In Memoriam

The Ravencraft Manor

The three Ouzel brothers, along with their younger sister, haunted the halls of the old English manor that had been bequeathed to them by a deceased relative many centuries ago. A surprisingly clean and beautiful place for the siblings to live out their days. But, all four were restless, wanting more than the old stone walls to continuously echo their sighs of wanderlust. "We've been in this place for far too long." Raven said, sitting at a long mahogany table with his siblings. Raven sat properly and composed. He was tall, like his twin brother Rickey, who stood at almost the exact same height. A common argument would ensue between the two of who was older and who was taller, and of course, who was better looking. Both brothers had sharp features, cat-like eyes and slender forms. Raven cast his silver eyes to Rickey, who returned the gaze with a single honey colored eye, the right eye being hidden by a black patch. The eldest of the brothers, aptly called Evil, sighed heavily and spoke in a deep but gentle voice. "I hate it when you two give each other looks, you make me think you can speak telepathically. And, I warned you what I'll do if I find out..." Evil said. Rickey turned to Evil and glared. "We're not your experiments, Frankenstein. You'll never take us alive." he said. "We're not alive as is." Raven said softly, reminding his brother. Rickey shrugged and adjusted his posture in his seat. "I keep forgetting. A good thing you're here to constantly remind me." Rickey said sarcastically. Evil glanced toward Rickey and looked him over, his brother was dressed in modern gothic clothing, flared black bondage pants and a black straight jacket he had torn the sleeves from, his layered black hair spiking downward at an angle in front of his face to his jaw with a single streak of white on the front right side of his hair, his nails painted black and an inverted cross hanging from his neck. Evil then looked over Raven sitting by Rickey. Raven seemed to have missed the last 100 years of fashion. He was dressed in fine clothes, red, black and grey being the only colors he ever seemed to wear. Raven kept his black hair at waist length, a silver streak of hair on the left side of the front of his hair, another silver streak on the back of his head. "Why are you staring at us?" Rickey asked Evil, noticing his brother eyeing them. "You're both weird." Evil said. Evil kept himself somewhat modern, however preferring gothic style clothing, he wasn't as aristocratic as Raven and stuck to casual black cargo pants and a black t-shirt. Evil kept his long platinum ash blonde hair in a braid behind him and stood taller and bigger in build than his younger brothers. Evil glanced briefly at Rickey, his pale blue eyes shining with a lilac shimmer. Rickey, being eccentric as he is, stood up dramatically and slammed his hands on the table. "I knew it!" he exclaimed. He looked back to Raven, who sat unamused. "He's going to experiment on us." Rickey said as he began to step away. A tall, slender woman wearing a long black gown began walking into the room. It was their sister Ami. She was beautiful and statuesque, as if a portrait of Mona Lisa come to life. Her long black hair swayed behind her as she moved toward Rickey. She place her hands on his shoulders and smiled. "Rickey, that's nonsense. Evil loves you. If he wanted to play with twins, he'd find human ones, you know that." she said, as she helped him return to his seat. Rickey nodded. "Evil, stop tormenting your brothers." she said. Evil gave a half smile in return. Ami gently placed a hand on Raven's shoulder, her emerald coffin-shaped ring glistening. "Raven, have you done any writing or piano practice today?" she asked him cheerfully. Raven shook his head and pointed at his brothers, clearly accusing them of making the house too chaotic for such things. Ami sighed. "I know it will take time adjusting, but it's been centuries, you boys must get out there and socialize. Experience the world..." she said, before stopping to notice Rickey trying to figure out a smartphone. "How do you turn this thing on..." Rickey whispered to himself. Ami quickly grabbed the phone from his hands. "More than just through the internet." she said to her brothers as she smiled. Rickey crossed his arms and sat further down in his seat. "I get enough face to face socializing when I'm hunting. What am I supposed to do, befriend my food?" Rickey asked. Raven laughed a bit at that. "Well, you play with them sometimes, don't you?" Ami asked. "That doesn't mean we want to befriend them." Raven spoke up in protest. Ami looked down at Raven as she stood by his chair, her violet eyes shining in the dimly lit room. "It won't kill you." she said somewhat coldly. Rickey grabbed Raven's arm, as he began to stand, pulling his brother up with him. "But, she might if we don't leave. You're coming with me." Rickey whispered loudly to Raven, as he pulled him out of the room. Ami smiled again and waved her brothers off as they left the house. She heard a chair creaking behind her and turned to see Evil reading a book. He glanced up to look at her, then quickly back to his book. Ami crossed her arms. "You too, Evil." she said. Evil let his book drop to the table and sighed. "You're sending me to babysit them, aren't you?" he asked. Ami's expression softened and her smile was more genuinely. "You're the only one who can." she said almost proudly. Evil stood from his chair, adjusting his clothes. "Don't expect me to be able to keep them safe, especially from themselves or each other." he said. "Just keep an eye on them, don't let them get into too much trouble." she said, as she gently patted Evil's back. Evil let out one more sigh, before picking up his book, and heading out the front door to follow his brothers.

