"Undertaker!" I called, getting the man to turn his gaze from the skeleton he was petting to the coffin on my hands. "Where do I put this one?"
"Right there, Elli~." He said, pointing to corner of the room. "Be gentle with it, yes? I spent a lot of time working on it."
I nodded my head and carried the coffin to the place he had pointed to me, laying it softly on the ground.
"And what do I do with the broken coffins?" I asked, pointing to a big pile of pieces of wood; I just knew my cheeks were red in embarrassment.
"Leave those there; we'll take care of them tomorrow." Undertaker answered with that creepy smile on his face. "It's late already and you must be tired. There's a vacant room upstairs; it's the first one on your left. You may sleep there if you want, Elli~."
"A-Are you sure about that?" I questioned; my eyes wide in surprise. "I don't want to cause any trouble."
"Too late for that." He stated between giggles.
"I guess you're right." I said, feeling my cheeks burn even more. "I'm going to sleep then. Good night, Undertaker."
"Good night, Elli~."
Suitcase in hand I went to the morgue's back room where were the stairs.
You must be wondering how I ended up helping Undertaker to arrange his morgue, no? Well, let's go back a few hours.
The sun was starting to set down by the time the old man and I had parted ways. Since I didn't know my way around the city, I decided it would be best to return to the pub from earlier. The place was still full of sailors.
As I walked inside, I scanned the pub, looking for the old man who had talked to Darrel and me. It was easy to find him; no one else there wore a hat as big as his.
"Hey, mate." The man greeted me with a curious smile. "Weren't ya going to America? What happened? Didn't get there in time?"
I smiled sadly at the man. "The time was just fine -" (though I wish it hadn't been) "- but only my friend got in the ship; I never intended to go away."
Noticing my sad mood, the man took a hold of my arm and pulled me to the bar. I sat on one of the chairs and stared at him with confused eyes as he walked to the other side of the counter.
"So yer friend left ya, huh?" The man spoke as he handed me a glass full of a golden liquid. "Well, no matter; ya'll get by just fine on yer own here. There is lots of jobs a young lass like ya can do in this city. Now, drink up!"
I took the glass from the man's hand with a thankful nod, but didn't drink right away. Instead, I smelled the drink and, my God!, that made my nose burn. The old man cackled at my antics.
"W-What is this?" I asked.
"That's rum, mate." He answered between chuckles. "I take ya never drank before?'
"No and I don't think I'll start now. This rum's smell is horrible." I stated, pushing the glass away from me. "But if you have something to eat, I'll accept."
"Don't be silly and drink with I, mate. This will cheer ya up." The old man insisted, pouring a glass of that horrendous drink to himself.
I stared at my glass for some moments. I didn't want to drink that, but I did want to please the old man a bit; he was being so nice to me.
Noticing my hesitance, he gave me a reassuring grin. "Drink it all in one go, lass; ya not gonna even feel its taste."
Letting out a defeated sigh, I nodded my head. "Alright; but only this one, ok?"
"Of course it's only this one!" The man replied with a playful smile. "I don't give free drinks so easily, ya know."
I felt an amused smile stretch across my lips at his words and raised the glass to my lips, but the man stopped me before I was even able to taste the drink.
"What ya doing, mate?" He asked me with raised eyebrows, taking the drink form my hand.
"What do you mean?" I asked back in confusion. "I was going to drink it as you told me to."
"Ya really never drank before, huh?" He more stated than asked. "Ya gotta tap yer glass with mine before drinking the rum..."
"Why?"
He smiled and gave me back the glass. "It's a toast! We always do that when drinking with friends."
I nodded my head in understanding and smiled a little at his explanation. I couldn't help but celebrate inside my head. Not even one day in the city and I had already made a friend!
I really wished that Darrel was there with me so we could toast together too.
The old man gave me back the drink and raised his glass.
"To making friends." I said as we toasted.
I did as the old man instructed and drank all of the rum in one gulp. He lied to me; I was able to feel its (HORRIBLE) taste very, very easily. As I coughed my lungs out because of the burning drink, the man and the other sailors around me laughed loudly.
"Billy!" The old man called a young boy who was serving the tables. "Bring this lass some fish and chips."
After this experience, I have only one thing to say: I never want to drink again.
…
Well, unless it is to make a toast with a friend.
After ordering me those 'fish and chips' the old man returned to his work, but not before I was able to ask where I could find a pawn shop.
"A pawn shop? Sorry, lad, I can't help ya with that."
"Nah, it's okay." I said with a smile. "I'll find one eventually."
After I was finished, I paid for my food, thanked the old man and walked out the pub. I had barely taken ten steps away from it when I heard a masculine voice call for me.
"Hey, you with da green coat!"
I turned to see a black haired man walking towards me with his hands in his pockets. He was dressed simply, maybe a little better than me, and had an easy-going smile on his face.
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and looked down at myself; I was wearing a green vest, not a coat.
