Into Nightmare Land

A Normal Day

It was a normal morning on a perfectly normal day. Bianca Nevermore, a little girl with trouble seeing, woke up on this normal day via her father's wife, Marionne. "Good morning, Bianca! Your father is waiting you in the dining room." she said.

Bianca nodded as she got up, not saying a single word to Marionne. She knew Marionne didn't like her, so Bianca didn't like her either. She pushed Marionne out of her room and got dressed for the day, even if she struggled a bit to get the bandages around her eyes replaced. She grabbed her purple cat doll, whom she named Cheshire, and headed into the dining hall.

After arriving and sitting down at the table, a maid passed a plate, with an omelet on it, over to Bianca. Meanwhile her father, Manfred, was sitting at the head of the table, reading a newspaper. "Good morning, Bianca." he said. Bianca waved and ate her breakfast.

It was quiet for a while, as usual. The Nevermore family rarely conversed with one another. Bianca knew her father had work to do after breakfast, so she made no efforts to talk with him, especially if he was more focused on his wife. The silence was eventually broken by Manfred.

"Bianca, you still remember your mother, right?" he asked. Bianca looked up to the direction of his voice and nodded, confused as to what he meant.
"Good...I was just making sure." Manfred sighed.

Bianca nodded again and got up from the table, a maid taking her empty plate and going to wash it. Bianca brushed off her father's incredibly random comment rather easily. That's due to how it's always been awkward whenever the family tried conversing. It's the nevermore family's version of normal.

As soon as Bianca left the dining room, she headed outside to go read in their front yard. The neighbors were very friendly, immediately greeting Bianca as she left the house. Bianca was only able to greet them back with a simple "hello" before focusing all her attention onto her book. This was normal. Bianca barely ever talked to the neighbors, nor did she have friends. It's just Bianca Nevermore's normal.

However, after some time, Bianca ended up getting bored of reading and just listened to the kids playing out in the street. "I wonder what it's like to play with other people..." she pondered.

She looked down at the cat doll then stood up. She hesitantly made her way over to the street with the kids playing, but as she was about to call out and ask to play, she was knocked over by someone running past her on the sidewalk.

Bianca was kind of surprised, but it wore off quickly. The person who ran into her noticed Bianca on the ground, so they came back to help her. "Are you okay?" they asked.

Bianca nodded and stared up at the person. It was a relatively young man, around 20 or so, who had black hair and simple clothing. "Who are you?" Bianca asked.
"Lukas." the man responded.

"Why were you running?" Bianca immediately questioned. Lukas fell silent and rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's...not something that I should talk about with a kid." he said.
"Then discuss it with Father." Bianca suggested as she grabbed his hand.

Lukas barely had time to question what she had meant before he was dragged to the Nevermore family's mansion.

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Upon entering, Lukas was immediately overcome with a very strange yet familiar feeling. Bianca instructed Lukas to wait in the main hall as she left to go get Manfred.

The mansion was big, bigger than it needed to be, but Lukas suspected it was just some rich person thing. He looked around at the furniture and the décor. Fancy. It was incredibly intimidating and everything looked incredibly expensive. He was kind of worried Bianca's father would kick him out since he didn't look rich.

Bianca then came back, dragging Manfred by the hand. Lukas stood up straight and tried not to look so nervous. Lukas looked at Manfred, inspecting him almost. Blonde hair, red eyes, and a suit and lab coat. He was definitely the town doctor, alright.

"P-Pleasure to meet you, sir." Lukas stammered, reaching out for a handshake. It felt like Manfred was judging his every move, so Lukas decided to just be polite.

"Bianca told me you ran into her, is that true?" Manfred asked. Lukas hesitantly nodded, sweat dripping down his brow.

"It's my fault, Father, I didn't see him." Bianca chimed. Manfred looked at Bianca with confusion. Of course she couldn't see him, was his first thought. She can't see anything.

"Regardless," Manfred continued, "she said that you were running from something. What exactly was it?"

Lukas fell silent, sneaking glances at Bianca. Manfred understood what he meant and had Bianca go wait with Marionne. Now it was just the doctor and the boy.

"I was running from an orphanage." Lukas confessed.
Manfred crossed his arms and raised his brow in response. "Elaborate." he said.

"My parents sold me as a kid, so I was left at some run down orphanage. I never went to school because I did something bad." Lukas explained.

Manfred looked at him with unease and uncertainty. He could infer a couple different things from "something bad." Was it crime? Did he steal? Did he kill someone? Did he destroy property? In all of those scenarios, Manfred did not want to associate with a man like that, nor did he want Bianca to associate with someone like that.

"I got in a fight with someone's kid. A bad one. I guess they were super rich, so the case was brought to court and I was sent to juvenile detention. Nobody let me into their school because of my record." Lukas sighed.
"Poor boy," Manfred said, "so you ran away?" he asked.

Lukas shrugged. "That was part of the reason. It was mostly because they treated me horribly, especially since I'm an adult. I ran away and now they're hunting me down."

Manfred pondered for a moment. He knew that if they found Lukas, they would drag him back. On the other hand, Lukas is an adult and should be able to do things by himself. "What if he worked for me?" he thought. That way, if Lukas was discovered, he would have an excuse to stay due to work. Yes, Lukas would be useful for work indeed.

"Do you have any medical knowledge?" Manfred asked suddenly. Lukas tilted his head, yet he nodded anyways.

"I know a bit. I read some books in my free time." he replied.
"Good," Manfred said, "then come work for me."

Lukas recoiled upon hearing that. Out of all things, he never expected a job offer from THE Manfred Nevermore. Lukas thought about it for a moment before holding out his hand for a handshake, his decision being clear. Manfred shook his hand with a smile.

Bianca peered into the room, finally, as she was listening to the conversation secretly. She walked over to Manfred and Lukas to ask, "Is he gonna stay?"

Manfred kneeled down to look Bianca in the face. She could tell he was in front of her.

"Lukas is going to stay with us for a while. I decided to hire him as my assistant. Is that okay?" he informed her. Bianca seemed happy because her nodding was vigorous.

Bianca was happy the day wasn't normal.


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Lukas was now considered a Nevermore, at least to Bianca and the people in the town. Manfred even called him "son." Lukas felt at home, living with rich people and learning about medical practices from Manfred. It was a good life. He was certain it would stay good.

...

...

...Right?