"Oh magic dowsing rod, show me what I seek," I said sarcastically, trudging through mud.
I'd chased the whims of the universe to the middle of an orchid, thick with fog and thicker with wicked intent. Dead trees stood hunched over like old men and women leaving a funeral. It was practically a horror movie set. I was sixteen years old though and actually had a brain, so instead of sticking around to be murdered by some crazy person, I decide that my quest was best left uncompleted.
"Okay Clementine, where's home?" I said, opening up my phone and searching for maps.
No service.
"Okay…" I shoved the device into my raincoat pocket. "The old fashioned way it is."
I took a good look around and tried to spy something like a marker. If I had any hope of getting back home, I'd need to find something that stood out in this vast wasteland. There was a rock behind me, but that was in the opposite direction that I came. I needed something I would have seen before on my way here…
"Great," I said, crossing my arms, "you're lost… And talking to yourself."
The dowsing rod hung limply from my grip as I studied it as if it was to blame. How typical of me to get lost the first day. It seemed my sense of direction was just as bad as my driving.
Slowly, the storm clouds in the sky started to weep as if invited to the same funeral that the hunched trees were. I didn't think I could be any gladder for my practical attire, but there I was, thanking Lee for insisting I wear the piss-yellow raincoat. The rain and thunder seemed to drown out any other sound in the world, leaving it full of static and grey as a mouse's pelt.
It was just me, alone with the bland and barren world. Or at least, it should have been.
My hair suddenly stuck up at the back of my neck, an ungodly shiver running down my spine. The dowsing rod was plucked from my fingers with deadly grace before I could react, a dark shadow looming over me like death itself. Fear in all it's glory smashed into the base of my neck, like a hand squeezing my throat tight. My body screamed at me to move while my brain was still catching up with the events. Before I could wait to be stabbed or something, I slammed my elbow behind me into the mystery man's jaw and stamped his foot, darting away before he could recover.
"OW!" The guy cloaked in black shouted in surprise.
I didn't let myself feel sympathy for him, even if I could imagine his face wincing behind the skull mask.
"What the fuck do you want?" I growled, turning so I could land another punch if he came any closer.
"Well, I wanted to tell you that dowsing rods are just bendy sticks," his voice was light and tinkling as if made of bells and piano keys, "but now I'm afraid you'll sock me in the jaw again if I dare."
I narrowed my eyes at him, but slowly brought my arms to my sides.
He was taller than me that was for sure. I had first thought him a grown man, but his voice, demeanour and way of speaking told me otherwise. I couldn't see much past the jacket and mask, but what I did was wiry and dark. I could probably throw him like a beanbag, so I deemed him as 'non-threatening' but most certainly creepy. He took his mask off to expose a head of dark brown dreads and gave me a nervous and slightly awkward smile, as if he was only then realised he should feel guilty for scaring me.
I marched up to him and snatched the dowsing rod out of his hands, making sure he caught my glare, "I don't appreciate being stalked by teenaged boys and their cats."
The blond cat I'd seen on the wall earlier stuck its tongue out from behind the boy's long jacket.
"Well, she's not really my cat," he said, oblivious to anything but my comment on the feline, "she's basically feral," the cat hissed in offence. "Of course, I am the one who feeds her and every once in a while she'll bring me a dead bird in thanks, but otherwise she's an independent woman."
I sighed, so this is my life now, I thought. Talking to random stalker dudes who have no idea they're random stalker dudes.
"Well, I guess you were right about the dowsing rod," I conceded, tossing it over my shoulder. I could teach this guy some manners another time. "I don't seem too close to a well right about now."
The boy raised his eyebrows, "Oh really?"
He moved to the side in a sweeping movement, as if presenting to me what lay behind him. At first I only saw that random rock, but then I felt stupid to realise it wasn't a rock at all. It was the stone sides of an old well, the wooden top previously hidden from view now on full display. The boy grabbed a stick and wedged it under the lid, heaving it off in one motion, leaving the endless darkness beneath it to look at the sky above.
