"Hey guys, come on!!" Kimi yelled to her two best friends as they lagged a few feet behind. "Well if you'd slow down we'd be able to keep up, now wouldn't we!" Vick shouted in frustration. The other girl walked along laughing lightly as Vick and Kimi argued playfully back and forth.
The three friends continued to hike through the slightly damp forest until a sunny little clearing came into view.
"OK time for a break" Kimi said as she spread out an orange and black, checkered blanket and laid down taking up all the room. The other girls agreed and dropped their backpacks pushing Kimi out of the way to sit down.
"What's wrong Sky you've barely said anything since we started this hike" Kimi questioned as she stared at her friend concern coating her words.
"It's nothing..." Sky replied, her storm grey eyes wondering the clearing. "It's not nothing, so tell us" Vick demanded. Skylar sighed as she moved her gaze to the now gloomy, cloud-covered sky.
"My parents were telling me an old legend last week," she began knowing she wasn't getting out of not telling them, "It was about an old Victorian mansion out here in the forest. A group of kids were curious so they went and found it and decided to go in and check it out, but they supposedly never came back out. When the police came to look for them all they found were puddles of blood for each kid except two, sixteen year-old twins. They were never found." She looked up at her friends when she finished seeing excitement in their eyes. Sky smirked knowing exactly what they were thinking and quickly picked up the stuff and headed off into the direction this mysterious house was supposed to be in, her two friends following at her heals.
After an hour of climbing hills, walking through bushes and tripping over tree roots they finally made it to their destination.
"It's beautiful..." Skylar whispered as she slowly took in every little detail of the old house. It was an old Victorian style mansion just as the legend stated, painted an off-white with a black trim and shutters. Off to the side Kimi noticed a huge garden with just about every flower imaginable. They walked in through an arch full of Ivey and started to explore. The three friends were amazed. There was Amaryllises, Belladonnas, Cyclamens, Day Lilies, Easter Lilies, Forget-Me-Knots, Gingers, Hollyhocks, Irises, Jonquils, Lotuses, Moonflowers, Narcissuses, Oxalises, Phloxes, Queen Anne's Laces, Roses, Snapdragons, Tuberoses, Verbenas, Yuccas, Zinnias, there was even a little pond full of Water Lilies, it was absolutely amazing. Vick walked over and picked a beautiful yellow Lily while Kimi went and picked a pretty Violet and Sky picked the gorgeous and unique black Rose. They gently put there flowers away when a sudden chill ran through the air. Raindrops started to fall as the wind ran its cool autumn fingers through the trees.
"Was it supposed to rain today?" Kimi asked her friends as she stared at the quickly darkening sky in confusion. Lightning struck a few feet from the girls causing them to jump and run towards the only source of protecting within a mile radios as it started to pour, the mansion.
"Help me!" Sky shouted as she rammed the wooden door as hard as she could with her shoulder to try and get it to open. The other two came to help, but when they all tried together the door swung open sending them all toppling to the floor, one on top of the other.
"Get off me" Skylar groaned as she tried to push her friends off of her to get up. When they all finally got up dusting themselves off they looked up and their jaws immediately dropped.
The inside was gorgeous, it had a dark grey double staircase leading up to the second floor, and the floor in the entry was black granite with a blood red carpet in the entryway and in front of both sides of the stairs. The walls were painted a soft grey and filled with portrait after portrait of different people and places. The most amazing thing though, was the ceiling. Painted with the most exquisite detail was a cross, and each part of the cross was accompanied by a different design, each one being just as beautiful as the last.
"Did you hear that?" Kimi questioned her crystal blue eyes widening with fright. The three girls looked around cautious and intent, and then they heard it…light breathing, barley noticeable. Three pairs of eyes darted to the top of the staircase only to see something even more beautiful and gorgeous than the mansion its self. A boy about seventeen stood at the top of the staircase staring back at them with dark chocolate brown eyes. He had messy platinum blonde hair and he stood confidently at about six foot. His pale skin seemed to glow in the dimness of the room.
"Welcome to our home" he said his voice as rich and smooth as chocolate. "What do you mean our home?" Vick questioned. The beautiful young man didn't even have to answer because within moments of the words leaving her lips three more people had joined him, each one as beautiful as the last. The first one was a man who couldn't have been any older than twenty-five with shaggy brown hair and bright green eyes filled with wisdom and knowledge. The last two were twins, a girl and a boy. The girl had golden blonde hair that flowed down to her waist with pale, blue eyes while the boy had blonde hair cropped short with exotic violet eyes. As Skylar studied the twins more closely she realized that the legend wasn't much of a legend after all because standing in front of her and her friends were the sixteen year old twins that disappeared more than twenty years ago.
It was completely silent as the three girls studied the mysterious god like creatures before them. When in the blink of an eye they stood directly in front of the three frightened teens. After several silent minutes Skylar finally built up the courage to speak.
"W-who are you?" she questioned stuttering slightly. The oldest of the four answered. "I am Sean Smith and these are my children," he pointed to each one as he spoke in a kind and gentle voice, "my son Edmund, my daughter Ivey and my other son Jayden and we all welcome you to our home. It has been so long since we have had visitors." The four smiled showing off their pearly whites and sharp canines. Kimi quickly put two and two together and tried to worn her friends before it was too late.
"Guys run!" she shouted once she had gotten the others attention and they all ran as fast as they could toward their only exit. They didn't get more than a few feet, however, when they were all pulled to a halt by strong arms around there waist.
"Going some where?" the sweetly sour voices of Edmund questioned in Skylar's ear as she struggled to get out of his vise-like grasp. Deafening strikes of lightning hit outside as the only light source was soon cut off leaving the three terrified girls in a blanket of darkness.
"Remember…death is easy, living is hard…" Edmund's silky sweet voice was the last thing Sky heard before searing pain shot up her neck and earsplitting screams filled the cold night air…