The Daisy Garden

Part 4 - The Crows Had Taken Her

It was two days since Barny and Daisy had been outside of this castle, and they'd gotten quite sick of eachother, but Barny liked the time away from his Dad, no yelling, fighting, cigarette's and no fear, for some reason, they weren't scared in their chambers. They were quite comfortable.

Barny woke with a start, he had heard somebody else wander into his chamber, he looked forward and wondered if he was seeing things, the door was wide open and in the corner of the room was a face he recognised "E?" E forced a smile

"Barny my friend... Do you have any idea why that door is wide open? Oh of course you don't" E got up and started pacing "you love your friend and you wouldn't let this go without worry or-"

"E! Calm down, and tell me what the matter is!" E sat down again with a sad look in his eye.

"Well, I was on a stroll this morning, as I do  everyday at dawn when I remembered what Eppy had told me 'Those kids have ventured into the castle y'know' I noticed this because the castle was alot more airy and light than usual, something to do with the open doors and windows I expect. The archway was clear... No soldiers, so I decided to check up on you two. Two, is what I thought I would find anyway." Barny frowned in alarm "well, what do you mean that's what you thought you'd find?" E sighed mournfully "that's what I'm coming to, I came up the stairs and I knew you'd both be in the sacrificial chambers because the alure and mystery of them makes them too hard to resist, so, out of my hamper that I always carry with me" E looked around and patted the battered picnic basket that sat beside him "I took this red and white checkered blanket" again, the item he pointed too was battered, dusty and looked a little mouldy around the edges "and I sat outside the chambers and waited..." Barny had come to now and was interested to hear what the end of the story was. 

"Waited for us to wake up... right?" E dropped his head

"Yes... But I had waited about thirty four... or so I recall minutes and I was getting hungry, so I started eating one of my cookies." The food he gestured to were certainly not cookies, but they did look appetising, they looked more like spherical cakes. "And I waited, until I heard a sound coming from the right hand chamber, the one that Daisy was in and so I pressed my ear up against the door to see if I could hear any further rumpus.... But I didn't, and soon enough, the doors opened up, I was a little relieved but destraught at the same time. I walked into the room to find nothing but a shiny black crows feather on the floor gleaming in the light.... 

The crows had taken her."

"Wait wait wait... The crows had taken her!? What's that supposed to mean?" E's eyes filled with tears "here's the part I was dreading... She's gone Barny..." Barny was trying not to face reality and thinking of other solutions to what E had just said "Gone... You mean, like escaped...?" E shook his head "'fraid not... She's gone... Forever............ She's dead, Barnaby." A single tear rolled down Barny's cheek, as if he hadn't even noticed he was crying. "I hate this! This place is hell!" E was afraid Barny would react like this, Barny ran out, tears almost trailing behind him, out of the castle and back to the arch. He grabbed onto it, kicking it, trying to knock it down. Slowly, E's shadow grew over him "Barnaby..." Barny crouched down, his head in his hands "I want you to have this, it's the key to the garden... So I want it to be your decision... You can either lock yourself out and leave us here, or... you leave the gate unlocked, your choice Barny... Goodbye." E disappeared off into the distance as Barny was left with the key "wait!" Barny got up "E! Wait!" E turned and stood stationary "How will Daisy get home?" E smiled

"That's the wonder of this place... Once the crows are out of this boundary, they'll turn into something else... Like policemen, or paremedics, something legit." Barny wiped his eyes and stood still for a moment "nobody will know it was me will they?" E walked forward understandingly

"It wasn't you my friend, the sacrificial chambers do what they must do... like the letter says 'when one is gone, one will be free'"

"So that's what that dumb letter meant... If I'd known I would have tried harder to escape..." E stroked Barny's head "don't think it was your fault, once the crows get back to ordinary life and mutate into someone else... They'll have a perfectly good explaination for what happened.." Barny looked up at E "But then we'll all be living a lie..."

"Stop puzzling yourself with questions... In this land, everything has a solution, in fact I think that if you think hard enough there's a solution to everything in your life too, and if you can find those solutions... Everything will get better. That's guaranteed." Barny threw his arms around E

"Your a really good friend E.. I'm gonna leave that gate unlocked, s-so you can come and visit me, and tell me what I should do... cause you're wise like that E." Said Barny, still sobbing. He slowly walked back through the gate and shut it slowly, he folded his fingers around the key and held it up in his fist so E could see. He walked  back through the garden and back up to his bedroom. Tears still running down his cheeks "Barnaby! Barnaby?!" Barny's Dad swung open the door to see Barny on his bed, crying. "Are you cryin'?" He walked closer to Barny "Cause I will not have cryin', why are ya, why are ya bein' a little girly this time?" He picked up something off of his bedside table and threw it on the ground, it was glass and so it smashed into a million little pieces "you'd better not have had a fight... worse still you'd better not have had a fight and lost! If you don't tell me what's wrong immediately.... All of this is goin' in the bin!" His Dad pointed to the piles of notebooks that Barny had written endless pieces of writing in, illustrated with brilliant pictures, he frowned "eh?"