(Remember that this has just been written. It needs to be fleshed out more!)

REVISED AT 7:50 pm 11/2/16

 

 

Chapter One

Fifteen Years Before

As the sun died, twin brothers watched from their seats on the velvet blue sofa.

From the front room’s big bay window, a streak of orange turned their heads.

 

Without a word, the boys stared at one another.

Together they stood and walked to the staircase in the front of their house.

One of the boys ran his hand over the polished oak surface of the banister.

They glanced at the closed door upstairs where they knew their mother had quickly retired to directly after dinner.

“She’s sewing new robes,” Jacob, the eldest twin by two minutes whispered to his brother.

“Angel robes, again,” Jason whispered, a shudder running through his small frame.

“Halloween is next week,” Jacob said, turning away from the stairs to study the front door.

“She’ll make us be angels again,” Jason sighed, his dark eyes downcast.

“Papa doesn’t mind. Thinks it’s good for business,” Jacob said before taking Jason’s hand in his own.

“She’ll make them shine with gold thread. Probably take her ages. Let’s go capture that cat.”

Jason looked at his brother, glanced back once at the door upstairs before nodding his head.

Together, they opened the big front door with its fresh coat of olive green paint.

Their eyes searched the dim area outside for the cat.

“Over there!” Jacob began to run towards the prohibited brick building to their left.

His brother Jason carefully closed the front door.

He was quick on his brother’s heels.

They stopped to kneel down on the gravel as they stared at the cat who sat between them and a long area covered in coralberry shrubs.

“Don’t push, if we get any of these dark berries smashed into our clothing, mother will bury us again,” Jacob said, as Jason pressed against his back.

“Hey! I want to see it too,” Jason replied, elbowing his brother in the ribs. “I think she likes punishing us even when we haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Everything is wrong in her eyes,” Jacob mumbled, tearing apart the soft leaves.

“How does papa not know?” Jason asked, his eyes glued to the cat.

“He’s always busy with his statues.” Jacob said. He put his hands on his knees to get a better look at the cat.

They had never been allowed to have pets and seeing a real cat up close was very intriguing for them.

“He’s just in time for Halloween!” Jason laughed, pushing away thoughts of punishment and abandonment.

Jacob stared at the sitting cat who had began to groom itself.

The sound of a door opening had both boys jumping into the bright flowery bushes.

If they were caught outside, their punishment would be great.

And painful.

Their mother had a penchant for angels and she expected nothing less from her only children.

Neither boy wished to be buried alive again.

Their mother’s ‘special’ punishment for bad boys who caused too much trouble.

They watched, breaths held tight in their thin chests, as a tall shadow appeared from the forbidden brick building that rose up into the starry night sky.

Their eyes widened when they understood that the figure was their father.

He held something small in his arms.

“What’s he carrying?” Jacob whispered. He positioned himself behind Jason’s shoulders.

“Shut up! He’ll hear you,” Jason said, his jean covered knees knocking together as a fresh wave of fear riddled his system with adrenaline.

In a patch of moonlight, the brothers were easily able to see what their father was carrying.

“It’s a kid,” Jason said, folding his shoulders in upon themselves.

“A little girl. Maybe our age. She’s small enough,” Jacob hissed into Jason’s right ear.

Where had the girl come from? The brothers thought together.

Their father, a tall man with wide shoulders, neatly trimmed brown hair, wearing his dark suit from his day spent at the Statuary in front of their house, walked calmly towards his sculpting building.

His place of solace, he often told them.

Another forbidden space they could not enter.

As their father disappeared into the dark, wooden building, the boys scrambled over to stand on either side of the single dirty window near the row of weeping willow trees that held back the spooky darkness of the woods right behind them.

“What’s he doing?” Jacob asked, pulling himself up to see through the smudged window.

Before he could see anything, his brother had peeked into the building.

Jacob heard his breath catch in his throat and his stomach dropped.

“What’s happening?” Jacob asked, more urgently.

Falling down to the grass, Jason hunched his shoulders, folding in upon himself. He hung his head low.

“Stop stalling,” Jacob huffed, slapping his brother on the top of his head.

When he got no reaction, he knelt down and shook him by his shoulders.

“What did you see?”

“The girl,” Jason mumbled.

“Yeah, so what about her?”

“Her legs are covered in blood.”

‘Don’t lie to me.”

“Go look yourself.”

“Fine, I will,” Jacob left his brother to tremble by himself as he crept back to the window and peered in.

His eyes widened. Saliva built up in his mouth causing him to drool.

Unlike his brother, he stayed to watch the activity in their papa’s workshop.

After what felt like hours, Jacob left the window and approached his brother, whom he found still trembling on the grass.

