#aconitum chapter i

Here is the first chapter, I hope I will get to post weekly. If the prologue raised question marks, this one might be even more confusing. Hahahaha.

MINORS, DO NOT INTERACT WITH THIS STORY.

Prologue (previous chapter)

Wordcount:2,7k words

Warnings: violence, strong language.

RAMONA

Duality, especially in nature, manifests in all kinds of forms: harsh winters bring the most beautiful and treasured memories during the holidays, gentle springs often end up initiating tempestuous storms, romanticized summers tend to melt away all of the remaining love. Yet, autumn is the one that marks death and rebirth at the same time. It holds the warmth of late summers and the chilliness of early winters. As migratory birds choose to fly away from the unforgivable winter, others remain in their place, embracing change, embracing survival, embracing death.

The beauty of eternal rest frequently showed up as colourful leaves haunting the roads leading towards Arcpool’s periphery. The air was still warm, Ramona could feel it through the taxi’s half open window. The driver wasn’t too shy about his cigarette addiction as he drove with one hand, savouring the nicotine.

Ramona’s own tan fingers brushed against the back of her hands. They used to be soft and gentle, now the harshness stayed as a reminder of her own struggles. All the late nights were imprinted on her face too. The dark eyebags didn’t treat her tenderly - ah, the duality of nature, the change that autumn brought.  Like the leaves haunting the roads, she was haunted as well. 

Shaking trees started to cover the way, rays of sunlight were already losing themselves under the wheels of the speeding car. Even though it was only an early evening, the sun was trembling and waiting for something. The answer arrived as the X Mansion came into sight. Guarded by iron gates covered in ivy and unsteady branches that were ready to snatch away every crossing soul, the estate of the X family did know how to make an intimidating impression. There was no need for anyone to speak, the gates automatically opened. The taxi driver didn’t even seem phased.

Maybe I’m not the only one that’s haunted.

As the car pulled in the driveway, Ramona opened her purse and grabbed her tattered wallet.

“How much for the ride, sir?”

She knew how much it cost, so she was ready to bargain the price. The taxi driver made a guttural sound. He didn’t seem to mind her, he was more concentrated on his cigarette.

“Hmm?”

Ramona used the same tone.

“How much for the ride, sir?”

“Ah, the ride! Yes! Nothing, it was all covered by the family.”

He was done with her and she was done with him. Ramona barely got out of the car and it already drove away; the car wheels were devouring pieces of the effervescent pavement. It was like the taxi tried to go towards the direction of the sun; it kissed her chocolate brown hair goodbye. Truth to be told, nobody wanted to ever be catched by dark.

Another reason to hate men. Great.

A stoic and misunderstood giant stood in front of Ramona. It had three levels.  Several tall, glossy windows wanted to peek at her appearance but the silk curtains would not allow it. She was invading the mansion’s territory, a building older than her whole family tree. Cinnamon bricks glared at her, who thought such a shade of brown could hold such a gloomy state. Not a crack to be spotted. She made her way towards the dark, wooden door. It towered over her. She stared at it, it stared back. Still, it wasn’t the door that held her gaze longer than it should have, but the metal doorbell that duplicated the shape of a goat. Ruby eyes fancied the golden cross protecting her neck. She scoffed. The young woman grabbed the circle held by its atrocious mouth and knocked three times. That’s when it opened, just like the gate.

Definitely haunted.

“Hello?”

All was fair between shadow and light, but in this doubtful case the only source of luminescence brought inside was the one materializing behind her slender figure. Her own shadow wanted to break free and sink inside abyssal dullness. Two steps forward, two prayers and two sceptical thoughts.

Suddenly, the heavy door moaned behind her. It closed. She instinctively grabbed her cross, not moving one meter.

“Good evening, Miss Cortez.”

¡Dios mio! I forgot to close it!

In front of the now closed door, a gentleman dressed in elegant attire looked straight at Ramona. His wrinkled and sickly-looking face made her question a few things, but she kept her composure. Her fingers grasped the handbag’s handle a little tighter. 

“Good evening, sir.”

“I presume that you are here for the open position.” A drop of drowsiness escaped his lips, comparable to a sleeping death. “When you meet the stairs, do not climb them. Stay on this level by turning right. You shall find whoever is left awaiting, just like you, Miss Cortez. The masters will most likely have you in a few minutes, after they are done with the others.” Ramona looked at the direction leading towards the stairs, then at the butler again. Or where the butler was supposed to be, now that he was gone at the blink of an eye.

¡Santa María! The things I do for dinero! 

Her lips met with her golden cross.

¡Protégeme y ayúdame!

