Leah Hampton wasn't the most outgoing person to ever roam Rothbury Town, she had much rather spend time with her siblings and parents. People her age were off courting those young lads who held their chins high to show their superiority and class, while nineteen year old Leah seemed to always find herself in her study practicing the arts of music and language.
The town of Rothbury held very few educational distractions for a girl like Leah to be interested in. She longed for adventure and amusement elsewhere than her raggedy home that constantly echoed with the bellows of two younger siblings fighting over who got to feed the chickens and the bickering of two elder sisters arguing over who got to purchase the latest addition to hats of fashion.
However, on this night, Leah had rushed out of the house in hopes of going for a late night stroll to a nearby dilapidated castle. Edlingham Castle had been a sort of playground for Leah ever since she was a young child. She'd constantly be reprimanded by her mother and father for climbing up the unstable structure, but she had always gone back the next day to do it all over again.
It was a fair distance to walk on a dark night, but the sounds of crickets and the howling wind kept her company along the way. The country side was very familiar to Leah, as well with the abandoned castle. She could walk about the area with her eyes closed and not stumble once. She knew the place like it was her own mind's map.
She went round the bend in the road and there in the distance, lit by the radiance of the moon, was Edlingham Castle. Leah's mouth smiled as her feet quickened their pace. Her eagerness was almost discernible in the night air.
Her shoes clicked as she walked out onto the bricks, breathing in the cool night air. Her eyes roamed over the structure, remembering past imaginative adventures she had out here during long lazy afternoons with her siblings. It was the only place that Leah was really allowed to go by herself. Her two elder sisters were yet to be married, so that meant Leah wasn't presented into society yet. She longed for the day when she could leave her middle class farm and venture out into the world. But until then, she was stuck reading up on languages and tinkering at her piano.
She felt a cool chill crawl up her back, resulting in goose flesh to rise on her partially bare arms. She pulled on her cardigan, hoping that it would help. Leah rubbed her chin on her shoulder, only to see something unfamiliar out the side of her eye. She spun about, to discover an angel statue. Its gray hands were covering its face as though it were crying, or perhaps weeping.
Leah's brows furrowed, that had never been there before. She was quite certain that it was an addition to the castle. She then decided to approach the statue, hoping that it would give some clue as to who placed it there and where it came from.
It was a tall object, towering over Leah's short stature. It had cracks and dirt smudged all over the frame. Leah thought that it was excellent workmanship, the detail and delicate curves of the stone would be envied by and marble carver in Rothbury. She walked around it once, getting a good look at the angel and saw that it provided no clue as to where it came from.
Leah mumbled to herself, "Perhaps you'll just be something I can enjoy each time I come back, then."
She turned her back and began walking over to the larger and not as ruined part of the castle, planning to climb up to the top. She was just about to lift a foot when an almost muffled shuffle of feet grabbed her attention. She glanced over her shoulder to see that the angel statue had moved.
"I could have sworn you were over by that bush," she mumbled to herself. "How did you move over here?"
Leah narrowed her eyes at the statue, but then focused on climbing the castle again. However, the shuffling feet sounded again and Leah peered down below her to see that the angel had moved once more. Her brows knitted even closer as she peered out into the dark bushes.
"Alright! That was quite the jest, Tobias!" Her younger brother loved to play jokes on everyone in the family. And to be quite honest, Leah was impressed that he was able to move such a large stature, or perhaps he had some one's assistance.
"Is Anna aiding you, Tobias? If so, excellent job to the both of you. You had me quite concerned!"
However, Leah's words echoed out into the night and no one replied. Leah knew her brother and sister; they would always reveal themselves after they were found out. If they weren't out here in the bushes, then who was?
Leah glanced down at the angel statue only to see that it now had its stone arms reaching up and grasping onto Leah's skirt hem. The young woman gasped and tried to pull her skirt away but fell back in the process; letting out a muffled groan when she landed. Her back ached when she rolled over to see that the angel had advanced even closer to her fallen body. Its mouth was now open, exposing stone fangs that seemed to almost glisten in the moonlight. No matter how much Leah would have originally admired the statue's uniqueness, she had much rather get back home before anything happened to her.
She lifted her skirts and ran as fast as her muddy boots could carry her, occasionally tripping over roots sticking up out of the ground and then gaining her balance with the help of a nearby tree branch. But, it didn't matter how fast she pushed herself to run, the muffled shuffling of feet continued to follow behind her.
She rounded a bend in the gravelled road and caught a glimpse of her home in the distance, the bright yellow sun rising on the horizon. But, she would never be able to join her family for the morning meal because her shoulder was touched by a single finger and she vanished from the roadside just outside of a small town called Rothbury.