Chapter 15: The village that never sleeps - Part 1

Arthur was in front of the window and used the iron sword to break the remaining shards of glass that were left in the window, thus leaving it without shrapnel to tear them when they passed.

Then he moved his body halfway through the window and with his hand without the sword he pulled back the curtain so he could see inside the house.

Inside there was a place that seemed to serve as a fire and stove, since there was a cauldron on top, in addition to some long tables and apparently full buckets, the place he saw was apparently a kitchen.

Chris was attentive outside seeing if the sound had not caught someone's attention, but the windows remained closed and covered by the curtains, which made him sigh and then question.

"What did you find?"

"Nothing much, come on."

Arthur still with his body passing through the window propelled himself with both hands, so his legs were lifted and he managed to roll into the house, but he hit his heel on the wooden part, making it shake as he grunted in pain.

Chris was startled by the blow, but soon he put his head inside the house and spoke.

"Shit..."

Arthur was still on the floor feeling his heel hurt, but soon he got up even with pain while Christopher tried to cross with one leg after the other, while compressing his body feeling difficulty for being bigger than the window.

"You did great, dumbass."

Seeing the blonde's difficulty, Arthur spoke and was answered by a grunt from Christopher, who after some effort managed to pass.

The blonde left with a slightly irritated expression while Arthur responded by frowning, but soon the two saw the interior of the whole house.

The place they were led to the door to the backyard, and there were two corridors to a place that seemed to be the living room and another with a small closed door.

They both watched the corners and then Chris spoke.

"We'd better keep our mouths low around here and walk quietly, since everything's locked, there must still be someone here..."

"We already broke the window and it's not like we know how to peek, let's just be quiet."

Arthur spoke in a short and thick way while Chris lowered his eyebrows, still looking irritated, but soon saw the swordsman heading towards the small door, forcing it to open.

It was easy because it was open and there he could see a small room with shelves in every corner, there were full bags and other wrapped parts, but nothing smelled, it seemed to be just a supply of groceries.

Chris approached the buckets of water and noticed that the water was still a little clean, just a light layer of dust that could be seen above it.

The blonde continued and went to the fire, the wood was already cold, in addition to the covered cauldron on top of it.

He found it strange and soon after took his hand to the lid, feeling that the pan was cold, looking like it had not been used that day.

Lifting the lid of the cauldron he faced its interior, but immediately a strong smell rose and made him close his eyes in disgust, immediately releasing the lid and making a metal noise.

Arthur had his attention called and withdrew from the pantry, looking at Christopher.

"What the fuck was that? And the part about not making any noise?"

Christopher was covering his ear still feeling the scent in his mind, but with a disgusted expression he looked at the swordsman and said.

"Damn... this thing stinks... it looks like food from days ago, it even looks like there are worms in there, don't open that shit..."

Looking at the cauldron, Arthur was surprised and continued.

"This is a storeroom and there's nothing much, just some food that's still good, they salted the meat so they don't seem to have just abandoned it here..."

"But they don't seem to have touched anything here, so how did they get away and why?"

Chris recovered after a few moments and then got up with a disgusted expression on his face, he stared at the cauldron and then turned to the hallway that led to the room.

"There's only one way to find out, but just in case, keep your wooden sword in hand..."

Arthur indicated with his face the wooden sword that Chris was wielding, soon after he confirmed with his head, accepting the request.

The two walked again and went towards the room, Arthur remained in front with the iron sword sheathed while he remained attentive, Chris followed him trying to find something in the surroundings, until they came across the room.

In the environment there was a sofa and some chairs, it looked like a common room and there was no different sign, besides all the closed curtains and another corridor, but this time there were some closed doors.

By the thickness of the wall they passed, they realized that it was something bigger, noting that it could be the rooms and then Chris was heading towards them, seeing the doors.

Arthur remained watching the place, looking at the ceiling that in the corners seemed to form some cobwebs while the floor was slightly dusty, with a dragging movement of his boot, he managed to remove a little dirt, again indicating that the environment had not been clean for a few days.

Already being close to the door, Chris was waving, calling the attention of the swordsman who went to him and spoke.

"What did you find?"

He looked at Chris who indicated some doors, but specifically for one that was ajar, and then he opened the door completely, revealing the two of them a simple and small room.

There was a desk a little lower than usual, covered by a small pink cloth while the curtains were the same color, but like all the windows in the house, it was closed.