As she called for Saint Mary, brightness was brought to her vision. Now she got to see everything clearly; onyx marble floors danced under her moving feet, tall chandeliers winked at her. Infinite columns carefully held the room. She paid no attention to the threatening stairs as she took right. Peeks of lighted candles illuminated her way. Ramona had to look twice at them, for a second she thought they were levitating, but they were just hanging on the mulberry walls. A musky smell started to embrace the air while she paced down the hallway, a door was expecting her at the end of it. And so did an unfamiliar duo.

Two other girls were waiting on a mauve velvet sofa. These two could not be any more than different. One of them looked like a doll freshly pulled out of her box - the toy that a child might have been expecting on a Christmas morning. Her body was carefully hugged by a white sundress, a baby blue cardigan made sure she wasn’t going to get cold. The dark wig that she wore was perfectly curled, a pink headband was safely placed over her bangs. Her dark skin was enriched by the light colours, but what made her stand out were her big, doe eyes, her soft cheeks, her thick eyelashes and her rosy, plump lips - she truly was the image of a doll.

 The other resembled a doll made out of rags, the polar opposite. Her dark roots were overgrown; only her bleached, blue faded ends were adding a pop of colour to her vanishing image. Her dark clothes were unironed, her shoes were muddy. One of the sneakers was even missing a pairing sock. This whole outfit might have seemed terrible in people’s eyes, but Ramona got to understand that during certain days, the worst to some might be the best to others. That’s why she was trying not to judge either of those girls, she was really trying. But she was slowly failing.

“Are you here for the job too?” the cheerful tone of the sweet looking one caught her attention.

Ramona straightened her back, she had to look her best, especially in front of someone that appeared to be better than her.

“Hope not, that would be just more competition,” the other added grumply. 

That answer raised one of Ramona’s eyebrows.

To me, you are not.

“Actually, I am.”

“Shit, I’m not gonna get this job.” She quickly got up and grabbed her torn-apart backpack.

Well, that was fast.

“What do you mean, Bells? You said you really needed this.”

The doe eyes opened up even more in shock, her small hand was close to grabbing Bells’ jacket.

“Sorry,Lottie Doll, but I’m not humiliating myself. I don’t even know why I came all this way.”

“But, I am not Lottie doll.”

“Then, sorry, Barbie.”

“That’s not my name…” Unsureness reflected in her voice.

“Maybe someday it’ll be.” 

She shook her head disapprovingly. 

“I told you my name was Audrey!”

Ramona could slowly analyse the different behaviours of Audrey and Bells, she was glad that they were just strangers that met most likely, only a few minutes ago. Maybe the situation would have been different if they were friends or family.

Friends or family.

Now Bells was heading down the way that Ramona came from.

“See ya!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t leave,” Ramona crossed her arms over her chest, “they are looking for blood donors and they didn’t specify which blood type they need. There might be a need for all of them; the more, the merrier.”

And who knows who might be actual competition.

“I didn’t even think about that!” Audrey’s lips curled in the sweetest smile, now she found the confidence to follow Bells along. “You should stay! What’s your type? Mine is O+.” The words fell out of her mouth like butterflies and swallows.

Bells stopped in her tracks. She furrowed her thick, dark eyebrows for a second.

“B-.”

“That’s great, we have different ones! What about you?” Her eyes focused on Ramona’s figure, her sunny personality confused her for a bit. She no longer followed Bells and came back to her. She was similar to someone she knew. “Gosh, I didn’t even introduce myself! I am Audrey and that grumpy fellow trying to run away is Bells.” She shook her hand, Audrey had smother ones.

“Ramona, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Ramona!”

“Also, my blood type is A+. We have different ones.”

“Amazing! Maybe they would take all of us in!”

While Audrey was full of rainbows and sunshines, Bells just laughed dryly. A sprinkle of repulsiveness trembled in her throat.

“Of course you are an A+, a minus wouldn’t have looked good on you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You are the A+ type, that’s all.”

Ramona’s hands fell on her own hips, she looked into Bells’ blue eyes. “I insist, elaborate.”

“Shit, you really want me to say it, huh? You literally stink of entitled bitch syndrome! You walked into this place like you own it, with your stuck-up nose hanging high on your face.” Bells pronounced each word strongly. “You act like you didn’t come here for the job, but like you are the one hiring!”

¡Vete pa’l carajo!

Audrey covered her gasping mouth. A cataclysmic urge seized Ramona and it was ready to come out.

Avalanche.

“Ramona, please, please, don’t listen to her! Let’s all get along, it isn’t even the beginning of the interview! Let’s not make a scene!” She tried to get between the two, but it was already too late. Too damn late.

“¡Ah, sí! The beginning of the interview!” The first laugh that broke out of Ramona today was a cruel and cold one. It was almost like she iced the space, chills started to pirouette down Audrey’s back. “You dare to be all mighty and criticize me, yet you couldn’t bother to take a shower before coming here. If I stink of entitled bitch syndrome, you smell like a fucking rat from the Needles!”

