The Stranger- Chapter 3

He wandered close behind me as I pounded down the stairs to the dining room. The maids were finishing setting the table, silverware for three on the table instead of two. My father always sat at the head of the table. Two more places were set on the right of his, so I took a seat next to the head of the table. Kendell sat down next to me looking slightly nervous. My father strolled in casually and smiled at both of us as he sat down. He shot an especially pointed smile at Kendell. I cringed thinking about what my father had planned this for. The dinner was carried in by Katherine and two other maids, an old maid that was like my grandmother named Nichole, and a middle aged maid named Alyssa. Katherine was the only one with black hair and hazel eyes. Nichole had steely gray eyes and gray hair, and Alyssa had light blue eyes and blonde hair. They set down soup, roast turkey, baked asparagus and carrots, fruit, jam, bread rolls and butter and a pitcher of water. It was a usual dinner for us because of our wealth, but Kendell stared wide eyed. My father had never let him over any later than mid afternoon so he never saw dinner at the manor. Mr. Calsworth wasn’t very financially stable and I heard Kendell complain more than enough times about the lack of food. I gave him our food every now and again when they were in a worse situation than usual. I felt so embarrassed as he gaped at the food. I do hate showing off our money like this.

The dinner was served and I ate silently. Kendell ate silently as well. My father, however, started a most awkward conversation.

“So, Mr. Inkcrest… If you don’t mind me asking, what are your intentions with my daughter?” The grin on my father’s face was fake, no doubt.

“Uh-I-um…” Kendell sputtered, his face flushing.

“Surely you would never think of hurting my petal, would you?”

“Absolutely not!” I was relieved that Kendell finally found his voice. “I would protect her with my life, Lord Dre- James.” The fierce gleam in his eyes was quite convincing.

“I see… So do you love her?”

“Good God, Father! Leave the poor man alone!” I slammed my hands down on the table in frustration. “He’s my friend, my only friend in this damn town. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t hound him like this.” My appetite left, so I just pushed the turkey around my plate.

“Fine,” my father sighed, “but only because he’s your friend.”

I knew that my father was just looking out for me and I loved him for that. But I didn’t want to risk anything with Kendell, especially with the way he’s been acting towards me today. It was confusing. I decided to at least finish the food on my plate. I was about to pick up the dinner role when another hand snatched it away. Kendell grinned childishly at me and took a bite out of it. A pout consumed my face and when he turned away to laugh, I swiped a carrot off of his plate. When he gave me a mock glare, it took all of my power not to laugh. He poked me in the side, causing me to jolt. I swatted his arm,

“B*****d.”

“You love me,” the famous smirk reappeared on his face.

“No. No I do not,” in an effort to hide my smile, I crossed my arms and turned away.

Kendell poked my side again, this time sending me completely off my chair and onto the floor. I burst out laughing with him and got up, taking a hold of his hair tie and ripping it out. His silky raven black hair swept around his shoulders like a cape. He looked like a wild beast.

“How dare you!” I was laughing too hard at his shocked expression to notice that he got up. Kendell grabbed me and poked both sides of my waist, sending me to the floor again.

“Would you two please stop fooling around…” I forgot my father was even there. He sounded irritated with us. Oops.

Quickly, Kendell and I sat back down and ate the rest of our dinner silently. He tied his hair back up and coughed, looking at the grandfather clock in the front of the dining room.

“Thank you for the meal, James, but I must be getting back to the iron shop.”

“You’re very welcome. Tell Mr. Calsworth I said hello.”

“Will do. Goodbye.” he got up and Katherine showed him to the door.

When he left, my father sighed, “Annabelle…”

“Yes?” I squeaked.

“That boy is so in love with you, that I might as well start planning your marriage now.” He got up and hugged me, “My daughter is a young woman. I still remember when you were just a toddler in your little pink dress-“

“Father, please. He doesn’t love me like that.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at him.

“That’s what you think, petal. Now wash up, it’s time for bed.”

I smiled and kissed him on the cheek, then ran back up the stairs to the bathroom. I washed my face and rinsed out my mouth, then ran off to my room to change into my purple nightgown. Thoughts of Kendell ran through my mind. Did he love me? No, not possible. Still, the thought made me hyper. Instead of sitting at my vanity and brushing my hair, I was dancing around my room with the brush. When I was done I tossed it on my nightstand and jumped into bed, pulling the covers up to my chin. I didn’t think I’d ever get Kendell out of my mind. We met when I was five and he was seven. He had called me so many names and teased me about my hair endlessly. Of course I cried. Most boys didn’t say anything to me because I was the daughter of a lord. My mother was still alive then. She said he was calling me all those names because he liked me. I still cried because I thought boys were disgusting. Little Kendell was so adorable, with his hair slightly past his shoulders and dirt always covering his clothes. A flashback appeared in my mind.

