Old Rosenberg's Attic

Prologue

Warning: Violence, swears.

***

Yorkshire, 1907

"Burn!" The army of villagers shouted, as they waved their torches and pitchforks in the air.

They approached the gate of our mansion and took it down with all the force they got, stomping in and burning the garden down on their way.

I watched the scene in horror, as my nanny, Miss Wilson, finished packing up my things.

"Come on, Little James. I've finished packing and we must head our way to the back gate. Your Mama and your siblings Lisa, Cain and Adam are waiting.." She said, holding my bag.

"Where's Einar?" I asked her.

"You want to bring that creepy marionette, too? I can't fit it in your bag." She responded.

"It's ok, I'll hold it." I said, moving away from the window and picking up Einar from my shelf.

Einar was a marionette puppet I made for Miss Wilson and I to spook Mama, Papa, and my older siblings with Einar.

Now Papa was in the cross the villagers were carrying, being burned alive.

And we were next.

Suddenly, a flaming arrow crashed into my room and landing on my bed, catching it on fire.

"Oh, dear!" Miss Wilson said, pulling me an Einar closer to her and picking us up from the ground.

"I didn't get paid enough for this shit." She uttered, as she made her way out with Einar and I in her arms, running down the long hallway as fast as she could.

Once we finally met my mother and siblings, Lisa flinched at the sight of Einar.

"Why do you have to bring that shit!?" She shouted, to which Mama slapped her hand.

"No swearing in this household!" Mama scolded Lisa.

"What household!? It's literally being burned down!" Lisa shouted.

"There they are!" We heard a villager's voice yelling out.

"Quick! Get the boy!" Another one shouted.

"Which one!? There's three of them for fuck's sake!"

"The little one!"

Mama then gave some keys to Miss Wilson.

"Find a carriage and get the children as far away as possible. And don't look back." Mama instructed.

"But what about y-"

"Does not matter." Mama interrupted. "Get out. Now.'

Miss Wilson nodded and got us out of there, leaving Mama behind.

"Why is this happening to us?" Cain asked.

"I don't know... All I know is that there's a carriage over there and we can get ourselves away from here." Miss Wilson uttered, dragging us to the carriage.

We got on it and Miss Wilson told the driver to get us to London. She knocked on the roof and the carriage went off.

I've never left Yorkshire, but it seemed like we were far enough from it.

Everything felt like it was over...

...until the carriage was knocked to the side of the road, falling down to its side.

Two villagers pulled Miss Wilson out and threw her to the ground, the other ones tying her up to a nearby tree.

The two villagers got inside the carriage and tried to snatch Lisa, who was blocking me, Cain and Adam from them.

"Stay away from us!" She yelled.

One of the villagers grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her out, but she bit his finger until it bled.

The villager let go of her and yelped in pain, but then the other one punched her head and knocking her out quickly after.

Cain then spotted a piece of the window, and quickly snatched it from the ground, shoving it into one of the villagers stomach.

That one quickly died, but before he could pull the piece out, the other villager grabbed Cain by his neck and threw him out.

As the villager's back was faced to us, Adam whispered to me his plan.

"I'll distract him, and you run away as fast as you can."

I nodded, as Adam slowly got to his bag and pulled out two of Papa's pistols. He handed one of them to me.

"Once I shoot, you run. Don't look back, just run." He said, as the villager finally looked back at us.

As the villager raised his hand, Adam shot straight into his head, and that was my cue to jump out of the carriage with Einar.

Once I was outside, I was met with the image of Mama in a cross, being burned next to Papa's cross. 

Miss Wilson was being beaten up.

Cain was not moving from the floor, his head bleeding immensely. 

Lisa had stolen one of the torches and using it to protect herself and Cain.

Adam managed to get out of the carriage too and started to shoot as many villagers as possible.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE JAMES!" Lisa yelled out to me, to which I nodded and ran away.

But before Einar and I could get away from the carriage, a villager picked me up by my shirt collar and took my pistol away.

Adam tried to interfere, but his bullets ran out and was burned alive on the spot.

They took Einar from my grasp and threw him into the forest nearby.

Lisa's torch was then stolen from her and she was burned alive on the spot, too.

Cain managed to get up and tried to save me, but he was snatched and thrown across the road.

I was tied to a cross that was next to Mama and Papa's cross.

I didn't know what else to do in that moment other than to cry.

My parents are dead, my siblings are dead, my nanny is being beaten up brutally. Einar was thrown away into the pits of that forest. And I was to be burned alive next to my parents.

I cried my eyes out. I let out the unholiest sounds as the heat of the torch was near my feet.

Why? Why was this happening? Why would they do this?

I could feel my feet burning, the fire going up my body.

I sobbed in pain. I was too young for this. I was only eight.

And here I was, slowly dying for reasons I don't know.

I could feel my the fire finally reaching my neck. I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes as tight as I can.

This was how my life was about to end. And I can't do anything to change that.

I could feel my face burn, I could feel everything burn. 

I opened my eyes for the last time and saw Miss Wilson being untied and thrown to the ground.

And then everything went black. My body was numb. I couldn't feel the burning anymore.

I was dead.