“Looks like he’s nearly finished. We better get inside. Mother will get mad if she finds us missing from our bedroom,” Jacob said, pulling on Jason’s arm.

“Okay,” Jason said, barely lifting his head to see his brother.

When Jacob gave him a hand, he took and stumbled to his feet.

Huddled together, quiet as mice, they walked towards the back door leading into the main house.

“Want to know what I saw?” Jacob asked.

“Not really,” Jason whispered, his eyes searching the surrounding gloom.

“Don’t be a spoiled sport. I know why the only statues our family makes are weeping angels.” Jacob said somewhat triumphantly, hands on his waist, feet spread apart.

“What are you talking about?” Interest piqued, Jason stopped trembling.

“Papa put the girl inside the angel statue.” Jacob said with glee.

“Your lying,” Jason shook his head.

“Nope. She didn’t cry though which was strange. She didn’t even move her body but I could see her eyes move. I thought she might have seen me but I don’t think she did.”

“She’s inside the statue papa is creating for his latest commission? It’s supposed to go into a pubic garden in Rome.”

“Well, angels must weep because she’ll suffocate inside.”

“Do you think there are more kids in the forbidden building?”

“Huh, didn’t think of that. Not sure.”

“Do you think there is a kid inside every angel statue papa makes?”

“Where would he get the kids?”

“Not sure I want to know.” Jason toed the gravel around, eyes downcast, deep in thought.

“Come on, before mother finds out we’ve been outside,” Jacob opened the screen door slowly.

It had a tendency to squeak.

“I want to go to bed,” Jason muttered.

He left Jacob as he walked slowly up the back staircase.

The scent from the apple pie their mother had baked still hung in the air.

He felt like his feet were encased in cement.

Each step he took was painful as his mind scrambled to understand what their papa was doing. And why his brother was so calm about it.

Their bedroom was right off the back staircase.

Without turning the light on, Jason changed into his dark blue pajamas.

Jacob went into their shared bathroom. “Dam! I got some red on my socks.”

“Tomorrow at dinner you can accidentally spill some of your cranberry juice on your shirt. Mother will make you change right away. Run upstairs and rub your socks in the shirt before you change.” Jason said from his bed by the window. He watched the stars twinkle in the sky and wondered why his feet still felt heavy even though he was on his back.

Their estate was far removed from the major part of the city and the stars were easier to see.

“Great idea bro! Thanks,” Jacob said as he stuffed his socks under his pillow.

As he was changing for bed, Jason sighed.

“Why so glum?” Jacob asked, finished changing.

He pulled back the thick brown blankets from his bed which was positioned in an L shape, with his bed being the bottom of the letter and his brother’s the bigger part.

“You don’t seem bothered by what papa did.”

Jacob didn’t answer right away.

“There must be a reason for what he does. Maybe he’s punishing the girls like mother punishes us.”

Silence filled the air as both brothers lost themselves in their own thoughts.

“At least we live,” Jason whispered.

 

The next day, after lunch and with permission from their mother, the boys headed out into the thick woods that stood as silent sentries at the back of the main house.

“Race you!” Jacob said, laughing as he ran as fast as he could, deep into the thick trees.

“Ah man, you got a head start,” Jason said, and then launched himself in his brother’s direction.

The boys ran through the tall trees, over a well worn path.

Sunlight, warm and bright filtered down through the trees.

“I win!” Jacob crowed as he swung himself around a silver pole.

“Fine, you win,” Jason grumbled, leaning over to catch his breath.

“Let’s swing, I bet I can go higher than you,” Jacob said, the challenge clear in his young voice.

“No uh!” Jason glared at his brother before setting his attention on the swing set.

Each boy climbed on to one of two black, smooth seats of the swings.

Their little hands gripped the silver chains tight.

They began to pump their legs hard, soaring higher and higher into the afternoon sky.

Jacob laughed as the air rushed through his thick, dirty blond hair.

Jason tried to mimic his brother but he couldn’t get his mind off the things his papa was doing with the statues.

He warred within himself.

Was their mother more evil for her punishments or was their papa worse for killing stolen, little girls?

Hearing his brother’s happiness in his laughter, he pushed the disturbing thoughts away.

Embracing the sunlight and the cool air whipping past his cheeks, Jason closed his eyes and pumped his legs harder to fly higher.

Away from the phantom cries of the girls he could not see but knew must be stowed away in the bad building.

They had gone looking for a cat and found their papa doing things he couldn’t wrap his mind around.

Jason’s hands tightened harder on the chains and he threw his body forward and back.

Far away from the secrets that lurked inside the weeping angel statues his family had created, peppered throughout the world.