The Apparition (IC): It Begins

Emily, with no other option in mind, decided to once more return to town to investigate. However, this time, she would go as herself, rather than being disguised as a boy. Although a girl her age should probably not wander about on her own, unaccompanied by an adult, she could not risk being seen as Edward after nearly being hauled off to the asylum. She would just have to hope there would be no more panic attacks. Before starting out the door, she hesitated, before deciding to take several things with her. She grabbed the paper with the triangular symbol and hid it in her sleeve. She had a feeling that it could prevent her from having a panic attack. It was just so calming, and regardless of origin, she really needed to have clarity for this. She also stole a small knife from the kitchen cupboard, which was sharp enough for self defense, as she felt for a strange reason would be important. For some reason, the town no longer felt safe, and too many people were losing their minds. She hoped the knife and the symbol would be enough to keep her safe.

With this in mind, she once more started out the door, this time as an unassuming girl, simply dressed, yet striking in appearance, and eerily pale. She was determined not to draw attention to herself, and she would find out what was happening.

The man shouted before he died. The children pushed the counter over, a loud ban spat from it. They found a triangle carved in the ground. They scratched it quickly and it lost power. The girl lead them outside and they quickly ran from the shop. A few townspeople approached the store, and when a few ran inside to see what was wrong they too screamed, seeing a massacre. A few officers scurried from street to street, investigating everything.

Leeth sat in his chair, which was now facing the huge window behind him. He overlooked the town. One of the officials entered the room. "Sir, we've... shot and killed a boy who was rampaging the streets with a bloody axe... and I keep hearing word that a man has just been killed, mere minutes ago, in our local butcher shop..."

Cedric held his triangular amulet in hand, gazing on it, then placing it back on him. He eyed the triangle scratched into the wall. "Find whoever did it, and send them to the asylum"

The official nodded. "Of course, sir, I expected that" he said and walked out of the room.

Sage wandered around the town, occasionally spotting a triangular symbol and scraping it off of wherever it was etched. The sounds of a scuffle caused her to look up, and she spotted blood-drenched children running speedily away.

Or at least, they looked like children...aside from their grayish eyes and clawlike fingers. And then of course, the blood.

Sage's head began to pound, and a headache came on. She tilted forward slightly, hands held up to her head.
"Aaugh..." she mumbled, walking forward slowly. She had her eyes closed and hoped she wouldn't bump into anyone by accident.

The girl looked at Sage as they passed, she only gave an empty glance and moved on. They laughed and giggled and skipped with joy. Officers began to gather around them in a circle, trapping them.

"Put your hands up!" one yelled, his huge voice echoed throughout the town. The children dropped their knives and suddenly the three of them vanished like smoke. The officers' eyes widened. They all screamed and began to run towards city hall...

Emily arrived back in town to see a lot of confusion, as well as screaming. She then staggered back as a group of police officers, seemingly terrified, ran past. She stared after them for a long time afterwards, frowning. She looked in the direction that they came from, but she did not see anything out of the ordinary, aside from three knives that lay on the ground, that seemed to be drenched in blood. She shuddered, upon seeing this. Whatever malignant and evil force had been here earlier, it felt much stronger now, for whatever reason. She felt as though it were pressing down on her, a physical weight on her shoulders. However, she did not have a panic attack. She still had a strong sense of calm, and knew that somehow the symbols were not evil, and that only the slashes were.

She then spotted someone staggering in confusion, another girl about her age. "Pardon me!" She cried, running up to her, "Are you all right? Some Officers just ran past me, screaming. Did you see what happened?" Most of the time, Emily wouldn't have been so rash, but she now felt a sense of urgency, as though something terrible were about to occur.

"Uh," Sage mumbled, "I'm not sure you would believe me if I told you...but...Some children. They had knives and gray eyes and claws..."

