• Children of the Corn: She who walks Beyond the Rows
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    The fresh, Gatlin air blew quietly across the cornfield. The rows of corn swayed softly in the wind. The smell of unsullied corn drifted from the field and into the desolate streets of the gloomy Nebraskan town.
    The echo of rustling corn sounded ever so shrill in the hushed town of Gatlin. Children rustled in these rows as if it were a playground. The petite group of youngsters pitter-pattered through the corn carrying sickles and other varieties of weapons in their palms. One boy, wearing a white and black flannel shirt and jeans, carried a knife and departed from the cluster of children.
    This boy was named Malachi Boardman. His twisted, red-orange hair shined with fluency as the sun’s waves shined down upon him. He strode across the cornfield apart from the kids who he was positioned with and made his way to locate his good friend, Rachel Colby.
    Rachel, including the children and Malachi, are a part of a mysterious cult led by 9-year old Isaac Chroner. Isaac started the whole cult. Isaac was known as the seer of the entire town and the overall leader of these befuddled and juvenile children. He sent Malachi to locate Rachel for current reports on the preparations for a demonic sacrifice.
    Malachi hiked up the steps of the old, decrepit Church which was draped and surrounded by stalks of corn. He knocked on the hard, crimson door loudly. He heard footsteps from afar but still knocked a second time.
    Rachel opened the door and smiled politely with her dimples slightly showing.
    “Oh, Malachi! Good morning to you! Do come in,” she blurted out with glee. She was lighting fragrant, white candles in the church. She was preparing for another offering to the corn god.
    He entered the empty church and sat upon one of the aged benches. He interlocked his hands and sighed deeply.
    “I suppose Isaac sent you. He’s been in such an uptight mood since the massacre about a year ago,” Rachel sighed as she lit another candle in the dark and hollow church.
    “Actually yes, he did send me. He wants you to come and discuss the preparations. He sent me to find out your current progress,” he reiterated with a strange sanguine tone in his voice. Rachel beamed and lit another candle. The barely illuminated room became filled with dry smoke. Malachi exhaled noisily and stood up from the bench. His tall posture loomed over Rachel, covering her in a bit of his shadow.
    “I’ll tell Isaac that preparations are complete and we’ll be ready for Jakariya’s sacrifice by midnight tonight,” Malachi declared silently as he began to leave the room. Rachel lit the final pallid candle and blew out the match. The whole room filled with smoke and left Rachel in the candlelight, alone in the blood-stained walls of the decrepit Church.
    ________________________________________
    “Way to go, Crow! You’ve out done yourself this time!” A girl wearing a stitched and patched up brown cloak blustered to herself. She lifted her long, black hat from her head of thick, dark brown hair. The sun’s reflection bounced from her hair and onto a pair of minute horns on her head.
    Crow Backwoods is an orphan girl whose family died by a mysterious fire. The only remaining family member is her brother, Gabriel. She is a half-demon child and is about the age of fourteen.
    Crow perched herself upon the roof of an abandoned building in the middle of the cornfield. She had recently swiped a small, single weed and began to chew upon it. Her jaws were clamped upon it as she looked out at the bright, yellow-orange sun.
    She bowed her head down and crossed her hands and prayed that this town would prosper her new life. She finished her prayer and fled the area.
    ________________________________________
    Meanwhile, Malachi marched his way into the swaying rows of corn. He spotted other cult members running. One carried a sickle and the other carried a rusted, barbed wire.
    The light rocking of the corn whispered in his ears as he journeyed through the flocks of dry and wet stalks of corn. He was almost at the clearing when he abruptly found a dead rat in front of his feet. He shook his throbbing head and picked it up by its blood-stained tail. He picked it up and handed it to a nearby cult member.
    Malachi had finally reached the clearing where he spotted nine-year old Isaac wearing his white-striped black preacher vest and a brown undershirt. Isaac had brunette hair which was usually covered by a thick, round-crowned, black hat.
    Isaac turned around.
    Malachi took out his knife and gave a bow. Isaac bowed as well.
    “Well? What did young Rachel reply?” Isaac asked with an evil anticipation in the tone of his voice.
    “She says that the preparations should be done by midnight,” Malachi replied with no emotion. His face was still in a smile.
    “Superb! He Who Walks Behind the Rows is pleased with your loyalty,” Isaac answered softly while he straightened his collar.
    “Now, Malachi,” Isaac coughed, “The Lord came to me in a dream one night, and he told me that you have started to drift away from his power. Is this blaspheme true?”
    “N-no! I’d never! The Lord must be speaking of another,” Malachi sniveled with a sly grin of regret.
    “Do not doubt the Lord in vain! Be gone Malachi. Your company has become useless as of now,” Isaac responded with an irked pitch in the tone of his voice. Malachi crutched his fingers into fists. He did not respond for he believed in He Who Walks Behind the Rows’ powers and did not wish to upset it. He just gritted his teeth and left the clearing of the cornfield as commanded. His mind was focused on questions such as:
    “What have I done?” and “How have I become a blaspheme?”
    He answered those questions in his mind and strode through the corn to check up on Job and Sarah, two of the youngest children in Gatlin who never believed in the corn god.
