Thread: Perils of the Deep Hallow

Maybe she shouldn't have come.

"Come on, Miss, just one dance?"

No, yes, she definitely shouldn't have come. This is a nightmare.

"..."

Emma hid her face behind her long strawberry curls and kept her eyes on her hands, folded neatly on her knee as she shook her head slightly, still as a statue on her seat. If she ignored him long enough, he might just leave her alone, right? The song was changing again, the orchestra playing a much slower tune as older couples who were dancing feverishly to an upbeat song just a moment ago retired to their seats. There were some who opted to a waltz to follow the classic, their bodies swaying closer to each other.

"Are you unwell?"

Again, she merely shook her head. Even as she said so, Emma might actually be sick if he keeps pestering her this way. He was still standing, towering over her. She wondered when he was going to leave - the song had changed thrice since his arrival. The first five guys who approached her gave up after five minutes of her silence. This guy however, didn't seem like he was so easy to put off.

"Come, why don't we go somewhere quieter?"

He's holding her hand. He's holding her hand! "!?!!?" Emma looked up to him in alarm, her eyes widened as she felt all the blood drained from her face, her lips parted in silent protest. She was up on her feet and was stumbling, her heels clicking against the tiled floor as the man continued to pull her across the ballroom. "!!!"

Ohnoohnoohno.

"What the-!?"

Three things registered on her mind at that instant. They stopped. He was drenched. And the boy was laughing.

Of course, the man couldn't hear the boy's laughter. He merely stared in astonishment at his wine stained shirt as his bewildered mind tried to figure out how the blood red liquid made it's way from the punch bowl on the right side of the dining table to this end of the hall. Cursing, he released her hand and stormed towards what she figured to be the direction of the washroom. She stood there in silence as her eyes followed his departure before a relieved sigh escaped her lips. Her gaze slowly turned to the still cackling boy as her features softened with a warm smile. Soundlessly, she patted the boy's head affectionately, a silent gratitude.

She noticed eyes darting in her way as soft murmurs arose from the surrounding crowd. They were probably wondering why a young lady like her was smiling to a wall and waving her hand in midair. She ignored them and offered her hand to the small boy. Grinning, he accepted it. "My name's Ian," the boy quipped as they started walking back to her seat. "Sis, you're pretty." Emma smiled in response. "I like you, so I'll tell you this." Her hand wrapped around the boy's cold fingers tighter as she listened to him voicing the thought she had been repeating to herself since the moment she stepped foot into the mansion. "You shouldn't have come."

Then, there was a heart-stopping, dead awful scream.

The background hummed with the voices of party-goers and orchestral music as Jacques leaned against one of the pillars in the ballroom. The ball was nothing short of extravagant, decorated with the finest colors and served by the most expensive of waiters and waitresses. It wasn't often that he was allowed to go to these events and even less often that he wasn't dressed like a country boy (as his friends would say). A tailored suit with a shiny pair of shoes did much to mask his poorer origins and he had nice hair to boot! Well, not that he was bragging.

Mayor Gabriel had a penchant for masquerade parties and hosted one every Hallow's Eve with the only requirements being to dress well and not cause trouble. The idea was that everyone would be equal under the guise of a mask, though it was sometimes obvious who was trying to hide their social status. There were all too many girls pushed to roping in richer men and too many boys attempting to impress women.

He knew this first hand because he had made the mistake of being talked up by a brown-haired woman last year and, unfortunately, was found again by her this year. She was a lovely story teller, but the fact that she never let him have a word was troubling. She seemed so intent on making herself interesting that she bored him to bits. It was times like this that he wish he had stayed home with Urania. Urania, named from Provecial's ode to music, was his muse. Those who didn't know any better would say that he was mad, but they were wrong (or at least they didn't understand). She whispered to him, the paths of the stars and the positions of the planets. She was his guiding light and she was certainly much better than the other patrons pining after him.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Uh I...well..."

Crap! What was she talking about? Was it her story of hunting a wild boar? Meeting an Italian playwright perhaps? She had told those stories so many times that they all seemed to blend together.

"You know Jacques, every ball I try my best to be entertaining but it seems as though I'm wasting my time," she said, leaving in a huff.

"Wait, I'm sor-"

You didn't need her anyway...

Urania? Why was she here now? Jacques reflexively turned around, only to see the guests dancing with the same fervor as before.

She won't forget about this you know, he murmured silently.

Nothing about this night will be forgettable.

As the first time that Jacques had seen Urania and the first time she had whispered to him, there was a scream.

Emma thought the screaming was never going to end. It was like domino pieces toppling over each other as that first scream invoked another. Then another. And then another. Now the whole ballroom was flooded by the deafening high pitched shrills. Guests were running over one another in panic. Shoving the strangers standing as obstacles from them and the safety of the main mansion door. Emma was lucky that she had thought to retreat under a table before the whole commotion started. Whenever she was startled or scared, it was Emma's immediate reflex to hide to the closest veiled place she could find and the long blood red tablecloth - she sensed a theme there - lining the dining table was just perfect.

She was trembling as she felt the floor quake beneath her as heavy footsteps rushed to the door. She could hear exasperated shouts as people hurried by. After a long while, it was finallt getting quieter outside. Well, apart from those awful screams. Emma rocked her body slightly as she pressed her palms to her ears, tears burning her eyes. Make it stop... Make it stop...

Then, it stopped.

Was it safe now? Is it over? Her thoughts couldn't be formed clearly as she was much too grateful for the silence. The only thing she could think of at that moment was her need to escape. Without hesitation, she pulled aside the cloth veiling her from the rest of the ballroom.

Emma could only scream silently as the sight that greeted her was too horrifying for words.

Leo was starting to feel anxious. There was something definitely off about the place. Call it a butler's second instinct but the moment he stepped into the mansion, his guards were up. Well, it didn't matter. He was trained for this. If anything were to happen, he was ready for it.

That was what he thought.

Leo Franz had been a butler in the R family since the day he was born. Proudly serving the family as the 7th generation of butlers, taking on from his father before him. He was assigned as the Ojou-sama's personal butler when he was 8, the day she came into the world. He kept his eyes on the Ojou-sama. She was dancing and talking easily to the other guests. The only daughter of the multimillionaire family had always loved parties and gatherings like this. And he was happy to see her happy. Although he would've been much happier if she had decided to wear than pink gown with the purple ribbon he had chosen for her instead of that aqua dress which were in his opinion, much too tight for her slight figure.

He was not wearing his usual butler suit but instead, tonight, he wore a red tuxedo. Ojou-sama insisted on it, saying he would only embarrass her if he kept hovering around her in his usual get up. She said it'd be like his presence would broadcast to the world that she was still in need of a baby sitter. Besides, she said, I'd die if someone mistook you as a waiter there. Which was ridiculous, he had replied. He had a very distinguishable outfit from them. They weren't wearing bow ties and his uniform was licorice compared to their plain black. For some reason, she didn't buy his argument one bit and so there he was, in a red tux, hovering over her like a satellite.

The night had been nice enough. So after a while, he finally decided to give her the space she had been demanding from him with her eyes since the start of the night. Standing alone in a corner, no one tried to approach him, which if Leo was paying attention enough, he'd realize was actually something that would'd been considered odd.

Then, there was the scream. Even though the voice was in an almost impossible pitch, high and shrill, he'd recognize it anywhere. The Ojou-sama. She was screaming. It all happened so suddenly, and when that one scream turned into two and was passing on in a cascade, Leo was actually caught off guard. And the moment his stunned body finally obeyed him, he wasted no further time to get within reach of her. But, when he arrived at the location he had last seen her no less than two seconds later, she was gone.