Arisu [ #JustWriteIt - Horror - Complete ]

Chapter Ten - The Voice Of Silence

"Heavy booted footfalls thumped from above.
The caretaker kissed the boy's head with love.

Be swift as the white rabbit and run with haste,
Or the Queen Of Hearts will lay you to waste."

Her crying clashed with the bell's six tolls. The sky flashed scarlet, the mighty brass slammed against invisible walls and the wind shrieked to be known. Lightning howled. 

Trick withdrew his outstretched hand from the study door and whipped around, terrified by the onslaught of noises. He turned fluidly on his feet and sent himself barreling back towards the hallway.

The little boy cried out the name of his companion in as he halted, feet sliding across the floor as he made a sharp turn into the passage.

A fading rumble in the skies left the moor in silence. Stiff, suffocating silence, choking him around the throat like an executioner's noose.

Not a whisper of sound.

And not a wisp of her pink hair in sight.

One half of the orb was sitting on the floor. He stooped down to pick it up.

Panting, Trick whipped his head left and right. How had she disappeared so quickly? Had Alice fled the hall? His vision was slow in comparison to how his mind was racing.

He screamed out her name. Why? Why had he left her alone? Why hadn't he tolerated her jumpiness? Where had she gone?

To you, dearest reader of this work, the knowledge that alluded him was readily available. As Trick picked a random staircase to venture in hopes of finding his missing friend, he unwittingly left her behind.

Just because you can't see something, does not mean that it isn't there.

And just because he didn't hear a whimper of distress, doesn't mean that it never escaped the desperate lips of little Alice, who was only two feet away, forced into hiding by something that certainly wasn't Coryn.

"Please h-help me..." Black slowly melded with the combined orb's silver light. It crept away, plunging the hall into total darkness.

A gloved hand clapped softly over her mouth.

It spoke in a gentle, honeyed voice.

Shush now.

~*~*~*~

Alice dragged her feet as it led her by the arm. She felt sleepy. It seemed to notice that. It fiercely shook her shoulder.

Don't fall asleep now, little one.
Don't you miss the boy?

Her heavy eyelids opened, not without struggle. Her voice was thick and her words were mumbles. "Trick's coming back for me..."

You shan't think about him anymore.
I'm going to give you a new friend.
One that'll never leave your side.

Though the door to the study had been closed when Trick had come upon it, it had mysteriously opened itself again, precisely how Coryn had left it after fleeing.

Alice vaguely felt herself being lifted onto another comfy chair. She didn't know what kind of chair it was - for she'd never been inside the study before and it was far too dark to see.

Oh, dear me.
A naughty person stole the light.
I wonder who that could've been?

She remembered all those nursery rhymes that Coryn taught her and how his voice would change when he sang them. It sounded the same. But there was nothing to rhyme about. And it wasn't soothing to her.