"You're talking to me?" I asked when he was within hearing-range.
"Yep. Now, did I heard you correct in da pub?" He asked when he was right in front of me; I think he was a foreigner because he pronounced the words very, very strangely and made more mistakes than I could count. "You tryin' ta sell jewelrs?"
"Jewelries, yes." I answered looking down at him. "Why?"
"I buy them from you, mister." The man said widening his smile. "And not worry; I pay as much as you want."
I felt my eyes widen in surprise. I wouldn't have to go look for a pawn shop and I could make my price! Am I lucky or what?
"Alright." I said nodding my head with a smile of my own.
"Thank you very much." I said to the man after I had given him the jewelry he had bought.
"No. Dank you, mister." He answered with a wide smirk on his face.
After leaving the foreigner, I simply wandered around the city. There was almost no one out since it was dark already, so I could stare at everything around me as much as I wanted (and it was a lot) without worrying about people looking at me as if I was crazy.
After some time I ended up standing on the middle of a bridge that crossed the Thames, just looking at the river with glazed eyes and thinking:
Maybe it'll be best to call it a day and find a place to stay the night. Tomorrow, I'll look for some kind of work; according to the old man, it won't be hard to find it. After some time here, I'll go to Warwick (my home-town, by the way) and visit my family. Who knows? Maybe I'll even stay there; it must be far calmer than London. Then, in two years, I'll come back to meet Darrel and… and…
And what? Go to America with him?
Well, I could, after all, Darrel was right when he said there is nothing for me here.
But… what if I find something here in these two years? Will I leave Darrel for it? Or will I give up on him? Permanently, this time.
…
What if it's the other way around? Who's to say that HE won't give up on me in the next two years? Maybe he won't even remember me by the time he's supposed to come back.
As these thoughts ran through my mind, I felt tears building in my eyes.
"Bloody hell…" I whispered sadly to myself. "I must stop thinking about this. It won't do me any good now that he's gone.
You know what? Suddenly I felt an immense urge to dive into the river and swim to America to stay with Darrel.
My thoughts were (thankfully) interrupted by a loud thunder coming from the skies.
At hearing it, I tilted up my head and felt a drop of water hit my forehead. The clouds were dark and covered all the stars.
Letting out a sigh and kicking the last thought to the back of my mind, I grabbed my suitcase and ran to the other side of the city, hoping to reach some kind of inn before it started raining.
Well, I didn't.
A couple of minutes later, the water was falling down of the sky by the buckets, making me forget about the inn and run for ANY place that could provide some sort of shelter from the rain.
The first place I saw was a building that seemed to be falling to pieces; the rain was so strong that I wasn't able to read its sign. Already soaked to the bones, I ran under its gazebo and watched the rain pour down even harder. I swear that a few more minutes and I'd have to swim my way around London.
I had half a mind to just stand there until the rain stopped, but my body was starting to get so cold that I decided to try and enter the building. Starting to shake, I turned around and knocked on the door.
No one answered so I tried again.
And no one answered again.
Well, the building was in a horrible state and there was no one in it… Needless to say, I reached the conclusion that it was abandoned and reached for the knob. The door wasn't even locked.
I thought that the inside of the building would be disgusting and full of insects and rats, but it wasn't that dirty; there was some dust and spider webs here and there but nothing more. What got my attention was the amount of big boxes (the ones where you put dead people in) scattered around. What were they called? I remember reading their name in a few books, but I couldn't remember it.
I put my suitcase on the ground and started to walk around, moving my hands up and down my arms to heat up a little bit. I stopped in front of one box that was lying on the ground, right in the center of the room.
Suddenly, something clicked in my head and I remembered the name.
"C-Coffins!" I exclaimed to myself through chattering teeth with a pleased smile on my face.
Then, the smile froze on my face, my hands stopped moving and my eyes widened in fear. The coffin's lid was being opened from the inside.
Let me express my thoughts more clearly: THERE WAS A BLOODY CORPSE MOVING INSIDE THERE!
Now, I've seen many strange things during my time in the dungeons, but, as far as I'm concerned, DEAD PEOPLE STAY DEAD!
Pulling myself together, I stepped down on the lid, preventing the… the thing from opening it any further (by the way, I swear I heard an "Eek!" coming from inside the coffin), grabbed the coffin and threw it across the room, as far away from me as possible. It collided with many objects (mostly coffins) on its away, destroying most of them.
Cold forgotten, I waited for the thing to raise itself from the pile of coffins and attack me, ready to fight back and re-kill it again with my bare hands.
"Ohhh…" The thing mumbled as it stood up. "My pooooor custom-made coffins; why would anyone do such a horrible thing to you~?"
Dropping my fists to the side and relaxing my posture I watched a man dressed all in black with long gray hair and an even longer hat on his hat stand up and caress one of the coffins lovingly. My God!, his nails were long.
Well, the corpse was very much alive and seemed to be the owner of this place.
