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 Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:21 am
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Title: Into the Darkness
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Summary: Lisa and Shelly are hidden in the hills surrounding what looks from the outside to be an almost abandoned village. Little do they know the horrors that await them inside...
Disclaimer: I don't own Inkheart or characters. I only own Lisa & Shelly.
Please review!! Be brutally honest with me...
Chapter One
Crouching low in the dense bushes, they peered out upon the village nestled within the hills. The sparse lights twinkled to them, almost invitingly. The only sign of life they had seen so far was a few black-suited men occasionally crossing the main square and the odd cat stalking along the top of a wall. The majority of the houses looked deserted and decaying, as though anyone who might have once cared for them had abandoned the village long ago.
“I’m telling you, you’re completely crazy going there. You’ve heard the stories about that place.” Said a shaky voice into the darkness. “They say that there’s ghosts there. Not to mention a witch, and maybe even that the Devil is sitting in the church”
Suddenly a laugh filled the darkness, “Since when have you been afraid of ghosts and witches? Aren’t you a little old to believe in crap like that?” Said Lisa, as she turned to her companion. “C’mon Shelly, get a grip for Christ’s sake!”
She couldn’t see Shelly’s face in the darkness but she could hear her let out a breath, like she was trying to shake off all the doubt and worry that was settling on her shoulders.
“How many times have we been through this, huh? I told you there’s a ton of gold down in that village and I want it! Why should those inbred freaks keep it?” Lisa spat the words out as she kept looking for the best way to sneak into the place
Shelly’s discomfort was not eased by these words but she knew her friend too well to try and dissuade her from her plans. The truth of the matter was, they needed money and they needed it quick. Too many debts to pay off any other way thought Shelly.
“I know you want it, Lise but I swear something ain’t right about this place. Think what them guys up the road were telling us ‘bout it.” Shelly sighed and tried not to think about what would happen if they were caught. “Alright, ghost stories aside, how’d you think people like this ended up with gold in the first place, eh? They certainly didn’t get it collecting for charity!”
“Stop trying to jinx us, Jesus, what’s the matter with you! Let’s just get on with it. Follow me and keep your mouth shut alright?” Lisa snapped back.
She started making her way down through the overgrown vegetation trying to avoid the nettles and suspecting that at the least the stories about the snakes would turn out to be true and hoped that it was one story that Shelly would have forgotten. The branches were clinging to every part of her, almost as though they were trying to stop them going any further towards the lights and the only scrap of humanity in the surrounding hills. On they went, closer and closer to the village. Creeping on through the darkness they approached a broken-down burnt out cottage and took a closer look at what looked like a guard peering out into the wilderness.
“Why they got a bloody guard if it’s just a normal village, huh?” Shelly hissed in her ear.
“How should I know? Do I look like I got the answers to everything?” Lisa growled, “ Do you really think if I did, we’d be sat here crawling through all this crap in the middle of nowhere?” She took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair wearily. “Look, maybe you should stay here, yea? The last thing I need is you freaking out on me and us getting caught!”
Shelly’s face was unreadable but Lisa knew that her fright was only out of concern and she appreciated that. God knows we’ve been through enough together Lisa thought, but I got us into this mess and I need the money to get us out of it again.
“Shells, if there was another way I’d do it, but I gotta pay off the debts somehow and this is the only way to get money - unless you want us to go back to walking the streets again?” She said more softly this time.
Shelly only breathed in slowly and said nothing. Lisa knew that she didn’t want to do that again, neither of them did. She also knew that without the money from this haul they’d both be dead as soon as they set foot into any town within 50 miles of them. Their debtors had a lot of influence around here.
She was about to start moving closer into the village when Shelly spoke up. She sounded tired and drained as though this was last thing she was going to say and was fed up of repeating herself.
“What if they catch us and call the cops? You wanna go back to jail again Lise?”
No, that’s the last thing I want Lisa thought and I don’t even want to think about them calling the cops but all she said was “That ain’t gonna happen, trust me.”
Finally they moved on, around the very edge of the houses further into the village. They crept closer to what Lisa had assumed to be the main house as it was bigger than the rest and appeared to be one of the only ones with any life in it. That one and the Church had the only lights that they could see piercing the darkness around them. Lisa had a feeling that they were both trying to ignore the feeling of foreboding that was all around them, as they got further in.
Ever so quietly they came to the basement window of the biggest house and Lisa withdrew her knife from her pocket and started scoring the edges of the windowpane. She had learned from years of experience that people never took too much care around here in looking after the up-keep of their houses, which had benefited her in that the windows and doors were always weakened from years of neglect. The putty around the glass came off very easily after scraping it a couple of times and she carefully removed the glass.
“Alright, we’re in” She whispered to the dark form beside her. “Stop looking like that Shell, I swear I’ve never seen you so worried”
Shelly didn’t say anything but just nodded and gestured to Lisa to hurry up and get it over with. Lisa lowered herself into the basement of the house and turned back to get Shelly to follow her. Shelly shook her head.
“I’ll wait behind that other house, you’re quieter without me.” She said. Her voice seemed so thin, so quiet that Lisa barely heard her. “I’ll be fine, please just hurry. I got a really bad feeling about this place.”
