Aberrant: Wild Card - Act I:Scene III - Grave

[Forge]

Alexa woke up to the sound of rain, which it had apparently been doing for some time, as she was soaked through. She stood up, a disposable camera clutched in her hands. The rain was starting to come down in torrents, making it difficult to see.

She quickly turned around, trying to get her bearings when she saw the slumbering form of a familiar person, curled up next to a familiar grave.

[z005]

Alexa groaned, reaching over to the sleeping form to shake him awake. Something fuzzy in her mind was wondering what was going on, but it was too cold and wet to worry about right now.

"Danny, c'mon. We gotta go."

[Forge]

"Uuuhhhhgggg....aaahhh!"

A waking groan of protestation turned into a yelp of surprise at the rain and his likewise soggy garb.

"When did it start raining?...Nevermind..." He quickly jogged off into the cemetery getting lost in the downpour, but Alexa was pretty sure that was the direction of the car.

[z005]

Alexa rolled her eyes and grabbed up their stuff before tearing off after her little brother.

"Hey, wait up, goober!"Sheesh. Kids. They never remember anything. Laden with the picnic basket and other odds and ends, she made the dash in the direction he'd gone, hoping the car wasn't that far off.

[Forge]

The sight and sound of Danny was quickly lost to the increasing storm, though her memory was quickly coming back and her recollection of the location of the car was more than enough to navigate this familiar cemetery.

By the time she came upon the familiar vehicle she was soaked through to the bone and beginning to take on a chill. With the frustration that often comes with being in a hurry as rain pours into your eyes, she fumbled with her keys, causing a chain reaction that ended with almost all of her load on the ground getting soaked.

A loud giggle from behind her had her spinning around to face Danny, pointing and laughing at her from about the sight-limit the rainfall would currently allow. Letting out one more hard snicker, he turned around and darted back off the small road into the maze headstones and plaques, disappearing like a ghost.

[z005]

She said something he father would have called 'unladylike' under her breath and finally got the keys out and working right. She stuffed the sopping picnic basket into the trunk and then took off after Danny. Something was tugging at her memory, like a deja vu about being wet and cold....

Not quite shrugging it off, she picked her back through the graveyard. "Danny! C'mon, it's cold and soaking out here! Let's get home and I'll make us some hot chocolate!"

[Forge]

The only response was an eerie echo of childish laughter that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Alexa continued to dart between headstones and under trees following the sounds of her impish brother. She slipped occasionally on the moisture-soaked earth as the thin layer of sod gave way its tenuous hold on the clay.

Finally, it seemed she was catching up, a shadow moved up ahead and she started to run, desperate to catch him. Danny seemed to have stopped in front of a mausoleum, and was waiting for her. He looked back once and headed into a Greek-style entry with marble columns and trumpeting cherubs. Ivy had done its best to mask the rest of the building, leavings its size a mystery with the poor visibility of the rain.

[z005]

"Danny!" Her voice was sharp with irritation now. It was wet and cold and time to go home. She headed in after him, calling out, "Danny, c'mon, enough is enough. We're not supposed to be in here and it's raining outside. I've got to do laundry tonight for work tomorrow and I'm not letting you stay home from school if you get a cold from this!"

She stepped gingerly through the mausoleum, creeped out by a building devoted to death and the dead. And cherubs were worse....creepy little winged baby things. Ugh. "Danny!"

[Forge]

As she stepped into the building, the mustiness of disuse and abandonment was almost overwhelming. Roots of what could only be the Ivy dangled from the ceiling into the open space, vying for sustenance they would never reach. They almost seemed to cling to her in desperation as she passed through them.

The entry room was small, perhaps 10' square, with 2 recesses per wall where marble caskets held the remains of people long since forgotten by the living. There were a small pile of ashes in the center of the room surrounded by empty beer cans. Past the 'parlor' a staircase descended further into the Earth where the echoes of her brother's footfalls could be heard.

[z005]

She sighed in exasperation. Why would someone leave something like that open?

"Daniel Augustus Holmes, get you're butt back up here right now! Every step I have to go down there to get you is a day you're gonna be grounded. It's time to go home."

The moment of silence was met with another annoyed sigh as she began gingerly picking her way down the stairs, calling out the number for each step. "One, two, three...."

[Forge]

The stairs descended in a lazy spiral. She got to 45 before the she stopped being able to see the stair in front of her. She could still hear the echo of her brother ahead of her. He never gave any reply to her repeated efforts to get him to stop except the occasional mad giggle and a renewed effort of speed as the footfalls sped up.

Alexa took a few more steps down, using the damp wall as a guide to keep from falling, but stopped short when any vestiges of light ceased to illuminate the passage.

In the silence of her breathing, she could hear Danny's footsteps echo back up at her, but within seconds, even they faded to nothing.

