Haunted

Haunted (Chapter 6) Asking; Again

Rather appropriate choice of song, don't you think? XD Katxx

Widow Smith was more lively the next day when Ciel and the others came to the door. "Come in," she said, smiling warmly. Ciel did, and sat down in the same chair he had before. "Are you feeling better?" he asked courteously, as Alois followed suit, Claude morphing into existence behind him like a shadow. "Much better, thank-you." The widow replied, folding her wrinkled hands in her lap and leaning back in her old rocking chair. "Will you tell us more about the children today?" Alois urged her, bouncing up and down in his seat impatiently. Widow Smith chuckled at his antics, and closed her pale green eyes. "Oh, I'll get to them soon enough," she said. "Just let me tell my story."

--

Anna decided to take a walk the following evening. She didn't really know where she was going; she just wanted to get out of the house for a while and clear her head. For some reason she had been unusually restless the past few days, and couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something sinister was going to happen. It's all that man's fault, she thought. I've been like this ever since he came to the village. I don't know why, but there's just something about him that makes me uncomfortable... She shuddered.

Lost in her thoughts, she continued down a dirt road next to the river, and didn't notice the stranger approaching until she walked right into him.

"Ow..." Anna rubbed her forehead, and was about to apologize, but the words froze on her lips as she realized exactly who she'd bumped into. It was the man.

"Nice evening, isn't it?" He commented, smiling pleasantly and completely disregarding the fact that she had just walked into him without even saying sorry. Anna nodded, suddenly unable to speak. After a few moments, she asked falteringly, "Where's old Harry? Are you out by yourself?"

The man chuckled, turning away from her to look up at the orange-tinted sky. "Oh, I would have been with him, but he told me to "bugger off and leave him alone", as he put it. So I didn't really have much of a choice."

"Nice thing to say to your second cousin," Anna muttered, turning to continue her walk, but the stranger gripped her hand, preventing her from doing so. She gasped involuntarily, for his fingers were as cold as ice. She looked up into his eyes, praying her expression didn't betray the fear that was slowly beginning to creep over her.

"You don't like me much, do you?" The man asked, looking amused, as though he were enjoying her discomfort. Anna swallowed, and looked away. It was true that she was about the only girl in the village who hadn't swooned as soon as she saw him; nobody else seemed to feel threatened the way she did in his presence. I'm different from the others somehow, she realized. I interest him.

"Could it be that you don't trust me?" The stranger continued, tightening his grip on her hand. He was getting so close she could feel him breathing in her ear. "Perhaps...you don't believe I'm really Harry's cousin at all?" The girl's eyes widened, and he smirked in the way that one does when one knows they've hit the mark. This is all a game to him, she thought. She wrenched herself away from his grasp before he could could come any closer to her, trembling slightly, then looked back at him silently begging him to laugh and tell her she was wrong, of course he was a related to Harry and whatever made her think that? But what he said next sent shivers down her spine.

"Clever girl." The man turned, still smiling, and began to walk away. "Clever, clever girl." And then he was gone.

--

Widow Smith opened her eyes again, shuddering slightly as if telling the story was making her remember things she didn't want to, and then shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'll continue."

--

It snowed hard the day after her encounter with the man, but not even the gloomy weather and her ever-present fear of Harry's 'cousin' could make Anna stay indoors. If she did not distract herself, she would have time to think about things, and thinking, she decided, was a very bad idea at the moment. So she put on her boots and shawl, and headed out in the direction of her friend Rebecca's house.

Going out, however, was a decision she would come to regret for many years afterwards, for it was then that she saw it happen.

It came to pass so quickly, that she barely saw it at all. There was no-one else around, for nobody would be so foolish as to go outside in this weather without good reason for doing so, and moreover it was a Sunday. Anna was trudging slowly down the road across from the churchyard, when two young children came running out of the doors, laughing, to play in the snow. Anna smiled, recognizing them as the son and daughter of the well-known Ashworth family. She was just continuing on her way, when some force unknown to man caused her to look back again, and it was at that moment that it happened. A tall dark figure appeared silently behind the children, and before Anna had time to register what was happening, had dealt them both a sickening blow to the back of the neck. She stood staring, transfixed in horror for a moment as their bodies flopped lifelessly to the floor, expressions of shock engraved for eternity onto their faces.

"Sarah! Timothy!"

She dropped her shawl and ran to their side, but it was too late, they were already gone and their attacker had vanished into thin air. However, she knew in her heart as she slumped to her knees beside the fallen children, exactly who their killer was, and that she had been right about him all along.

--

"You know," the old lady concluded sadly, "I never saw Scruffy Harry or his mysterious companion again. Soon after that I got a sickness in my eye and went completely blind, and nary a soul would have believed my tale anyway. So I have kept it to myself all these years, in the hope that someday someone might listen." Having said her piece, she rocked backwards in her chair and closed her eyes.

There was moment of stunned silence as the group digested what they had just heard.

"Whoa." Alois said softly. Ciel scowled, furiously turning the information around in his brain, while Sebastian and Claude looked on in cold indifference.

After a few minutes, Widow Smith opened her eyes again. "It's foolish I know," she murmured quietly. "But sometimes I feel like he's still out there somewhere, waiting for me." She turned her tired, sorrow-lined face towards Ciel. "Can you do it?" She asked him. "Can you solve this mystery, and put my weary old mind at ease?"

"I will try," replied Ciel. "That's all I can do." But Alois had never heard him sound so unsure of himself.

--

"Ugh," Ciel groaned, flopping face-first onto the bed.

"What's the matter?" Alois asked, lifting his head gently into his lap and stroking his teal grey hair.

Ciel rolled over onto his back so he could look up at him, and rubbed a hand wearily over his eyepatch."Oh, it's nothing really," he said. "I'm just frustrated, that's all. Solving this case is like trying to build a jigsaw, but I'm missing one piece. If I could just find it, I'd be able to see the whole picture." He pulled an exasperated face. "This whole fiasco is one long headache. I just want to go home, have a long hot bath and drink some tea."

Alois grinned. "I'm sure you'll manage," he said consolingly. "You've dealt with cases like this before, right?"

"I suppose so," Ciel muttered, not sounding convinced. Alois giggled, and cupped his hands round the younger boy's face, tilting his face to look up at him. Presently there came a knock at the door, and Sebastian entered, pocket watch in hand. Ciel bolted up off the bed, blushing furiously. "What do you want?" he growled at his butler.

Sebastian looked amused. "I just came to inform you that dinner is ready," he said, smirking. "Why, Young Master, I do believe you have may have just invented a whole new shade of fuschia-"

"Oh, shut up!" Ciel fumed, storming out of the room. "Come on, Alois."

"Coming," Alois laughed, and followed him down the stairs.