Chapter 1: Hard Times

Clouds may have been soft and fluffy, but they were also wet, as a now cold wing had come to find out. Drifting away from the cotton-like object, two wings both worked simultaneously to carry the small bird into the air.

What should have been no easy task, seemed to be coming more naturally than anything. The bird had achieved heights it never even thought possible, even going higher than most mountains underneath it. But it appeared that this bird was not alone.

Another bird, around the same size, had quickly picked up speed, and appeared, flying right next to it. This bird was clearly light blue in color, and whistled a familiar tune.

"A lucky bluebird." The brown one thought.

It stopped whistling all together, and gave the Robin a smile. The brown bird smiled back. The afternoon had been brightly filled with fluttering wings and melodious music. The Robin and the Bluebird were enjoying each other's company as they tried to determine who could go farther, faster.

The Bluebird was incredibly fast, the Robin would admit, and it clearly wasn't giving him any leeway. In fact, it pretty much speed away to where the Robin could no longer see it. The Robin squinted it's eyes as the chase was on. Except it wasn't.

The brown bird had been thrown all the way down to the ground in a matter of seconds, landing in the wet mud. The Robin lay in silence for a moment, trying to recoil from the sudden pain. The wind was now blowing away all the feathers the bird possessed, slowly, but progressing ever quickly.

The bird's brown feathers had all blown away, leaving a boy in it's wake. The boy, now bruised and muddy, held his cloak tightly in an attempt to fight off the cold. The sky, which had once been beautiful and bright, was now growing dull and angry. The clouds were approaching fast, which never meant anything good.

Following the clouds, and out of the nearby trees, a dark shadow made it's presence known. Two white eyes glistened in the darkness, calling out to him, beckoning him to come over. But he ran. He turned around immediately and ran the other way. Whatever that thing was, what ever it wanted, he wouldn't let him have it.

The darkness was quicker than the boy had first thought. The eyes were following him wherever he went, and they were gaining on him. The boy nearly tripped twice trying to evade this thing. Unfortunately, he couldn't see the hill that was before him, so he slipped and started tumbling down. Nature was certainly not being kind to him.

He hit the bottom with a thud, the pain from earlier returning. This allowed whatever force was behind him to finally catch up to him. There was nowhere left to run. The boy didn't care anymore. He had tried to run away, but he had failed. The thing had caught him. He would merely have to accept his fate. He could here the dark whispers trying to tempt him to wickedness. So he closed his eyes, and accepted.

Or at least he would have, if it wasn't for a huge blast of magic coming out of nowhere, and striking this evil force. An ear-grating scream had echoed throughout the forest, waking the boy from his defeat. He got up and quickly made a run for it. The darkness, now clearly angry, was going to come after him, but it didn't. Something was preventing it.

Lightning crashed in the distance. The boy wanted to find a shelter of some kind, but there was nothing in sight.

"You! Over here!"

He searched around frantically for the voice, and stopped when he found a thin figure in a white cloak, motioning for him to follow. Not wanting to argue or turn back, the boy immediately followed. He followed closely behind, not knowing where they were going. Eventually, they came upon a large stone. The figure quickly removed the vines previously growing on it, which revealed a wooden door. "In here!"

The boy noticed that, from the voice alone, he could not discern whether or not the figure was male or female. Quickly, they hurried inside. The boy walked as fast as he could down the stairs without tripping, and the figure followed after.

Once they got down, it was complete darkness. That was, until the figure turned the lights on. The boy could see rows of seats adorning the floor, as well as a stand and a giant cross present at the front. The entire place was just huge. "It's a stone church. And it's even underground."

In his awe, he completely forgot about the figure. "You need to sleep."

The boy slightly jumped. "What?"

The figure repeated itself. "You need to sleep, or else he'll find you. Come with me to the back room."

As the figure walked, the boy stood still. "Who are you?"

The figure stopped and turned around. "That doesn't matter! Come with me! Quickly!"

