Chapter One
Prologue
The dark, endless cloud cover hid the striking sienna and orange sky that signaled the fall of the sun. A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance. A small girl, no older than five, hands innocently laced behind her back, skipped towards the ominous tan mansion of the Natchios family. As usual, her father was out of town on business. And in this mansion in the middle of no where, what more was there to do but spend lonely, cloudy days outside playing in the garden or in the hedge maze behind the home. Ah, the girl had memorized that maze. How she has known it. Like the back of her own miniscule hand. She did so enjoy the hours she spent in it, trying to discover every crevice, every corner, every dead end.
In so doing, so had memorized each and every path that led to the circular garden plaza in the centre of the puzzle. She remembered, especially, the gift at the center. On her latest birthday, her parents had taken her to the center of the maze and there, right in the middle, stood a four-pillar, glass dome-topped wishing well. Around it was tied a crimson ribbon, blowing in the slight breeze. She loved that well. She spent hours dancing and playing around it. However, regardless of how much fun she had, she recalled her mother's warning: "At the first sound of thunder, get inside to stay safe."
She made her way through the front door and gazed up the twisting staircase onto the second floor. Her small feet carried her, pitter-pattering, to the doorway of her mother's bedroom. She was to tell her mother when she came in. Her mother had not, as usual, been waiting for her return at the doorway with a warm sweater and a mug of warm tea, but perhaps she had dozed of reading her magazine in bed. Indeed, the girl heard the rustling of feet from within the room. She took a step back to see the light shining from under the door. A shadow whizzed by. Her face contorted in question. That was far too fast to be her mother. Slowly, her hand grasped the gold knob. She slowly turned it, pushed the door in, peeking her head around the corner and stepped in. There, standing over her mother's bed, stood a tall black figure. Her eyes opened wide in surprise as the statuesque figure whipped itself around, faster than she thought possible, its deep eyes glaring into hers. A gust of wind and the figure was standing at the window. The girl fell back onto her hands. She gasps.
The person… No, the thing, bared its teeth at her and, in another blast of wind and a whoosh of the curtain, disappeared out the window. The girl ran to the bed, where her mother lay. She saw red liquid resting in drops across her mother's hands and chest. "Mom?" She asked. She lifted the hand and a drop of the crimson liquid dropped onto the sheet. She climbed on the bed, lifted the blood-covered necklace still in place around her mother's neck. She read the keep-sake. Wiping off the blood, she read her name from the charm: "Elektra." She heard footsteps climbing the stairs. Elektra lowered herself and gently placed her head on her mother's stomach, staring up at her closed eyes.
"Honey, I'm-" Her father's eyes opened wide at the sight. "No…" He said taking a step back. "Elektra!" He raced into the room, picked her up and carried her outside the door, racing her down the stairs and placing her on the ground. "Elektra, are you alright?" He kneeled, holding her arms. Elektra nodded. "Oh, God in Heaven. Elektra, do not go up that room, do you hear me?" She nodded once more. Nikolas grabbed at the telephone hanging on the wall.
"Daddy?" Elektra asked sheepishly as her father dialed a number. "What's wrong with Mommy? She won't wake up." Her father continued dialing. Elektra sat cross-legged on the ground, her flower dress covered in blood.
Fifteen minutes later, men were swarming the house. The mansion's ballroom, a large, operatic room, had two staircases at one end and a second level track that went all the way around the gigantic room. On all sides of her, maids dressed in stately black outfits with white aprons were placed sheets over pieces of furniture. She ran her hand over the banister and climbed to the second level in the room. There, she turned and look out at the sheets, being draped across chairs, and cabinets and bureaus. She lowered her head and continued her melancholy walk through the house that had seemed to secure, so safe, so impenetrable just moments before. She walked down the second floor hallway, only twisting her head enough to see a man with a jacket that read "Coroner" placing a sheet over the sleeping figure of her mother. Her father kneeled at the foot of the bed, sobbing.
She obeyed his instructions and did not enter the room. Rather, she moved to the kitchen, alone ad quiet, where she sat in solitude. She thought of her cooking lessons with the chef, Louie. Oh how she had laughed. But now, this kitchen was devoid of furniture. It was a ghostly place. In the last half hour, the bustle of the eatery has been reduced to complete silence.
A knock quickly removed her from her meditation. Her father entered the room. "Dear. Your mother is… No longer with us." Elektra looked to the ground. Her father was fighting back tears, she could tell. "But, daddy, I just saw her." He sniffled. "Yes, Elektra, but your mother has passed away. Her soul has gone to a better place."
"She died." Elektra said, in self realization.
"Yes, Elektra. She died." He sniffled once more. "We're going to the well to give her a burial. I expect you to stay in here and not to enter that room. Understand?" She nodded. Nikolas left the room. As soon as his footsteps disappeared, Elektra hopped to her feet. She ran back to the ballroom, up the right set up steps, and then turned to her right. There, down the ten foot hallway was a window that looked out on the hedge maze. She watched in silence as she saw the parade of mourners zigzag through the hedges and towards the central well. A crack of thunder and rain began to gently slide through the clouds and onto the people in the maze. She watched them dig a rectangular plot and she watched a gold-trimmed casket being lowered down into it. Then dirt filled up the hole. Everyone stood in silence, heads lowered. Elektra felt a tear trace its way down her cheek. "Mommy." She found herself muttering under her voice. Her sharp breaths made the window fog up as she began to cry.
A week later, the officially funeral was held to honor her. Elektra broke away from the crying patrons and made her way into her father's sitting room. She opened a drawer and removed a golden key. Examining it, she took it to a tall, dark-wood cabinet. Placing her key inside, she gave it a turn and opened the cabinet to reveal two identical dagger-like knives. Two-pronged swords. She removed them from their holder and ran out the door into the maze. Her heart heavy, eyes flooding with tears, she made her way to the well. How could a gift so majestic become a gravestone?
As fast as her hands could carry her, she dug into the still lose soil about four inches. She gently laid the sai in the small plot and covered them with a thin layer of dirt. "Don't worry mom. I'll find them and I'll tell them what they did is wrong! And I won't let them go till they apologize to us." She looked up at the tall wishing well and, if only for a second, thought she saw the dark red ribbon blowing in the wind. "I miss you" She said, sitting down on the well. Her eyes began to tear. She sniffled. "But I'll find you."
I'll only continue if you all think it's worthy of the true, real, un-editing, linear telling of Elektra's story. If you'd rather I didn't then let me know. Review, please.