I love how I always write the same amount each time XD Nearly 3,000 words each~ I feel accomplished~
I might not be able to update as fast (well except this time...my week of hiatus during this REALLY set me back...You guys here didn't know about it since I kinda can't inform you, but my dA watchers did) since I just started school D: Like LITERALLY just did today XD
I will try to write during school though in a spiral or something and transfer it (if I can actually read my handwriting...). This year, they apparently probably won't allow e-readers which I usually use to write ;w; Well...I'll figure out something! *salutes*
No clue if I've even said this yet, but I don't own Hetalia XD I'm terrible at remembering to say that =_="
Chapter IV
"Fader Jakob, Fader Jakob,
Sover du? Sover du?
Hører du ei klokken? Hører du ei klokken?
Ding dang dong, ding dang dong." The fair-haired boy sung melodiously, hitting each note with hypnotic precision.
"Fader Jakob, Fader Jakob,
Sover du? Sover du?
Hører du ei klokken? Hører du ei klokken?
Ding dang dong, ding dang dong." He sung in the same hypnotic voice, but a pitch higher.
Once more he sung, in the same voice as the preceding times, but, like before, in a higher pitch. It was loud enough to be heard through insulated walls in fact. "Fader Jakob, Fader Jakob,
Sover du? Sover du?
Hører du ei klokken? Hører du e—"
Just then another boy, this one about five years old and a near replica of the other, came out, dragging a white, stuffed toy owl alongside him. The other boy, who was singing, seemed to not even notice, let alone care, and just kept on.
"—i klokken?
Ding dang dong, ding dang dong."
A chill crept down Ludwig's spine, daring him to run away, but he couldn't leave the entrancing voice. Partly out of the pure, elegant beauty, and partly because he was thoroughly terrified and therefore couldn't move.
The littler boy with the owl stood next to his brother, glanced up at him, then mimicked each of his movements and words as if he were a ventriloquist's doll.
"Fader Jakob, Fader Jakob,
Sover du? Sover du?
Hører du ei klokken? Hører du ei klokken?
Ding dang dong, ding dang dong." The two children sang, their voices complimenting each other pleasantly. Strangely, the volume didn't change with this repetition like the previous times.
Ludwig was petrified, but Ludwig didn't want to leave the lovely sirens with their lovely siren voices. Ludwig liked the lovely siren voices. Ludwig really did.
This time though, their volume went to a near screeching level. "FADER JAKOB, FADER JAKOB,
SOVER DU? SOVER DU?
HØRER DU EI KLOKKEN? HØRER DU EI KLOKKEN?
DING DANG DO—"
An somewhat older boy, with spiky blonde hair, dull blue eyes and was presumably the eldest, dashed out of the front door —which was wide open— and over two his younger brothers. "What the hell Lukas?! Emil, you too this time? This is the second time thi—"
An ear splitting, blood-curdling scream rang from the Leudbald's home, causing everyone to silence themselves immediately. It was a girl's; it was Natalia's.
Ludwig didn't move an inch despite his step-sister's outcry though; he just kept staring at the youngest two of his new neighbors as they mouthed the song over and over and were scolded by their older brother, over and over.
"LUDWIG! GET OVER HERE. NOW!" His father's bellowing voice made Ludwig finally snap out of his trance-like state. He escaped from the children, threw the front door open, then broke down after slamming it shut. He barely supported himself up on his knees as he breathed heavily, like he had just run a marathon.
"LUDWIG!" His father's voice bellowed throughout the house once more, despite coming from the backyard. For some reason the three of them —his step-father and step-siblings that is— were gathered around the in-ground pool, staring at it intently.
He hustled over to the sliding glass door as best he could —leaning on furniture briefly a few times—, then forced his body to move the remaining ten or so feet to his father. "Wh...at...is it?.." He wheezed, hunched over somewhat with his hand to his chest.
None of them answered him.
"Wha..t...i—?"
"...Look..." Roderich murmured.
Complying out of borderline exhaustion, Ludwig gathered enough strength to stand close enough to how he normally would. He staggered around to Roderich's side and stared with him in disbelief.
