Soft morning light shined through the window, a young woman reluctantly opened her eyes and pushed her jet black hair off to the side as she looked around. She grumbled as she arose from her comfortable bed, the light was painful to her deep blue eyes. The door to her room creaked open, she looked towards it to see a small girl with light brown hair halfway through the door. Once their eyes meet the small girl's face lit up.
"Cassandra, you're awake!" The small girl cheered as she ran over to her sister.
"Yes, don't worry Phoebe I have not been late to work before and I will not start now." Cassandra said as she looked at the young girl's blue eyes that matched her own. "Now go run off downstairs for breakfast" she said ushering her little sister towards the door. Once Phoebe left the room she quickly changed into some appropriate work clothes and headed downstairs to join the rest of her family.
Cassandra sat down in an empty seat next to Phoebe who was happily eating away. She looked over at the door way to see a girl with brown hair likes Phoebes up in a ponytail come into the room with her own food.
"Should have told me you had work today, I would have made some food for you!" The girl said sitting down across from her.
"It's alright Alexia, I'll just grab something on the way out" She said laying her arms out onto the table to use as a make shift pillow.
"If you keep up working with such hours I swear you'll kill over from exhaustion!" Alexia said death glaring her sister.
"I'll be fine, don't worry. I just have today then I'm off the rest of the week." She reassured her.
Cassandra felt a hand placed on her shoulder and looked up to see short black haired boy giving her a cheerful smile. "That's good, I don't wanna see my older sister looking like a zombie again like last time you over worked" he said making her smile.
"Thanks Denzil, and good morning"
"Good morning to you too" He said sitting down beside Alexia
"What no 'Good Morning' to your way more awesome older sister!?" Alexia wined grabbing Denzil's cheek.
"Good morning my dear amazing sister" he said in pain.
"That's better!" She said going back to her food as Denzil rubbed his sore cheek.
Just before Denzil could take a bite of his food two hands grab his shoulders and scares the leaving day lights out of him. "Good morning father" he said to the black haired man behind him as he recovered from a slight heart attack.
"Good morning children!" he said cheerfully as he sat down at the head of the table.
"Um, father you have dirt all over you." Cassandra pointed out looking up from her makeshift pillow.
"Oh dear me, you're right. I'll be back down after washing up" The still smiling man said standing up and heading for the dining room door.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again, one of the best decisions you're parents made was naming you Garth" Alexia called after him, he responded with a chuckle "And why do you say that?" he asked pausing by door.
"Because I heard that Garth means someone who lives or works in a Garden, and you happen to be both" She explained in a matter-of-fact tone.
Garth chuckled again, "I suppose they did choose well" He said still grinning.
"Dad, can I see the new flowers soon?" Phoebe asked with big puppy eyes.
"Oh course dear, but you'll have to wait till tonight after your sister comes back from work, don't want her missing out now do we?" He said well giving her a thumbs up. "Right!" Phoebe cheered obviously exciting.
"What colour are the roses anyways?" Alexia asked growing interest.
"A pure white, just like Phoebe's lovely dress! Now if you'll excuse me I have to wash up." Garth said exiting the room, "And see you tonight Cassandra" he added before disappearing up stairs.
"Well I have to get going now" Cassandra said walking over to behind Denzil.
"Hey, that's mine!" Denzil yelled as his sister stole an apple from his plate as Alexia laughed at her brother's expression.
"And now it's mine" She said heading to the door, "bye everyone" she said looking back at her three siblings.
They wished her farewell as she left for work. On her way out she looked at her Mother's picture hanging on the wall, her long brown hair blowing in the wind as the sun reflected off her blue eyes that Cassandra inherited, the name "Rosalind Gwendolyn" was written in the bottom left corner.
"I miss you Mother" she said slightly sorrowful, her mother's death three years ago was hard on the family, Dad took it the worst. Everyone was convinced if it wasn't for Phoebe who looked so much like her then he would have snapped.
Once she left the house she looked up at the bright blue sky, no clouds were in sight and the weather was just perfect but Cassandra just couldn't shake the feeling of dread.