She looked up into Emily's face.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

Emily shook her head. It might have been hard to believe for most people, but considering what was going on, Emily actually believed this girl, considering the knives were on the ground, "I didn't see them, but I'm not going to call you crazy, considering that they appear to have dropped their knives. I don't know if the police will feel the same way, though. They tried to accuse me of insanity this morning, because I panicked over something. They're lacking precision so much that perfectly sane people are probably getting hauled away, by this point." She looked over her shoulder at city hall, before turning back to the other girl, "We should probably get out of here. Don't ask me why, but I have this horrible feeling something's going to happen."

"You're probably right," Sage said, glancing around. There was something in the air that she could almost taste. Everything in this town just seemed to be getting worse!

"Where should we go?" she asked softly.

Emily nodded, "Follow me, and stay close, this part of town is too dangerous, and who knows what people will think of two people our age alone." With this, she started to proceed carefully away from the center of town, glancing about the area to check for anything suspicious. This town had an evil vibe to it, for some reason, and Emily had no clue how it had gotten to be that way. All she knew was that it was bad.

Leeth kicked the doors of Town Hall open with much violence. In a holster along his belt was a handheld pistol. Following him was Doctor Rubin. Officers began to run up to him from the rest of the town. "Mr. Mayor! Mr. Mayor!" the captain shouted. "We saw ghosts! Children! Murderers! The legend is real!"

Leeth pulled the gun from his pocket, and shot the captain straight in the forehead, a splatter of blood splashing forth. The captain fell over.... dead... Rubin's eyes widened, his jaw dropped open. Leeth simply stared at the body. The officers took off running in the other direction.

"Clean this up" Leeth said. "Sir, you just shot and murdered an officer!" Rubin protested. Leeth gave a cold glare to Rubin, that immediately made him shut up. "I cut off a man of insanity. We have about seven more that either need to be killed or put into the asylum. I trust that you could assemble some me"

"Y-yes sir" Rubin stuttered and moved back into the building. Leeth put two fingers to his lips and made a loud whistle. A few officers around the town that had not caught the murder heard and came to him. They gasped at the body.

"Ignore the body, he was threatening me. Now go around the town and find as many people as you can find that believe in this paranormal legend" Leeth said, giving an ill-tempered face. The officers nodded and departed.

"We could go to my house," Sage suggested. "There have been no weird sightings there. Maybe it's safer than the rest of the town?"

She didn't mention it was on the outer edge of the town. That was a detail she could explain if Emily agreed. Sage didn't like to tell people where she lived. She had not had any friends over in a long time, simply because people were afraid of the woods.

Emily nodded, "Okay, but don't say anything until we get there. The police have gone crazy, say a word and they'll send us both to the asylum. We can't talk in the middle of town without fear of being heard." She desperately wanted to get out of town. She was sure she had just heard gunshots somewhere. There were too many shootings, people must be dropping dead left and right. She didn't want her nor the other girl to wind up the same way. What was the world coming to?

"RUN! RUN! RUN!!" a police man yelled to others as about two more were chasing him, they were only about ten meters away from Sage and Emily. The two policemen shot him in the head and he fell over. Another screaming police man emerged from the side of the building and got shot in the chest unexpectedly. The two men approached the door of a house and immediately kicked it down shouting "POLICE!!!" once entered.

Sage watched the officers numbly.
Yep, it was definitly time to go.

"Alright then, follow me and stay close," Sage said, pulling her hood up as far as it would go. She ducked into an alley and started making her way towards the edge of town. The fog had thinned, which meant they wouldn't have much cover.

Sage grumbled about this; she rather liked the fog. And rain, for that matter.

Treetops were more visible now. They had a few more roads to cross, and then it would be down the path and into the house. It occurred to Sage that she did not know where her brother was, and began looking around for him as she darted about.

Alan was blissfully unaware if everything... Mostly. He had heard the police, and went to investigate. He stood back and watched silently as the police officers invaded the home.

He was clearly frustrated about all of this activity; what had once been a nice, quiet town was now a madhouse. It seemed as if the police were struggling to keep things under control, as well.

