The Heart of Stone

Prologue

Hello Reader, 

So before you start reading I want you to know that I am actually writing this with another person as well and their account name is Lillybug. So if you see two copies of this on two accounts then now you know why. Thanks and enjoy reading!

The town was silent. Not a creature stirred in the night as the inhabitants of the town were all asleep in their beds, oblivious to what was happening on the top of the hill. The only thing the moon illuminated was the old mansion sitting at the highest point in town, overlooking all that lay below it.

Nobody had seen the owners of the mansion in over ten years, ever since the murders of their three daughters. The murder case had never been solved and many thought that the daughters own parents had killed them, although evidence for this rumor was never found. The townspeople knew that the family that lived there was horrible but little did they know just how horrifying they actually were...

The mansion creaked dangerously in the night as a scientist shuffled around in his lab, many floors beneath the earth. It was time to complete his most important experiment, the reason why he had needed to sacrifice his three precious daughters so many years before.

The scientist had known this day would come but he hadn't known it would take place so soon. His wife had died in the earliest stages of the experiment - which caused a big delay in the project as she couldn't be brought back to life - but he had fixed the mistake and now it was time to make things right.

The scientists name was James Hartford and he was legally insane. He had killed his own parents to 'borrow' their hearts and had killed three police officers who had tried to take him to an asylum. He had eventually been caught but had been released early for 'good behavior' and he had plotted ever since to get his revenge. And this experiment was how he was going to get it.

James shuffled over to the far corner of the lab and grabbed three glass containers from the freezer that contained the preserves of his three dead daughters. It was time to make them alive once again.

Hands shaking with excitement, James ran over to a strange contraption sitting by the far wall and began to scoop out the daughters preserved body parts. After everything was in place, the switch was flipped downwards and the machine roared to life, grabbing each body part and stuffing them into three human shells.

The human shells were tinier than an actual human, allowing for the new and improved daughters to go into places regular humans dared not go. And the insides of the new daughters were different, too. They had metal bones instead of normal ones and instead of a proper heart, their hearts had lines of flexible metal running through them, making sure to keep the heart beating four times longer than the normal human. Their ears, eyes and noses would be three times as powerful and their joints would be able to take much more impact than a human. Their taste buds were enhanced to detect every taste in the universe and their skin was nearly impenetrable. The girls were practically indestructible.

The only different thing was that these new daughters would obey any command that James gave them, even killing themselves. It was a necessary change as James needed to make sure that they would help him carry out his final plan: to get revenge. And the girls were the gateway to getting it.

James burst out into a loud and obnoxious cackle as the three human shells began to glow, the new body parts beginning to move. His experiment was working and soon everything would be perfect! He would get his revenge, he would get his daughters back and then finally he could bring his wife back from the dead. And then everything would be in its proper place once again.

The machine continued whirring as it sewed up the bodies flawlessly and began working on the brain, the last step before the experiment was complete.

Everything was going as planned for once in his life and now James was happy until...

The power flickered once and then shut off, just as the machine was wiring the brains to follow every command.

"NO!" James screamed. Everything was going perfectly, it couldn't end now!

But the power didn't turn back on and the three daughters bodies began to expire. Without a working brain they didn't stand a chance at surviving and if they expired... there was no bringing them back.

Panicked, James ran over to them, realizing that he didn't have much choice. He didn't have time to program them to his command before they died but there was still a chance to save them. Quickly, he kick started each of the daughters brains and poured metal around it to create a skull. After each of the girls brains were enclosed, the hearts began pumping normally once again and James sighed with relief as he sewed up the skin, leaving a tiny scar behind.

Finally, every girl was done and their body was working as usual but James was not satisfied. They couldn't follow his very command still, which was the whole point of bringing them back! Now what was he going to do?

And then he had one final idea.

James darted over to the counter and rummaged through the drawers, looking for the programming cards. He found two and quickly plugged them into two of the girls spines, just where the nerves met the metal bone. But he couldn't find the third programming card and he was running out of time. Any minute now, the girls would awaken and it would be too late.

With no time to lose, James ran back to the desk and searched desperately for the final card, hoping that it wasn't too late. His back turned to the girls, he continued searching oblivious to what was happening behind him.

Slowly, all three girls woke up and glance around in confusion at the fact that they were tied down to a chair, surrounded by medical supplies and machines.

They couldn't remember how they had gotten there or what their names were or even how old they were. All they knew was that whoever had put them there wasn't a friend and that they had to escape.

Quickly, new limbs shaking with the effort, all three girls slipped out of their restraints and slowly ran away, climbing to the ceiling and disappearing into the ventilation shaft.

And by the time James realized they were missing, the three girls were long gone.

James finally found the final memory card and spun around in delight at his mission being accomplished. His excitement immediately disappeared, however, when he realized that the three girls were gone.

"NO!" James screamed and flailed about, knocking papers and microscopes and medical supplies to the floor. Because not only had his experiments escaped, he had not yet activated the programming cards meaning the girls were not in his control.

After everything, after all of his hard work, his experiments had escaped and they weren't coming back.

Finally, James sank to the ground in shock as his sadness melted to anger.

"One day I will find you." He vowed "And I'll make sure to never let you escape ever again!"

And with that, James stood and marched out of his lab, coming up with a plan. But his newfound determination made him forget about the machine that was still switched on.

A couple of minutes later, the electricity flickered on and the machine continued to work only to stop when it realized there was nothing left to complete. In its confusion, it began to glitch and jump around the room, as it was not programmed to deal with this much confusion. Finally, it couldn't take it anymore and exploded, causing a major earthquake to rattle through town and destroy almost all the buildings in sight.

Only one hundred townspeople survived the earthquake and they were evacuated to the nearest city, leaving their town where it would remain abandoned for many years.

And in the far distance, three tiny girls continued walking towards dawn, without a backwards glance...