In the pool, in their once sparkling, pristine pool, was their bloodied mother. Her lower abdomen was ripped to shreds; her entrails, or at least the ribbons of what was left of them, threatened to float away in the pool's current, mixing the water around her to a semi-transparent, cloudy red. Those once stunning violet eyes of hers were rolled to the back of her head.
Nothing else on her body was touched.
Her clothes were all there, with the exception of a red heel which had sunken to the bottom; her untangled chestnut hair was flowing with the current; her light coat of makeup wasn't smeared or faded; there were no other visible cuts or bruises on her body though. Only her abdomen. Only her lower abdomen.
The disconcerting thing though was this: it looked as if she had just died that very second. Not ten minutes ago, not thirty minutes, not an hour. Right. That. Second. The blood around her disputed that appearance though since it had already ceased flowing from her body.
The three who had seen the corpse first had talked to her when they first came into the house. Not even ten minutes had past. No one saw anything happen, let alone imagine something like this to happen.
"Hello dear."
"...Hey."
"Hello mother."
Their last words to her were pretty simple and hurried, but still caused her face to light up.
"Hey guys! How was school?" She curiously asked.
"I just got home mom! I need to rest!"
"Pretty good mother, nothing special though."
"Some kid broke his finger, but that was all."
Then they turned around for only a second to drop off their things, and when they turned back to continue speaking, she disappeared. No word, no warning, no sound. She just reappeared in the pool with cross hatched markings across her lower abdomen.
...How...how did this happen...?..., Ludwig was in a state of utter disbelief, but racked his brain to find an answer to his own question.
Roderich couldn't hold in the disgust he felt any longer unlike the other members of his family. Collapsing down onto his hands and knees, he regurgitated his entire lunch onto the slightly disheveled grass from the inhumanity. His mother, his mother, had her stomach butchered, mutilated, mangled, every word that could describe it, to shreds. To him, no sensible person should've been able to even imagine the sight.
"Is everything alright?!" The eldest boy dashed through the door, his siblings casually trailing after him. Each of the Leudbalds turned their heads to see the noisy newcomer, even Roderich who was fairly weak by now.
Mr. Leudbald hastily slid from where he was standing to the space in front of their neighbor, blocking both their views of the mutilation. "Leave. Go home to your parents."
"But I heard screams an—"
"Leave, take your brothers wherever they are, and go home to your parents." He insisted, a harsher tone taking over. Speaking of the devil, the two suddenly arrived next to him —the younger holding his toy owl's wing as if it were a hand—, peeking around his side.
The youngest boy tugged on his "twin's" shoulder with his free hand. "Bróðir, you were right."
"I know." The middle brother kept his unfazed, apathetic gaze fixed on the pool, but then suddenly jerked his head to the right as if he saw an animal scamper by.
Ludwig overheard this —Natalia on the other hand didn't, seeing as she was now comforting her retching brother and all— and was interested, yet confused. "What do you m—?"
"Now." Mr. Leudbald commanded, not allowing them to stay any longer or for Ludwig to give them a reason to.
The eldest boy gulped. "Yes sir." Grabbing one of each of his brothers' hands, he directed them out the way they had came. As they walked, he bent down to their level and whispered to them. "We need to go now."
"Why Mathie?" The youngest asked innocently, his owl dragging on the dull, wooden floor of the Leudbalds' living room.
As Mathais tried to explain, the middle brother looked back, staring into Ludwig's eyes; into his very soul. "He's still here." He commented in his dreary voice.
Ludwig's eyes opened wide, what could he mean? Who was 'he'? What was he right about? "Wai—!" He called, only to be subliminally quieted by his father's hand upon his shoulder.
"They shouldn't see this." His father shook his head gently, biting his lip to stop the budding tears from flowing out. "They need to go him to theirs."
The rest of the day, Ludwig locked himself in his room upstairs, sitting with his covers surrounding him and his back to the window at the side of his bed; he didn't want to answer to police officers' questions, or see anyone for that matter. He knew he was acting anti-social and strange compared to his usual self, but he didn't care —ever since he met those two boys he acted different. They honestly and truly creeped him out.