The last bit of sunlight faded from the sky as Cassandra stepped out onto the street, she sighed with relief of being able to leave work earlier than what was originally planned. As she made her way down the almost empty street she noted a strange sound coming from further ahead, as she grew closer her dread increased looking around she found the street to be completely deserted which did nothing to calm her nerves.
As she approached one of the alleyways the sound she has been hearing became clearer, it sounded like…crying? As Cassandra looked around the corner she immediately recognized the figure in front of her.
"Phoebe!" she yelled out to the figure, that feeling of uneasiness still lingering.
The young figure turned around and her tear stained face lit up, "Cassandra, I was so scared!" the young girl yelled as she ran into the arms of her sister. Cassandra pet the young girl's hair as she tried calming her down, once she has stopped crying they broke away so Cassandra could get a good look at her.
"Why are you out here? You know it's not safe for young ones like you."
"I wanted to bring you the cake I made, Alexia was saying how you never eat enough but they wouldn't let me leave so I snuck out but I got lost and I thought no one would find me" Phoebe started to cry again as she finished explaining. "Are you mad at me?"
"No, of course not, I'm just glad you're safe but father is probably worried so let's get home quickly alright?" Cassandra said trying to stop the girl from crying anymore.
"Okay, but you have to have some ca-" she started saying as she looked around, "Where is it?" the girl wondered aloud getting upset again.
"You probably put it down somewhere and forgot it when you got scared, let's go find it okay?" She said watching Phoebe looking everywhere in the alley. She looked up at Cassandra and looked as if she remembered suddenly "I know! I left it near that man!" she said as she took off running.
"Wait, Phoebe!" Cassandra called running after her, the child seemed faster than normal and the feeling of dread was growing to an unbearable level.
As she followed the small figure through the streets she became more anxious by the second, her heart would almost stop as she lost sight of her a few seconds only to catch a small glimpse of movement in the corner of her eyes. It began to feel like the world was playing a cruel joke on her but she knew it wasn't a joke once a scream filled the night air only to return to dead silence.
Fearing the worst Cassandra ran to the end of another alleyway and saw at the end of the street the lifeless body of her sister lying on the ground; her white dress stained red. She froze in her tracks trying to process what she was seeing. She looked over to the figure next to the child a pair of red eyes that seemed to glow was all that she could make out; the rest was hidden in the shadows of what seemed to be a floating suit of armor. Cassandra didn't care though, she couldn't think much less care. The only thing that came to mind was;
'run'.
This broke her out of her trance.
'Run'.
Her body seemed to move on it's on as she started backing up into the alleyway.
'RUN'.
She turned around back towards the alleyway and just ran; she didn't even know where to nor did she care. She just ran around corners, down empty streets, through alleyways where ever her legs decided to go she just simply obeyed.
Once she stopped and looked around she found herself in her father's garden. Her legs felt numb and sore but she just ignored it "you have bigger issues to deal with" she thought to herself. The clouds that had been covering up the moon moved away and gave a glowing effect to the white roses around her. She could only look at them with sorrow as she thought of how her sister was so excited to see them. She prayed that these would not be tainted by the same red colour her sister's dress was.
Cassandra stepped into the house and removed her footwear; she hung her coat onto a nearby coat rack and then slowly made her way into the dining room. Alexia and Denzil were sitting at the table with a worried expression showing. The floor creaked giving Cassandra away as she walked into the room, their eye shot up at her and quickly their expressions turned to joy and relief.
"We were so worried" Denzil said hugging Cassandra like he hadn't seen her in years, she hugged him back as she gave a look to Alexia saying "Where is father?"
"Dad went out to search for Phoebe when we noticed she had left, a piece of cake we made together was missing as well so we figured she wanted to bring some to you." Alexia explained as she took notice of her sister's sorrowful smile she wore.
Before she could explain the sound of a door opening and closing was heard behind them, they looked to see father standing in the door way out of breath. They let him sit down at the head of the dinner table before saying anything, Denzil and Alexia beginning to get confused and worried.
"I looked everywhere, where in the world is she?" said their father clearly agitated, something was off about him. "Did you see her?" he asked looking at Cassandra.