"Supposed to be so deep if you fell to the bottom and looked up, you'd see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day," he said, studying me with a smile as I peered in. "I see how someone could think that," I said.The boy took the stick away and pushed the wood back over the hole. I finally let my shoulders relax, telling myself that as weird as this guy seemed, he didn't have any ulterior motives. You couldn't be too careful, but I decided that for the moment I could give him the benefit of the doubt. Even if he was up to something, I was pretty sure those martial arts lessons Lee made me take were good for something.
I glanced down and saw the cat staring at me as if she didn't approve of my life choices and was asking me why I was still hanging around her owner.
To which I gave her a look that said, I don't know either.
"Not gonna lie, I'm surprised she let you move in…" The boy said, staring in the general direction of the house.
I gave him a questioning look.
"Aunt Minnie doesn't usually let people with kids rent the place out," he put his hands on his hips, hardly noticing the action. "I mean, except my friend Marlon, but he's only here half the time."
"What do you mean?" I joined him in looking through the fog and imagining the pink monstrosity.
"About the renting thing or Marlon?"
I give him an unimpressed look.
"Right, the renting thing…" he said as if silently wishing he was never born. "I'm not really supposed to talk about it."
Changing the subject, he lifts a gloved hand for her to shake, "I'm Louis by the way, Louis Molendoy."
"Clementine," I shook his hand.
"As in," he grinned and I knew what was coming, "'Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine!'"
I let loose a small smile against my will, "That's the song."
God, it brought back memories. My parents singing it to put me to sleep, kids at my elementary school crying it out at my birthday, and even AJ coming to me after school and asking if I knew I had a song named after me.
"You were lost and gone forever, dreadful sorrow, Clementine."
"If you sing it every time, I may need to sew your mouth shut," I said warningly. The song was great for nostalgia, but after a while it got annoying.
"But how would I eat?" he challenged.
"I'll add a zipper."
Louis opened his mouth to reply with what he would probably think was a witty comeback, but a voice interrupted it, sounding far away enough to have come from the house past the fog.
"LOUIS!" the voice echoed.
Louis grimaced at the volume, but made a valiant effort to ignore it.
"I think someone's calling you, Louis," I said.
"What? I didn't hear anything," Louis said back, eyes looking anywhere but in my direction.
"LOUIS!" the voice said again.
"Minnie!" he shouted back in an embarrassed tone, silencing Aunt Minnie's attempts to call her nephew back.
I snorted.
He turned back to me and held his hands up in mock surrender, forcing an awkward laugh, "Well, it was nice meeting you Clementine."
He placed the mask back over his head and as he left, he shot a comment over his shoulder, "Maybe next time you should wear gloves."
"Why?" I said.
Louis looked down at the stick by my feet, "'Cause that dowsing rod of yours is made of poison oak."
I cried in alarm, scrunching up my nose as if I smelt something disgusting. I hoped to wipe off all the poison on my raincoat, but I'd been holding the stick for a while, so I knew it was in vain. When I looked up, Louis had vanished into thin air.
"Meow," the cat eyed my hands then stared after Louis as if she was going to go tell him off.
"I don't suppose you have anything that would help?" I said, and the cat actually turned its head to me.
Then it left.
I sighed, following the general direction it had trotted off in, but not before glancing back at the well one last time. It truly did seem endless.
A single raindrop fell from the heavens straight through the wooden lid
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
End note: Hello and welcome back! More characters have been introduced, are you surprised with who took which role?
You all may be super confused right now since Louis called Minerva 'Aunt Minnie', but rest assured that everything is done for a reason. They're not actually related, Minnie is more of that really close friend of your parents that is like a relativebut isn't. I hope it's not too weirdfor you guys!
Was the characterisation ok? Did you like it? Find a spelling mistake? Have any suggestion for the other characters? Can you guys guess where I got Louis' last name? I'll reveal it in the next chapter (it's not that interesting, but if you need a reason to keep reading you now have one). I do hope you've enjoyed this AU thus far and will stick around to see the end! Thank you!
