Planting Orchids

Clementine awakens to the sky rumbling. It growls and threatens her of a coming storm. Her cheek lay flat on the cold, hard ground. She battles to see in the dark room through the floating dust and dirt. Placing her hand flat on the earth, she gently lifts herself up, wincing at the newfound pain in her shoulder.

'Where am I? What happened?' she thinks to herself. She collects her surroundings and stands up. Pain shoots down her fractured arm through her fingers, making her scream out. Clementine pulls her limp limb close to her body, trying to dull the ache. A flash of lightening momentarily brightens the room through cracks in the ceiling doors. 'I'm in the bakery cellar.' she realizes. She makes her way over to the ladder and cautiously climbs up it. Rainwater trickles through openings in the wood, making the ladder slippery. Clementine loops her broken arm though the ladder, trying to balance herself. She shrieks as she leans her body weight against it before reaching up with her good hand. She violently shakes the large doors, struggling to stay on the thin ladder. With no luck, she sighs, exasperated from shoving the bulky doors. The rake Adelia pushed through the handles holds them firmly closed. Defeated, she moves down the ladder but misses a step and collapses once again. Clementine reaches ahead of herself and tries to break her fall but screams as she lands on her already cracked arm.

"Aaaah! Heeelp!" she cries out hopelessly, pealing herself from the ground. She looks up with her skinny, mud-covered face, wishing the doors to burst open so she can leave this place. She has no idea what time it is but it's dark and cold. Clementine begins to cry from the pain in her fractured limb and the situation in which she's found herself. "Help! Please! Is somebody there?!" she shouts. She begins to wonder if she shouldn't yell lest she draw attention to herself. She shivers at the thought of being sucked dry and grey like Mr. Hytop. Clementine moves to sit on the bucket she used earlier to grab the thick, empty flour sacks. If only she still had them, at least she could keep herself warm. Her dress and skin are wet and covered in mud and the cellar doors offer no protection from the night's crisp air. She wraps herself around her petite frame, cradling her broken arm with the other. 'What if nobody finds me?' She wonders as she sobs, leaving freckled streaks in the caked mud on her face. She rocks back and forth, trying to keep herself warm, as she sits in the murky room. Every sound that creaks above her gives her both hope and worry that someone, or rather something, is coming to get her. She thinks about Rayne, the only person who's ever loved her. Clementine's own parents abandoned her at birth at the sight of her fuzzy orange hair. Although Rayne's grandparents couldn't afford to officially adopt her from the orphanage, they always accepted her into their home open armed. Clementine remembers them and wishes she could be back there wrapped in one of Grandmama's blankets or helping to plant orchids in the garden. She weeps softly. "Please help me Rayne." She thinks aloud into the darkness.

"Clementine! Clementine, where are you?!" Rayne yells as splashes down the village's muddy streets. It's difficult to hear and see beyond the dense rain pounding in front of her. "Clementine!" It's been hours since she last saw her. Rayne had paced back and forth in her cabin anxiously awaiting her return before running back into town toward the bakery. The village is dark, the accelerating storm killed the street's torches practically instantly. With that being the town's only source of light, Rayne carries one small candle which she protects from the water with her hand. She runs up to the bakery's front door, pounding on it. The building looks barren and dark. "Clementine are you in there?!" She yells again as she slams on the door with a closed fist. Not hearing anything, she turns back toward the town. 'Where could she be?' Rayne fears that her friend may be dead. 'The last body was found at the butcher shop.' She considers as she hops off the porch and begins to run that way. The wind whips her candle, leaving only the cloud covered moonlight to guide her through her empty village.

Black, smirking eyes watch Rayne as she gallops through the streets in search of her friend. 'What is she doing now?' he thinks to himself. He couldn't resist seeing the blonde haired girl from the window one more time, but he didn't expect to see such odd behavior. He lingers in the shadows as the young woman dashes from one dark, empty building to another. Her curls down her back have straightened under the pressure of the rainwater. Her old dress and coat are muddied at the bottom, creating an ombre effect. From the look in her ice blue eyes and the tremble playing on her lips, he can see she is petrified. The young man frowns. He knows it's his fault, he's brought this upon her and her village. The young vampire never enjoyed bringing pain to humans, unlike most of his kind, especially not one as beautiful as she. Still, he couldn't go without drinking forever and every village must make its sacrifices.

Rayne leans over, resting her hands on her knees, panting from running around frantically. The heavy rain smacks her back and her boots stick to the thick muddy streets.

