It's a Ghoul's World

Bones picked clean.

Outside appeared to have been through the worst. After what had seemed like an eternity, we were cleaning up scattered remains of various animals on the outside. The colours of the world seemed more normal as we cleared up. That didn't help much with the crusted blood on the broken wings of birds and the smooth ivory of bones gnawed clean of all muscle attachments.

Something horrible had happened. I knew it, I'd even seen it but that didn't make it any easier to accept.

I felt the whispers of the last breath of life from those poor defenceless animals even with protective gloves on. I paused every now and again because I kept hearing something. "You're not safe." Over and over. The only place that could've come from is the almost forest that was the backyard of this strange house. Adhra, the blonde haired girl and the professor didn't appear to be hearing the same whispers or if they were, they gave no indication that they did.

The colours started to lose their brilliance and resemble the world I had woken up to. Adhra, then snapped to attention and started ushering us inside.

Once inside we gathered in the dining room around some mugs of warm coffee and that's when I decided to ask some questions. For the one reason of 'why not ask while we're hopped up on caffeine, I mean it's like a truth serum right?'

"Why do the colours of this world fade into greys and brighten into very brilliant colours at various intervals?"

The professor seemed to actually be present for once and Adhra's head snapped so fast in my direction I got whiplash for her. She stared at me wide eyed but with the most levelled voice I have ever heard asked, "What do you mean Najla?"

Najla? I hadn't given much thought to my name. I mean it must be my name, she addressed me by it. It seemed nice, it fit.

"When I woke up before the talking doll and the chores and the Ghouling Hour thing that you seemed scared of, everything was grey. When we were cleaning up outside the colours were so bright and vivid it was blinding. Does that always happen, or?"

I mean besides the silence that dragged on for a while. I felt like a freak, like there was something wrong with me. The looks on their faces didn't tell me that what I had experienced was normal.

"Before we came in, what were the colours saying to you Najla?" the professor asked in a somber tone.

"The colours were dulling, the brilliance was disappearing," I replied ", does it mean something?"

Somehow it seemed important.

"How much time do we have until it happens Adhra?" the professor asked

"It's soon, sooner than it should be," was her reply.

"You're not safe," came the whispers again

"You're not safe."