The statue wobbled again. This time it was leaning in the opposite direction, towards the lake. Aaron stepped forward and gripped it tighter but it was too heavy. It landed in the water with a big splash.
A few seconds passed before the event sunk into their minds. Aaron looked at the girls in deep shock. They were standing in the direction the statue had fallen, meant to pull the ropes that way to get it up so once it started to fall, they were powerless, it was all up to Aaron.
Haley looked just as panicked he did, only Hillary remained stoic. They quickly rushed towards the place it had fallen and looked into the water.
'Nice work. You've killed the fish.'
Aaron glared at Hillary angrily while Haley stared at the statue under the water.
'It doesn't matter', she said, 'it was facing backwards anyway.'
Her unease and fear could be heard in her voice despite her efforts to make things seem better than they were.
Aaron was seriously freaking out, he stepped backwards away from the lake, pulling his hair and mumbling incoherent words under his breath. Haley looked at him concerned and approached him trying to calm him down, but he kept backing away.
'Hey, at least we got rid of it, now no one will blame us for stealing it', said Hillary with a slight smile on her face.
'Damn damn damn DAMN it!' shouted Aaron beyond enraged, 'this is all your fault! You shouldn't talk, don't talk, we wouldn't be going through this if you hadn't stolen the damn statue! All that trouble only for it to fall in the water!'
Hillary instantly got angry.
'Well this wouldn't have happened if you had just held it properly! How difficult is that? I managed to drag it from here to the gate all on my own, how much of a wimp are you?'
Aaron was very worked up and Hillary's comment hit his last nerve. He started cursing her relentlessly and she cursed back, causing a scene in the middle of the cemetery. The noise was enough to wake the dead.
Haley stood there watching for once again, feeling more and more frustrated. She couldn't believe her siblings were being so disrespectful, disturbing people even after their death. They had got themselves into a mess and the fighting was not helping.
'SHUT UP! Both of you, shut up already!'
They stopped and looked at her. Where had that outburst come from?
She was livid and out of her mind, none of them spoke in fear of her reaction.
'Now stop it, you're not going to solve anything by fighting!' she whispered madly as if not to wake up anyone, 'whatever's happened, happened, there's no going back and throwing the blame on each other will not help.'
The other two nodded, embarrassed after being scolded by Haley.
'Let's see if we can pull it out of the water', she said as she headed towards the lake and got hold of one of the ropes that extended from the water. Hillary and Aaron joined her, getting hold of the other rope and together they proceeded to pull, but before they had a chance to put some strength into it, the rope came out, alone, with no statue at the end of it
'Ow!'
A loud thud was heard and Haley turned to see. Hillary was flat on her back on the ground.
'Damn it!'
Aaron laughed. Hillary stood up and went to attack him before Haley got hold of her and stopped her.
'Let go of me!' she shouted as she squirmed to get out of her grip. Damn, she had a bloody strong grip!
'I'll let you go if you calm down.'
She stopped and was soon released.
'How'd you manage that, Hills?' said Aaron looking amused. Hillary glared at him pissed off.
'I started pulling to get the statue out and guess what! It wasn't there! It was just a rope, which as you may or may not have gathered is lighter than a half iron half bronze statue, so do the math!'
Haley looked at the wet ropes laying on the ground. Hillary saw her looking and crouched down to inspect them. She picked one up and brought it closer to inspect.
'It looks like it's been bitten', she said, 'or cut with a faulty knife. Look, the ends of it are frayed.'
Haley and Aaron studied it closely.
'Well, it definitely wasn't cut', he said.
'But how could it have been bitten?' pointed out Haley.
Hillary's eyes widened with realization; she gasped.
'Vampire fish…'
'What?' asked Aaron, more not understanding than not hearing.
'Vampire fish! They lurk in this water after dark. They're extremely dangerous! They have sharp teeth and will tear up anything in hopes of finding blood', she said looking very alarmed.
Aaron smirked.
'Come on! Next thing you'll tell me they sparkle in the sun!'
'No, that they don't do, mostly because THEY AREN'T OUT DURING DAYTIME!' she practically screamed. 'Can't you take anything seriously for once?'
At this Aaron started laughing, harder and harder, Haley joining him. Hillary shook her head in despair. After a while the laughter died down, Aaron trying to catch his breath and compose himself.
'So what you are saying', started Haley, 'is that there's no way to retrieve the statue without losing a limb?'
'Exactly!' said Hillary relieved.
Aaron's expression changed instantly. Worry started to take over, his hands automatically went for his hair and he started repeating the word "no".