Before she could respond Shelly was creeping away into the shadows across the alleyway. Lisa took a deep breath and turned into the darkness of the cellar. They had heard plenty of stories in the neighbouring towns and that was why she’d ended up in a dark, dank cellar beneath some crumbling old house in a practically abandoned village. Aside from the stories of ghosts and evil spirits, they’d also heard that the occupants of this place kept gold in a vault in this very cellar, and that’s what I’m doing creeping around here in the middle of the bloody night, Lisa thought. She put the flick knife back in the pocket of her jeans, pushed her dark hair away from her forehead and slowly and silently crept further into the darkness. The musty odour from the damp cellar was thick in her throat as she moved deeper and she tried to ignore the sensible voice in her head (which was usually Shelly) telling her to get out as quick as she could.
The silence was oppressing and it suddenly occurred to Lisa that she could honestly say that she hadn’t heard a sound, except their own voices, since they had sat in the hills, not even a bird’s call. It was so quiet that she felt like she had gone deaf. Lisa turned her gaze from side to side trying to make out the shapes in the gloom. The only sound in the shadows was her own shaky breath. She didn’t even hear the man creeping behind her. Her scream was stifled when he suddenly clasped a hand over her mouth and placed a gleaming, ice-cold blade to her neck.
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Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 7:28 am
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:44 pm
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:48 am
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 11:31 am
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 8:42 am
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Finally... chapter two!!
Thanks for all the input guys. Any other opinions would be appreciated x
Chapter Two
“Well, what have we here?” The stranger hissed into her ear. She could feel him inhaling her scent as he held her in his strong grasp.
Suddenly the lights flickered on and she could see that the man holding her wasn’t the only one in the cellar. A tall, thin man stood before her. His nose was flat against his face and looked like it had been broken several times.
“Pretty little thief isn’t she, Flatnose?” The man holding her breathed into her hair.
“Basta, come on, lets get her upstairs. I’m sure Capricorn won’t mind you playing your games with her up there instead” The flat-faced man said.
The man with the knife, Basta, dragged Lisa up the rough stone steps into the village square. She tried to kick him in the shins but he pushed her to the floor and grabbed her hair. She felt her scalp tearing as he pulled her kicking and writhing across the square towards the old stone church she and Shelly had seen earlier. Shelly, thought Lisa, Oh God I hope she’s ok. She was trying to fight the rising panic as she struggled against the man pulling her, trying not to utter a sound, she didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of knowing she was scared.
He yanked Lisa to her feet in front of Church and the other man opened the door pushing her ahead of them. She stopped and tried to push back past the men but Basta grabbed her arm and pulled her into the doorway. She was screaming at him and kicking and trying to hit him with her free hand but he just laughed. The more she struggled the more he seemed to enjoy it but she finally managed to aim a kick right between his legs and the smile faded from his lips. He grasped her leg before she had made contact with his body and he pushed her against the wall.
“Keep on like that sweetheart and I’ll slit you open from navel to nose” He growled menacingly pressing the blade into her breast.
Lisa swallowed her fear and panic and allowed Basta to push her through the entranceway into the main building. It was unlike any Church Lisa had ever seen. The walls were all covered in red so it gave the impression of being swallowed into the belly of some huge beast. As she was pushed up the aisle she was looking wildly around for Shelly and could feel her relief as she realised that she wasn’t standing at the front.
There was, however, a man, pale as moonlight, standing at the front by the altar. As she was pushed in front of him her relief gave way to the deepest fear she had ever felt for there on the floor in front of the man was Shelly.
Shelly tried feebly to stir when she heard the sounds of people approaching. She had barely raised her head when Lisa had flung herself down next to her and was trying to stem the bleeding from the wound on Shelly’s head.
“They cut me” She gasped out and tried to grab her friend.
Before any other words could be spoken between the two Lisa was pulled away from her and thrown to the floor in front of the pale man.
“Well, two thieves, how very interesting” His words were barely a whisper and yet Lisa couldn’t help but to listen to him. “Perhaps I should tell you who I am and then I will show you why you made a very grave mistake in coming into my village”
The tension in the church seemed to peak and Lisa knew that like her the others in the Church were listening to every word that the man had said.
“I am Capricorn, and you will regret thinking that you could come in here to rob me”
“Please.” Lisa whispered, her voice felt hoarse from the strain she was feeling. “Please, let my friend go, she’s got nothing to do with this. You’ve already hurt her and scared me. We won’t come back”
Capricorn’s soft laugh filled the Church from the crypt to the highest point in the vaulted ceiling. “Let you go? No, I don’t think so. We may have use for a thief like you. I don’t think we need two though, do we Basta?” He asked, addressing the man with the knife that was still stood behind her.
She saw Basta’s evil smile spread across his face as he approached Shelly. Lisa started to rise to her feet but another man grabbed her roughly. She could see the fear in Shelly’s face as Basta raised the knife. Lisa began to scream for them to stop, to let Shelly go but her words fell on deaf ears. She tried to shut out the horror that she knew was coming but still Lisa could not tear her eyes from Shelly’s. She could see Shelly trying to back away from Basta, could see her trying to scramble back across the floor.
Basta bent down and looked into Shelly’s eyes. She silently pleaded with him to have mercy; to let her go but Shelly could see the hate and the evil in his face. She saw the knife gleam in a shaft of moonlight as Basta stroked her neck with it, almost lovingly. Shelly’s eyes were reflected in the blade as Basta plunged it into her neck. She could feel the flesh and muscle tearing under his pressure as he sliced through her throat. The last thing she ever heard was Capricorn’s gentle laugh and Lisa’s bloodcurdling scream.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:14 pm
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:15 pm
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 6:25 am
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