The blood continued to spill out of Jennine’s mouth. At first, it was red, and then it turned somewhat dark. Quickly getting away from her, Madeline watched Jennine’s body convulse on the floor until the body turned still.
Leaving the room quickly, she went to the living room to see Jennine’s father, who had opened his mouth and looked like he was sucking something from the woman, who struggled to push him away. These were not humans, said Madeline to herself. Humans, vampires, angels and demons. Demons.
She knew she was not supposed to interfere, but her feet automatically moved by itself without a thought and the next thing Madeline knew, she was trying to pull the man away from the woman with her small hands.
“What the fuck are you doing!” asked the man. He turned around and she caught another pair of black eyes.
“Let her go!” Madeline said, pulling the man who pushed her. The man threw the woman across the room, who hit her back on the wall. He then caught Madeline’s neck, “Look at the little prey coming to the house. Jennine?” he called the little girl and scoffed, “Looks like you don’t want to live,” he said while lifting her in the air, and Madeline could feel the air lessening in her body.
Madeline was not a child, but only in a child’s body. She dug her nails into the man’s hand to stop him from killing her. She didn’t know why whatever had worked moments ago, wasn’t working now. The man’s skin burned on her touch, and his hold on her loosened enough for her to fall on the ground.
Not waiting for the man, she went to the woman who had been thrown. She nudged the woman to wake her up, and when the woman’s body turned to look upward, Madeline noticed the blood coming out of the woman’s mouth with eyes open.
“What did you do to my hand?!” demanded the man in rage as his skin continued to sizzle.
The man came to get her, but by then, Madeline had moved away from the spot where she was sitting in front of the dead woman. The man’s hand came straight to pierce through the woman’s face, that left the woman’s face disfigured and out of any recognition. When he pulled his hands out, the blood-splattered Madeline’s face and on her dress.
He then went to attack Madeline, who tried to stop him. Before she knew it, she ended up putting her hands straight into the demon’s chest, but that wasn’t all.
“W-what are you?!” asked the man alarmed by the little girl’s strength. And the next second, the man’s body splattered into nothing but blood. Blood covered the walls, the floor and every object of the living room.
The sight of blood shook Madeline, and her knees felt weak. She hadn’t expected something like this to happen to the demon.
A couple of footsteps came through the outside of the house, and in came her family to see her stand in the room with her hands covered in blood along with her face that had spots of blood on it.
“Take her to the house quickly!” ordered her grandfather, who had a look of shock on his face.
Her father looked worse at the sight of the room that had turned red, “But-”
“Right now!” ordered her grandfather. The little tolerance that was in his eyes a few hours ago had been replaced to one where he looked at her as if she was an evil entity.
Her father moved towards her with careful steps, “Madeline?” he called her name. She looked at her father, seeing how he gave her an apprehensive look if it was alright for him to get close to her.
“Can you come here, dear. Let’s get back home,” he tried to convince her as she hadn’t moved from the spot.
Behind her father, she could hear her grandmother question, “What are we going to do? This is not good. Look at the blood-”
“We’ll get it cleaned. I will ask Walter to cover the traces,” said her grandfather, “Don’t leave her alone. Take her to the room and lock her. Get the damn blanket to cover her! Don’t touch her!”
As the blanket was put on her, to cover her entirely where she couldn’t see anything, Madeline felt the surrounding change and the next minute, she wasn’t there in the bloody room. She huffed for air as it felt suffocating until she could again see the light.
“Maddie? Where are you?” Madeline heard a familiar voice calling her. It was her sister, Beth’s voice, “I am going to catch you this time!” She heard a giggle.
Madeline turned around to see herself standing behind the tree. This time, Madeline wasn’t living as herself but as a stranger in a memory. When she looked at her hands, lifting them, she noticed they were clean.
They were in the forest, and it seemed like they were playing hide and seek with each other, at least that is what Madeline believed until she caught sight of another dark-haired girl. Madeline’s face hardened when she noticed it was the same girl who had died.
Beth walked in the forest, looking for the two girls when she caught one of them.
“Now it’s your turn, Jennine!” Beth said to the girl, and Madeline frowned. It wasn’t often that people were born with the same face, less with the same name. Maybe she looked slightly older than the previous girl.
“Why do you always catch me first!” Jennine looked unhappy that it was her turn to seek, “You never catch Madeline even if you see her.”
Beth rolled her eyes, “That’s not true. You are not good at hiding.”
“Lies. I will catch you too,” said the girl and Beth turned to look at Madeline who came out from her hiding place.
Beth looked excited to hide, and when Jennine went behind the tree to count, Beth pulled Madeline along with her while bringing her finger up to quiet the smaller girl. Madeline wondered if they were around seven or eight years old. Also wondering if this was where Jennine had died again. But Beth had spoken about snow. She looked up at the sky to see it to be clear.
So far from what she had observed, this Jennine didn’t appear to hold any similar characteristics as the one whom she had killed. But then, even that girl looked harmless. She was trying to understand most of what she was seeing. Noticing Jennine going in another direction, Madeline decided to see what her younger self and Beth were up to.
“You saw me hiding behind the tree before,” whispered Madeline’s small voice.
Beth took a peek from behind the rock before she sat down next to her sister, “The last time you went to seek, it took you an hour to catch any of us. And I don’t want you getting lost. Don’t worry, Jennine won’t mind.”
“Hm,” responded the younger Madeline looking at both her hands.
They sat there for several minutes, and Beth took another peek, “I won’t let you get caught, so I will be the one to get caught, and I will catch Jennine again. I wonder if we should go home,” murmured Beth.
“AH!” little Madeline screamed on, seeing a spider. Standing up, she tripped over the stone, and her scream was enough to have the other girl find them.