'Where could she be? I can't lose her too.' She cries to herself. 'Think Rayne, think.' She isn't going to give up and decides to check the bakery again, that being the last place she knows Clementine to have been. She straightens herself up and wipes the tears from her cheeks, feeling determined. Rayne begins to walk when she sees movement out of the corner of her eye. "Clementine?" she calls out, jogging over. She runs around to the back of the building where the shadow figure had caught her eye. "Clementine are you there?" Nobody. Her eyes have deceived her through the heavy rain, leaving her hopeless for a moment before she turns and trots back to the bakery.

'Clementine?' the shadow thinks to himself. Surely that couldn't be the name of that disgraceful human he'd killed the other night, but he was certain that was the reason for her dismay. His stomach turns at the memory of the vile acts he witnessed before slaying the fat butcher. 'No. There's no way she would associate with a creature like that.' The vampire assures himself. His wide, thin lips frown under cold black eyes. 'Or a creature like you.' His mind mocks. He's never been proud of what he is, unlike most vampires who view themselves as near-gods. He differs from his kind in many ways, though he'd never let it be known, lest he become an outcast. He often secretly wishes he was a simple species, such as a human. If he were so lucky, he would spend his short life surrounded by warm beings. He would soak the sun into his skin, which would be pinked from the hot blood flowing beneath it. He would maybe even find love...he closes his eyes and pushes the idea away, his mouth watering at the thought of warm blood. It doesn't matter what he wishes, he is doomed to spend seemingly never-ending days alone, cold, and in the dark.

The night creature peers up from his thoughts, glaring through his wet black hair and the blasting rain. The young girl is gone now. He can no longer see her, even from his view stooped up on the cabin rooftop.

'She's fast.' He thinks to himself, smirking at the thought of her. 'What is it with this little creature?' He hasn't smiled this much since he acquired the ability to fly as a young boy. He stands up and pushes his long sleek hair back before jumping into the sky. He is unbothered by the rain as he slowly begins the flight toward the mountain. Flying is one thing he enjoys about being a vampire. As he soars, he thinks about the girl standing in the middle of the road, defeated and sopping wet. She looked beautiful even then. The corners of his mouth twist up as he dazedly flies low over the village, engulfed in his thoughts. Briefly, he catches glimpse of her trying to pry open a pair of cellar doors below.

Rayne runs up to the lifeless bakery once again. Her dress and coat are full now with water and pull heavily on her shoulders.

"Clementine!" she calls out again, slamming the front door with her fists. This time, she jumps off the porch and stumbles around to the back of the cabin. "Clementine are you here?!" she screams. Faintly, she hears a small whimper.

"Rayne..." it squeaks out.

"Clementine?! Clem I hear you!" she calls through the growling rain, "Where are you?!" She swirls around desperately, her wet blonde hair clinging to her face. Rayne sees a set of cellar doors in the distance. She runs over and falls to her knees, yanking the rake free from the door's handles. "Clem are you down there?!" She calls as she pulls the wooden doors open, exposing the damp and dingy cellar room.

Rayne clambers down the thin, wet ladder and steps onto the ground. The open cellar doors have quickly created dense mud and puddles. She turns around and squints to see Clementine sitting on a bucket, leaning back against a set of shelves. Her eyes are closed and her face, smeared with mud, is sloped down, almost resting on her shoulder. Her frail arms hang limply at her sides; one of them is swollen and bruised purple. Rayne rushes forward.

"Oh my Gods! Oh my Gods Clementine!" she exclaims, grabbing her friends cold face in her hands. Clementine's eyes flutter open but only briefly. "Clementine wake up!" Rayne says as she pats Clementine's cheek, trying to wake her at no avail. Rayne grabs her friend's arm, pulling her up into her grasp. Even though Clementine is small, her unconscious body is far too heavy for Rayne to haul up the ladder. Still, Rayne has to try. She loops one arm tightly around Clementine's waist and grabs the ladder with the other. Stepping up, she begins to draw them upward. Rayne groans at the efforts of trying to lift her friend. Failing, she gently leans Clementine on the ladder and takes off her coat, releasing her body of some heaviness. The pounding rain causes her aged white dress to instantly cling tightly to her curvy body. Rayne grabs Clementine and attempts to ascend the ladder again. "Aagh!" she screams out. 'Still too heavy.' Rayne takes a deep breath, readying herself to try again. Just as she's about to pull up, a large shadow flashes above them. Something large splashes down into the mud puddles behind her. Rayne whips around, holding Clementine protectively. Standing before her is a tall, thin, dark haired man with deep black eyes.