young girl with short hair the color of cedar wood, and glasses balanced on the tip of her long nose-bridge.  “Yes Jen?” Madam shook her head quietly.  “Well, I’m done eating, may I leave?” Madam gently dapped her mouth with a towelette.  “Yes, you may.” Jen turned around and walked off to the kitchen.  The girl raised her hand next.  “May I leave as well?”  Madam Oda seemed annoyed.  “Yes…just clean your dishes” The girl started to turn back but then Madam Oda sharply whispered “You didn’t do it last time.” The girl left and went up the stairs.  The stairs creaked as she went up them.   The banister had paint chipped off from usage; it had probably been here since the house was built.  When was this house built anyway… she though to herself.  At the top of the stairs was a long hallway that seemed to go on forever.  The floorboards creaked with every movement she made.  “CrrrrEEEEAAAkkkk.” They cried.  She soon arrived to her sleeping chamber.  Opening the door, she sat her roommates there.  There was the studious girl, Helen; The younger sister, Ginger, The criminal, Mary; and the eldest, Ophelia.  The beds were all lined up in rows and the beds were made.  Ginger was jumping up and down on her bed, her golden locks flowing with her and the red bows tied in her hair flowed along.  Helen, her sister, was quite similar to her with her blonde curly hair tied up in a blue bow.  “Please Ginger, Stop this!” Helen pleaded.  Ginger stuck out her tongue.  “No!  I’m not going to bed!” Mary was on her bed, staring at her hand.  Mary was a part of a mafia clan before she came here.  She didn’t talk much about her past but they knew it was rough.  She had scars all over her arms, and a cut across her freckled face.  She wasn’t pretty by any means but she wasn’t ugly as well.  She just always scowled and seemed to have more injuries than before.  The girl tried to talk but Mary stared back at her with her slanted eyes glaring.  Ophelia was trying to read a story but seemed to be having trouble.  She was the oldest of the bunch but she didn’t get education when she was younger so she couldn’t read quite well.  “Daisy, could you tell me what this word is?” Ophelia said.  Daisy came over to her and glanced at the words on the paper.  “That word is wistful, it means yearning for something” Ophelia thanked her and continued on her book.  Daisy flopped onto her bed and closed her eyes before sitting up.  “Do you guys know where Ana went?” Ophelia replied plainly “Nope.”  Ginger sat on Helen’s lap, reading her notes for science class.  “Nah.  She didn’t even come to Math class” Helen shook her head. “Nope!” But Mary responded with a shocking reply.  “Yes, she was getting dragged down to the basement by some thin lady.” Daisy was stunned.  Nobody got taken down to the basement unless they did something really bad.  “Do you know…what she did?” Mary chuckled loudly and then said in a very serious tone.  “She tried to poison the Headmaster’s tea.  I don’t blame her, they suck.” Daisy eyes widened as she said this.  Could she really have done this?  As if reading her mind Mary coldly answered.  “Yes, she has been planning this for awhile.  She told me this when you were out picking weeds.” Daisy couldn’t stand and fell onto her bed.  Mary brushed back her short haired walked towards Daisy.  “Hey.” Daisy failed to meet her eyes.  “Listen here, you have two choices. Either stay like this and kiss up to those lousy child-slaughters or do you want to get them back?”  Daisy gazed up and her, but then back down.  “If kissing up to them means I survive, then I rather do that than die trying” Mary shrugged and walked off towards the window.  Daisy gazed up at the ceiling while falling onto the bed.  Could this really be happening? She thought. Walking over to the wooden dress, she pulled out a clean linen nightgown and slipped it on.  She tied her hair up into a pony tail with a spare blue ribbon she found.  Walking back over, she got into her bed and covered herself with the tattered quilt.  Not everybody went to sleep at the same time so it was common to have one person guarding everyone else.  Daisy was not that person.   She had work to do tomorrow!  She couldn’t stay awake loosing sleep over a silly ghost story!  Rolling to her side her closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.