Stay ~TicciWork~

Chapter 9: Natalie.

The night was restless, the wind howled outside Clockwork's window mercilessly. It was late, dark and silent.
Clockwork rose from her sleepless position in her bed and made her way to the doorframe. She pulled her robe off the hook on the back of the door and pulled it tightly around herself as she opened the door quietly, closing it behind her after she stepped out into the dark hallway. It was a practical abyss as Clockwork walked down the charcoal hallway, her eyes unable to adjusted to the darkness.
She stepped down onto the stairs and that's when she heard the flap of the mailbox slam open and closed. Clockwork took that as her opportunity to then run down the flight of stairs.
Paper hung loosely between the letterbox. Clockwork took the pages into her hands and looked through them. A soft glow emitted from the windowed door, just bright enough for her to read the heavy, black, blocked letters on the front of the first letter.
N A T A L I E
O U E L L E T T E
The young girl stared, bewildered at the letter in her hands. No one had called her Natalie Ouellette since the day she killed them all and ran away. She hadn't heard that name in months. Someone she had known knew exactly where she was..
"Why are you up so late..?" A voice erupted from behind her causing Clockwork to frantically shove the letter into her robe and spin around to come face to face with Jack, his blue mask barely visible against the black background.
"I wanted water." She lied, she was a partially good liar. The eyeless boy before her shook his head from left to right for a moment before collecting the other papers from behind her, he hadn't an idea about the letter addressed to Clockwork.
"You should get back to bed soon.. Seedeater wanders around downstairs at night.." EJ warned as he ventured towards the shadows of the kitchen, examining the letters in his gloved hands. Clockwork noted that he seemed to see without having eyes? A trick she supposed he picked up. She pondered the thought of said Seedeater. What was a Seedeater? And why wasn't EJ concerned about it himself? She shook off the train of thoughts.
She turned on her heel and walked towards the kitchen. The body lay on the ground now covered with a large blanket, the very sight caused Clockwork to shiver as she passed it. She took a glass from the counter and filled it with tap water with a sigh.
   And that's when she heard it. The snuffling, shuffling noise coming towards her quickly. As the creature came into view Clockwork dropped her glass into the sink and took her leave, running past whatever it was and through the hallway.
  "Crap" She thought as she reached the stairs, the thing, she supposed was 'Seedeater' close on her heels. At that moment a sudden flashback hit her as her body slammed harshly against the stairs. She had stumbled and how didn't have time to get back up. She wanted to scream out for help but knew she couldn't right now.
  She put out her hands in defence though it wouldn't do much in her favour. She searched for something she could use in defence yet her frantic eyes met nothing of use.
   "Hey!" A voice boomed loudly from behind Seedeater and a pair of hands grabbed onto Clockworks arms, freeing her from her position under the creature.
   The monster turned his large body around to meet EJ just behind him. Clockwork had a sudden wave of fear wash over her as the creature moved closer to EJ. She was terrified for his own sake, this creature was at least twice his size and looked dangerous. EJ looked up at the thing before him, clear confidence in his stance.
   Clockwork definitely wanted to scream out, opening her mouth as a scream bubbled in her throat only to have it covered by a gloved hand behind her. "Shh. It's okay" a soothing voice came from behind her.
    The creatures mouth fell open and a tongue ran along the side of EJ's face. The Seedeater dropped onto its side and then onto its stomach rather like a dog as EJ pet it for a moment.
  "You can go back to bed, he probably just wanted to play or something" EJ stated as he shot a glance at Clockwork.