Haunted

Haunted (Chapter 5) Answers

Author's note: Hey guys =3 I thought I'd add the song at the side because it kinda goes with part of the chapter, lol. And it's pretty. XD Anyway, back to the story.

"I should," Widow Smith said, smiling bitterly. "After all, I was there when they were killed."

"What?!" Ciel exclaimed, jolting forward and almost jumping out of his chair in surprise, but managing to restrain himself just in time.

Finally, Alois thought, grinning to himself. We're getting somewhere!

Widow Smith leaned back in her chair, and looked greatly saddened all of a sudden. "It was about 30 years ago now," she said, closing her pale green eyes and frowning, as if she could still see the events of that day flickering behind her eyelids like a cinematic record. "Even if my memory is a little foggy in my old age, I still clearly remember the way they died. It was awful..."

--

"Big sister! There's somebody new in the village!" Anna's little sister called, running excitedly into the kitchen. "They say he's a distant relative of Scruffy Harry's!"

"Is that right?" Anna said, turning round from the bucket where she was peeling potatoes in surprise. "I thought he didn't have any family."

Scruffy Harry, aptly named that by the village children, was something of an outcast. So filthy and disgusting was he, in fact, that the villagers did their utmost to stay away from him. He lived in a tiny shack close to the forest, and was unreservedly short-tempered and rude to anyone who dared speak to him. He was especially hostile towards the Ashworth family, the father of which he had once had a quarrel with over some land.

That's strange, thought Anna. It doesn't make sense. If he had any relatives, why would they show up now, and out of the blue at that? She shook her head in confusion, and went back to peeling her potatoes.

Her suspicions only increased, however, when she met the man whom Harry claimed to be his second cousin. Aside from the fellow's ebony black hair, which was the same shade as Harry's had once been, there was little to no resemblance between the two men at all. In fact, they were almost polar opposites.

--

Widow Smith paused in her story. "You know, it's strange," she said thoughtfully, "To this day, I can't for the life of me remember what that man looked like. Try as I might, the only thing that stays in my mind is that he had black hair, and that he was very tall. Isn't that funny?" She shook her head in bemusement. "Maybe I wanted to forget."

That's a bit annoying, thought Alois. But I suppose it's not surprising that she's forgotten things, if it's been 30 years. Either way, who cares about physical descriptions? The guy's probably six feet under and pushing up daisies by now. Unless... He threw a glance at Ciel, who appeared to be thinking the same thing.

Widow Smith coughed suddenly. "I do beg your pardon," she apologized. " I've not been very well recently..." She broke off into another fit of coughing. It was a sad, hacking noise that seemed to split through the relative quiet of the room like a blade. She reached for a glass of water that she had at her feet, and Sebastian passed it up to her. She took it, her eyes watering slightly, but flinched a little when she touched him. It was a small, almost invisible gesture, but Sebastian's eyes narrowed slightly, picking it up. "Thank-you," she said quietly, looking for some reason disturbed.

Ciel got to his feet, sensing the old lady was tired. "We'll leave you in peace," he said, replacing his top hat which he had taken off.

"Ciel?" Alois asked, standing too. Ciel payed him no attention. "We'll come back tomorrow, when you are perhaps feeling a little better." he continued.