{Part One}
The Beasts
Three sisters lived in a small house together. It was between the village and the woods, which were about a mile apart.
One night it was raining. The youngest, Poppy, was already in bed. The other two, Hyacinth and Ivy were still awake. They sat near the fireplace and talked quietly to each other, so as not to wake Poppy.
Ivy turned to the window to see if it was still raining. Out the small window, there was a large oak tree. They watched it sway slightly in the wind. A shadow shot behind the tree, and they could hear a soft cry.
“Did you see that??” Ivy gasped.
“Yeah!” Hyacinth cried in disbelief.
“Well maybe we should go look.” Ivy took Hyacinth by the hand, and they walked outside.
They got to the tree and peeked behind it. What they found made them feel sick and scared. A huge ugly thing. It was a deep grey with black spots, and large fangs and claws. It was eating a small child, and it paused to look up at them. Hyacinth cried out and pulled Ivy away.
“Is it following us!?” Ivy yelled. Hyacinth mumbled something that Ivy couldn't understand. They stopped, out of breath. They looked back, but all they saw was Poppy. She was standing in front of the tree. Utterly confused, they walked back to the tree.
“What are you doing out here, Poppy? There's a terrible creature out here!” Hyacinth scolded.
“You think I'm a terrible creature?” She said innocently.
“Wait -- what? No, there's seriously something bad out here!” Poppy grinned at Hyacinth. She grew two feet taller, and her body widened, it grew grey hair with black spots. Sharp teeth and claws came into view. Hyacinth shrieked in terror. Poppy went back to normal.
“Mother didn't leave us because she didn't love us. That's why she left, because she loved us. She was the oldest of her three sisters, she had the most time. The curse affects the youngest first.
“Hyacinth will be changing soon. I became this two weeks ago. Each generation shortens the span of time between each sister's time of change. Ivy has close to two weeks left before she, too, is one of us.” She was interrupted by a cry. Hyacinth became the same beast as Poppy had been moments before. Ivy could see the reluctance and sorrow in her eyes.
“When can she change back?” Ivy asked.
“Whenever she focuses on being human again. Although I don't recommend it right now.”
“Why no-” Hyacinth turned human, and she fell to her knees, wailing in pain. She had her arms wrapped around her stomach.
“Because you must eat. You can see how badly it hurts.”
“What does she have to eat?”
Poppy grinned wickedly. “A human.”
“Nooooo!!” Hyacinth screamed.
“Do you want the pain to subside?”
“Yes!!”
“Okay. Well I'll be right back, then.” Poppy walked towards town.
Thirty minutes later, she returned. A young boy was holding her hand, and he looked half-asleep.
“When will I get my candy?” He asked Poppy quietly.
“Come on, Hyacinth. You know you want to!” Hyacinth shook her head as the words came out of Poppy's mouth.
“Oh, come on. Just don't think about it. You need that pain to quit, right?”
“No. No. I will NOT!”
“Suit yourself.” Poppy turned into the beast again. The child screamed. He ran towards the village, still screaming. Poppy didn't follow him. “His parents will think he was sleep-walking. No big deal.”
Two weeks later, Hyacinth was still in pain. She'd held herself over with small animals, even though she was reluctant to that, too. She knew she needed it to live. The only thing that drove her was that she had to survive, somehow.
Ivy sat outside on a tree stump. She knew what was coming, and she couldn't do anything to stop it. She couldn't hold it off.
Ivy jerked, and she transformed into a beast. She knew immediately she had to eat a human. She couldn't bring herself to do it, just like Hyacinth. She changed back into a human. Ivy curled up into a ball on the ground and rocked herself. The pain was unbearable. Her vision blurred for a moment.
Poppy came out of the house. She taunted her the same way she had Hyacinth.
Ivy changed back into a monster, she ran from Poppy. She found a deer in the forest, and she ate it, despite being sickened by the thought. After eating, she ran back to the house. Hyacinth was sobbing from the pain. Poppy entered the room. She gave them a loaf of bread. It looked a dark pink.
“Why does
it look like that?” Hyacinth asked through her tears.
“Like
what? It looks normal to me.” Poppy replied. “Maybe your eyes are
playing tricks on you. You probably think it looks weird.”
“Oh.” Poppy ripped two pieces off and gave them to Hyacinth and Ivy. They chewed slowly, as if expecting to be poisoned. The hurt and pain faded. They were surprised.
Ivy realized in horror why the bread appeared pink. She knew why the pain was no longer present.
“You've put blood in that bread!”
“You should thank me. You both seem to feel better.”
“You're a terrible. . . Thing!”
“We're the same THING. In case you'd forgotten, we're also sisters.”
“That may be, but you can't choose your family. I didn't pick to be this, either! You're wrong! We aren't the same! You enjoy being this wretched creature. We don't.”
Hyacinth had escaped the attention of both of them in their argument. She'd went to the kitchen and retrieved the only sharp knife they owned. She'd come back silently. Hyacinth came up behind Poppy, and stuck the knife through her. Poppy looked shocked as she froze and fell forward.
Hyacinth started crying, and ran to Ivy and hugged her.
“It's okay. It was for the best.” Ivy tried to reassure her.
They dug a hole near the oak tree. It was deep. Poppy was wrapped in a sheet, and they rolled her into the pit, and they covered it with dirt. “I'm sorry it had to end this way. I love you, and wish you hadn't been what you were.” Ivy said.
{Part Two}
The music began quietly. It sounded a little like a lullaby. Ivy and Hyacinth heard it first. They rose to their feet, and followed the sound.
