Clock Tower: Running With Scissors
Disclaimer: I down own the right…but I swear I will someday!
Chapter One
The Letter
It had been nearly eight months since that fateful night-April 25th, the night of her fifteenth birthday. Winter break and the Christmas season were fast approaching, and the courtyard was deadly silent. It was an uncomfortable silence that was all too familiar to Alyssa Hamilton, as she walked amongst the bare trees and sat down on a bench. In her hands was a letter written on plain white paper that contrasted with the fancy scripted writing.
The last time Alyssa had gotten a letter, she had wound up thrust into an unbelievable nightmare-a nightmare that had taken everything from her. She had finally returned home for the first time in three years, only to find her mother missing and to discover that she was the last in a line of Rooders-females who spent their teens fighting the forces of darkness. Her quest to find her mother and uncover her family's dark secrets had caused her to be warped to different time periods, each of which pit her against horrific monsters called Entities and vengeful ghouls. And while she had managed to defeat the Entities and soothe the spirits of the dead, it had cost her heavily in the end. She had learned that it was her own beloved grandfather-who had gone missing shortly before she was sent away to boarding school-that had made the Entities attack her, planning to kill her for the Ritual of Engagement, which would allow him to become and Entity with her and thus allowing him to fulfill his wish to be with her for all eternity. He'd also had her mother killed for trying to stop him, and she learned that he'd murdered her father soon after she was born. Alyssa had been left with no choice but to kill him with her own two hands. Though she had escaped the ordeal alive, she had lost her home, her mother, and her grandfather. She had been left with more than enough money to keep living comfortably and to finish her education at boarding school. Though she still felt slightly empty inside, her life had seemed to be slowly returning to normal.
And now this letter…
Setting her bag down on the bench beside her, Alyssa started to read.
Dearest Alyssa,
You do not know me, but I am a distant relative of yours, on your mother's side. I heard about her death in the papers and would like to offer you my deepest condolences. Forgive me for taking so long to contact you, but I was not quite sure what to say, given the fact that we had never met, and it was unlikely your mother would have told you about me for reasons I suspect are now quite obvious to you. I also heard that your home had been destroyed as well, and I hated the thought of you spending the Christmas season all alone, with no place to go. Thus, I would like to invite you to come to my home in Norway for the holidays, so that we may get to know one another. You may bring along a friend if you wish, but I refuse to take "no" for an answer. I've included directions to the airport in this letter-my driver will pick you up once you arrive and bring you to the house. I truly look forward to meeting you.
Sincerely yours,
Charlotte Harrington
Alyssa stared at the letter for a moment, unable to believe what she had just read. She had living relatives? And they wanted her to come and spend Christmas with them? It just seemed too good to be true…She had been planning to spend the holidays with Dennis, as his sister had decided to extend her stay in Africa, but the letter did say she could bring a friend. But could they trust this person who had suddenly written her a letter, claiming to be a relative she'd never even known she had? And considering the bloody past of her mother's side of the family…
The fifteen-year-old refolded the letter and slipped it back into its envelope. Out of curiosity, she turned it over and read the address, which other than the name of the sender and the part of Norway it had been sent from, consisted only of a place name with no numerical address.
The Burroughs Mansion.
((Author's Note: In the original Clock Tower games, the name "Barrows" is actually a mistranslation-it was supposed to be "Burroughs". The two families are the same.))