'But you know what?' said Hillary in what seemed like an attempt to cheer him up, 'we did what we came here to do, we got rid of the statue, now we can go home.'
'No no no we CANT GO HOME! We came here to return the statue, not get rid of it!' he screamed.
'It doesn't matter, it's not our problem anymore, it'll just rust away and disappear, let's go home.'
'I'm not going home until the statue is in its place!'
Both girls gasped.
'B… but we can't! WE could get killed trying to get it out!' said Haley very worried and concerned for her brother's sanity.
'I don't care! We'll find a way!'
Hillary huffed and Haley smacked her hand on her forehead. Suddenly, Hillary gasped; she had an idea!
'While I had the statue I noticed on the inscription the name of the sculptor. I found it weird at first cause it sounded familiar, but then I realized why. A person I work with is after him for taking materials from the mine without his permission; he doesn't actually own the mine, but you know. No one has seen him for years and he was pretty old then so he could be dead. Either way, I know he was hiding from this person and I know where he lived,'
'Where?' asked Haley impatiently and anxious to know.
'Under the mausoleum', she replied smiling widely and nodding her head as if to say "suckers!"
Aaron was skeptical.
'How do you know this?' he asked.
'I had to make a delivery for him once at work. Don't think I went in, I just left the stuff in front of the door.'
'So what's the plan?' asked Haley again.
Hillary shrugged.
'We could ask him to make another one? Dunno, I mean I could get the materials and all, he'd only have to make it.'
Aaron took a deep breath.
'It's not a great plan, but it's a plan and it's worth a try.'
Hillary smiled but Haley remained expressionless. Could this person really help?
'So it's set! Hillary, you go find this person, we'll wait here', he added.
She was taken aback. She opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. Aaron raised an eyebrow.
'W…wah… What? You expect me to go?'
'You do know him better and you suggested the plan', said Aaron.
'I've never even met the guy! I know him just as well as you do!'
'You know his name.'
'Cornelius Lockheart! There, now you all know it!'
Aaron crossed his arms, his patience coming to an end.
'You caused this situation so you should go fix it!' he said raising his tone of voice. Haley who had her head lowered and her eyes fixed on the ground, nodded quickly, hoping Hillary wouldn't see her.
Hillary looked at them both in disbelief. She was hoping someone would say something, nut they were silent. Defeated, she lowered her head and sighed.
'Fine! But if I die, it's on your conscience.'
'If you need any help, just shout, we'll be here.'
'Yeah yeah whatever!' she said as she walked towards the mausoleum. It was really creepy! She'd never got this close to it. Standing before the door looking up at it, it looked like a castle of darkness. It was like she was walking into her own grave, especially since she had to hover in the tunnels.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and stepped into it. Once she opened them she was in a small dark room. The only light came in from tinted window and there were urns everywhere. If it was possible, the inside of the building was creepier than the outside.
She ignored her fear and proceeded to walk towards the tiny opening in the wall. She had to crouch down to fit. Before she actually went through, she peeked. It was pitch black and completely impossible to see, so she reached for the lighter she kept in her front pocket and lighted it.
Aiming it inside the cave-like interior of the wall, she crawled through. She couldn't help but feel like Alice in Wonderland.
Hillary was now sitting at the edge of a tunnel, which unfortunately was not horizontal. It was impossible to climb down while holding the lighter, so she'd have to leave it and climb down in the dark to get to the underground tunnels. She shivered at the prospect but gritted her teeth and did it. With ninja-like agility she had managed to get down and relighted the lighter. She was at the bottom of the first tunnel and now another three appeared in front of her, these thankfully horizontal.
"Well it can't be this one", she thought about the one on her right with the narrowest opening, "it's in the direction of the town."
Having eliminated one, she turned to the other two and randomly picked one. With her arm outstretched in front of her holding the lighter, she started.
21:09
It felt like hours, but Hillary wouldn't know; she had lost track of time. She was getting exhausted, something very unusual for her who had an incredible stamina. It was really hot underground, as if the core of the earth was right beneath her feet, and she felt like passing out.
To start with, she wasn't even sure she had taken the right path, however somewhere down the line the two tunnels connected. She kept walking for a little while, or rather slogging, until she noticed light that wasn't coming from her lighter. She stopped in her tracks and blew the tiny flame out to see where it was coming from.
It was only dim and was reflecting on the cave walls. She followed it down a rather confusing path when she found the source of it.
