After Dark Anthology

After Dark Anthology: Ch.5 The Dead's Fortnight

Dead of night, past the witching hour evil swept over; washing the soil in tainted incantations that burned the ears of any who heard its blare. Standing in awe after the account they'd witnessed were sure to be the impossible to some, but for the friends was the act of the devil himself. The shallow sound of broken bones retorting to life as dead members claw and chisel from their rotted prisons beneath the corrupt ground. Craving freedom whaled at their life anew, provoking screams from the apparatuses of the comrades placing them through a sequence for the fight of their lives.

Nothing but a premature morning along with a lengthy drive was in store for young Simon Hardly and his mother Vanessa Hardly. They'd moved from their complicated lives in search for a more peaceful walk of life; hoping a fresh start would bring such indulgence. Pleased with how events unfolded, merrily packed their valuables along with the essentials for the excursion ahead. They'd relocated to a serine cabin home on the borders of lush forest-filled vibrant colors of turning autumn leaves and trees that painted grins upon their faces at the thought alone. Coming up to the structurally steady home was encased in beaming light cast down from the sun and clear blanket baby blue sky surrounded by natural wild life seemed to be what the stout family had longed for. Upon entering their attractive new home was found to be vacant, exposed to the idea of an original interior vision.

Unpacking the hefty luggage was a process in which felt as if took a tiresome millennium, till a local girl around the young man's age approached the new-found home, placing her knuckle upon the wood door calling out. Simon, the one who answered was stunned at the sight of the radiant individual with apple baked goods in hand as she continued her introduction as Lacey from down the dirt road while presenting her flare. Welcoming the visitor in, Simon widened the door for the lady while escorting her towards the dining area where she encountered his mother. Vanessa, staggered at the occurrence, thought it to be a pleasant idea to include the visitor for dinner that night. Lacey, to no objection agreed at the invitation in addition to offering her assistance in their current endeavor as a return of gratitude. Vanessa, now ecstatic journeyed out towards the earthy road once more for the ingredients for such an occasion.

Resuming their work, Simon who sorted and arranged the soon to be common room with the support of Lacey stumbled on top of loose boarding fortuitously revealing a hidden compartment containing estranged trinket's and paraphernalia's. Igniting their curiosities, decided to uncover the mysterious items displaying a dainty oval shaped amulet with an engraving almost like a keyhole in the center attached to strands of dark hair giving it an almost rope-like edifice, an ancient maroon leather journal that consisted of worn beaten and battered pages, and finally an outlandish talisman carving of sorts they were at a loss for. The alarming finds puzzled the two, only encouraging them to pry further to unlock the now acknowledged surreptitious cabin. Additional inspection of the objects fascinated the duo, enlisting them in the direction of the decrepit journal desiring an explanation at the phenomena before them. While examining the book they found it to be enclosed in seals and oddly designed scratching's peaking their inherent inquisitiveness. Breaking the melded locks by hand yielded no results till they took to the kitchen where upon branding a blade cut the restraints splitting the text free. Inspecting the writings exhibited bizarre wordings unfamiliar to the adventurers, accompanied with disturbing diagrams and illustrations they profoundly depended on to make any sagacity to the dark scriptures. Sifting through the morbidly enticing etchings they became entranced by them. Making due with what little translation they could make out studied the black encyclopedia religiously until the circumstances made sense to the two. By chance or fate, Lacey discovered a sketching of the hidden carving while Simon, breaking contact with the blasphemous pages sought answers in the confines of the totem carving. Lacey, intelligent as she was examined the mural page; correlated the text to its depiction. Simon, grasping the trinket, dutifully ran his fingers along its toothy jaw, scaling towards the tip of its sharp reflective deep jewel studded lenses, around to the rigid structure of the sculpture in its entirety. Her mind as her cipher attempted to mouth the words in an effort to understand more of the secret treasure, spoke aloud the words from the page. The totem carving reacting to her incantation, began to vibrated and give off slight buzzing noises while in Simon's hands, rattling his bones, tearing the flesh on the pad of his fingers dribbling blood on to the antique taking it into itself as if there was never a stain upon it.