He decided to stop asking questions for now. They had reached the back room in a matter of seconds. "Lay down."

The figure commanded. He did exactly that, laying down on the small bed. "Take this. It will help you sleep."

They game him a small pill, which he swallowed whole. "Now sleep."

And the boy did exactly that, drifting away, back to where he belonged.

"Wirt! Wirt, wake up! Mom wants to see you! Wirt if you don't wake up, I'm gonna have to sick my frog on you! Come on Jason, lick him!"

Slowly, the elder brother opened his eyes, having finished his dream. "Greg, I told you not to come into my room without permission."

"Mom gave me permission. She needs to talk to you. Apparently it's something real important."

Wirt sighed. "Alright."

Greg left the room with his frog on his shoulder. Wirt got out of bed and slowly made his way downstairs, only to find his mother waiting for him. "Wirt, I need to verify something. You do have your piece ready, right?"

Sighing, he answered. "Yes mother, I told you that last night."

She smiled. "Alright, I'm just making sure. Greg is going to help me bake pies for tonight. Um, do you think you could go help your step-father with the mill work?"

Wirt had absolutely no energy to deal with anything right now, but he fortunately had a card to get out of it. "Actually, I have to practice."

His mother pretty much knew the answer he would give. "Alright, I understand." Well, she tried.

Skipping breakfast, Wirt went back upstairs to his room, the only place he felt comfortable. He opened his box and removed the parts to his clarinet, putting it together to make it complete. Wirt brought the instrument to his mouth, and played a few notes in a flurry. His door opened rather quickly. "Hey Wirt?"

Immediately, the older boy stopped playing. "W-What?"

"Mother says you were the last one to have the sugar. Do you know where it is?"

Wirt sighed in slight annoyance. "I told her it was on the bottom shelf of the cabinet."

"Oh, okay."

Unbeknownst to either of them, Jason Funderburker had hopped off of Greg's shoulder and into the room. Another hour had passed, and Wirt pretty much had his act down. If he were younger, he would be having a break down right about now, but clarinet was one of the few things that made his feel alive, especially in recent years.

Jason, finished with his exploration under the bed, had now decided to hop onto Wirt's nightstand, and then ultimately, onto his head. Wirt stopped playing, and a look of annoyance was etched onto his face. His bedroom door was opened rather quickly. "Wirt, have you seen-"

The door opened so fast, that it caused Wirt to jump and hit his elbow rather hard on the wall. "Ow! That hurt..."

He tried to rub his elbow free of pain. Jason had jumped off Wirt's head and returned to Greg. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine. Just go." There seemed to be a tinge of sadness in his tone.

Greg looked on in curiosity. "Are you su-"

"Yes, Greg, I'm sure! Now please, just leave me be."

Respectful of his wishes, Greg quietly shut the door.

Wirt sighed deeply as he helped his mother carry the pies she was bringing to the event. Greg was walking right beside him, helping their mother as well. His mother and step father was talking closely behind, and he practically tuned them both out. The sun had nearly set, meaning that they were making good time. "Are you nervous?"

Wirt exited his quiet trance and turned to Greg, who was looking at him questioningly. He remained silent for a few seconds, turning to look at the ground in front of him. "No, I do this every year."

Greg smiled. "Okay. I was gonna say, if you were nervous, to suck in your gut, and play with confidence!"

Wirt shrugged. "Thanks, I guess."

A lit barn came into the distance. People could be seen harvesting corn and moving the husks in wooden wheelbarrows. From the looks of it, the day's work was clearly almost done. The farm was owned by Malcom and Claudine Jensen, two long time family friends. They would be retiring later this year, and the farm would be handed off to their son, Daniel, and his wife, Rosaline.

Autumn decorations adorned the inside of the barn. A table with various dinner foods was sitting in the back. People were singing and playing old folksongs. Just what you would expect from a Husking Bee.