"Fader Jakob, Fader Jakob,
Sover du? Sover du?
Hører du ei klokken? Hører du ei klokken?
Ding dang dong, ding dang dong." Their beautiful voices still rang in his head, urging him to pull the covers around him tighter.
"Why did it look so familiar...?..." He wondered aloud, searching his brain for any times he might have seen that cross hatched pattern that was clawed into his step-mother. ...Wait..., He scrunched his eyes together to heighten his memory.
Soon, complete silence enveloped the room. Not even his own breathing could be heard since it had practically stopped.
...
...
...
"...The same...they're the same...I'm sure of it..." Ludwig breathed, shock and a erratic hint of happiness dabbling his voice. "They're the same..." He chuckled, "Does that mean he's coming home now? Is he?" He asked his pillows. "Do you think he is?"
"Actually I do." In the doorway was the maniacal boy from before.
Ludwig lunged off of his bed, throwing his back against the wall next to his slightly opened closet door. "What are you doing here?!" He snarled, reaching inside the closet and gripping his hidden baseball bat he had for over five years. "Get the hell out!"
The boy took a quick overlook of himself, then raised his focus back onto Ludwig. "I don't have anything so you don't have to try and hurt me."
The color drained from Ludwig's face as he slid his hand out of the closet, empty and shaking. "...How did you know that...?"
"I just know." The boy softly shut the door, glanced around the room as he strode over, and sat on the bed, kicking his covered feet back and forth. "Are you okay?" He asked, staring into Ludwig's eyes unfalteringly.
An unsettling feeling seemed to be emitting itself from the boy, filling the bedroom with the ominousity.
"Of course not! You just came out of nowhere, picked my lock, and read my mind!" Ludwig accused.
The younger boy put his finger over his mouth. "Shh, they'll hear you." He pointed down at the first floor.
"Still! How did you even get in here?!" Ludwig demanded, trying his best not to yell by instead hissing.
"Simple; I walked through the front door and up here." He looked at Ludwig with innocent, doe-like, azure eyes; eyes that seemed to have never seen anything vulgar or cruel. They contrasted his earlier actions...freakishly. They didn't even seem to belong to the same person.
"...Liar." Ludwig accused, "No one could've gotten up here that easily."
He blinked a few times. "Well I did Ludwig."
"How do you know my name too?!" Ludwig whispered.
"Your dad was screaming it earlier after all." The boy swiveled his entire body around and looked out the window, letting the evening sunlight spread across his face and bath his body.
Ludwig gritted his teeth, "Well then what's yours?"
"Lukas. Lukas Bondevik." Lukas answered, finishing off the remaining 180 degrees to face Ludwig once more.
"Well Lukas, how did you read my mind?" Ludwig asked as he stepped a foot closer to the edge of his bed.
"You were talking out loud actually."
He backed up to the spot he had stood on before taking the extra step, "I was?" Ludwig asked interestedly; he could've sworn he wasn't.
"Yes."
"Lukas! Lukas honey where are you?" A woman with the same platinum blonde hair and azure eyes as Lukas —presumably his mother as well— randomly called, scouring the streets for him.
Lukas sighed, "I have to go, but I'll tell you now:" Before Ludwig could get a word in, he continued. "Be wary of the one you love the most." He advised as he pushed himself from the bed.
"...What?"
"Do what I just said." He replied simply, walking over to and gingerly opening the door to the hallway.
"What does that mean?" Ludwig tried to pry one last answer from the child, but he had already stepped out into the hallway. Running over to the door, he flung it open and, in hopes of being able to find him, twisted his head in each direction, but he had already disappeared. Vanished completely in fact; no footsteps could even be heard. Only the policemen's shuffling and inquiries downstairs could be.
