Adrian has been down in the dumps since his girlfriend, Amy broke up with him, last week. He’s been sulking in his self pity for days, now. He finally musters up the energy to pull his lazy ass off the couch. He decides to try his best to self motivate, but it’s been raining all day, and puts a damper on the evening. He decides to pull on his rain jacket, anyway, and checks his wallet to make sure he still has some cash. He slides his leather wallet into his back pocket, and then steps outside. He notices that something in the air feels different, but can’t put his finger on it. Something feels eerie about the night. The moon is full, and the rain has just stopped, it’s now quite warm and foggy.
Adrian walks a couple of blocks over, to a nearby bar. Amy never liked him going to bars, and she would fight him tooth and nail on it. He never understood, and she never let it go.
He swings the door open to the dim lit bar. Their were booths on the left side of the room, against the wall. Adrian turns right to find a seat at the bar. The bartender doesn’t bother carding him,
“What can I get ya?” His New York accent is strong.
“Jack and coke,”
The bartender nods, and sets the mixed poison in front of Adrian.
He sits as the bar cleans out, finishing up his fourth drink. He finally tries standing, and has to grab the seat next to him to regain balance.
“Hey buddy, you gonna be okay? Not driving are you?” The bartender asks concerningly.
Adrian tries to shake it off, “uhh, yeah, I just live a block over.”
The bartender nods in approval, and Adrian walks outside the bar, into the ghostly night.
As he begins to round the first courner, he feels the wind pick up, and leaves begin to swirl in forms of tornados. He picks up his pace as he hears a slight howling of the wind.
“Just the wind,” he whispers to himself.
He suddenly hears a muffled scream, and immediately stops walking. He listens for a few seconds.
“help me!” Followed by another hollow scream. Adrian turns to the left to follow the screams. He runs across the street, and peers down an alleyway. The alley is paved, and quite clear, with only a few city trash bins, and some plants. He noticed a boy, mid teens maybe, being pulled away by dark figure, wearing an oversized black cloak. He couldn’t make out his face, but Adrian manages to follow him around the corner. He then watches behind a cement pillar. The cloaked figure continues to pull the boy until he throws him up over his shoulder, like a young child. They entered under an archway that was overgrown in bright yellow roses, and then Adrian lost sight of them.
“Shit,” he became frustrated, and tumbles over an obviously placed bird bath. He gains his composure, and finds his wait through an elaborately grown garden. The archway entered into a circular garden, that is fully enclosed by tall hedges. There was a large multi layered stone fountain, in the center. Adrian slowly creeps around the fountain, and in front of him sits a deep dark staircase that dives beneath the earth. He begins to pace, frightened by the darkness. His shaky fingers pull through his black damp hair, while he contemplates just running home, and forgetting this whole thing. Something in his mind is fighting him though. His gut is telling him he has to stay; he has to face whatever monster is behind this black doorway. He shakes off the contemplation, and starts down the staircase. He slides his hands along the walls, careful not to lose balance again. The walls are cement all the way down, and the staircase begins to curve, until it opens into a balcony. The balcony opens up into another dark room, circled with gray candles spaced around the walls. A red rose in a short black vase, sits between each candles. A door on the opposite end, opens, and Adrian spots the cloaked figure walking through, followed by ten others. He spotted two of them carrying the boy that he saw outside.
He covers his own mouth in order to minimize the sound of his breathing, and continues watching. The cloaked figures complete a full circle, and the boy is in the middle.
“Please, I’m sorry,” he pleads with them. Tears are running down his face, and he’s almost sobbing. One of the cloaks has a necklace on, but Adrian can’t quite make out what its shape is, but the man begins to speak,
“You, Jefferey Moore’s betrayed this Coven of all it stands for. You breached every ounce of protection that we swore to you, and this must be your end.”
The one that must be the leader pulls out a long sharp dagger. Adrian tries not to hyperventilate, as he has to grab on to the edge of the balcony for stability. He watches the boy scramble in two of the figures arms. The dagger is turned to its side, as its pierced into the boy’s heart. He gasps for a moment as his body drops limp to the floor.
Leah Sparrow 