“I found you! This time it’s Madeline,” announced Jennine.
Beth didn’t pay attention and looked at her sister, “Eh! Why did you scream, Maddie!”
“I think I hurt myself,” said the little girl and Beth was quick to piggyback her sister. Madeline heard the sound of the tower bell from a distance, letting the sound echo through the forest.
While they headed out of the forest, Madeline followed them. During one of the conversations, Jennine looked displeased with the other two girls’ closeness.
“Am I too heavy?” asked little Madeline to Beth.
“You are fine,” replied Beth.
“Give her to me, I will carry her,” offered Jennine, but Beth shook her head.
Not minding it, the girl named Jennine, asked, “Do you really have to go, Beth?”
“We’ll be back in two weeks. Right before it starts snowing,” replied Beth while adjusting her sister on her back, “I wish not to go either, but grandma and grandpa want to see us.”
Jennine stared at Beth, and then looked at the little sister who was looking ahead with her chin placed on Beth’s shoulder. Even though Madeline was walking behind, she could see the glare that Jennine passed to her younger self. A look of menace and anger which was quickly blinked away as she asked,
“How about you stay here, and Madeline can visit.”
Beth frowned, “Maddie and I go together everywhere. We are sisters.”
The girl put up a smile, “Of course. How could I forget.”
Madeline couldn’t follow them anymore because when she took another step, the scene in front of her turned unclear and started to dissolve. The next step she placed on the ground, her foot sunk, and she noticed snow all around her.
Not too far away from where she stood, she heard the little girls arguing. Madeline quickly made her way to see Jennine and her smaller self standing there. Not knowing what the conversation was about, in time her younger self ran her hands through the girl’s chest. Unlike what Madeline had witnessed before, this girl who died, she appeared to be a human.
Beth, who arrived at the scene appeared to be in shock, seeing Jennine fall on the ground. The snow around the body started to soak itself with blood.
“W-what did you do, M-Maddie?!” asked Beth in shock.
Her younger self held a look of hollowness in them. In an emotionless tone, she whispered,
“She wanted to harm you.”
Beth was unable to react after seeing the dead body and the blood. When her lips parted, a loud scream escaped from her lips. She ran back home to tell her parents what happened.
Madeline’s parents were the next one’s to arrive whilst she stood there near the body, staring at it. They looked as shocked as Beth, but without wasting a moment, her mother covered her hands with a shawl, taking her back home, while her father stayed with the body until a carriage arrived.
When the carriage door opened, Madeline saw it was her aunt who stepped out of it.
“What’s the matter? I received a letter to come here and I-Oh Lord!” her aunt exclaimed, seeing the cold body, “What happened?!”
Her father sighed, “Madeline…Beth came running back home, and she’s speaking in circles about what happened. I am worried that someone will find out.”
“Where is Madeline?” asked her aunt Mary.
“Back in the house. Frances has locked her in the room-“
“You should take her to mother and father,” came the quick words, “Even Elizabeth. She will be traumatized. I will take this one with me, and accompany you in the journey back there.”
When her family reached her grandparent’s village, Madeline saw the girl whom she had killed was placed inside the coffin in Carnival’s cemetery during the time of night. With her little self locked in the room with chains around her hands, her grandparents sat in front of Beth, who looked visibly shaken.
“Beth, dear, why don’t you give me your hands,” said her grandmother, a friendly smile on her face.
“What do you plan to do, mother?” asked her father.
Her grandparents had a serious look on their face, their expressions tense. Madeline heard her grandfather say, “Beth appears to be normal so far, unlike the other one. Before she gets triggered, it is better to change her memories. We would like everyone to leave the room,” he insisted.
With others who left, and only Beth and her grandparents in the room, her grandmother took hold of Beth’s hand to say,
“I will tell you something now, something very very important and I need you to listen to it very carefully.” Beth only stared at the woman, “Your sister. She is sick and might not survive. She’s caught an illness, and we will need to put her to rest.”
“She looks fine-” Beth went to speak to receive a small glare from her grandmother.
“Your grandfather checked you, and her. But it is only her who has caught it. I know you want to forget what happened this morning, and your grandfather will help you. He is very good at it. He will help both you and your sister,” assured her grandmother. “Now I want you to close your eyes and sit still.”
Madeline saw her grandfather walk around to stand behind Beth, placing both his hands on either side of her head. Madeline then heard things, she would have never imagined her grandmother to say to Beth. The woman not only removed the memory of what happened that day, but she went as far as to change Beth’s personality of who and what she had turned out to be.
Her sweet and kind sister’s character had changed to a selfish person who would think only about herself. When her grandfather was done changing Beth’s memories, Beth had turned unconscious.
Why? Why would they do that? Madeline asked herself.
“Now she will never go to search or ask about what happened today,” said her grandmother, carrying Beth who had fallen unconscious, “She can be quite some blabbermouth at times.”
The same night, Madeline’s parents took Beth back with them in her aunt’s carriage while her younger self was left behind similar to the past with her grandparents.
“What do we do with her?” asked her grandmother in worry, “I thought we had put her to rest.”
“That was what was supposed to happen. I don’t know how that thing even got out of the coffin,” her grandfather stood in front of the door where little Madeline was locked, “She was not supposed to come back. So many years have passed. Sixteen?” he asked his wife. Soon enough, they heard the girl’s cries as if she was in pain. Her grandparents gave each other a look before they opened the door.
The couple gasped, and Madeline who wasn’t too far behind, found herself staring at the little girl who was on the floor, who appeared to be in pain. But that wasn’t what shocked them.
White wings had appeared on the little girl’s back that was covered in blood.
