Warning= Language and my own personal beliefs in the supernatural. For the record there will be some gruesome things here and there so dont read if you dont like those sorts of things.

Chapter Four

+CREEPING DISTRESS+

It wasn't an unknown being hidden by shadows but it still could inflict its own sort of pain. Adrian knew that sort of tension since birth, well at first it was an unnoticeable thing, things matched a perfect life to absolute perfection. It made him feel like the luckiest kid on earth, playing with his sister while both parents laughed at their hyperactive energy that all children possessed. However this didn't last, father decided that moving to a small town would be great. The twins could learn about nature and all its glory in addition to things that you cant possibly learn in a crowded city, at first it all sounded fantastic. To two seven year olds this was like going on an amazing adventure just like children in fiction.

It was as if the town of Willow beckoned to them like an angels song, only for them to soon learn that it was a siren leading them to ruin.

Within a month of living in Willow odd things started to occur.

Mother would say things to empty air then it was as if she suddenly realized this, the things she saw caused her anxiety. By the time a year had passed people started to whisper to one another about her, things escalated, mysterious wounds would appear on her. People assumed this to be self harm.

One year after many arguments father didn't come home often, and mother was meds.

Adrian and Eglantine were only twelve. That was a time when they realized that they couldn't lie to themselves anymore, a time where child innocence was broken like wet tissue paper.

Why they haven't divorced yet was beyond them but then again they could always see the love within their fathers eyes. Deep inside he didn't want to give up on the woman he loves.

He didn't know what Egg thought but Adrian often wondered if something good might happen, something that will help their mother, something that would rid the family of this curse. This town was like a virus, a parasitic one, they wanted to be rid of it but it was as if it was using its own brand of mind control and was making them dependant upon this place. They were loosing their minds here but they might be worse outside of this place.

After feeling the hopelessness, that 'something' came.

Rose was an interesting person, although they had just met he felt something about her, it was as if her energy brought something crisp and clean to the air. Everything was odd as well, Adrian didn't know what kind of intrigue he possessed when it came to this girl. Was it like a crush? Or was it like seeing an unknown animal that had suddenly entered into the territory? Like seeing a penguin in the tropics when you are so use to hearing about them living in the Antarctic.

Shaking his head he turned the burner off and called to his sister.

"Egg has the table been set?"

"Yeah!" she called back.

It was their thing, one week Egg cooked and Adrian did setting then it switched the following week, but both did cleaning together. Their mother did almost all household chores so they were free to complete school related things like homework which was actually the only school related thing they had, now and then they would help out on school events though.

Adrian made the plates and set them down at the table, meanwhile Egg called their mother.

When she arrived it was obvious that not even a little grief from the world made her less elegant and beautiful. She was tall with the darkest chocolate brown hair that cascaded in waves down her back to the hips, her eyes were always a gentle dark color, light brown skin, and pretty tall like she was born to walk the runway. Her favorite thing in the world were reds and paisley designs, as of now their mother was wearing a paisley dress made up of all sorts of red colors that had to elbow sleeves and an elegant V neck shape. "This looks great son as always" she said gently with a sweet smile, always they were pearly white making her smiles look radiant.

"Thanks mom" Adrian grinned.

"Hey what about me? I make a mean egg plant parmesan" Egg lightly elbowed her brother in a playful manner.

Their mother chuckled, "yes you do sweet heart".

Soon the family sat down and said their thanks for dinner before eating, "so how did your baklava turn out?" mother asked.

Smiling sheepishly Adrian answered, "a little messy since the phyllo pastry kept drying out".

"Remember you have to be quick with it, did you put a damp rag on top?" she inquired.

"Oops" was his only response causing their mother to laugh.

"Don't worry son when I first cooked with it I struggled to keep it from drying out myself" she admitted with a grin. "So there's a newcomer to the town?"

Egg grinned widely, "yup! And I can tell right away that she's cool".

Their mother looked to her with a cocked brow, "oh really?" she said amusedly.

From there Egg explained what had happened and what Rose was doing in town in the first place or at least according to what she had told them, mothers smile slowly became a frown as the explanation continued. "I don't know…something sounds fishy, and for that matter you got into another fight?" she looked to them both but more to Egg, a chastising look.

"But mom their dumb boyfriends were picking on Adrian again" Egg stated.

She sighed. "Son you really need to stick up for yourself, I know you're a pacifist and I know fighting isn't exactly your thing but you cant always have your sister take on the battles for you, facing the enemy can be a good option too" she lectured him.

"Yes mom" he muttered.

"And you need to learn when to leave something alone, its good that you like to defend your honor but pick your battles well".

"I know mom but…I cant help but feel angry at them for mocking my family" she retorted.