An old oil lamp was burning on an antique mahogany table. She looked around; she was at what appeared to be the end of the tunnel, in a place that actually looked like a cave. There were random pieces of furniture everywhere, dusty couches, tables anywhere you looked, wooden shelves attached to the cave walls, full of knick-knacks, even a fridge in the middle of the "room".
"This must be it!" she thought happily. However the person she was looking for was nowhere to be seen. She checked for secret passages and other "rooms" but there was nothing.
"Where could he be?" she thought as she sat on the nearest couch.
'AAAAHH!'
A loud scream was heard from under her and she felt the couch move. She shot up immediately, screaming. She backed away from it, grabbing the nearest object of the old coffee table and held it up ready to attack.
The blanket that was stranded on the couch was suddenly thrown back and an angry man appeared. He hopped off the seat and glared at the intruder.
Hillary lowered her weapon which happened to be a miniature sculpture of Venus and looked at the man in front of her.
He was short, rather old and had brown hair that had started to go gray. He also looked grumpy but that could have been because he was glaring at her.
'Are you Cornelius Lockheart?' she asked timidly.
The man grunted.
'Gimme that here', he said as he snatched the sculpture out of her hand, 'I made it last month.'
'Oh it is very pretty!' said Hillary trying to get on the strange man's good side. 'Actually, it's one of your statues I'd like to talk about…'
'How did you get here?' he sneered.
'Huh?'
'How did you get here?'
Hillary paused for bit, for some reason she had difficulty fully understanding the question. It had come out of nowhere.
'Well, I just followed the tunnels under the mausoleum and here's where it took me! I once made a delivery for you if you remember, two bronze, one silver? So basically we've met! Anyway, I was wondering if you could do me a favour…'
'A favour?' the man snarled. 'You barge in and you expect me to do you a favour?'
'I'm really sorry sir! I swear if there was a door I would have knocked-
'Oh now you're insulting my house? Sure, any favour you like!' he shouted at the top of his voice. This was going to be much more difficult than she expected.
'Well, if it's any comfort to you, the favour's for my brother. He's seen your work and went crazy about it, literally, so he desperately wants a replica of a statue you made.'
The man's expression softened. He now looked rather flattered.
'A fan huh? I knew it, no matter what they told me, I knew it! Finally, the recognition I deserve! I was waiting for this day my whole life!'
Hillary remained silent, watching the sculptor weirdly. It would be better to just cooperate.
'Which statue would that be my dear?' asked the man bringing her out of her thoughts.
'The statue in the graveyard-
'Ah, the "Graveyard Statue"! One of my finest work!'
Hillary hadn't stopped looking at him like he was a psycho from the moment she got there.
'Yeah. Do you think you can have it ready soon, like before the sun's out?'
The man nodded.
'Luckily for you, I have the Sculpt-O-Sculptor 3000! It can make any statue within ten minutes. It's my lifetime's work, it took me 20 years to build. The world's greatest invention and no one will ever get to see it!' he cried.
'Great, so you can help us! Can you make a statue like the graveyard one?'
'I can but as you know, nothing in life comes for free…'
Hillary was now suspicious. What could he possibly want?'
The odd man walked towards what looked like a shower from the future. He slid the door open and inside it was full of buttons and wires with a bit of empty space.
'Here it is. Isn't it just marvelous?' he said to Hillary.
'The magic statue-making machine? Oh it's wonderful!' she said pretending to be just as excited as he was. He closed the door and turned to Hillary.
'Here's what I want. Ever heard of the Deathflower?'
She shook her head.
'Well I want it. Bring me one and you can have the statue.'
'Deal!' she said giving a thumbs up despite having absolutely no idea what a death flower was.
She began to go back feeling defeated. This close, they had come this close to restoring the statue and now they had to give up. All that work for nothing! There was only one solution she thought of walking back, and that involved the three of them tying and gagging the sculptor and hijacking the machine.
She was finally back in the mausoleum, never did she ever think she would be happy to be there and ran for the door.
Aaron and Haley were near the mausoleum entrance in case Hillary needed them, Aaron sitting on the ground and Haley leaning on the wall.
'Guys!' they heard Hillary call. 'It's over, I'm really sorry.'
Aaron was looking at her as if he didn't quite get what she said.
'What do you mean?'
'I really tried. He said he'd make the statue only if I brought him a death flower. I know! I was like "what the hell".
Haley lowered her head in thought.
"Death flower…"
'So can we go home already?' whined Hillary.
Aaron turned towards the gate and started to walk, Hillary following.