Raven and Rickey walked down the dark backroad in the middle of the night. "Do you smell that stench of death closing in on us?" Raven asked. Rickey perked up. "Oh, I didn't want to mention it, thought you might be sensitive-" Rickey began saying. "Not. Me. Behind us, we're being followed...moron." Raven said flatly. "Calm down, I know he's there. Trying to lighten the mood. That's going to be hard to do with Death slow on our trail." Rickey said, as he turned to face their follower, walking backwards beside Raven without losing pace. "I think you mean hot on our trail. That's the saying." Raven said, quirking at Rickey. Rickey slid his hands into his pockets and continued walking backwards, facing their pursuer, grinning slyly. "No, I mean slowly. Look for yourself, the old man can barely keep up." Rickey said. Both brothers stopped in unison and Raven turned to see Evil slowly following behind them. "Need help, old man?" Rickey yelled at Evil. "I'm fine as I am, keep going." Evil called back. "Is he planning to follow us the entire night?" Raven asked Rickey. Rickey shrugged and turned forward, beginning to walk again, as Raven followed. "Strangely sinister night, don't you think?" Raven asked, glancing to the side at Rickey. "You feel it, too?" Rickey asked. Suddenly Evil was walking close behind them, causing Rickey to jump, which startled Raven. "Do you fucking mind?!" Rickey yelled at Evil. "Not at all. I feel it, too." Evil said. Raven gave his brothers a concerning look. "Oh, we're saved then, if Death himself can feel death creeping up on us." Rickey said sarcastically. "If I can sense it and it's not me doing it, then we're probably fucked." Evil said, sneering at Rickey. Rickey stopped walking, forcing Evil to stop as well before slamming into Rickey, as Rickey turned angrily and somewhat theatrically to face Evil. Raven noticed this and stopped as well, looking to the side in a slight eyeroll. Rickey stood silently, staring at Evil angrily. "Why are you staring at me? That's weird, stop that." Evil said quickly. "You're really shit at understanding sarcasm." Rickey said. Raven looked around confused. "Is that why we've all stopped walking?" he asked, shaking his head and walking away. Rickey glared in Raven's direction. "Are you really just walking away? He's clearly an idiot, we should put him out of his misery, save ourselves before his ignorance spreads." Rickey said, spitting venom at Evil. Evil stood taller, squaring off with Rickey. "Try me, boy." Evil said coldly, confident in his ability to hold his own. Rickey scoffed and pointed a finger at Evil's face. "Listen here, old man-" he began to say, before Evil quickly grabbed Rickey's hand and twisted it behind his back. "I'm only a year older than you. But, I can still take you out, you little shit." Evil whispered aggressively, hissing as he spoke, into Rickey's ear. Rickey struggled to get away until Evil finally let go and pushed him forward. Rickey looked around, "Where's Raven?" he asked. Seeing that Raven was nowhere in sight in the darkness, Evil pushed Rickey out of the way and ran in the direction of where he last saw Raven going. Rickey followed him. "What's going on? Why have you followed us and why are you panicking?" Rickey asked. They stopped running as they smelled blood in the air, looking down the see it sprinkling over the dirty road. Rickey glared intensely at Evil and began to walk quickly toward him, "What have you caused?!" he yelled. Evil quickly put a stop to Rickey's advances, hitting him in the face as hard as he could, knocking Rickey onto the ground. Rickey looked up to see that Evil was already out of sight. Evil stopped running when he came up to a large old stone chapel, a vast cemetery spread throughout the forest behind it. "Shit." he whispered to himself.