For a moment their mother made that tragically sad expression, she knew that seeing things and the only to rid herself of them is to haze her mind with meds was destroying many things and blemishing any possible relationships her children could ever have. Adrian knew that she wished for every night to be different that someday things would be normal, others would have nothing to tease them about, neighbors wouldn't star and whisper. Father would be home more often. But all prayers always remained unanswered. She reached over and placed a gentle hand on Egg's, "sweet heart please do mother a favor and try not to get into to many fights…please don't ruin your future or reputation".

Egg's expression was contorted by a myriad of turbulent emotions, but she swallowed them then nodded. "Yes mom".

Smiling with relief they all went back to eating but the silence was causing the tension to rise like a thickening fog. "So… this Rose girl, you should invite her over sometime" she suggested.

"Yeah that would be good" Adrian commented trying to make sure nothing ended on a bad note. He liked dinners to be at least cheery or happy in some way.

Egg silently agreed with a ghost of a smile on her face.

Once dinner had ended their mother told them she would do dishes while they did any homework that they might not have finished or whatever else they wanted, they just had to make sure to go to bed at a proper time. And so the twins said good night to their mother and walked up the stairs to their rooms. For a while Egg hung out in her brothers room while he was on his computer messing around.

"We need to move out of here" Egg said as she stared at the ceiling.

Adrian agreed with a nod, "you know I always found it odd".

"What?"

"The rent and other bills are pretty cheap. But other then that everything else sucks, the hospital is full of sick elderly and children, some people here are weird or stuck up, or normal but their lives are a bit messy in terms of family and job. I don't think there are a lot of people who don't fit into those categories, yet here we all are. We're not making any plans to move at all" he elaborated. "I don't know…there's…something weird here".

His sister made a troubled expression. "Once I think about it, your right, I've felt it but I wanted to deny it…mom isn't crazy. Its this fucking town" she growled.

"Language Eglantine" he teased with a smirk which earned him a light glare.

"But serious what could be the problem? Maybe a high mercury content in the water? Or something in the food?"

She shook her head, "its more then that, it's the atmosphere. Sometimes I feel bad for just breathing the air".

"So…maybe the air?"

Egg chuckled, "maybe we're a part of some sick experiment, testing some biological weapon that causes people to become mentally sick".

"Then what about us? As far as I know we're completely normal. Maybe we just happen to land in a town full of the always-have-been-mentally-ill".

All this theories and guessing was so far giving them no ideas, this strange Pandora's box was remaining a mass of mystery. It was as if they had landed in some horror movie or perhaps a psychological thriller where if they didn't find out what the answer was to all these questions were they would be killed by some strange force. This town was indeed a prison. The cell door was open but you were compelled to stay in one spot even though all your instincts tell you to run.

Feeling like his head might explode from all his questions he went on to a news site to see what was up in other places in the world. There were shootings and natural disasters but he yearned to be there rather then here. The first article he spotted was in the usual bolded letters.

MOTHER SHOT BY HER ADDICT SON!

Clicking on the article he saw that in the city of Chicago a woman had been shot, the people who owned the apartment reported hearing a gun shot and a couple minutes later the son ran out with all her money. They soon found him however since he's a minor that might hold him in juvenile center until he reaches an age where he can be properly charged and thrown in jail. After saying that much the article talked about the woman and her son, apparently she was the kind of parent who allowed so much freedom that she neglected to see signs that her son was starting to get into such a terrible addiction. Some neighbors also said that she not long ago had been experiencing stress and trouble sleeping so she called some sort of psychic to cleanse her house.

When Adrian got his fill of that story he checked the weather.

A psychic eh? He thought absently. Bet he or she didn't predict that.

Sure they were in a town full of something weird that they couldn't identify but he felt a little skeptical over the entire ghosts and psychics manner, he was a person who believed in logic first and when everything wasn't explained away by some logical basis that's when he could kind of believe in the supernatural. His sister was sort of the same but she was also the kind of girl who was into crystals and palm readers. He wasn't quite sure about his mom or dad, but he was pretty sure his mother had a couple of relatives on her side who was into that kind of thing, at least that's what he vaguely heard.

"I'm turning in" his sister announced as she got up, "I'm borrowing a CD".

"Alright, have nice dreams and take care of it" he gave a small wave to her as she left them room and went to her own across the hall.

Quietly staring at the screen he wondered what they should do if they ever did find out what the cause was. Could they go against whatever the force was and get away from the town and move to a place that was normal? Could they one day be a normal family again? The happy one in distant memory of his childhood days?

Adrian didn't have any ideas about the future, after all what kind of future lied here in this strange little town and maybe wishing for something that might be long lost from the past was just a foolishly hopeful prayer. Somehow the family would have to make due here in their little prison.

They have been for a while now.

How long could the twins stay sane?

Pushing himself away from the desk he quickly changed out of his clothes and into pajamas just before falling into bed, then shutting off his light. For a while his eyes stared out his window, there sat a tree. A snake, possibly a harmless garter slithered about lazily.

Finally after staring at the critter for a while he finally had fallen to slumber.