Wirt's mother immediately found Claudine, who then guided them to the back table to place the pies down. Once that was done with, everyone pretty much went their separate ways, and Wirt did the same. Quickly, he tried to find a wall to lie up against, in order to recollect his thoughts before the big performance. Fortunately, there was one in the far right corner that had very few people. Sighing, he let his clarinet rest on the ground beside him. Being around this many people would get to him pretty quickly if he didn't have some alone time every now and again.

"Wirt! Is that you?" A very tired-ish voice called out.

Wirt recognized the person as Jason Funderberker, not to be confused with the frog. The two of them were old schoolmates back in middle school. Wirt didn't have very fond memories of those times, but fortunately, Jason was one of the better ones. "Jason! It's been a while."

The two shook hands. "I know, right? So, I hear you're gonna be playing the clarinet tonight."

Wirt nodded. "Y-Yeah, I am."

"Oh hey, why don't you come meet my girlfriend."

Without really answering, Wirt picked up his clarinet before being dragged into the crowd. He was brought over to a dark skinned girl with short black hair. She smiled at the two of them. "Sara, this is my old schoolmate, Wirt. Wirt, this is my girlfriend, Sara."

She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

Wirt shook her hand. "Oh, nice to meet you too."

Well, she was pretty, he would admit, and he was also genuinely happy that Jason had found someone he liked. Some time had passed, and he was almost ready. He put his clarinet together towards the back of the barn. He could see everyone trying to pass the time from where he was. He saw Greg, who was currently speaking to Daniel.

"You know, at one time, this farm had been used as a Potter's Field."

Greg gasped. "Whoa, really? Wait, what's a Potter's Field?"

It was then that Rosaline stepped into the middle of the room. "Alright everyone! Please calm yourselves. Our very own Wirt is about to play a song for you."

Everyone clapped loudly as they cleared a space in the middle of the floor. Wirt, having put his clarinet together, stepped forward. The room went quiet. Taking a deep breath, he slowly started to play the first few notes. This particular piece was one that he had been working on for quite some time. It was something that he had hoped would capture the essence of autumn.

The song erupted into a flurry of beautiful music. He had discovered his love for clarinet at a young age, after he had heard it being played in a local concert. He had begged his parents to learn how to play, and once they had gathered enough money, they were able to buy him one. He had practiced by himself for quite a while, learning by trial and error.

It wasn't until middle school, however, that his fear of playing in front of other people had started to set in. Even though he was rather good at that point, he was afraid that everyone would make fun of him. His fear of rejection became so huge, that he had to be homeschooled once High School came around. Once that started, his fear slowly disappeared.

He didn't feel uncomfortable anymore, and that was mostly because he simply didn't care. He no longer cared if he messed up. He hadn't had the energy to care in quite some time. If he messed up, he would just shrug it off and move on with his life. That was the amount of energy he had to deal with it. He continued to play his song.

"As autumn colors fall..."

People around him had started dancing with one another. Jason was dancing with Sara, and well as Daniel with Rosaline. All of it caused him to feel a bit lonely for some reason.

"The loveliest lies of all..."

The song had finally come to an end. People were clapping and cheering for him all across the barn. He accepted it of course, but just barely, as he rarely accepted praise of any kind. Greg was in the front, clapping wildly, which actually made Wirt smile a little.

Once the applause had died down, everyone continued on with the party. "That was great! I told you, you shouldn't be nervous."

Wirt sighed. "I wasn't nervous, Greg."

That was true, he wasn't nervous. Nor did he hope to be.

Alright, I am officially back on doing Garden Wall stories. First of all, for those of you who have followed me in the past, I am planning on finishing Guardian of the Night, I just need to rework the story a little, and then I'll be back on it.

Second of all, some of you may remember a story I did in the past called Icy Curse, and how it was kind of dark and intense. Well with this story, I promise to make it even darker, more intense, more fleshed out, more lore based, and more suspenseful than Icy Curse could ever hope to be! I've actually got some things planned for this story, so until then, see you next time!