The Revenant

Old Nightmares

REY

We landed at least a few miles away from our destination. If we were hunted,we all needed to make it hard to track us.

We each dismounted from Emelenia, and she shifted back into her humanoid form, although,when she did, she lacked most...if not all of her clothing. I took my cloak off,covering her body, and she smiled up at me.

Lukas,Bilquise and their parents huddled close together,while Pauline and Sven,with the monkey boy,watched our rear. Mom and Emelenia stuck with me.

Emelenia clutched my cloak tightly around her body, yelping every so often as she carelessly stepped on several sharp stones in the road,thankfully though,she never managed to get hurt.

"Where are you taking us?" She asked.

"I don't know. Nova said that if things ever went south, this was where we had to go to as a last resort."

"The middle of nowhere?"

"No,its further up."

I led everyone to a large manor. It was far from a magnificent manor, the once luscious white paint had worn off, several parts of the house were now faded black, and several intersecting overgrown vines snaked up the sides,covering some of the windows.

It was a dilapidated manor, something more akin to what I had read in horror novels,haunted houses or houses hiding psychopaths,cracks in the paint and windows, cobwebs stretching along the corners, dead leaves covering the steps,crackling beneath my feet.

"I refuse." Mom said.

I turned to see her face pale, fear-stricken.

"I will not set foot in that house. I will not go anywhere near it. I fucking refuse. Rey,can we go somewhere else?"

"Nova said we'd be safe here mom...what's wrong? This place seems secluded."

"I'm not-"

The doors to the house creaked open, and an eerie wind blew. I spun round,drawing my rapier and readying myself for whoever would come through.

A large man, tall and hulking,emerged from the shadows. He wore a cruel smirk on his face, and had a sadistic look in his eye's. His complexion was light, black,short curled hair covered his head.

"Ahh...daddies boy is home."

Daddies boy?

He approached me. I jabbed my rapier forward in an attempt to threaten him,push him back somewhat.

"You're my dad aren't you?"

He appeared confused at first,his smile fading away for a few seconds. Then, a large smirk drew itself across his face.

"Ahh...Rey! You're a revenant just like your brother. I'm so proud of you."

His eye's scanned each of us before it fell to mom. "Jocelyn."

"Fuck you!"

He chuckled and his eye's continued to scan each of us.

He looked at Emelenia,biting his lower lip. "My my...a dragon in your company? She must be fiery in bed eh son?"

"Don't you touch her." I said,pushing my rapiers tip against his chest, "Nova told me what kind of a man you are. I won't let you hurt her."

"On the contrary my boy, I'm just looking. There's no harm in a peek is there?" He asked,cackling under his breath.

His eye's scanned me,up and down,from my head to my boots.

"You...you carry yourself with confidence. A stark contrast to your brother...I can tell...you are not a weakling like he is."

He took a step back, his smile not fading for even a moment.

"Please. Come inside my humble abode. Make yourselves at home."

I looked around at everybody, my entire body tensed up.

"I don't like this..." Pauline said.

"It's a place to lay low for a while. At least until we can figure out what to do next." Sven said. "We just need to look out for each other."

"I, am not, setting a fucking TOE inside of that house. Not again. I refuse." Mom said.

I turned to Mom and placed my hands on her shoulder,which she was quick to shake off.

"Do you know what that man does?! Do you have any idea what he did to your brother?! For years?! He pushed him to suicide! Suicide Rey!"

"We don't have anywhere else to go mom! Okay?" I said, pulling her into a hug. "We have each other. We have each other. There's more of us than him. We have Pauline and Sven, who are veteran revenant hunters, we have me, and Tyrese, and a fucking dragon. We outnumber and out power him ten to one."

I held mom's face gently in my palms. "We'll be alright."

She seemed skeptical, but eventually mom followed us inside.

Everything felt normal, yet, as the doors shut behind us, I felt a shiver go down my spine, and a sense of dread crept over me.

Why, why does this feel like the worst decision big brother ever could have made?

In retrospect,he did tell me to use this as my absolute last resort, and instead I used it as my first.

Sonja arrived not long after, in which dad greeted her with open arms. Even she admitted to me that she grew strangely terrified of this house. She sat with us in the lounge as we all huddled around the fireplace. My father was nowhere to be seen, and Lukas and Bilquise sat in the middle, right where we all could see them.

My mind screamed out to me, that I had made a huge mistake...that I had used my last resort as my first resort,without even thinking of an alternative plan.
I made an impulsive decision...and I felt as though I was going to pay a hefty price for it now.