Echos In The Catacombs

Chapter 16: Birthdays and Death-days

A/N: Here we go..
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Violet's P.O.V

I managed to find the grave almost instantly. Why wouldn't I be able to? Ever since I was eight, I've been coming here. I knew exactly what I was looking for. 

My Mother's grave. She died three days after my eighth birthday.

"The gravestone looks new, like the whole thing got remade just so our names could be added underneath hers.." Noire stated. "But why is the top half of it covered?"

Noire reached her hand out to remove the sheet of fabric, covering the top half of the grave, but I swatted her hand away.

"It's always been like that." I spat. "I never thought anything of it so I just left it."

Noire retracted her hand back to her side and let out a small sigh.

"I suppose it is nice that somebody got us a grave and buried us with our mother.." Noire spoke softly.

"We just need to find shovels and dig the damn thing up now. It's not something I want to do, but it's something that has to be done." I sighed.

"I'll go and find some, you wait here." Noire said as she walked away.

"I'm sorry Mummy." I said as I knelt in front of the grave. "I'm sorry that I've been gone for so long." I sighed. "I don't know where Daddy's gone, I don't know if I can trust him anymore."

I smiled at the thought of the others. "But I made some new friends. They're just like me, they don't fit in with everyone else. Are you proud of me?"

'Of course you are. You were always so proud of me and I never understood why..'

"I finally found some shovels. They were so conveniently placed it's like someone wanted us to find them." Noire called out.

"Maybe someone knew that we were here? Or maybe someone knew that we were going to come here?" I quizzed.

I stood up and Noire handed me the shovel. 

"Someone must be watching over us." Noire replied. "But now comes the 'fun' part. Digging up Mummy's grave." 

We began to dig up the grave, it didn't take us long to reach the casket. We had to use the shovels to pry it open.

Our mother's skeleton was laying peacefully, clutching what looked to be two files close to her chest...or rib cage. 

I reached to grab the files, careful not to disturb the skeleton. After i got them we closed the casket back up and refilled the grave with the mounds of dirt.

The others walked over to us, Riven was still paying us no mind.

"So you found yours too?" Vice asked. He seems to be opening up to us more.

"Yep, buried with mother dearest." I spoke through gritted teeth.

"Either incredibly smart or some sort of a sick joke." Lizzie chimed in.

"I think it's both, but it leans more towards smart." Noire replied. "We should probably read these." She gestured to the files.

I flicked mine open. "Val.....Valen....Val.." I tried turning the bloody thing upside down. "Can someone please tell me what this says?"

Noire looked at the file in my hands. "Vi, that's your name. Your full name."

"It's written in cursive how am I suppose to read it?" I snapped. "It's not exactly the most legible handwriting."

"Just read the part at the bottom, it'll tell what 'side-effect' you've got." Pene spoke impatiently.

"Hush." I read out. "Subject.... can..... force... her... victims... into... silence... simply.... by... touching... them."

"Oh great, make the mouthy twin shut everyone else up." Noire spoke. "Mine just says 'Paralysis', great."

I was too busy trying to read my file to notice that Noire had moved the fabric covering the grave slightly.

"Died November 3rd 1985, age 32." Noire read out. " She died on her birthday, no one ever told me that.." She sounded sad.

My attention snapped in her direction. "Noire what are you doing? Someone covered that for a reason."

She moved the cover once more.

"Born November 3rd......." She paused.

"Noire, is everything alright?" Lizzie asked with concern.

"1997." She continued. 

"Hold on." Pene started.

"H-how is the e-even possible?" Klaude finished.

Noire looked at me, her eyes filling with tear ready to spill at any moment. "We shouldn't even be alive. Our existence should be impossible." She let out a heavy sigh. "I wonder what else she decided to hide from us." She pulled the fabric on final time.

"Danyella...." She paused a second time. I have a feeling it wasn't for dramatic effect. "Avanstein."

"Avanstein?" Angel questioned.

Noire sadness boiled into anger. Anger aimed at me. "How did you not know this?! You, an eight-year-old child, came here for hours every single day after she was buried! Tell me why you never knew or told anyone about this!" She yelled. Everyone was caught off guard because it wasn't like her.

"I only knew where this grave was because Daddy showed me! I never knew anything about her surname, nor even how to spell her first one! Why? Because I can't read or write Noire! She was going to teach me but she got sick before she could!" I shouted back at her. "I got kicked out of school at the age of 7 because every single bad thing that happened was my fault!"

Our breathing had eased but our expressions never changed.

"Noire she's illiterate. She wasn't able to read your Mother's name way back then, and she isn't able to now. I'm sure if she knew then she would've told you. Violet doesn't look like the type to keep such big secrets." Lizzie spoke in a calm tone, able to diffuse the tension between the two of us.

Riven walked away from Lizzie's side and inspected the name on the gravestone carefully. She pointed to the name 'Avanstein' then pointed to the tape player. 

She mouthed the words, 'He's trying to tell us something...'
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Hope you enjoyed Chapter 16 of Echos In The Catacombs
Chapter 17 should be out soon

Catch You Later~