hayloft, daniel le domas

five

     Josephine was with Emilie and Daniel, getting rid of the corpses of the maid's in the stables. She was not helping, instead, she was staring up at the hayloft, her heart racing in her chest. There was a bullet hole in the wood, staring at it made her ankle ache.

"Josephine?" Emilie spoke, the girl turned around. "Are you okay?"

She looked at Daniel, who smiled sadly at her. "I'm okay... Uh, I'm going to go check up there."

18 years ago.

     Daniel and Josephine laid on a blanket placed on top of the hay bales. It was so uncomfortable for the both of them, but it was the only way they could get away from both of their families.

They were madly in love, it was unhealthy. They often discussed marriage, children, and the fact that they couldn't do anything about it because one; she would never be allowed to become a Le Domas, and two; Josephine's mother died in childbirth and she was afraid the same would happen to her. So they expressed their love in the ways they could. It was much more than sex, for example, their plan for today consisted of chains, small glass vials, and something sharp to prick their finger with.

"I'm scared, Daniel,,," She pouted. He opened the vial for her, handing it to her, making sure to be careful because it was so small.

"If you don't want to, you don't have to. I'll still do it, I want you to have it."

"No, I'll do it." She placed her hand on his, he turned it over and used the pin to break the skin on her fingertip. She winced as he squeezed her finger against the vial in his hand. "Jesus Christ..."

He laughed, putting a small bandaid on her finger. "That wasn't so bad."

"Fine, give me your hand." She waited for him to close the vial and put it somewhere safe before putting his hand in her lap. He was admiring her focus as she took a deep breath, holding the needle against his finger. She took it away, lifting his hand to her lips and planting a kiss on his fingertip. She then quickly pricked it, he didn't flinch, and let the blood drip into the vial. He grabbed a small bandaid for himself and still watched her as she closed the vial.

She went to grab a chain out of the bag but he grabbed her face, kissing her so hard she nearly fell back. She pushed him away for a second, "let's finish the necklaces first!"

"Oh, fine..." He smiled, looking down. The two heard Daniel's father calling his name. He sighed, a frown appearing on his lips. "Thank you for doing this with me."

"Of course..." She smiled sadly, attaching the chain to her vial. She stood up and turned around, letting him put the necklace on her, he kissed her neck gently.

present.

She'd accidentally lost her necklace there, the last time she was there. And she regretted never going back to find it. After looking around for a few minutes, she felt something cold within a pile of hay.

"What are you doing?" Daniel appeared behind her. She got ahold of the chain, pulling the necklace out. The blood had stained the glass, but there was a small, thick pool of it at the bottom. It was like sludge.

"We were fucked up back then, weren't we?" She asked, laughing dryly with tears streaming down her face. She saw that he looked completely sad, there wasn't even a hint of a smile as he looked at the necklace in her hand. "What's the matter?"

He started to cry, she walked closer to him. He stopped her, pulling the chain from under his shirt, revealing Josephine's blood hanging around his neck. She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't say anything.

"I've been wearing this for years, hoping that you'd come back to me. You know, if I knew you left that here, I would've sent it to you. But maybe you just didn't want it anymore."

"Daniel, we were kids."

"You were turning eighteen that year. We weren't kids, Josephine. We were in love." He was starting to get angry.

"Is now really the time to talk about this?" She said softly, placing her hand on his arm.

"Were you going to break up with me then? When my dad shot you."

She scoffed, now she was angry. "Are you fucking joking? You were everything to me, if anything, I was afraid you were going to break up with me. God, this is so childish."

She pushed past him and walked out of the stables as fast as she could. She continued to walk, the cold air making her wound hurt even more than it already did. She squeezed her shoulder tightly as she continued to walk anywhere but the stables. A loud crash caught her attention, she followed where it came from and found Grace. Josephine found Grace.

"Josie, Josie..." Grace ran up to her, breathing heavily and holding onto her best friend's hands. "Please help me."

"Grace,"

"Please, Josephine." She begged. Tears streamed down Josephine's cheeks.

"I'm going to die if I help you." She spoke softly.

"Come on, that's crazy! Can't you see that that's—"

Josephine shook her head, "I've been in that house, Grace. My grandma taught me about these things. I know it's real. I know it."

"You're fucking crazy! Just like the rest of them!"

Josephine sobbed, pushing Grace away from her and running back to the stables. She ran right into Daniel and gasped, "she's..."

"I'll get her."

She leaned against a tree, flinching at the sounds of her best friend begging for her life. She never expected to be put in this position, it was possibly the worst moment of her life.

"Come on," Daniel grabbed Josephine's hand with Grace's unconscious body thrown over his shoulder.

"I'm going to kill your family."

"I won't stop you."