'Death flower! I know what it is!'
They both turned to see Haley.
'It grows in cemeteries and edges of cliffs, anywhere near death!'
Hillary stared at her wide-eyed.
'You mean such a thing exists?'
'Just like vampire fish?' added Aaron.
He got a thump in the chest by Hillary.
'There should be some around…' she mumbled.
Haley circled the whole graveyard studying each and every patch of green she found, searching for the precious flower. Hillary and Aaron just stood still, rather puzzled by Haley.
She was getting frustrated she couldn't find it. She had searched almost every bush in the area to no avail. Now she was close to the gate studying a weird plant. It was bigger than the rest she had seen and had more leaves. Then she noticed; an odd black flower wit needle-thin petals and dark leaves.
'Found it!'
Hillary's jaw dropped to the ground and Aaron was triumphant.
'Great! Now we can go get the statue, right Hills?'
She just "hn"ed.
'Alright let's go!' said Haley as she ran to them, flower in hand.
'Hillary will lead the way.'
'Hn, whatever…'
They all disappeared in the mausoleum, off to retrieve the statue.
Hillary was walking at a fast pace, the other two following, Aaron however having difficulties. He was panting like a dog and all but crawling the way there. Haley had stopped several times to help him but eventually gave up. He was way behind the girls.
They finally got there. The old man was waiting for them near the statue machine. Next to him, a brand new "Graveyard Statue".
'Oh hey, new visitors!' he said and came to greet them. Hillary was introducing him to Haley when he noticed Aaron who was clutching to the wall desperately trying to catch his breath.
'Now you young man are going to die from a heart attack!' he said, 'you need to exercise more, it's not healthy to refrain form physical movement.'
He tried to look at the sculptor but was panting too heavily.
'Oh, he's a writer, you know, and a bit of a nerd. He doesn't really get a chance. Likes sunlight but thinks he'll fall apart if he moves too many muscles!' said Hillary mockingly.
He glared at her and tried to say something but his breathing was still too fast to have a chance to speak. Hillary turned to the sculptor.
'Got the statue?'
'Got the flower?'
'Here's the flower!'
'There's the statue.'
The two girls got hold of the statue and started to move it. Aaron had caught his breath and was almost able to help.
'Come on princess, you should be carrying this yourself', said Hillary. Aaron just grunted; holy cow, how heavy was even one third of the damn thing!
They were now in the mausoleum and all of them were exhausted. It was a miracle they had managed to carry the object this far. The half open door that led outside was their gate to salvation.
Aaron was in front holding the top of the statue walking backwards. He pushed the door open with his back and was outside. Finally, fresh air filled his lungs. The girls had come out too and the lake was centimeters away from Aaron's heels. He walked sideways to avoid it and so they could get the statue past it. Once they reached the right angle he resumed to walking backwards. He couldn't really see behind him so he tripped on a grave and fell over, the statue landing on his left leg. A few seconds passed before a loud scream was heard from the cemetery and the surrounding areas.
Haley almost dropped her side of the statue to cover her ears. For once again, Hillary was unaffected.
The screaming eventually stopped and she couched down to untrap her brother's leg.
'Damn it Aaron, how could you let this happen!'
Haley carefully placed her side down and went over to help the girl. They had managed to free his leg when Hillary noticed sparks coming out of the grave he had knocked over. It had split in half and the sparks where getting stronger and stronger.
'Oh no! No no no! Aaron please don't tell me you knocked over the Tombstone of Life and Death!'
The sparks turned into light and the broken stones separated even more. The earth started to shake and the ground under the tombstone opened. The invasive light showered the whole cemetery. Sounds from the opening could now be heard as if coming from the distance closer and closer. Shadowy forms started to show, fighting, trying to get out but not being able to, like something was holding them back. They could see things that looked like hands, legs and even blurry faces, all struggling to run free, this in the opening that was like a well of spirits.
The three of them were frozen at the sight of this. No one could tell what was going on, but they were really afraid. The noises were getting louder and now voices could be clearly heard. The figures became more visible and stronger as they were managing to get further away from the tomb. One particularly feisty one was trashing around madly to get out of the invisible grip. It soon escaped and flew into the night sky whistling happily.
The noises quieted and the figures calmed down. They thought it was over but then something really weird happened. A dark silhouette emerged from the opening and stood tall in front of the three. All of them felt their blood freeze. It was wearing a black cloak that covered its face and any skin it may have had, except for its skeletical hands. In the right hand it held scythe.