[z005]

"Dammit Danny! This isn't funny. You could get hurt down here! You could get lost! Come back up these steps right now! I'm not kidding! If I have to call Carl to get a squad out here just to drag your butt out of a crypt, you're not just going to be grounded. You're gonna get spanked, and probably by Carl."

When that didn't get a response she tried pleading again, "Danny, if I have to get Carl, then Susan's going to make us go back to weekly meetings. You don't want to get taken and put in a foster home, do you?"

She carefully stepped down a few more times, keeping her hand on the wall and testing each step with her foot before setting her weight down. "Danny!"

[Forge]

"Lexi!" Danny's voice yelled up from the depths, "You gotta come see this!"

Anger boiling, she slowly descended downwards, keeping one hand on the wall, trying not to think what wet things she kept dragging her hand through and thankful that none of it moved.

After what seemed like an eternity the staircase suddenly ended in a room lit with candles. The walls almost completely hollowed out with spaces for caskets, some filled, some not. In the center of the room sat a casket on a raised dais. The carved marble intricately showing the details of a woman at peace. Danny was sitting cross-legged at its side, running his finger over an inscription.

[z005]

She stormed her way over to her little brother. "Danny! This isn't a place to play! You could've fallen down those stairs!"

Despite her angry words, she was little awed by the room and wondered how there were lit candles down here. And why. It seemed like a fire hazard. Her eyes strayed over to the raised casket, curious as to who was so important that she got such special treatment in death.

[Forge]

Dmitri ignored her scornful words, and instead gestured for her to join him. He scooted over and pointed to the inscription as he looked at her.

The person carved into the top slap of the coffin had an eerie familiarity to her. Though in the flickering light and the monotone material, it was difficult to determine further details.

Though after kneeling down to read the inscription her brother was so insistent upon, it was quite easy to guess at the origination of the familiarity.

Jelena Anna Holmes

Timeless in Her Rule,

May the Last Have Mercy

Click to reveal..

Didn't see a name for Alexa's Mom anywhere, so I did one, if you don't like it, or referenced it somewhere I didn't see, I will change it.

[z005]

Click to reveal..

That's fine. I didn't name Mom or Dad.

The crypt really creeped her out now. Mom was gone, probably in Vegas or somewhere and even if she was dead, she'd never ruled anything.

The Queen of Hearts.

The thought struck and jarred something in her memory; things weren't...right. She frowned and stood back up from where she'd been stooping to read the inscription. She held a hand out to her brother, "C'mon, Danny. We should.......we should get out of here before we both catch colds."

She was trying to keep her voice steady and a hold on the wave of conflicting emotions inside her. A small voice in the back of her mind was trying to tell her that Danny couldn't be there, that he was on the opposite coast of the country, but it was lying. It had to be lying. Danny was right here. She shivered in the cold.

"Let's go." It was said more firmly, but she wouldn't look at the sarcoughagus again.

[Wa'ne]

The hand that took hers was not her brother's. It was cold, bony and abrasively dry. Before Alexa could pull her hand away in surprise, he grasped firmly with an iron grip and pulled himself up.

He had on a floor-length fur coat, the toes of shiny black dress shoes just poking out beyond the fuzzy border of the man's overly formal wear. His gold rimmed glasses were sitting low on his face and his hair looked as though it hadn't seen a shower or comb anytime this decade.

"So soon? You just got here." His voice sounded raw, like he'd smoked cigarettes past the point his throat could handle, and then smoked some more.

[z005]

She yanked her hand away from the strange man, her body automatically falling into a defensive stance. "Who are you?" she demanded, "Where's my brother?"

Danny's at MIT...wait...what's going on? I was...I remember....a concert? On a boat? Did I fall? I remember hitting my head. Am I dreaming? Am I having some weird coma dream?

She shook her head, trying to dispel the phantom images and thoughts in her head. "Who are you?" she demanded again, but this time it was less angry, less sure.

[Wa'ne]

"Who am I...hmmph...you can call me Mulligan." He croaked out, brushing off the non-existent debris and dust from his coat.

"Your brother is fine...for now. At least it isn't a forest..." he mumbled.

[z005]

Her brow knit. "A forest? Why would...wait...never mind. What's going on?"

"What is this place?" she motioned to the crypt. "Am I dreaming? Well...I guess if I were you wouldn't really be able to tell me, would you?" She muttered the last part and started pacing in the room, touching the wall and stones as if that would tell her if this place was real or imaginary.

A card...what...?

She fumbled for her shoulder bag, rooting through it to pull out a concert program. Tucked inside, one edge slightly creased, was the Queen of Hearts with her mother's face. She stared at it for a moment, her breath and her heartbeat beating out a fast staccato against each other. She looked up at her strange visitor, "What's going on? And what do you mean my brother is fine 'for now'?"

[Wa'ne]

"You are at a crossroads. A decision needs to be made." Mulligan said, caressing the face of the carved statue. A brief flash of pain danced across his face before he turned to Alexa. "Danger seeks your brother...much the same way...that it seeks you."