CRASH

It came out of nowhere; tumultuous, deafening, ear-splitting. The impact it had shook the building, it vibrated through the whole hall, no, through the whole mansion. Dust infused all around them, Audrey’s eyes were tearing. She brought a hand to her coughing mouth. She wished Ramona slapped Bells’ face with her freezing hand, she wished Bells punched Ramona with her feisty fist, God, she wished for anything else, but this.

Ramona covered her nose with her green turtleneck, Bells impulsively went on the ground, hands over her head. She thought the other levels were about to collapse over them. They all thought they were about to die. Tears started to drop, Audrey could no longer hold them in. They all looked at the direction of the crumbling sound, where the dust came from, the direction of the stairs.

Ramona was already hurrying that way. “Stay here! Stay put! I’ll go look for help.”

“B-but, the owners are after this door right here!” Audrey’s voice could barely be heard.

“Trust me, if they were, they would have come out!”

Ramona went further into the sandstorm.

“YOU CRAZY ASS BITCH!” Bells shouted, following Ramona.

If the two were close to danger, Audrey also came close to it.

All three of them came back to the beginning of nothing. A good part of the bricks was now all over the place, spread through the main entrance. It seemed to have hit a small part of the stairs, yet they were still standing majestically. The upper floor didn’t seem affected at all; Ramona suddenly stopped, followed by Bells, followed by Audrey.

The ground was covered in sharp shards of glass, the three chandeliers peacefully rested on the crushed marble floors. They glimmered through the last ray of sunshine that visited them through the enormous hole made in the wall.

The sun went to sleep, but they woke up.

“WHAT THE HELL?”

That’s when they noticed the missing column; it no longer stood where it was supposed to be, it went missing, it went through that hole.

 No, it created that hole.

Particles of dust began to spread around, allowing them to see things clearer. He rose from it, like a sculpted figure, like an Adonis. A ripped shirt was barely covering his robustus chest, he inhaled and exhaled. He was waiting for something, the calm before the storm. Or the calm after a tornado. 

“MAN, WHAT THE FUCK? IT WAS JUST A SCRATCH, NOT EVEN A CENTIMETER BIGGER THAN A THUMB.”

They noticed the other one, same height like the Adonis, lankier build, shimmering in gold. If Audrey was the present underneath the Christmas tree, he was the star sitting at the top. He went closer to Adonis, his hands grasping desperately through the air for something imaginary, something unreal. “Shit, shit! If Ginsei sees this, you are done, we are done! You and your stupid ass, I just borrowed your car, I didn’t kill your whole family or anything like that! It was just a scratch, man!”

“Watch your fucking mouth.” Adonis finally spoke. Stern voice, stern appearance. It matched him well. His glistening eyes found the three little lambs, staring at two wolves. “And who the fuck are you supposed to be?”

Ramona wanted to speak, she was supposed to be the one speaking. Her mouth moved lightly, but Bells was already running hers around, just like her body. Looking and searching for something, she couldn’t even swallow her words properly. She walked as far away from them as she could, her feet trying to avoid the glass.

“We are nobodies, we were just leaving. Right, girls?” She looked at them, something trembled inside of her. “Right, girls?”

No answer came from them, but from the golden one. He might have remembered her of an unpleasant memory, because she was trying so fucking hard to hide her disgust. “Yeah, nobodies? Never heard about nobodiesever crossing the X threshold. Ya’ don’t even have a name?” She blinked and he was right in front of her, one puff appart. Her eyes noticed them all. Shoulder-length, bleached and dyed, blonde hair, expensive sunglasses, multiple golden piercings. Bells didn’t reply, she stood there. If Adonis was a man-made sculpture standing on the other side of the room, she now was one of Medusa’s stone carvings. A stunned victim.

“We came here for the job.” Ramona’s voice helped Bells release a well-held breath. “We didn’t mean to run into your little dispute, we just thought you might need help dustingeverything off.”

Ice.

“Ha?” He turned towards Ramona. “I didn’t hear shit, there is no job here.”

“There is,” she assured him, “we are not here to cause any trouble. Like you are, for example.”

“Ah, if she is a nobody, you definitely act like somebody.” He no longer paid attention to Bells, he didn’t have to, ‘cause he found the shepherd. Again, the girls just blinked and he moved himself across the room, savouring Ramona’s heartbeats. “What if I stopped it?” 

Their eyes met.

“Stop what?”

“Your heart, you fu-”

“Kinzou.”

They all turned their heads in the direction of the stairs. He was standing at the top of them, accompanied by three others. His voice cut like a knife.

“Do not move another finger. We are here to have a discussion.”

The sun went down a while ago, Audrey looked again at that hole.

“But it’s so dark outside.”