A Gaze-less Stare | Fear Street |

{ VI } The First Possession

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How could this be happening?

With a furrowed brow, Eleanor tidied the kitchen of the Berman household. She was sure that the wrinkles on her forehead would be there permanently as she cleaned the mess of rotted produce off of the kitchen table.

Constance's father had just made a trade for the fruits, how could they possibly be this rotten overnight?

"Eleanor!" Constance screamed as she dropped the bag of flour she had just opened.

"What is it?" She called back, quickly dropping the fruits from her hand before making her way to Constance.

"It's been spoiled," Constance whispered while Eleanor peered into the bag, quickly pulling her head away as a worm began to push its way through the grain.

"What's brought all this blight?" She mumbled her thought aloud before yelling could be heard from outside, pulling the two away from the situation at hand.

"Perhaps we aren't the only ones?" Constance wondered aloud as she and Eleanor made their way out of the house and into the town.

They didn't know how to comprehend what was happening around them as they made their way to the towns well.

Horse's fought against their owners. Crops, livestock, and fruit all wasted away along the dirt road of Union. Eleanor grimaced as she watched Isaac bite into an apple, spitting the flesh out once he noticed its rotten core.

"The dark one has come!" Thomas' voice stole Eleanor's attention as they approached the well.

The people of Union seemed to be gathering around their only source of water as a group of men tried to pull up the bucket, its rope not budging.

"To harvest the bitter fruit of the evil we have sown. To feast on our misdeeds!" Thomas yelled out as he paced in front of the well.

"What is he playing at?" Constance whispered to Eleanor as the two girls settled next to an equally confused Abigail. "He's preaching words he doesn't understand again. I'm sure it's nothing." Eleanor tried to sound calm, but she couldn't will her worries to dissipate.

"And yet you all smile, blind to the horrors around us. But you see it now don't you? He blocks our well. Clogs it with our sin. He takes our water! He takes our lifeblood!"

As Thomas continued his rant to the deaf ears of the townspeople, Sarah joined the three girls with an equally worried expression edged on her features.

"What's happened? What's going on here?" She asked softly, her eyes locked lifelessly on the well. "Bucket's caught on something." Abigail answered simply, seeming to not have grasped the weight of the situation.

The men continued to struggle, three pushing the wood that the bucket connected to while two more pulled on its crank.

With one final aggressive push, the wood creaked under the pressure and began to move once again.

"It rises!" Thomas yelled out as the men hurriedly pulled the bucket out of the depths.

A woman let out a horrified gasp as she peered over the stoned edge, "A dead dog in the well!" Another man screamed as he pulled the bucket into the view of the people. "Our water! It's poisoned!"

At the end of the rope was a dog, the Fiers dog to be specific, he had gotten tangled in the rope of the bucket and drowned in the water below.

Sarah let out a pained gasp as her eyes landed on the dog while Constance quickly looked away from the scene before them, hiding her face in Eleanor's neck.