Ludwig mindlessly closed the door, leaning his head against it afterward. The one I love the most...?, He pondered, Who do I love the most?... Images of various people flicked through his mind: his birth mother's bleak mug shot, the one memory he had of his father before he died —a quaint memory of his smile—, his step-sister's scowling face whenever he was near Roderich, his step-brother's aloof scoldings, Feliciano's endlessly sleepy expression, and Gilbert's tender smiles. The latter two individuals eventually taking over his focus.
Feliciano's terrified, trembling figure when they first met. His smile that greeted him every day. His adorable, blushing face when he asked to be friends —Ludwig's first friend. His bleeding finger when they were at the nurse's office. His confused look when he heard of Gilbert.
Gilbert's kindly smiling face when he first held Ludwig. His weak, frail body that seemed to always need supervision. His comforting demeanor whenever Ludwig had a cold or was sick in any way. The overly protective way he acted whenever Ludwig tried to make friends. His distant eyes and cold touch when he laid on the kitchen floor motionlessly.
...It had to be his brother of course; it had to be! I've loved him ever since I can remember!, Ludwig blushed madly when he realized what he had just thought. It is true though...I always have...
As he turned around, he felt that same aura as he did multiple times earlier in that day. Pausing midway, he bit his lip lightly to prepare himself for what he might see. Then, after taking a deep breath, he whipped around and stood proudly.
Nothing was there.
"...What?" Ludwig's eyebrows crunched together and tilted upwards at the end in a mix of anger and confusion. "I know I felt it." He reassured himself, "I know I did." Shaking his head, he climbed onto his bed and stared out the window.
Most of the cops had left by now, it had been about three hours since the incident happened, but there were still a couple left to check out everything one last time. Lukas' mother seemed to be thoroughly scolding her middle son under the oak tree in their front yard. A car or two passed down the street. Nothing out of place really.
Though he still felt the presence.
Where is it coming from?, Ludwig wondered as he flicked his eyes in various directions, remembering the times when he had felt it before as well. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lukas jerk his head in a completely different direction than how it was before; the same way he had by the pool. He was staring at the ground a story below Ludwig's window now.
Terrified beyond what most people are in their lifetime, Ludwig gathered up what little courage he had and peered over the window's edge.
A boy in a school uniform —roughly a year older than him, but still in Ludwig's own style of uniform— stood there. Whenever Ludwig looked down, he stared up. There were quite a few kids in their neighborhood, but Ludwig hadn't seen this one around before. Well, he actually couldn't really make out what the face looked like at all, but the general description. In a flash though, he saw a Cheshire cat like grin spread across his face and he disappeared. Vanished. Just like Lukas had.
Ludwig jerked away as soon as he saw the dreadful smile. He toppled off of his bed and onto the carpeted floor; his eyes were closed tightly shut, or at least until he heard a voice looming above him.
"Eh? You okay?"
His breath hitched in his throat, but instead of being cowardly as he typically would have, he released the fierce hold he had on his eyes. A sigh of relief passed his lips once he recognized the voice. "What Roderich?"
Why is it that he always ends up around me at these times...?
"Why are you on the floor?"
"I accidentally fell backward, why else?" Ludwig frankly answered, trying to hide the fact that he was actually scared.
Roderich sighed and started heading out of the room, "Well it's time for dinner. Come on."
Ludwig nodded his head once and stood up. "Fine."
"Question though," Roderich asked, stopping and twisted his torso toward his step-brother.
"What now?"
"Do you have any friends? There was some kid outside the window a short while ago asking for you."
[1] Fader Jakob, Fader Jakob,
Sover du? Sover du?
Hører du ei klokken? Hører du ei klokken?
Ding dang dong, ding dang dong. -
Father James, Father James
Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Do you hear the bells? Do you hear the bells?
Ding, dang, dong, ding, dang, dong.
[2] Bróðir - Brother
If you guess WHY I put the children's song I did right, I will give you a virtual cookie :3
Austria be a creepy creeperkins o3o
Yes! The little boy was our beloved NorNor-chan~! The ONE person who guessed Iceland on was closest~
I really hope you enjoy this~! I LOVED writing the first part way too much...I wish I could've gone in deeper detail, but this story isn't necessarily a gory one, so I didn't ._.
Hej då!