Shreds of an Archive

The Hollowed Girl

Fire licked at the smoldering wood, consuming what little was left of the twigs and branches gathered earlier in the day. Thick wood walls stood strong against the bitter winter, keeping its icy clutches from grasping the village tight. Alexia lay on the bearskin rug next to the fire, hands holding tightly to a book her dad bought for her from a traveling merchant. Its pages were old, weathered and yellow, if not handled with utmost care they would surely crumble and fade away. It was a story book, telling of monsters and evil things that lurked and fed in the darkest corners, waiting, stalking.

"Time for dinner." Her da called out

"Alright!" She said, reluctantly setting the book down. As she was walking away, she threw a glance back at the book which now sat on the oak chair a bit further from the fire. There was something odd about it. One of the pages she had just read was now completely blank, before it had described an Ubuesque created from the misery and hatred of men. The room suddenly became cold, her breath becoming visible in the air, a deep chill ran down her spine causing her to shudder.

"Come before it gets cold, Your mother worked hard to cook this." Her dad called out sternly, something in his voice told her that she shouldn't dilly dally any longer.

"Aye da, coming."

No matter how she tried, sleep wouldn't come. Whatever happened with the book felt insignificant now, like a dream that was quickly fleeting from her mind. Every time she closed her eyes she felt pinpricks across her body, like someone was watching, staring, just beyond sight. It was then her window shuddered, and she heard a dull thud from nearby outside. Alexie got up and tentatively peeked out. A man's body was laying lifeless, strawberry color staining the snow in a show of gore. A man in a red cloak meticulously dragged him, tugging him away. The cloaked man's lips were moving in constant fluid motion, from them spill a tangible despair, flowing on the ground and into the fallen man. There were more cloaked men now, they had dragged the slain man into a circle- nay, a pentagram drawn in blood where snow was cleared out. A red cloaked head turned, snapping directly to Alexia's eyes, holding it for a few seconds until she turned and sprinted away down the stairs.

"Father, Mother! Something terrible is happening!"

"Come on, Alexia, it's much past nightfall you should be in bed." Her dad replied sluggishly.

"Nay, father, a man is dead in the snow, and the killers have spied me through the window. We must hide!" Alexia tugged frantically at her parents covers, the shock quickly pulling them from their lethargy. The door burst open, a cloaked figure holding a twisting dagger entered, running forward with bloodlust intent on killing. Her dad sidestepped the blow, grasping the attacker's risk hard enough to make him drop his knife, then quickly punched the back of his head.

"We must head for the cellar" He bellowed out"

"What of the livestock?"

"There isn't time" her dad suddenly stopped, standing stunned, looking forward to something. Peering around her dads back, she saw a nightmarish, gruesome scene. All the red cloaks lay in pools of blood around the pentagram circle, in the center of which stood a horrendous mass of tendrils and limbs mingled together from the fallen cloaked men. It let out an unearthly petrifying scream.

"Go! Leave! Run for the cellar and don't come out, no matter what you hear" Her dad put out a protective arm in front of her and her mom. Spurring them into motion. She turned back

"Dad, please don't die," She said, her voice barely a whisper. He looked back and smiled

"I will always love you, never forget that." One of the tendrils wrapped around his wrist, tugging him towards the amalgamation of limbs. She screamed, a wordless gut-wrenching scream. Her mom tugged her away "We need to leave"

"But dad. . ." teardrops formed in Alexia's eyes.

"I know, I know" They ran around the corner of their house. A cloaked man stood, hood down. Staring wild-eyed at them, an aura of madness seeping from him. He charged at Alexia who stood, deer in the headlights, and then- her mom was there, in front of her. Knife slipping deeply in her gut. The cloaked man laughed, a choked, humorless thing. Before tendrils whipped around his limbs, and he was tugged into the seething mass blood and appendages. She fell to her knees, in shock and despair, cradling her mothers head in her arms. Her mother took a deep breath.

"Please, live" Her ma said, and then the strength left her body. Growing limp in Alexia's arms. She slowly raised her head, knowing her fate on this day was to die. The creature just loomed in front of her. Tendrils and limbs flailing. She felt a hole growing in her stomach where despair and rage consumed her every nerve, every part of her body, as she sat with her mothers corpse in her lap.

After a long couple of moments. The creature seemingly lost interest, leaving her with nothing but indefinable rage, burning in her limbs, but it was quickly snuffed out, turning to despair so deep that it weighed every part of her down, hollowing out her emotions as teardrops fell onto her moms dead face. The beast had stolen her dads face, and let her live. A burning question entered her mind, taking dominance amongst all her other thoughts. Why was I the one who got to live?

The village was destroyed, corpses littering the ground turning the entire landscape of snow into a sea of red. After she heard the last scream ring out, a horrible stomach wrenching thing, the creature disappeared, leaving the village in ruins with no survivors. Except for Alexia. As the sun rose she found the willpower to bury her mom, an empty depression setting deep into her soul, eating away at what little was left of her will to live. She felt nothing, just a deep numbness after a full night of crying. She held a small ceremony for her mom and dad, leaving a cross out back next to their old hound. Alexia grabbed a small knife her dad used to use to skin deer, quickly slashing it across her hand.

"Mom, dad, I swear. I will kill the unholy beast that has been spawning into this world. I will avenge you" Blood dropped onto their graves, seeping into the cold dirt. In a burst of light, blue flames licked up the cross, sealing the blood pact.