And I had just attacked him.
You know? I thought about asking him to get a coffin for me, because I felt as I was about to die out of shame.
"I-I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed as I rand towards the man. "I-I swear I thought you were a walking corpse or something like that! Or else I'd never attack you like that! I didn't hurt you, right?"
The man seemed unfazed by my desperate question, turning his head calmly to me with a creepy smile on his face.
"Weeee~ll, what do we here?" He began in a sing-song voice. "A new guest-" (new? Where were the others?) "-how wonderful! What's your name, boy?"
I felt my jaw drop and my eyebrows furrow in confusion. I had just thrown him across the room and he was happy to have me here? He was crazy. He had to be.
"Eh… I-I don't think I'm y-young enough to be considered a b-boy..." I stuttered out, starting to shake again as the cold returned to my body.
"Oh my, you must be freezing." The man stated as he finally noticed my state. "You have dry clothes with you, boy?" I nodded my head. "Then change yourself while I make us some tea~."
That said; the man walked to a back room, leaving me gaping at him. Not wasting any time, I decided to follow his instructions and put on some dry clothes quickly, before he came back.
I changed into a pair of black pants and a long-sleeved green shirt; my feet were bare since I didn't have another pair of shoes.
I walked towards the pile of coffins and began to pick them up to arrange them as I waited for the man to come back.
Was he really going to make me tea? Wasn't he mad at me? After what I'd done to him and his coffins? He did seem to give them a lot of value…
I had a coffin on my hands and was staring at it by the time he came back from the other room. Actually, he popped back.
Right. Behind. me.
"Tea is ready~." He pretty much purred on my ear.
Startled by his presence, my arms clenched on reflex, destroying the coffin they were holding and letting its pieces fall to the ground. The man looked over my shoulder at the pieces on the ground then turned his now neutral face to my beet red one.
"I-I'm really s-sorry…Again." I whispered in shame and frustration. "I d-didn't mean to…"
Hearing my words, another creepy smile stretched across his face.
"Don't worry~; we'll take care of my beautiful coffins later. Now come drink tea before it gets as cold as you~."
He made me sit down on one of the very few coffins that had not been moved by my stupid actions and gave me a cup of hot tea. I thought he would drink some as well, but he simply stood there in front of me with that ever-lasting creepy smile on his face.
"How come you're not angry at me?" I couldn't help but ask, making his smile grow even more, something I thought was impossible.
"Hehehe…It was actually very funny. Hehehe…" He said between chuckles, his body shaking softly because of them. "You thought I was a zombie… Pfft! Hehehe…" The shaking started to grow. "A zombie! KYAHAHAHAHAH!"
My eyes widened as he laughed uncontrollably, rolling on the ground and drooling like the crazy person he was (I had no more doubts of that). I couldn't help but glance longingly at the door, thinking that I should've just waited for the rain to stop on the outside.
"How could I stay angry with someone who gives me a fist-rate laugh like that?" He purred after his laughter subsided. "Not to mention that I don't receive talkative guest like you often."
Sipping on my tea, I couldn't help but furrow my eyebrows at him. Talkative? Me? But I had barely spoken five sentences to him!
"Now, you didn't answer my question back there. What's your name~?"
"M-My name?"
I had hoped he would forget about that; I hadn't thought up a fake name for me yet! I was almost giving him my true name, but a little voice in the back of my head screamed at me: Don't do it, Elli! Tell NO ONE your real name.
"You can call me Elli…" I answered without even thinking.
"Elli~. Elli~." He sang the word as if tasting it. Seeming pleased, he nodded his head at me. "I like it. But I don't believe it's your real naa~me. Is it short for something?"
Holding back an annoyed sigh, I nodded my head.
"For what?"
I bit my lower lip for a few seconds, racking my brain for ANY masculine name that I could use.
"Elliot!" I almost yelled. "My name is Elliot, Elliot Hall." Don't ask me where that Hall came from; it was the first thing that came to my mind.
"Elliot Hall?" He asked and I nodded my head nervously.
"Wee~ll, I like Elli better; it sounds more like you." He had seen right through my lie, but didn't seem to mind it. "You can call me Undertaker, Elli~."
"Alrig- Wait! What? You're not telling me your name?"
"No!" He said happily.
"B-B-But… That's not fair!" I complained, pointing an accusing finger at him.
"Life's not fair, Elli~." He, the Undertaker, spoke with his sing-song voice, though something about his demeanor was very somber as the words left his lips. Then, as quick as it came, it was gone and he went back to his happy/crazy/creepy posture. "Now, finish your tea and come help me with my beautiful coffins, yes?"
My God; was I doomed to meet only crazy people?
Finally, Undertaker has made his appearance!
BTW, about Undertaker and all the others cannon characters: Please warn me if I write them OOC (flames will be more than welcomed in this case) because I intend to keep the story as cannon as possible.
Thank you for reading it! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! =)