I looked around the town with excitement. Mother almost never let me out of the house, she said I was too young. I had snuck out this time and taken a big lollipop from the candy bin. I felt so sneaky. I wandered for an hour, looking at the bakery and the tailor’s shop. When I got near the iron shop, I got scared. This was where that mean boy lived. I should just turn around and go home, Mother was probably very angry. For some reason, that made me want to go farther into town. So I did. I licked my lollipop a few more times before I got to the beginning of the big iron shop. It towered over me like a monster. My pink dress and long white hair swished around me as I walked further, the pink bow in my hair bouncing with my steps. My bravery started to disappear when I felt eyes on me, like a bug on my skin. Scared, I turned my head to the iron shops’ door.

He was staring at me.

I stopped walking and stared back. My heart was pounding and I whimpered. Another boy called him and followed his gaze. Now they were both staring at me. The mean boy whispered something to the other boy and they both grinned. I was ready to run when they started walking towards me with dark smiles.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here, Kendell?” The other boy smirked.

“Lord Drevensek’s daughter, Calvin. And she’s got something nice.” His eyes fell on my lollipop, staring greedily.

I clutched the lollipop in my small hands and shouted, “Leave me alone! You’re mean.”

The mean boy, Kendell, pushed me to the ground. I heard my dress rip and my arm stung. The pain was small but enough to make me cry. The other boy Calvin laughed evilly and swiped my lollipop away. I cried harder. They called me names and then turned to walk back to the iron shop. By now I was only sniffling, but my arm still hurt. Calvin had walked back inside, but Kendell turned around and stared at me. I heard that name Kendell before… He was the boy who lost his parents and was taken in by Mr. Calsworth.

“Calvin, I’ll be inside soon.”

He turned around and ran back to me, kneeling next to me. I scooted away and screamed, “Go away, you stupid boy!”

Kendell frowned, “I’m sorry.”

“No you’re not! You’ll do it again the next time you see me!” I cried again, fresh tears pouring down my face.

It surprised me when he reached out his hand and wiped my tears away. He cradled me against his dirty clothes even though I was trying to push him away. “No I won’t… Promise.”

I looked up at him and blushed. He was actually being nice for once. “Okay…”

“Why don’t you go play with your other friends?” His big eyes stared into mine.

I got sad again, “I don’t have any friends. They all think I’m weird because of my hair.”

“I think it’s pretty…” Kendell whispered. I stared at him and he went wide eyed. “I didn’t say anything! I swear!”

I giggled, “Sure.”

We sat in silence until he stuttered, “I-I’ll be your friend…”

“You will?” I gasped, smiling.

“Y-yeah…”

“Thank you!” I hugged him tight. When I let go, I giggled at his blush. He took my arm and looked at the scrape, sighing.

“Sorry about this. At least it’s not bleeding.”

I got up and brushed myself off. Kendell gasped again and I stared at him in confusion. He pointed to my dress, where there was a rip. I sighed, “Oh well.”

He looked down and frowned. I didn’t want to see my new friend sad, so I walked over and kissed him on the cheek. Kendell gasped again and blushed a deep red.

“What time can we play together, Kendell?” I smiled.

“Uh-um, tomorrow after my chores are done, I guess…”

“Okay.” We said our goodbyes and I walked back down the road towards home. I could feel his eyes on me, and faintly hear his laugh before a carriage appeared in front of me. My mother jumped out when it stopped, looking very angry…

“Annabelle Delilah Drevensek! What on Earth has gotten into you? Running off by yourself- and look, your dress is ripped!”

My usually calm mother was seething with rage. I bowed my head, scared, and whispered, “I made a new friend…”

Her face went back to normal really fast and she smiled, “Oh, that’s wonderful. Come on, let’s get home for lunch.”

And that was the day I officially met Kendell. Calvin was Mr. Calsworth’s real son, and he was just like every other man in town. Short haired. Proper. Boring. Calvin had just turned twenty a few months ago. He had tried complimenting me several times these days, but Kendell often shooed him away. He said Calvin was just looking for someone to marry for money. I had appreciated him looking out for me.

My eyelids grew heavy and slipped shut, sending me into a dizzying darkness. The dream I had was anything but normal. The man I had drawn so many times in my pictures always appeared in my dreams, but he was in the distance watching me. I always saw him standing behind something so that he was half concealed. His eyes would flicker from that reddish brown to a ghastly moon colored glow, like a ghost, when he watched me. My dream tonight of course involved Kendell, but something was wrong. My dreams were always happy despite the bone chilling stare the man gave me. Tonight the dream was horrifying.

