Virgin Sins | Harry Styles

The Murder

When the headache struck, Nina was it's captive, quite helpless in her cage of pain. As her eyes woke from her slumber, she was blinded with the light that escaped passed her curtains and she craved nothing but darkness and to be back asleep; but she feared she would be pulled back into the nightmare that she had awoken from.

She curls her toes, only feeling her duvet, remembering how the damp soil beneath her feet in her dream had felt so real. Nina blinks, only seeing the eerie woods that surrounded her as she had walked to the figure who she swore belonged to her friend. She shudders when her hand was placed on his shoulder, which had felt just like his.

It wasn't until his face turned, revealing one that didn't belong to Ben Walter, that she screamed. There was no sound came out of her tightened throat as she saw only the solid, blackened eyes and the smirk that matched with it.

She wondered if it could even be considered a nightmare if when she awakens part of it still resides in the real world. Ben Walter is gone and nobody has found him.

She looks to the alarm clock that sat on her bedside, which was slowly collecting dust among it's surface. It was already 9am and she presumed Grayson had told her Grandmother to leave her to sleep on that weekday morning.

Rain was still a resident in Dornwhich that morning and it didn't seem to be leaving anytime soon as the dirt outside Nina's window was now just thick mud and the trees offered no shelter. Droplets the size of almonds smashed their way through the foliage above, crashing down in a loud pitter-patter.

As she got up, sitting on the edge of her bed, her icy-cold foot touched a hard object that crept out slightly from beneath her. Her eyes widened, realising just what it was. It was almost like her hands had a mind of their own as they reached down quickly and grabbed the book, throwing it open upon her pale, exposed knees. She wouldn't be surprised if the force from it had left bruises.

The title even though she had read it before, still left a shiver running down her spine.

"The Devil's Demons." She mumbled quietly to herself in her bedroom. Why her Grandmother owned a book like this, never-less, hundreds of them, bewildered Nina. She opened the front page slowly, revealing an index. Though, the chapters didn't resemble the ones from a fairytale, it looked pretty normal, that was until her eyes scanned down each line, stopping on one that had a thick, red circle around it.

She read it softly to herself as her index-finger traced along the pen's ink.

"The Killer Of The Impure."

Her thick eyebrows furrowed at the title and her throat filled with a nervous lump that when she tried to swallow it down, it stayed. Her curiosity got the best of her as she then flicks to the chapter her Grandmother had deemed important.

Fingertips collide with torn pages and curiosity is met with disappointment. The whole chapter had been entirely ripped from it's place. Every question Nina had were all left with no answer and she wondered whole-heartedly what her Grandmother was up to.

She closes the book without looking at any of the other chapters, figuring them unimportant compared to the pages that had been outlined among the rest. Throwing the book to her side, she gave it one last glance, followed by another as her eyes caught sight of faint writing that was etched to the back of the leathered book.

D.A.S.L

She new exactly the place in which the name belonged to. There was this tiny shop that sat at the far end of Dornwhich's pathetic excuse of a town centre, hidden behind all the popular stores that sold furniture or clothing. It's exterior wasn't as inviting as the rest, it had a dark, painted door with dim-tinted windows that revealed nothing to the outsiders as statues of the unholy sat outside it's store-front. It was owned by a frail, old lady who's hair was a dark black but had silver roots, she wore outfits to match that usually resembled something you would wear to a funeral. The abbreviation stood for 'Dornwhich's Alternative Spirituality Library.'