Flower That Could Not Bloom (Part 5)

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In the blissful moonlight Lucia slept wearily, not wanting to move a muscle. Her deep slumber was disturbed by a sudden shrill screeching noise that filled the room.

She covered her ears with the pillow but it still continued. Hoping it's just a dream she didn't responded but then the noise of a light tapping on the glass came...

Getting louder and louder by each passing second.

Her eyes shot open in fear. She tried to keep her breathing steady and remained clear of her surroundings. Rubbing her dry eyes, she narrowed her eyes at the windows.

With nothing but moonlight entering through the translucent window, she adjusted her gaze in the dark. Slowly sitting up, trying her best not to make any loud noise, she got off the creaking bed.

The tapping no longer producing the maddening sound, she shifted the curtains slowly. Her heart beat becoming rapid, she finally looked outside!

But no one was there...

It was past midnight now.

The full moon gleamed in the night sky, frequently getting covered by passing clouds. Trouble getting any sleep, she gave up and tried sneaking out again, this time aiming for the roof.

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Night Of Dismay

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She quietly went to the third and then the fourth floor. Passing through the sleepy and tired guards, she managed to reach the rooftop but it was cold, freezingly cold. She slowly took some steps forward towards the palisade.

Without touching the edge, she sighed loudly and calmed herself.

"If only I had some tea with me right now." she whispered softly into thin air.

As quiet as it could get, she hummed a lullaby in a low voice not to alarm anyone. A light breeze brushed away her bangs slightly as she slowly started to feel comfortable.

"How strange." came a confusing voice from behind her.

She froze from the sudden heavy presence of someone behind her, who didn't even gave a single sound of footstep. She turned around as fast as possible to see and to her horror it was a strange shadow lurking in the darkness behind the door as it slowly closed it.

"Wh-who are you?" she asked shivering from both cold and fear.

"How strange... you came." its eyes glowed fierce red but didn't show any other signs of movement.

There was a long pause between them. Wind blowing strongly around them, the atmosphere becoming gloomy and dreadful. Not knowing what to do, Lucia felt helpless and tried to move but whenever she moved, the shadow tilted its head and took a step closer.

Having no choice, she blurted out again, "What do you want?" not taking her eyes off from the black shadow.

It straightened its face covered in shadows and asked in the same strange voice, "Why do you think people get scared?"

"Why do people fear and hate it?" it kept asking.

Lucia never regretted her decisions so badly until now, the first thing she said was,

"I don't know... Why do they?" she said trying to avoid answering any further.

"Heh... Hehehe," it laughed in a hushed tone while maintaining the eye contact with her.

"I'll give you some time to come up with an answer...I. Will. Not. Tolerate. Excuses.”

It moved back into the deep darkness and said, “Not that you will survive even if you did." it's way of talking became so monotonous that she thought it wasn't a real person anymore.

The next moment she blinked, it was out of her sight. Her knees gave in and she fell on the ground, her body still trembling.

"Not sure what happened but it just talked like the princes? Excuses? Who is going to give excuses about this?" but the shadow did not match with any of their body size or shape.

Regaining her senses and strength, she dashed down the stairs and without making any other movement, she hurriedly closed her room's door. Panting heavily, she looked around the room just in case.

Blood drained from her face and she couldn't believe it;

There it was... One single red rose beside her pillow, leaving her worried about the situation she was now in.

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In the same time when Lucia ran downstairs after the shadow disappeared, it came to another maid's room. She was sleeping quite peacefully. However, due to the sudden shift of room's temperature to deadly cold, her eyes lazily opened in confusion.

She looked at her fingertips and trembled with fear as she saw them turning purple and feeling numb all over.

Abruptly waking up from her bed she came face to face with a pair of bloody eyes looking fondly at her.

"Are you scared?" said the shadow in front of her.

She threw the sheets at it but the shadow dodged it effortlessly. She tried to scream but no voice came out of her throat as the cold air felt like piercings in her lungs when she inhaled, leaving her unable to speak.

The figure reached out it's hand like projections and grabbed her neck, choking the life out of her.

Gathering up her all strength, she jerked off its hand. Gasping for air she stood up and went straight towards the door with limping legs. While opening it in haste, she felt a sharp, tingling sensation under her armpits...

Blood dripping slowly on the floor made her realize that what was supposed to be its arms were actually long sword like extensions which pierced through both her underarms.

Letting out an agonizing breath she held the knob tightly, gulping down the pain inside, she opened the door and managed to run as fast as she could.

"Why are you afraid of dying?" The shadow slowly went after her, asking same things over and over.

The girl upon breathing normal air ran in the hallways and muffled screams were escaping her trembling blue lips. Upon reaching the main hall, she searched for the guards. But to her surprise, the shadow was already close behind her. It strangled her even more forcefully and hovered her body over the hall stairs.

The big chandelier of candles hung above them, the only source of light. “Too bright...” it clicked its tongue in annoyance.

Slowly climbing the staircase itself, the dark figure spun her body around to face her from the shadows and gave her a creepy smile.

Tightening the strings around her neck, it snickered at her futile struggle. she tried to loosen them up but no avail.

The pain made her body go numb and as soon as she heard these words;

"Don't worry, I'll make it easy for you now..."

She felt a sudden thrust in her stomach, something forcefully cutting through her stomach from front.

Massive amount of blood gushed out from her mouth and she choked on it.

The shadow loosened its grip and let her dangling body fall.

The poor girl fell down from the stairs with blood splattering all over it.

"What is going on!?" hearing someone fall, one of the guards at the entrance came running towards her direction.

Coughing up blood she could barely see or speak, "He-lp.... M-me." digging her nails on the ground she begged for help.

The shadow merged itself with darkness and no traces of it were left.

“What the...! Alert the other guards!” one of them yelled seeing the maid laying still on the floor.

“Hey! What happened? Who did this this to you...?”

Her breath became shallow, her senses no longer responding. Before any other guard could come, her eyes became all blurry with bloody tears streaming down her face, the light and voices becoming so distant, she laid still on the ground, losing the battle for her life.

Upon such chaos and fuss, the maids and housekeepers came out one after another. Unable to keep them calm they called for emergency and closed the area from getting anyone close.

"Alya!" screamed a horrified girl from afar and rushed towards her friend's lifeless body. Pushing and fighting the guards she reached at the pool of blood, the scene was shocking enough for her to lose balance, she fell helplessly beside the body, holding her hand she screamed her lungs out.

The moon getting completely covered by clouds, an unsettling wind blew all over the place. The air became even more bitter but the wails remained within the castle’s walls.