He walked slowly and nervously away from the scene. He was heading towards the forest's edge, at the other side of town. He wanted to stay uninvolved, unless his life was threatened.

The two children Alan had seen earlier were still chasing him, this time running along the tree lines and keeping to the bushes, their presence was quite clear.
As Sage and Emily walked, something had been moving along with them...
Walking behind them. A whisper rose into the air...

(sorry for short post)

Emily thought she heard something behind her, and impulsively reached to touch the paper with the symbol hidden in her sleeve. She resisted the urge to look over her shoulder, as surely she would not see anything, although she was sure something was there. That same malicious presence that had been showing up around town was back again, and it seemed to be picking on her and the other girl. While it scared her, another part of Emily felt a small amount of anger at this. She felt irritated, in all honesty, that this kind of thing could happen to her, of all people.

On a large rock, next to the path, suddenly large lettering was carved, scratched, engraved into the stone... The words said "WELTON WILL DIE TONIGHT"
The letter glowed blinding blue and suddenly a snap came from the woods... Something was walking from tree to tree and whispering... A wind blew into the air, leaves scattering and running around. A darkness was arousing in Welton and it was only a matter of time before it was utterly discovered. The storm was coming and the people would not want to get caught up in it.

Sage came upon that path that led to her house, not seeing the rock with the blue lettering. The snap, sounding like that of a breaking stick someone had stepped upon, was just another forest sound.

She pulled Emily foward onto the path.
"Not far down here now," she said. "The thin strip of woods keeps most people away...I don't think anyone will follow us."

Sage looked back at the town one last time before turning to the path and starting down.

Alan stopped and turned. There was something in the bushes. He realized that there were people in the bushes on either side of him, one quite obvious, and another seemingly trying to stay hidden.

He backed away from the louder bushes, realizing that something more than an animal was there. He finally turned and continued on his way, eventually reaching a thin stretch of woods, and stopping at the edge. Little did he know that this was Sage's destination.

"Well, considering the recent events, I certainly hope so. I really don't want the police barging in on us. Too many weird things are happening, and the mayor must just keep sending everyone to the asylum. It's madness, out there." Emily said, keeping her voice quiet. Did she hear footsteps, or was she imagining it? Her pulse quickened, and she felt a small jolt of anxiety. She wasn't going to have another panic attack, was she? Was she crazy, or was it the chaos in town? Everything was a blurry mess anymore. Strange symbols, and now girls with claws and knives. This was starting to feel more and more like something from a horror story.

Sage was already down the path, and could see the lanterns that marked the walk to her house in the distance. It was maybe 30 yards; a long enough distance to be discouraging, but short enough so that woodland creatures avoided the area.

She did not look back, and thus she did not notice Alan. Sage did however, sense that Emily was hesitant.

"Are you okay?" Sage asked, looking at her in concern. "It has been a violent morning...Are you hurt?"

Emily looked at the other girl, "Sorry, I'm not hurt or anything, I'm actually quite fine. I'm prone to panic attacks, though, and in the past few days they've been getting worse. I'm positive it has to deal with whatever is going on in town. I keep feeling like something...I don't know what...evil is watching me. And then I start hearing things, and I can't be sure if they're real or not. Earlier, I thought someone was walking behind us, and now, I'm hearing footsteps." She resisted the urge to look over her shoulder.

"Someone behind us?" Sage echoed, glancing backwards. She didn't see anyone through the trees, but the path wouldn't be hard to follow. All the suspicious character would have to do was stay on the path...

"Shall we take a shortcut?" Sage asked Emily. "We'll lose them if we go through the trees and off the path..but it's a little eerie."

"Everything is eerie these days. Let's try it. If we are being followed, we should just hope it's a normal person who's not good with directions." Emily said, as she began to follow the girl again. "By the way, when we get there, I need to ask you what your name is, I think I forgot, if I asked already." Emily, in fact, had not asked for the girl's name, but was too distracted to properly remember. Distractions seemed to make up a good portion of her everyday life, in addition to the usual paranoia.