But something took the view of all of them, a small bed that seemed to be for only one person was in place, covered with written letters and other crumpled balls of paper thrown in the corners of the room.

Like the rest of the house, everything was slightly dusty, showing signs that no one had entered there for a long time.

Chris entered the room and when he stepped on it, he heard a sound of wood breaking that made him withdraw his foot in fright.

Stepping back, Chris and Arthur saw that the floor of the entrance was completely dark and sunken, in addition to broken pieces of wood that were the same color.

Arthur felt the resemblance and spoke.

"That wood..."

The swordsman would crouch and pick up a piece of what was loose, realizing that the wood was fragile as coal, breaking with just a slight pressure from Arthur, causing the wood to shatter into black pieces.

"This is… similar to the one I saw on the fence… but… why is there so much here?"

He questioned and Chris stared doubtfully.

"And why in this room?"

Chris questioned and Arthur got up, making way for the blonde who went to the bed, noticing that the letters were mostly crumpled, in addition to having scratches on all of them, making it almost impossible to understand anything.

Arthur walked to the desk, seeing something drawn on a paper that caught his attention, he stared at the sheet while feeling a slight chill on the back of his neck.

He would crouch and go to the balls of paper in an attempt to uncrumple them, opening one, he found a letter that was not completely crossed out, there was only a message that he read aloud.

"I don't like this place, I can't sleep, I don't want to sleep. Mom beats us and won't let us sleep, everyone in the village is acting strange and nobody plays with me anymore. It's not fun anymore, I hate this place, I want daddy."

Arthur turned around when he heard the blonde's voice, who left the letter on the bed along with the others, while he uncrumpled another little letter, showing only other letters crossed out.

The contents became shorter and shorter and most of them were crossed out, until they were all flattened out, with no legible letters, just scratches and more scratches.

Chris sighed and looked at the floor in an attempt to find some more, until he noticed the bedspread slightly disturbed which made him stare strangely, taking his hand to the quilt pulling it away to see if there was something under the bed.

Removing the cloth that covered it, Chris could see that there was something under the bed and then extended his hand trying to grab what was there.

Seeing the blonde move under the bed, Arthur approached and questioned.

"What are you doing?"

"There is something here..."

Chris spoke with difficulty, getting even closer to the inside of the bed while trying to reach something with his arm, but then his eyes widened feeling something in his hand.

Arthur looked at it doubtfully and approached, as he saw Chris move his hand seeming to drag something from under the bed.

From there, came out a paper and a small teddy bear that was dirty with something brownish.

Arthur bent down and held his hand so that Chris could get up, the blonde accepted the help and was placed on his feet while he faced the letter, which, unlike the others, did not seem to be crumpled or much less scratched, but its letters were loose and poorly placed, in addition to of having some marks of something that had dripped on the sheet.

Chris stared at the letter and saw the stuffed animal.

"What's written?"

Arthur questioned and soon Chris's vision was focused on the letter, he passed his eyes showing some confusion, but with difficulty he read it.

"The bug came, he's been here for several nights and now he's come for me, Anna and Mom. Daddy never arrives..."

Chris squinted as he continued to read the letters that became more and more jumbled, with parts missing while the underside of the letter appeared to be even more drip-marked.

"Mom said Dad was-... But he never- . I'm scared, daddy. I heard him come in-. -she screamed and now he's coming-"

Arthur frowned and the letter ended, Chris dropped the letter in the middle of the pile of papers and spoke.

"We arrived very late… I feel for her, in the dark she must not have noticed where the letter was and tried to hide under the bed."

"Now it makes sense that they're all disappearing... but it still doesn't explain where he took them or how he got them out of here if everything was locked inside..."

Chris squinted his eyes, but then he felt a cold wind on his face that bothered him.

"That cold wind... the night must have come..."

Arthur realized that the environment had cooled down and looked at the window that remained closed, generating a feeling of strangeness that he soon questioned.

"Cold wind?"

Soon after Christopher looked at the window and realized that it remained closed, but the weather had cooled down.

Chris was facing Arthur and looking at the door, but something they hadn't noticed before appeared in front of both of them who received the answer immediately.

Arthur noticed Christopher standing still, seeming to look at nothing and then he turned around, noticing in front of him, the moonlight entering the room and touching the black floor that was there.

The two noticed that right above them, next to the door, there was a hole that looked melted with something brownish that was at its ends, which showed the starry sky, revealing that the night had arrived.