Chapter IV:

All around me was carnage. Bodies littered the floor. How could this all have happened in the time I was chasing down that girl? I couldn’t see my parents anywhere. I could feel the heat from the flames against my face. I reached out for the handles. That wasn’t smart of me but I wasn’t thinking at the time. I didn’t think about it as I pulled the doors open. The violent heat threw me backwards. The flames swirled from the entry. I should’ve run away. I really should have.

I ran inside the manor. So much heat and flames surrounded me. Our butler laid at my feet, burning. I could see that he had been stabbed in the back many times. Someone had cut off his head. The poor man was trying to run when they got him. There wasn’t anything I could do for him. I had to jump over the body to keep going. That was all the same no matter where I went.

More bodies littered the floor. Everyone had been shot, stabbed, and beaten. How could this have happened? Who did this? The sight of blood made me want to vomit. Suddenly, I heard screaming from upstairs. I remembered my brother and sister.

Nathanial and my sister.

I turned and ran towards the stairs. It was too late for my mom and dad, but I could still save my siblings. I could hear my sister crying out. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could. Could I make it in time? My heart raced against my chest. The upstairs hadn’t been burning yet. I looked around at all the doors. I could hear screaming down the hall. I ran down, following the sound without a thought. I made it to my sister’s room. I called her name as I opened the door.

A body of black smoke held my little sister by the neck. She struggled in vain to escape its grasp. At first, I wasn’t sure what was going on in front of me. I rubbed my eyes. That smokey black figure was still holding her neck. The tips sank into her flesh. I could see the trails of blood going down the flesh. She looked over at me with one eye.

“Help… me…”

Her plead still lingers on in my head this day.

“Let her go!” I shouted.

“Let. Her. Go?” The hissing in the thin air about made me jump. I didn’t have a plan of what I was going to do next.

“Yes!” I blurted out. There was a moment of silence. It was then I happened to look down. The color drained from my face. Nathanial lay at this cloud monster’s feet. Just like the butler, my little brother’s head lay unattached from the body. Blood soaked into the floor. I trembled but I refused to leave my sister. I could hear crackling from downstairs. It wouldn’t be long before the fire made it up to this floor.

“Please… Let my sister go!” I pleaded. “Why are you doing this? What do you want from us?” My sister was losing her grip. Her arms sank down to her side. Laughter ripped through her room.

“You humans ask too many questions,” it said. “Why should we tell you anything?”

“Just let her go,” I pleaded. “I won’t tell anyone. She’s only a little girl. Please let her go.”

“So?” That chilling voice made my stomach turn. Sweat trickled down the side of my face. My resolve started to faulter to this creature holding my beloved sister by her throat. Its grasp grew tighter. My sister looked like a little limp doll just hanging there.

“Please,” I begged again. “Let her go. Let my sister go!” Another chilling laugh ripped through the air.

“Okay!”

Stab!

I screamed as my eyes widened.

“No!” I shouted. My sister’s voice hung limp with claws in her chest. More laughter filled the air as her body was flung down to my feet. The cloud-like figure disappeared into thin air. I sank to my knees and crawled over to my sister’s body. I pulled her into my arms and started weeping. I pulled Nathanael’s head by my side. I could’ve died in that moment and I wouldn’t have cared. The tears wouldn’t stop falling.

The whole time, her song ran through my head.

“Ladybird, ladybird. Fly away home. You house is on fire and your children all gone. All except one. And that’s little Ann. And she has crept under the warming pan.”