Adumbration

Chapter 1: Dawn

"Wakey, wakey, fufu...such a pretty young lady perfectly suited for my coffin," whispered a voice to the right of me. I wanted to open my eyes, but cement seemed to hold them in place. My body seemed paralyzed to the spot. Fear shook me to the core. Eventually, through my panic and rush of adrenaline, my body followed the signals my brain was sending. What had felt like hours, my eyes finally opened to see florescent lights peering into my eyes; the light blinding me. A cold finger traced along my jaw line.
My eyes had to adjust to the sudden light pouring into my eyes. I soon understood that the harsh light blinding me was not indeed lights at all. Instead, it was the eyes the cold, gentle finger belonged to. Despite myself, I could not help but whisper, "Your eyes...are...beautiful."
The cold finger which had almost felt comforting left my face as did the the blinding light from my eyes. An unspeakable sadness coursed through me. Tears pricked the corner of my eyes in an unladylike fashion. I sat up slowly against my dizziness and wiped my eyes clear of them.
My eyes found the room first. The dank but not disgusting, black but not dreary room met my eyes. The only thing that seemed to cause my stomach to churn was the sight of the cobwebs lying upon the walls.
My eyes finally found the owner of the inhuman eyes. I felt my eyes widen in wonder ever so slightly. The man was a curious being almost angelic with his cascading silver hair, yet almost demonic with his mischievous look in his eyes. He was wonderfully neutral. He was like a man but more and less all the same! His beauty was marred yet enhanced with a scar running across his face.
"Fufu, you really are one to stare, aren't you?" the man's face broke into a gentle smile as he spoke with an amused level voice. I shook my head no, too scared to chance saying something wrong. His face contorted into something of mild amusement and impatience. He said, "Why are you in a coffin while you yet live?"
"I -on't --ow, I -on't know! I'm -o scared. Why a- I here? I shouldn't be -ere...I should be with the Scholar," with every word my raspy voice became clearer. Once I spoke of my fear, I knew it to be true. My curiosity set aside, I was terrified of everything I was curious about. I cleared my throat and said, "Can you tell who you are? And where I am too? If you wouldn't mind, of course."
"I do not mind a bit. I am the Undertaker, a mortician. You are in my shopped named for me where I take care of guests who are a lot less lively than you," the Undertaker says politely. He smiled all the while. I have never seen a person smile as much or as terribly wonderful as he. I then took a good look at my surroundings to see coffins littering the floor. I, myself, was sitting in one as well. Black with swirly white engraving on the outer wood of the outside, and wine-colored satin where I sat. The Undertaker cleared his throat and said, "Would you mind introducing yourself, dear lady?"
My heart lurched as I suddenly reached for my neck. Only the cool silver against my palm calmed me. I reached behind neck to unclasp the chain that laid upon my neck. I pulled it off to show the pendant to curious florescent eyes. My mouth was dry when I said, "My name is Ailis. Ailis Phantomhive as it would appear."

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I spent many weeks with the Undertaker thereafter. I have learned many things about him and his terrible beauty. He was always amused, he always showed his face when it was only the two of us, and he always acted like a lunatic when it came to doing his job. Not his job as a mortician, but as his job as an informant. Honestly, he was more of the latter than the former. It appeared as if he only did the former as a way to pass the time. He seemed to honestly enjoy working as a mortician.
After I told him my name, he became solemn for a moment, even his smile faded from his lips. It was but only a moment before it returned. He then rose to fetch me water for my parched throat. When he returned, he then asked of everything I remembered. I breathed in for a moment and said, "I grew up in a fairly rich home. The woman and man were kind, almost a dream. I lived with them until I was eleven. I loved them dearly, but it seemed the feelings were returned. They just up and left me one day, saying they would only be gone a little while. What was supposed to be a few hours turned into days. Days turned into weeks. Food ran scarce, and the servants all left me one by one."
Sadness held my chest. Tears wanted to leak from my eyes. I felt I was going to. It had all hurt too much to bare, the lonliness. I felt a cool hand on my shoulder, urging me to continue. I shook my head and quickly collected myself. I continued, "Then, one day, a package arrived at the front door. Inside were directions to a secret room in the attic and instructions to find the Scholar. I followed the directions exactly and found the secret room. Inside were dusty objects and, ugh, cobwebs. I hate spiders. Anyhow, the directions said to find a box with a P engraved into it. Once I had located that, I opened it to find old letters. They were addressed to the man and woman I had lived with. The letter was thanking them for taking me in and such. The letters were always signed with Phantomhive. Underneath was a necklace. This necklace."
I showed the necklace to the Undertaker once more. He looked at it with an intensity I had not thought possible. I shook my head and continued, "I then followed the instructions to find a man called the Scholar. He is the one who has taken care of me these past five years. When I met him, I thought he was to blame for all of my misfortune. It was wrong of me to think so. He was a kind man. He was beautiful, more beautiful than any woman in the world. He took no pride in it, but he did not ignore it. He was gifted in the arts, charismatic, and all-knowing. Although he was merely twenty, he appeared well beyond his age."
I paused a moment to catch my breath. I had realized that I was rambling. My face brunt fire, but the Undertaker merely just laughed. He motioned for me to continue. I cleared my throat and said, "Anyway, he took me in, informed me, furthered my education and such, and cared for me. It was peaceful until..."
My voice had caught in my throat. The Undertaker's cool hand returned to my shoulder, squeezing to comfort me. I took a deep breathe and said, "I don't remember. All I can seem to recall is me cutting through an ally way to get apples before blacking out. I can only seem to just remember the scent of horse manure. That's all I can remember."
My hands were fidgety on my lap. I was starting to feel wave on top of wave of various emotions each bubbling to the top. My vision had begun to go black. The Undertaker seemed to sense my discomfort and swept me up into his arms. My hands gripped tightly to his black garb. I was scared and excited all the same. The sound of his shoes were whispering for me to run far away from him, from this place. Yet, the Undertaker's hands told me to stay.
I chose to stay. The Undertaker laid me in bed in one of the back rooms. His gentle voice quietly breathed, "Sleep, young Phantomhive, for you shall soon meet him and be forever changed. You light will be dimmed to become more beautiful, and I am sorry you will have to go through it at all."
The softness of a real bed overtook my senses until I was lulled into a deep sleep. I awoke many hours later to find the Undertaker in a guise to broker information. The payment was laughter. An oddly satisfying deal that was. The Undertaker was an odd man. It all seemed to fit. I steered clear of his...other job. Dead bodies churned my stomach more than spiders ever could.
I soon heard an unnerving screech from outside. Then, the door opened.

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A/N So this is it! I wrote a chapter! I hope you guys like it! I PROMISE I DON'T OWN ANYTHING HERE EXCEPT AILIS AND THE SCHOLAR. I SWEARS IT. Oky, done spazzing. Leave a comment about plot, grammar, or anything that doesnt...fit? But please don't be unkind. I enjoy constructive criticism. Not just plain criticism. If you have unkind things to say, please do not. I only want to improve my writing.