None of them dared utter a sound; they knew they were up against death itself. They remained completely still but were paralyzed when the figure appeared to be looking at them.
'You! You have caused my rage! Thanks to you I lost a soul. The Tragic Clown damnit, we all loved that guy!' said the Grim Reaper, the last part in a surprisingly whiny voice. Then he cleared his throat and resumed to his previous attitude. 'You shall pay! I lost a soul and I expect one back.'
That comment alone was enough to cause the death of any of them.
'Huh…um m I...I..no..' was heard from Hillary.
'What was that?' said the Reaper.
'It… it w-would b.. be unfair that…We didn't do anything..'
He waved his scythe angrily.
'You opened the gate to the Underworld! If it weren't for you, Tragic Clown wouldn't have escaped!'
Hillary gulped.
'H…h t-to be truthful, it w-as Aaron who fell o-over the gr..grave..'
Aaron protested but was shushed by Haley.
'H-how you g-give us the chance t-to return the soul? she continued.
Her siblings looked at her rather freaked out.
The Grim Reaper laughed.
'Now why would I do that when I have three souls to pick from?'
No one spoke.
'But… but it's not our time yet!' shouted Hillary. 'You need to give us a chance!'
'I'm planning on doing so. You think I can just reap any soul anytime to send to the Underworld? Oh no, they're rules. If it was up to me, everyone would be down there!' he laughed evilly.
He cleared his throat.
'Now here's what's gonna happen; I'm going to ask each one of you a riddle, one of them needs to be correct for you to live. If all the answers are wrong, then I will take the person that the person with the last wrong answer appoints.'
All of them sweat dropped.
'Let's start with you since you seem akin to talk', he said to Hillary.
She gulped; their lives depended on her answer.
'It cuts you in half without cutting you.'
Her mind went blank; there wasn't such a thing!
'Well?'
'Um h…'
'You know the answer?'
She didn't answer.
'It's a mirror, girl, a mirror. I thought you would know that considering the way you look.'
He moved on to the next leaving Hillary even more puzzled.
'Boy, it exists without existing.'
He drained his mind but it was impossible. Nothing can exist without existing. He was sure the Reaper was playing him.
'Idea. That exists without existing. To think you would be aware of that since your job depends on it.'
He turned to Haley. She felt the ground underneath her disappear. Someone's life really depended on this question. Her heart was racing and she felt like she was going to pass out in a matter of seconds.
'Here it goes; it beats death without beating it.
They were screwed. Aaron and Hillary looked at each other worried. She had got the most difficult question and it was the last one.
Haley was fine. Fine as in fine. It was as if she had crossed over to some other dimension where nothing mattered and she was numb to everything. Her life started playing in front of her eyes like a movie in reverse. She saw the trip to come to the graveyard, Hillary showing them the statue, herself watering the plants- wait, watering the plants? Then it hit her; there was a certain plant she really loved in the garden. Its fruit were the most precious fruit any plant, tree, anything could give. It was the..
'Life fruit! It's the life fruit!'
The other two looked up, their faces brightened up with hope.
The Grim Reaper was startled; from what they could see. He looked taken aback at first but then rather mad.
'You win this time, but we will meet again. You can't always run away from me!' he said as he stepped back into the hole in the ground. It closed behind them and the tomb was repaired.
The siblings all sighed in relief. They couldn't believe they had survived that, they couldn't even believe that had happened!
'Wow', said Aaron, 'that was really impressive!'
'Seems like gardening is useful for something after all!' added Hillary.
Haley just smiled. Yes, they had done it! Now everything was ok and they wouldn't be seen the Grim Reaper for a very long time.
'Now really, we're going home!' said Hillary as she helped Aaron to his feet by holding his arm over the shoulder.
'We still have to stand the statue', he said. She looked at it.
'Oh just forget it! The wind knocked it. Now first, we need to take you to the hospital.'
He smirked.
'I'll survive.'
'Listen to your sister', chirped in Haley as she draped his other hand around her shoulder to help him walk.
'By the way, I'm driving!' said Hillary smiling wickedly.
'Oh no, you really want to kill me today!', he sighed.
They walked towards the graveyard gate, exiting it and heading for the car.
'If you think about it', started Haley, 'you caused everything to yourself.'
'Huh?'
'Yeah', added Hillary, 'you insisted on replacing the statue when it fell, you tripped over the tombstone and caused this mayhem and you dropped the statue on your leg.'
'It was your fault for stealing it!'
'Huh, are you always going to hold that against me?'
Haley smiled; how much she loved them!
