Ikari ][ One Piece ][

Chapter Twelve

~Thatch's POV~

                Once upon a time this quaint little home probably looked like something right out of a fairytale book. It had the potential to be something beautiful. However, there was a darkness looming about it that gave me the chills. Something horrifying happened here, I could practically taste it in the air around. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination due to the dark aura of the house or not, but I could smell the metallic scent of blood mixed with the putrid decay of death in the air. What happened here?

                "Who goes there?!" A raspy voice called out from behind me.

                Curiously I turned in the direction the voice had come and paused when I spotted an elderly man hobbling up the slope leaning heavily on a gnarled cane. His eyes were slightly fogged over due to age and cataracts and beneath the haze were a pale blue in color. He was mostly bald with a few tufts of white hair stubbornly clinging to his wrinkled scalp.

                "What business do you have here?" The old man scowled.

                With a wry smile I slung my hands behind my head lazily, "Just visiting and thought I'd explore the island a bit."

                "Leave this place." The elderly man barked.

                Curiosity got the better of me, "What happened here?"

                With a shake of his head the elderly man turned away, "A horror beyond imagination." He slowly hobbled back down the path shaking his head as he went, "That poor child."

                Child? "Hey, Old Man, what happened here?" I yelled after the old man as he slowly disappeared down the bend.

                "I think you already know the answer to that." A soft cherubic voice chirped behind me.

                I spun on my heel in alarm I hadn't even sensed her approach. A beautiful doll like girl stood before me. Her silver spun champagne blonde hair fell in perfect ring curls around her delicate frame. She truly was a vision in the brilliant blue baby doll dress and her child like floral stockings, but it was her eyes that always left one breathless. Her eyes were fierce, they were a dark piercing garnet that almost looked like molten lava or burning cinders in just the right light.

                "What do you mean?" I asked her curiously as she stepped past me and opened the overgrown front gate with ease.

                She walked across the plant ridden path to the weathered door of the quaint cottage without a word. My stomach took a sickening turn as she reached for the door. If she opened that door, I had a feeling all hell would break loose. If she opened the door every terrible thing that ever happened within would come rushing out. It was surely enough to drive any sane person mad.

                "Wait!" I called out to her desperately as her dainty hand encircled the doorknob.

                She turned to me with an eerie smile, "Welcome to my home, Commander." The doorknob easily turned in her grip and I felt my heart pound as the door clicked as it unlatched and creaked as it inched open.

                "NO!" I didn't know what came over me but for some reason I didn't want that door opened, I didn't want all of that evil to enter the world.

                The door swung open with ease and nothing happened. Why had I reacted that way?

Video- "Missing" By Evanescence