Behind Crimson Veil

Scarlet Suffering

Rain pours down in the empty evening, small worn cracks in the sidewalk and road gather the heavy precipitation. This once busy neighborhood seems to be a ghost town, there is not a soul in sight it seems. A car pulls into a driveway in North Sweet Apple Drive, the car as well as the property it sits upon, belongs to the Adilade family. The car door opens and a very pristinely dressed man steps out onto the pavement, this man is Arthur Adilade.

Arthur, after locking the car doors, approaches the front porch, retrieves the house key out of his coat and enters the large mansion. "Welcome home dear, how was work ?", Eviline Adilade, Arthur's wife, inquires as she takes his coat and hat. "It was loathsome, blasted workers wanted a pay raise.", Arthur answered. "Our daughter ?", he questioned. "Ah, right, Ive been meaning to speak to you about her, she's been distant, she never leaves her room anymore besides school.", Eviline answered sorrowfuly. "I will talk to her.", says Arthur as he moves his wife out of the way and ascends the stairs. Reaching his daughter's door he clears his throught and gives it a hardy knock. "Edina, daughter, come out at once and speak to me.", he orders. Arthur waits for a reply, but to no avail, it is none but silence that he hears. He tries twice more, getting the same outcome, finally out of patients he bursts into his daughter's room. Her window is open and she is nowhere in sight. Arthur approaches the window and shuts it, "I'll have some words for that girl when she returns.", He mutters.

Ah, but where could Edina be, why in the slums of course. Edina had bought some commoner clothing which she is wearing now. Hating the cautious, fenced in, fancy neighborhood where she lives, Edina often escapes to the slums, where the poor live very different lives. She always brought a small amout of valuable items from home and handed them out among the people she talked to. This made Edina happy, she felt that she was helping them in some way. Edina was helping them, but they did not know her as Edina, they knew her as Eddie, a girl like them who was simply very kind and resourceful. Eddie had even made a couple good friends, as well as enimies, but she didnt know that yet. Ready to head home, she said goodbye to her friends and put on her cloak.

During the walk back home she would always stop at the local shrine to pay her respects, the shrine was built to honor the dead and trap evil spirits inside. Edina entered the shrine and knelt down in front of the holy statue, she pulled a small pouch of rice from her pocket. As she scattered the rice on the floor she said, "Pass on Alfred Adilade, may the good spirits of angels guide you to heaven, although you passed young you lived a wonderful life. Your loving older sister, Edina Adilade.".

Just then the doors of the shrine slammed shut, Edina jumped up startled. Two figures approached from the shadows, one held a gun pointed at Edina, the other brandishing brass knuckles in both his fists. "Ya here that Jim, we got ourselves an Adilade.", said the gunmen. "Yeah Tom, and a cute one at that, it's too bad we gotta use you as an example.", said the brass knuckles. The gunmen after nodding at the bass knuckles, aimed and shot Edina in the stomach.

Feeling extremely fatigued, Edina lies down and almost immediately falls to the cold floor into slumber.