[z005]

That got her attention; she straitened up and pressed her lips together as she thought. "Danger from whom? Or what? And what does she have to do with it?"

Her eyes flicked over to the carved face of her mother, her tone dropping to subzero temperatures as she referenced her. Her arm crossed, unconsciously arming herself against being hurt by her mother again.

[Wa'ne]

"It is good that I have your attention...it is unfortunate that those details are beyond me...do you wish to avoid this danger...to stop it? You are uniquely qualified...to help save the world." He batted idly at a piece of root that was dangling near his face, which immediately disintegrated and fell to the floor.

Out of a crack in the finely set stone under the ashes a plant appeared and started to quickly grow. Within moments a vine rose had grown over and spread around the would-be resting place of her mother. Buds appeared, but did not bloom.

[z005]

She watched the vines and buds spread through the room - I am so totally hallucinating - and reached out the touch the dark red petals. A thorn caught on her finger, pricking it and producing a drop of blood of the same deep color. Figures.

She frowned and sucked on the finger. "Save the world? How am I qualified for that? I'm barely a sophomore in college." She wasn't arguing...well, much...and was watching him with cautious curiosity.

[Wa'ne]

"Well...your qualifications lie in that drop of blood you just licked off. More specifically you relate to..." he glanced down at the coffin.

"Age discrimination is something that your culture has grown fond of using to keep people's sheep mentality. You shouldn't doubt yourself based on years of academic memorization."

He stopped and looked at her, waiting for further questions or an answer, being careful not to touch any of the new foliage.

[z005]

Alexa shrugged and nodded to 'Mulligan'. Oh, mother, what have you gotten us into this time? It wasn't really a question, though. Protecting Danny had been her life for too long for her to ignore a threat to him; that apparently the rest of the world was in danger just made it a bit more. She was the daughter of a police officer and looking to follow in his footsteps in the pursuit of justice. That and this was so totally some sort of weird hallucination, and if you're going to be stuck in a dream world for a while you might as well save the world while you're there.

She shook her hand to get rid of the last tingle of pain; she crossed her arms and looked at 'Mulligan' resolutely. "Alright, so how do I save the world?"

[Wa'ne]

Mulligan smiled and gave a knowing nod, which only seemed to make him look even more weird. In his scratchy voice he said, "The path will show itself when you are ready...but seeing as there is only one way out...you might try that..."

He pointed up the dark stairway that she had descended. Alexa glanced over at it and when she looked back, he was gone. The rose vine was slowly beginning to show signs of death as leaves turned brown and withered, the buds wilted and fell off and the entire plant sagged.

Coinciding with this all the candles' flames slowly began to shrink, giving Alexa about twenty seconds or so to decide what she was going to do before she would have to make that decision in a pitch black tomb.

[z005]

"Well, hell."

And with that, she began her ascent.

[Forge]

The way up was different than the way down, which caused her to stumble more than once on her ascent. The climb also seemed to be much longer in this direction.

Regardless of these changes, before long she could smell the sweet, crisp, open air and everything seemed to be getting lighter. She could actually detect the motion if she waved a hand in front of her face and that darkish shape might actually be the next step.

Breathing heavily and her legs burning in protest, she took the last few steps into the light, her eyes watching her feet, concentrating on putting one before the other as well as letting her eyes adjust.

Squinting, she dared to look up and found herself not in the mausoleum or even the graveyard, but a forest. Easily recognized as a northwestern forest from the trees and shrubs, but that meant anywhere from B.C. to Oregon. When Alexa turned back to the door, it was covered over with an old worn piece of stone, never having looked like it was open. The building itself was near collapse, hemlock saplings having taken root in the debris layer on the roof and the cherubs missing body parts where moss hadn't entirely encased them.

The route away was barely visible, nearly overgrown and looked more like a deer trail than an actual path, but it looked traversable with some difficulty. To her benefit, it wasn't raining and daylight was still strong.

[z005]

Alexa sighed, but it was the best chance she had of finding civilization; she wasn't a woodsman and certainly wasn't foolish enough to pretend she was. Sighing at another trek, she set out with her usual determination. After a few minutes of walking, she actually got into the walk. It had been quite some time since she'd really had a chance to walk and think, instead of tending to Danny or studying for tests.

[Forge]

The trail was rough, when she could see it, it took some care and effort to stay on it as she pushed away branches or crawled under particularly thick portions. She lost count of the number of spiderwebs she had wiped from her face. Scratchy dead leaves and small twigs had made homes in her shirt, bra, and underwear. She had numerous small stinging cuts wherever clothing wasn't covering and it wouldn't be a surprise if birds tried to land in her hair and lay an egg.

So it was with some relief and eagerness when she started to hear the sounds of flowing water. As she forged her way ahead, the sounds grew louder and she could tell that this was something likely to have some rapids.

Just as she thought she couldn't get any closer without falling in, she broke through the wall of foliage.

Continued in Scene IV - Forest