Edited.
I am currently editing this book heavily so I would suggest that you add it to your reading list and come back when I post a new chapter xoxoxo
I would appreciate it if no one copied this, it is my idea. I hope you enjoy this. Please no hate and feel free to correct my mistakes. This chapter is pretty morbid, as the whole book will be, so if you don't like it... don't read:) but if you chose to stay, thank you for reading, enjoy!
WARNING: clichés and plot holes, but worth the read!
TRIGGER WARNING: this chapter has loads of death in it basically the whole book does so if you're sensitive to that sort of thing then it might be best to not read it.
Also, these first few chapters aren't my best work but they do get better and one day I'll get around to editing them. Skip this one if you want but the story might take more time to understand. Entirely up to you.
Love all readers, even if they're psychos. Actually, especially if they're psychos. I guess it depends what type of psycho you are.
Started some time in February 2015 at the age of 13(which probably explains the iffy style of writing lmao).
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At ten years old, Ivy had a rather mature grasp of death. She'd read enough books, seen enough stillborns, to understand the way it worked; that it took who it wanted without any form of mercy. Children, elderly, animals, men, women – anything with a heartbeat. But, though educated on it, nothing could truly prepare her for what was to come, or that she would one day be death itself.
**
"Mama, wake up!"
Ten year old Ivy shook her Mother's shoulders in fright. She had only gone out to pick berries for her Grandma's pie that she made every half-moon.
"I'm sorry I wandered to far out but I won't next time mama!" Ivy stared down at her Mother's blank face in horror. The glazed eyes, the horrifyingly still chest, the blue tinted lips, the red. This was familiar. She had seen eyes like those before some time ago, when she had found an injured rabbit. She had ran nearly two miles to get the animal to her Mother. The woman had been a known healer, she was good at her job.
Her Mother, Reyy, had cleared a small space on the table and Ivy's family had come to watch Reyy do her magic; her Papa, Grandma, Grandda, Kitt and Lilo; Ivy's cousins, her aunty Periché who originated from Spain and her uncle Monti who had fell hopelessly in love the first time he set eyes upon the spanish lady. All eight of them watched Reyy tend to the rabbit in awe. Periché lay a delicate hand against her throat, her wedding ring glinting mischievously in the sunlight, when Ivy's Mama cut into the poor creatures leg.
"Why are you hurting the bunny, Mama?" Ivy asked in confusion looking back and forth from the small, squeaking animal to her mother. Reyy chuckled softly, admiring her daughter's naivety and said in her soothingly melodic voice:
"Sometimes the pain comes first and then you heal better later."
Grandma cast an adoring look at her daughter. "Always the wise one, Reyy."
Everyone smiled at each other in gratitude, sheer joy of achieving a happy life, a safe life, a life where little Ivy was innocent and naive to the darkness of humanity. So different from their own childhood.
"All done! Ivy, let her sleep on you, you know how animals take to you." Ivy mumbled a 'no problem' and nestled the small creature into her arm, it snuggled further into her and her heart burst at the sight.
"It is strange how they like you..." Her Grandma mused to herself, boreing her small, black eyes into the side of Ivy's head. Ivy, oblivious to her Grandma's suspicions, padded out of the kitchen and onto the veranda, perching on a swing bench and stroking the rabbit fondly.
The house was in the middle of no where, the dusty ground was hard and the breeze warm. The only view from every single window was sand dunes and desert. Beautifully desolate.
Her Papa came and sat next to her on the wooden chair with a small smile.
"You know I love you, don't you honey?" He lay a large hand on her head, his thumb stroking in small circles.
"Of course I do!" She grinned, all teeth, and squealed as he kissed her forehead. They both sat back and watched the sunset until her green eyes spotted something strange.
"What's that? Hold this please." Ivy gently lay the sleeping rabbit on her Pa's lap and raced towards the shape in the dirt track. A black raven lay on the floor with its eyes open facing the sky. There was something odd about it, its chest didn't rise up and down and it was stiller than anything Ivy had ever seen. She ran up the path and darted into her house, getting her mother and showing her the Bird.
"Dead." Was all she said as she touched the wings.
"Dead?" Ivy knew what it was, but had never witnessed it before.
Reyy only nodded, sadness pooling in her eyes.
Now Ivy looked down at her dead mother and her breath hitched. She raised her head and found her cousins sprawled in their own blood, toys thrown desperately across the floor.
"Kit," She reached out and stroked the boys golden hair out of his face, tears slipping down her cheeks. "Lilo." She did the same to him. She stood up and brushed off invisible dirt from her plain yellow dress and walked into the lounging room. Her Grandda lay on the floor with a piece of wood in his back and his glasses askew, she ran to him and kissed his forehead, leaning on him slightly for support that he could no longer give.
Who would do something so terrible?
She saw her Grandma in the same way and kissed her hand, holding it tight to her chest, she told the dead body that everything would be okay. She walked to her parents room in shock, the silence absolutely deafening. Her father lay on the bed, a terrified expression on his quiet, solemn face. A book lay forgotten on the bed, he'd probably been reading it when the intruder came in. She ran over to him and hugged his body tight, kissing his head repeatedly. She couldn't handle this, she wasn't prepared for it.
Lastly, she entered her aunt and uncle's room to find her uncle's dead body lying carelessly face down on the floor. Ivy's vision was blurred with the tears that wouldn't sease to exist. Suddenly, something clanged in the bathroom and a muffled sob followed closely. Ivy's eyes widened and she crept into the bathroom, terror gripping her heart and choking her speechless.
There, lay Periché holding her bleeding stomach and sobbing words in Spanish. "Ivy! Oh dios mío. ¡Correr! ¡Correr!" Ivy knew what that meant, Periché's Spanish lessons had payed off after all. It meant, Oh my god and run. "They-" she sucked in a breath and then coughed up blood. Ivy darted over to her aunt and brought her head into Ivy's lap. "What? What is it?" Her aunt blinked away tears in frustration and continued.
"They were here for-" she coughed up more blood that splashed onto Ivy's worried face. "They were here for you." And then she wheezed one last breath and fell silent.
"Me?!" Ivy tasted tears as she shook her beloved aunt. She brought her small head down to her aunt's and cried for hours or days, she couldn't tell which. Her agony was so prominent that it destroyed her capabilities of trust. In a ten minute period she had gone from an innocent child to a broken thing who's life would never be the same again.
YOU ARE READING
When Embers Grow
Fantasy***READ THE FLOOD INSTEAD*** Ivy's never been normal. She always had something different about her, that's why she was hidden. Though she didn't know, there was a reason why her family was taken from her. It wasn't just assassin's working for the mo...
