Once upon a time,
The kings and Queens of Redwood sat in their high castles without a care in the world . They were untouchable. They're children were the worst of them all - spoilt, roten , selfish. But just like their parents , they were seen as r...
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The town of Redwood was an image of perfection . Everyone knew everyone and it seemed that even in the night - the sun always shone. It's picturesque landscape with perfect homes and perfect people seemed to good to be true – and it was.
If you peeled back the layers of this quaint , little town filled with the rich who chose to live away from the city for their children , the inside was rotten , spoiled and putrid. Whilst the husbands went into the city for work , the wives sat around with too much money to know what to do with it . Their webs of gossip fuelled their very reason of living and sustained them during their baby factory years of popping out the next generation of useless kids. Meanwhile, the husbands would screw with any gullible 20 year old in search of a sugar- daddy. Of course the women would turn a blind eye in favour of their wealthy lifestyle , and maybe even the chance to flirt with the pool boy in their spare time.
The children were no better , blaming their psychological issues on their absent parents , they partied and wasted their endless supplies of money until mum or dad noticed them. They were untouchable , even the police had given up on redeeming them and instead enjoyed ruining their parties and harassing them into being bribed to look the other way. Money was the cure for everything and it injected itself into the veins of the city until corruption was at the heart , and yet , there was peace.
That was until the 28th of June 2019 when Lana Clarke, a 16 year – old high school student was reported missing by her mother after failing to return the next morning from a party.
In the beginning , everyone thought it was a prank and that she would show up at any moment , laughing at the chaos she had caused. Then weeks passed and panic began to seep through the town as parents locked their children in at night in fear that they would be taken too. Others thought that she had run away and once she realised that she depended on her mothers money , she would come rushing back . But why would she disappear in the first place? Her life before her disappearance was perfect – perfect friends , perfect family , even she was perfect. She ruled the school with an iron fist and everyone else were here dutiful servants . If you didn't hate her then you feared her but either way you obeyed the queen.
Weeks had gone by and rumours had spread that her ice queen mother had gone mad with fear for her daughter and locked herself away. Her 18 year old son had taken over the familial duties and hounded the police for the search of his sister. No matter how much money or resources they spent , no one could find her. Her friends had been questioned and despite the face of concern that they put on , everyone knew the truth, that they were all secretly happy to be finally rid of the devil. All those present at the party had been thoroughly questioned but no one could remember who saw her last , all denying of even interacting with her – they blamed the absence of their memory on the alcohol – the truth hidden in their selfishness to save their reputation , damming the girl to an unknown fate.
But not all were so secretly joyous , a few remained in morning of the lost girl. A rare few that had seen past the facade of the devilish girl and experienced the true girl behind the mask , a layer of kindness and moments of the sweet girl that had been tainted by the expectations and pressure from those around her. She was a product of the society from a young age , groomed to be the definition of perfection , there was no room for failure.
Her family had only just recently survived the scandal of her father , a renowned CEO, running off with the secretary and leaving her mother a drunk mess. Despite this , she refused to break and god-help anyone who was overheard talking about it by one of her many minions.
By the second month had passed, they began to search for a body . All hope for her survival had been erased and the lack of evidence on where she had gone after leaving the safety of her house had dwindled to zero. Her fellow classmates determination for collective security meant that the story of her final moments of being seen included a muddled mess of events that no one could unpick. No one broke and no one cracked. For the first time in their lives , they remained silent and shut the hell up. Everyone had something to hide – a reason to remain undetected in the investigation. But one thing remained clear, if Lana remained gone then so did their sins. It was how she had ruled - she kept people from rebelling against her through keeping their secrets locked in her safe but prepared to use them at any moment , even if she felt bored and wanted entertainment. Everyone had a reason for wanting her to stay gone but even more motive for getting rid of her in the first place.
In her absence , her former 'BFF' had taken her place on the throne and took no time in rejoicing after an 'appropriate' mourning period. Alongside her she had her charming prince 'Theo' as her boyfriend- the golden couple - as people called them. Rumour still has it that before queen B ran off, she and Theo were caught together by his very own girlfriend Layla. There was never any confrontation about it as , just like everyone else , Layla was always afraid of her the secrets she held over her head.
Five months had now passed since the incident and only a morsel of hope remained in the victims family and close friends. The police , embarrassed by their incompetence, settled with the story that she must have taken the back- roads where cameras where scattered miles apart and with the added danger of the dark , some evil soul must have snatched her up. And yet , her brother refused to allow for a funeral. He would not bury an empty coffin. He had already mourner his once young , innocent , little sister who would cry whenever he defused to play dress-up with her , who had turned into a cold-hearted bitch who's violent tongue caused fear amongst peers and family . The shift had occurred on her 13th birthday , reasons unknown to everyone else , but the change was sharp and quick. The transformation was gruesome and horrific as she emerged as a God who had the power to crush any mortal who dared to even look at her wrong. She became untouchable, or so they thought.
Finally after 8 long months , her family had given up hope in search of their queen and ended the investigations to release them of the pain and daily reminders of what they had lost. Despite her ruthless reputation , she was their blood and they would have gone to war for her but the unbearable suffering of not knowing what had happened to her was too much for them to handle. By then , her absence was accepted and the society within the town had restructured without her but , she was forever immortalised within their minds and to be reminded of her every-time they passed the bench that had been dedicated to her that sat in the town square. Normalcy had begun to settle in and slowly even those who loved the human girl beneath the skin of a monster began to move on after accepting her supposed fate.
That was until the 10th of February 2019 at midnight when a coach stopped just on the outskirts of the town centre – and a mysterious figure ,concealed by the darkness, stepped off it and changed the very course of the town's history ...