"Yes, but I'm sorry…" she gulped as she looked at their worried faces; it broke her heart to tell them, "she…was killed" Cassandra looked at her feet; the shock at the time stopped her from feeling sad or crying, now there was nothing stopping the tears as they made their way down her face.
Denzil and Alexia looked at her in shock as they tried to grasp what they had just told her, her father on the other was growing angry, silently debating something in his head.
"But that can't be, I would have seen her corpse right?" he asked agitated.
"Well, did you look near the east side of the city, by the edge?" She asked well trying to place what was off about him.
"Yes I was, but I…" his eyes went wide before he shut them and shook his head relaxing himself, after a moment of silence he let out a sigh, "the only thing different I saw was a patch of white and red roses, you must have hallucinated from lack of sleep and not eating right."
"But…I-" Cassandra started to protest.
"You have had hallucinations from doing that before remember?" he interrupted her.
"Well, yeah" she admitted.
"See? Also have you seen the white roses in the back?" he asked.
"Yes, but why do you ask?" she wondered.
"Well she's probably in the back then, just stayed in the garden well you went inside and you didn't notice well your memories ended up playing betraying you." He said well he headed back towards the door, "I'll go get her, you all wait here."
"But it seemed so real…" she mumbled to herself as they listened to the door close.
"Denzil could you wait here well I go talk with Cassandra upstairs" Alexia asked looked concerned.
"Y-Yeah, sure, but is dad right?" Denzil asked looking like he was about to cry.
"Yeah, probably. Don't worry about it alright?" Alexia said with a reassuring smile.
Denzil nodded as Alexia left the room and went to the far side of the hallway upstairs, Alexia didn't look so reassuring anymore; She had a serious expression on. She knew something was up with father as well.
"Something does seem off with him. I think he snapped." Alexia said leaning against the wall.
"If he saw Phoebe's corpse, it's more than likely. I'm still in shock about it too; it just doesn't seem real…" Cassandra let her words trail off.
"And he denied her death by making himself believe that you were just hallucinating." Alexia said thinking aloud.
"Then that patch of 'red and white roses'…her body no doubt" Cassandra said looking up at the moon.
Alexia nodded in agreement. "Did you see who killed her…?" she asked with caution as not to upset her.
"No, not really…All I could make out was what seemed like two red eyes…" she said thinking; she knew that description seemed familiar.
"Wait, you don't think it was…" Alexia asked with wide eyes, Cassandra clued in to what she was thinking right away.
"The Red-Eyed Specter…" she said voicing what they were both thinking.
They looked at each other in the moonlight for a moment until Alexia turned towards the window, her eyes went wide as the door downstairs was heard opening in the background. She darted down the stairs as Cassandra looked out to see what caused Alexia's surprise.
As soon as she looked out at the Garden she spotted a figure lying facedown, if it wasn't for the white roses around them someone one would guess they were asleep but there, in the moonlight the same red colour that was laid across her sister's dress had stained the roses.
"Denzil run!" she heard Alexia yell from downstairs, the sound of running up the stairs was heard behind her, she put her figure to her lips to quiet Denzil as she lead him into one of the rooms. They opened up a wardrobe and hide inside it, making as little noise as possible. Cassandra held him close to her and prayed they would make it to morning, but she knew better, she knew there was little chance of surviving the night.
As the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs were heard she looked down at her brothers face hidden in the darkness and heard him whisper "We'll get to see mother soon, right sis?"
she started petting his head as the footsteps got louder; "yeah…" she said as well fighting back tears.
"I love you sis" he said hugging her tighter.
"I love you too" she said hugging him back, tears were forming in both their eyes.
The door to the room opened; it didn't take long for the room's carpet and walls to be splattered with blood. The man with the infamous red eyes stood over the two bodies, his expression never changing. He pulled a few objects from his coat and placed some in each of the children's hands; he looked at them one last time before headed off into the night leaving the white roses to glow in their hands.
Author Note: I thank you for reading my story, please forgive any grammar or spelling errors (point them out please if you notice any or if you have an idea as to how to improve this story please tell me that as well).
And the image for this story is made by somadjinn on DeviantART, the picture's name is "Bleeding Rose Macro".