Foxes, and Things, and Dark Places, Oh My! »« 𝙱𝙻𝙴𝙰𝙲𝙷/ᴀᴅᴅᴀᴍs ғᴀᴍɪʟʏ

:: II

"𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁𝙴 𝙸𝚂 𝙽𝙾 𝙴𝚇𝚀𝚄𝙸𝚂𝙸𝚃𝙴 𝙱𝙴𝙰𝚄𝚃𝚈 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝚂𝙾𝙼𝙴 𝚂𝚃𝚁𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴𝙽𝙴𝚂𝚂 𝙸𝙽 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙿𝙾𝚁𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽."

— Edgar Allan Poe
"Ligeia"

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    The sun rose quickly past the suburban houses and green parks. The majority of life comes alive and awake to begin the day while the remainder laid down and sleep until the late evening to begin their lives.

  The sunlight touches and brings life to the lazy and usually nocturnal Naruki City before finally overhanging the diurnal Karakura Town. It slowly crawls up urban hills when it begins to touch the densely forested areas south of Naruki City and southwest of Karakura Town. The rays of light are mainly blocked by the heavy mist of the forest, but few manage to pierce through, bringing an eerie wake up call to the crepuscular creatures that live in the normally lifeless forest.

  Normally hidden stone paths, overrun and unkempt, are slowly revealed to the eyes of people, if human beings manage to force themselves to trek into the forest; and usually they do, for medical help. The paths all begin with a miwa torii, most of them ancient with the red paint chipping and falling away, but still well-taken care of. Shimenawa decorated with pine twigs and shide are tied between each of the miwa torii. Further along the paths are more torii, mostly daiwa torii with each path consisting of four of them leading up to the only standing structure inside the forest. The Kurosaki Estate and one of the oldest shrines in Karakura Town.

  Trickling in from the first daiwa torii onwards are dozens of tombstones, all shrouded in atropa belladonna, even as the flowers slowly curl away from the few sun rays. From the third daiwa torii–where it had grown over the pillars and even across the shimenawa tied between it–started the end of the gloriosa superba, the flame lilies growing more in abundance the deeper the path goes and closer to its origin. Past the last daiwa torii and across the entire area of the estate and shrine was the asphodelus, most abundant around the tombstones of the Kurosaki.

  Vines of the gloriosa superba stretched and latched onto the main buildings of the inner estate as well as the shrine centered in front, spreading out like infinite spiderwebs. A single vine slowly slithers through the flower covered garden and up onto the somewhat rotting wood of the engawa. It grips onto one of the shoji doors, opened for any and all seeking medical attention, and climbs up towards the second floor.

  It flinches, hissing–if it had a voice–when a ray of sunlight manages to pierce through the deep mist and targets the fiery lilies. It pushes through the discomfort and slowly crawls around the main manor, towards the back garden. The completely destroyed wall is ignored as the gloriosa superba momentarily climbs up onto the ancient roof before it stops above its destination.

  The working kōshi-mado to a bedroom is closed, unlike the many others that stayed open for the gentle summer breeze. Soft snores escape the unblocked panel, even when a ray of sunlight shines through. The vine of flowers slowly eases downwards and stops before the closed kōshi-mado. It tilts the tip of its vine as it peeks through the wooden lattice.

  A lump, covered by a black blanket and surrounded by pillows and different kinds of black plushies, slowly rose up and down. Scarlet hair peeked out from the edge of the blanket, messy and sprawled out like a halo, with scarlet fox ears lazily twitching resting on top.