The Red Rose

Before

"Eva I'm sorry; please let me back in!"

Lucy banged at the door. Night had fallen and it was getting cold, and she was freezing. 

"*sigh* If you dare break anything-"

"I promise I won't. Just please let me back in!" 

". . . fine"

The door opened and the red-haired girl stepped out of the way and let her poor shivering friend enter. Lucy immediately ran in and nearly shut the door on Evadne's fingers. 

"Hey!"

"Yeah?" Lucy asked in the most innocent voice she could.

"What did I say about breaking things?"

"Not to break anything?" 

Evadne sighed and raised her hand, then pointed to the door. 

"Oh. . ."

"*sigh* Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, a little, why?"

"I have some steak left in the fridge-"

Lucy didn't wait for her to finish and ran into the kitchen. Evadne followed her into the kitchen to make sure she didn't break anything. It was bad enough that she had already destroyed an expensive vase, she didn't want her to break something again. 

"Hey Eva?"

"What?"

"Can I stay here tonight?"

"Why?"

Lucy shifted uncomfortably, "Because it's such a long walk, and I don't have a coat."

"You can take mine."

"Can I please stay here?"

Evadne stared at her and sighed. It was either she stayed here or she would be banging at the door all night. 

"Fine. But. . ."

Lucy tensed up. The atmosphere tensed up with her as she prepared for the most impossible of tasks to be given to her.

"You have to leave before seven ."

"Huh? Why?" Lucy questioned her. She usually didn't have to wake up that early. 

"Because I have guests coming over and they're going to need that room."

"Oh."

They both sat in an awkward silence as Lucy ate the cold steak silently. Lucy and Evadne were not as good of friends as they could be, and this was an example of that. Of course they still looked out for each other, but the things one of them do in their free time often clashes with the other.

Lucy put the finished plate in the sink and went upstairs to go to bed, while Evadne stayed downstairs to wash the extra dish. While all Lucy wanted to do was go to bed, all Evadne could think about was how throughout the day she had been feeling weird, like something was going to happen. She didn't usually rely on her gut feelings, but this time, the butterflies in her stomach were too much for her to ignore. As she put the now clean dish on the drying rack, all she could hope for was that her gut feeling was wrong, and that she was worried for nothing. 

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". . dne. . . adne. . . Evadne!"

Evadne woke up, but the voice that called her name disappeared. She never though someone had the audacity to break into her house, but the voice told her otherwise. She got out of bed and walked silently towards the guests room, and quietly opened the door, and found Lucy peacefully sleeping in the bed.

'Huh, well at least she's still asleep.'

Evadne closed her door and went as quietly as she could down the steps. She thought back to that voice, which was nothing like what she ever heard. 

'The voice echoed, and it sounded like it was trying to hypnotize me, so the person either wasn't physically in the house, or they were trying to fool me. But what would they be here for?'

Evadne opened the downstairs closet and pulled out her keys, and a belt, and a small pouch barely bigger than her foot. She clipped her keys and pouch to her belt and clipped the belt around her waist. She then pulled a small dagger from the pouch and hid it behind her hand.

'Can never be too careful.'

Evadne opened the front door and walked out. Outside, there was a black carriage parked in front of her house. The carriage was pulled by two horses, both eerily still and silent. Inside the carriage however, was a coffin.

An open coffin.

Evadne simply stared at the coffin waiting for something to jump out and attack her, but to her surprise, however, a sudden ringing sensation filled her mind as a horrible headache took hold of her. She stumbled, and eventually fell to the ground from the pain, and the dagger slipped out of her hand. She looked up at the carriage, still seeing no signs of someone on it but the horses heads her turned towards her. She tried to expel the headache, but all that did was make it worse, and she began to feel drowsy. 

'Must been the aftereffects of the headache.'

She mustered up all the strength she could and tried to get up, but began to slip in and out of consciousness, and collapsed on the ground.

"Ugh. . . screw whoever set this up." She muttered,  before finally slipping into consciousness.