I was at a masked ball dancing with Kendell. Everyone around us was hazy, like they didn’t exist. Just Kendell and I, spinning through the ballroom to the violins. I was lost in the dancing, in his eyes behind his black mask. I was wearing a deep blue dress and gloves, him a black suit. Everyone else was hazy, but slowly started to disappear completely.

“Annabelle…”

Kendell whispered my name with a smile. I smiled back and leaned against his chest. It was so comfortable with him. I gazed around the room for the man and saw him halfway behind one of the window curtains. Of course. His eyes scared me so much. They weren’t even eyes, just a silver glow. I turned away and tried to forget him. Dancing with Kendell was where I wanted my focus to be.

Then the lights in the room died out. I gazed around the room in confusion. The music died and everyone else that had been in the room was gone. Something else changed. Fear settled in me when I couldn’t find the man behind the curtain.

“Annabelle!”

Kendell’s voice was coming to my right. It sounded like he was in pain. I snapped my head to his voice to see him lying on the floor covered in blood. I tried to scream his name, but I couldn’t find my voice.

“Oh Annabelle… Forget about him, Princess.”

I realized I was still dancing with someone. When my head shot up to the deep, dark voice, my heart leapt in my throat.

The man that had been watching me for so long was dancing with me, his lips dripping with dark red blood.

Kendell’s blood.

It was horrifying to watch the man’s back sprout two enormous black bat wings and spread them above him. I looked back over to Kendell to see that he was turning to ash. It puzzled me that he was surrounded by feathers until I saw the faint skeleton of molting wings that came from his back. Then he disintegrated completely and the remains were blown away.

“Come dear, give yourself to me. Give me your pure white wings.” The man leaned down to whisper in my ear, “I want to taint you…”

Something soft brushed my arm, and I realized there were feathers coming from my back as well. I had wings.

The man’s face remained normal for a few more seconds despite dripping blood, then his mouth stretched open. He looked like a demon with soulless white orbs for eyes and gaping jaws full of sharp bloody teeth.

I woke up with a jolt, sitting upright. An involuntary scream escaped my lips.

The man was hanging upside down from my canopy, smiling ruefully through bloody lips and sharp teeth. Those soulless eyes bore into mine before he disappeared into red smoke.

Katherine rushed into my room, “What’s wrong, Annabelle? Did someone hurt you?”

I covered my face in my hands, “No, no, it was just a bad dream. I’m sorry for waking you up, just go back to bed.”

She rushed over and I felt her hands dragging mine away from her face. Katherine studied my face and glanced down at my bed, gasping, “Annabelle, what is on your bed?”

What was she talking about? Hesitantly, I glanced down at my bed to see feathers and bloodstains all over it. Katherine ripped the covers off to see if I was injured. When she couldn’t find any wounds, she was shaking.

I became dizzy and fell on the floor, my eyelids slipping shut again. Katherine was crying for help and trying to pick me up. My consciousness completely faded away, leading me into nothing but bleak darkness.

I had yet another dream, but this didn’t feel like a dream at all. It was too real. In my dream, my vision was altered as if I was looking through a glass bottle. For some reason I had complete control over my movements. It was as if I had actually stepped outside my body and was trapped in a bottle. I watched my father come into my room and pick up my unconscious body and rush to the door. He called out to Katherine, who came running up beside him. They both ran from the house and into a carriage, which drove quickly down the hill. I watched them go, floating close behind the carriage. It must have been the middle of the night because the moon and stars shone brightly overhead. The carriage continued down the hill into town and stopped in front of the clinic. My father started shouting for the physician, Dr. Richards to open the door. He came outside and stared at my body with shock. His wife had the same reaction and my body was quickly pulled inside the house. What caught my eye in the dream was another carriage pulling up across the street. It seemed so dark and beautiful. The door opened and a short man jumped out, dressed in a suit with a top hat and a pair of bifocals. He was chubby and had virtually no hair except for his bushy handle bar mustache. I was about to look away uninterested until someone else shifted in the cabin. The street lamps and the lamps hanging on the carriage gave me enough light to see who it was.

No.

Long black hair.

Long black coat.

I saw his eyes in the light. They were a deep brownish red.

The short man said something to him and he nodded, then looked right up at me. I was just dreaming, so none of this was real, right?

The man’s eyes glinted and he smirked at me evilly before everything went black.

Reviews

[Wolfwind]

Oooh! This chapter with it's flash back and the dreams really builds my curiosity as to what the dreams mean and what may happen as recourse in future chapters. I'm really enjoying how the flow is staying strong. Especially as it's written in first person, from Annabelle's point of view. I don't read many first person stories that keep the power and intensity as this has. Great Ink!

Aaron

[Review]

i know this is only a guess and most likely wrong but is Kendall that weird creepy guy with black hair