Many young children got out of their beds. They walked outside to the streets, still half-asleep. They formed uneven lines, following the music. In the front Hyacinth and Ivy led them all unintentionally.
Long moments later, they were close to a castle. When they neared the doors, they opened of what seemed their own accord. The children were lifted up inches off the ground, and floated into the open doorway. It looked like a large monster was sucking them up through an invisible straw.
The last few children floated in, and the doors closed again. The walls that surrounded them were a solid, plain grey. There wasn't any kind of décor or furniture inside. The only thing you could see were two doors. One to their left, and one directly in front of them.
The door in front of them opened, and Poppy stepped in from behind it. Hyacinth and Ivy gasped.
“You two.” She pointed to Hyacinth and Ivy. “Follow me.” They couldn't believe what they were seeing. How was it possible? Hyacinth had stabbed her, and they had dug the pit and buried her together. She shouldn't be alive. It wasn't possible, even for a beast like her.
“So, do you happen to be hungry?” Poppy asked. Now they were in another grey room, this one was equally plain, but with three more doors.
“You're sick!” Hyacinth cried.
“Am I?”
“Why are you even here? We killed you, you should be dead.” Ivy questioned.
“Had you forgotten we're immortal? It has been a hundred years, now.”
“Sure, that explains why you're alive, but doesn't explain why you have fifty kids out there. You're one monster, and you definitely don't need that much.”
“Oh, right.” She whistled loudly. The second door to their right opened. Forty some people who all seemed in their teens, or very close to being teens walked out. Some looked regretful, but most seemed glad to be here with Poppy.
“What?” Hyacinth said.
“You know what to do.” Poppy said, simple as that. They all grew and turned various shades of charcoal, with darker spots. Their claws were sharp, their teeth were large. Hyacinth and Ivy were more than a little surprised.
“But...How?” Ivy asked.
“What? You thought we're the only ones who suffer from this? No, there are more. That, and I turned a few.”
“You don't seem to see this curse as a burden. You seem to see it as a gift. But you claim to have turned them? That's not possible … Is it?”
“Yeah, it is possible, as you can see. It was very simple, really. Just fill a syringe with your own blood and inject it into another. It's a reverse-vaccination. Besides, as far as I'm concerned, they all wanted to be this. They aren't like you, reluctant.”
“That's wrong. They think this is what they want, but it isn't! They'll regret this after a little while, and you know it. You don't want them to wise up and leave. You want them for something more. I'm pretty sure you don't care about fitting in, or being alone. You want something sinister.”
“Maybe, maybe not. I've got stuff to do, no time to chat.” Poppy snapped her fingers, and left the room. The creatures turned back into humans, and carried Hyacinth and Ivy to yet another room.
Poppy brought each child to a seperate room. She promised each one ice cream if they sat quietly and waited in their room. The rooms weren't very large, and each one had a chair, but other than that, there was nothing. None of the children complained, believing they were going to receive ice cream if they did as they were told.
Hyacinth and Ivy were trying to see as best as they could. The room had no lighting, and the walls were painted black. They couldn't see very well.
“Hyacinth. Maybe we should turn into our monster selves?”
“Would that improve our vision?”
“I don't know, but maybe. There's no reason not to.”
“Okay.” They turned into beasts, but the room was so small that they were both crammed into each other and the walls.
“Try scratching the wall until it fall apart, please. We'll do the same wall together, it'll come down faster that way.” Ivy said using telepathy to talk to Hyacinth.
“Okay.” They pushed their claws against the wall and dragged them down as hard as they could.
Poppy had finished bringing the kids to rooms. She stood in front of all the creatures. She used telepathy to tell them: “Each room has a child in it. There are enough rooms for each of you to have a child. The doors are numbered, and I have slips of paper with numbers on them. I'll throw them to all of you, and whatever number is on the paper you catch is the room you must find. One room per person, please. Everyone here is hungry.” Poppy threw a bunch of slips at them. They all caught one, and looked at the number. “You all may go and find your room.”
They ran to their room. They were locked, and set on a timer to unlock simultaneously in approximately four minutes.
After doing this for fifteen minutes, the walls began to give. They clawed and clawed, and then they shoved their bodies against the wall. It fell under their weight and pressure. “Come on, we need to save those kids!”
They looked for Poppy, but stumbled across the impatient creatures. “What are they doing?” Hyacinth sent to Ivy. Somehow, the others heard it and all responded variations of “Waiting for our meal!” “Oh.”
Hyacinth and Ivy ran and ran. The others didn't follow, they wanted their food. They once again searched for Poppy, and they managed to find the room they'd began in, the entrance. They went through the door that Poppy originally came from. She was standing there, grinning evilly.
“Yes?” She asked.
“You can't do this. These children have homes, and families. You can't take that away from their families. Think of it like this: You have a beautiful daughter who excels in school and loves you very much. She's obedient, she means the world to you. But some monster comes along and eats her. Would you be okay with that?”
Poppy sighed. “No. Probably not. But it ain't happening to me, so I don't really care.”
“You have absolutely no shame or compassion, do you?”
“Nope!” Hyacinth being Hyacinth, always carried a knife. She slid it out of her boot, and charged at Poppy. She got her in the neck.
“Now you won't die, I already know that. But, you can tell me how to stop those doors from opening. You'll die for, what, three days? Now, with the last remaining energy you have, tell me how to shut them off.”
“No.” She gurgled.
The rooms unlocked with a click. The beasts ran in, the children screamed helplessly. They were devoured in a matter of minutes. The castle went completely silent. Even their breathing was barely heard. Their stomachs were full, they were all content.