    ________________________________________
    “Hey, Sarah, do you think Malachi will get bothered if we played our record player?” Job asked as he lifted his head to face Sarah. Job was about seven years old and wore a large jacket and a lengthy tie as if he were dressing up as a ventriloquist’s dummy. Sarah raised her head. She was only six and wore a pale dress with a pink hat that had a veil which covered her face.
    “Probably…maybe we shouldn’t,” she sighed as she drew a picture with her old and torn crayons.
    “I can’t take this, Sarah! We have all of these dumb rules all because Isaac and Malachi say it is forbidden! We’re not allowed to do anything!” Job carped to Sarah at the top of his lungs as he stood up from the floor. His eyes were wide with anger and all of a sudden he started to cry.
    His eyes watered with tears as his sister cuddled up to him and sighed, “Oh, Joby, it’ll be all right. They’re only like that because of his will. They don’t rea-” she was interrupted by a loud noise coming from down the stairs. The sound of a door opening.
    The door swung open to reveal Malachi. He stepped in and took a deep breath. He climbed up the dusted stairway and opened up the door for Job and Sarah’s playroom.
    Job and Sarah sat quietly as they cuddled together. They looked up at Malachi as he entered the room with a sneer. His sinister sneer quickly formed into a devastated sulk.
    “Hey, what’s the matter, Job?” he questioned with a dash of sorrow in his throat. He stared at Job who was sniffling and sobbing quietly. He raised his eyes to gawk at Malachi’s sudden appearance.
    “Malachi! Um, Joby was just crying because of last year’s massacre,” Sarah replied, trying to cover up his real reason of bawling his eyes out. Malachi looked at Job in disbelief.
    “Job, is that true? Are you sincerely weeping over the loss of your parents?” he inquired, still in skepticism of the truth.
    “Y-yeah, that’s true,” Job sniffled, still wiping the remainder of tears from his eyes. Malachi looked at him again. He sighed deeply and checked around the room. He searched for the unauthorized objects Sarah and Job keep within their old home such as a record player, board games, and drawings.
    “Hmmm, you’re clean. I’ll see you later,” Malachi mumbled with a shy tone of regret. Joby still sat kind of sobbing but also slightly smiling. Malachi looked at Job and Sarah one last time and left the premises. Sarah and Job looked at each other and sighed with relief.
    ________________________________________
    Crow perched herself upon a two branched tree and watch the corn sway in the wind. Her cloak and dark brown hair also wafted in the silent wind. She sighed as the wind started to pick up her hat, revealing her miniature horns. She grabbed it and held on tight.
    “Damn it, what a wind chill!” She yelled to herself. Suddenly, she heard a rustle in the rows. She quickly used a sly cloaking ability she inherited from her mother and cloaked within the bark of the tree.
    A somewhat tall figure with curly black hair left the cornfield, looking both ways numerous times. He crossed the street with hesitance, as if avoiding or trying to avoid someone or something.
    Crow watched him try to run and escape the town. She asked herself: Why is that kid so suspiciously trying to escape? Why would he wish to leave such a peaceful town?
    That was when Crow realized something very peculiar about this humble area. There were never too many people in town, and when there were, they were only children. Also, she has yet to see even one adult in the whole rural town. Her looks of befuddlement quickly changed to an adventurous glare.
    Crow stood up on the branch and decided that she should get her answers. She had come to the decision to follow that boy and ask some questions about this little town called Gatlin.
    Crow descended the tree and started running toward the young fellow. This young boy was about an inch or two smaller than Crow and wore ragged clothes. His hands held a suitcase that was tore and dented. He muttered small, incoherent words to himself as he started to pace a little faster.
    Crow also began to speed up, that’s when the boy stopped in his tracks. He turned his head and looked around. Fortunately, Crow hid in the corn as fast as she could. He cautiously turned around and walked even more rapidly.
    Crow began to stalk him within the corn which raised his suspicions. He looked toward the corn and started to whisper with a strange fear in his voice, “Malachi? Isaac? I-is that you? I-I wasn’t running away…I swear it! Please…don’t-”
    His voice sort of trailed off and his eyes were glued to the corn and realized that it was neither of the children he called. He tried to get an accurate view of me and began to amble toward the corn with a sudden valiance.
    Crow stood trying to cloak herself, but her mystic powers become unusable when located. She just stood in the rows, awaiting her fate.
    Bingo! Crow had an excellent idea. She would scare the living daylights out of this child. She deepened her voice to sound more demonic than its real soft and subtle tone.
    “HALT! WHO GOES THERE?!” Crow screamed with demonic fury. The boy stopped in his tracks yet again.
    “H-He Who Walks B-Behind the Rows?” The child stuttered in fear.
    “I AM…UH…SHE WHO WALKS…UH…BEYOND THE ROWS! FEAR ME! WHAT IS THY NAME?” Crow cried, making up a false name. The boy fell backward, still in a state of panic.
    “My name is Joseph! Listen…uhm…I got to…go!” Joseph stuttered as he ran back into the field. Crow looked at him dashing back to where he came. She downgraded her voice back to normal.
    “Poor kid…perhaps I should follow him. Maybe he can lead me to who this ‘Isaac and Malachi’ are,” Crow rambled to herself. She checked to see if no one was watching and vanished into the air.