"Richard! Where am I gonna put these damn clothes!?" yelled a stubby short women about 5'3 with more grey hairs than black, wrinkles covering her scrunched face. Her voice booms bouncing off the walls of the little cavern, for a while nobody responds. She spots a timid girl, about eight washing the floor with a rag, she was Richard's adopted daughter— an orphan, Aubrey. The elder women dumps the wet clothes on her, water trickling down the little bucket that carried the clothes onto Aubrey's head. "WHAT THE!?" Aubrey screeched , her clothes and the floor all wet now along with her hair. Clothes and shampoo were already scarce in the village ever since the Enternal Maw had appeared, Only a few humans had hid and reproduced from when it all went down. They had fled before the Maw had taken rule and colonized humans, fleeing to a tiny village secluded from the others— who were trapped within the Maw. The elder woman was the 5th granddaughter of Ryuzuki, the man that had ran off with his wife with a group of people and went into hiding in a bunker, only for the bunker to cave in due to lack of maintenance. Ryuzuki Everdale had survived with a few people and they birthed a village, becoming what now is, Everdale. The elder women's name was Edith Everdale, cranky but passionate to those she loved, she was the village leader due to her being the grand-daughter of Ryuzuki. A long bearded man had entered the room, his beard reaching his nips as it was an unusual dyed pink tone. "Richard, don't tell me you shaved your head again, you look like a mad man!" Edith scolded Richard, her wrinkled face wrinkling much more now as she sighed placing her hands on her hips. "Hey, we only live once, right baby Aubs?" Richard said scrunching up Aubrey's wet hair roughly, "Yea…" Aubrey trailed off, still mad that Edith had dumped a pile of wet clothes on her, intending to give the silent treatment "More enthusiasm kid!" Richard said patting her back harder, Aubrey groaned internally before sarcastically smiling, "YEAH!"
A few years had passed in Everdale, peace still was maintained.
Edith had a cauldron in front of her, smashing twigs and leaves, salt and dust into it. "What are you doing?" Aubrey questioned peeping into the room through a broken window outside the cavern— Edith stood up abruptly snapping the window closed. "Gatekeeping hag.." Aubrey rolled her eyes, even though Edith couldn't see her, while using the door this time. "What do you want, Aubs?" Edith's greenish blue eyes still focused on the makeshift cauldron that Richard made in his pottery classes, mixing who-knows-what into it, the cauldron contents shifted brown to a weird form of purplish pink just like Richard's beard. "Stop hiding stuff from me, I just wanna know what you've been doing." Aubrey's expression was curious, serious. Edith sighed looking Aubrey into her eyes now, It was apparent to her that Aubrey was old enough to know now.
"A vampire repellent potion, Ryuzuki Everdale passed down a potion that repelled vampries— well not replled vampires but concealing your scent from them, how else do you think we haven't been found kid? Ryuzuki has told our ancestors to pass it down, since I'm directly his 5th granddaughter I've been passed down the contents of the potion." she paused for a minute before continuing "I make enough to conceal the whole village, if everyone had the potion they would've spread and tried to conquer the land back, humanity always has a man trying to fight. I don't want bloodshed Aubrey." Her fingers clutched forming a fist. "And you have to do it everyday?" "Yes, it wears off by nightfall. everyday at 10pm I must do it" Edith sighed, finally resting from her tense position her gaze softening "On an unrelated note, pick up some berries in the forest." "The forest? we're not allowed to go there you said, oh— will you be giving me your potion? So they can't sniff me out?" "Smart girl, you catch on fast." Edith poured Aubrey a bottle of the purpleish-pink liquid pouring it on her. Aubrey walked out the cavern, sneaking into the forest. Paranoid that someone might've seen her she kept looking back. The forest was mythical once she stepped in, beautiful fireflies lighting the way, Aubrey squinted trying to find berries in the dark, entering deeper into the woods. "EEK!" Aubrey screamed, her voice echoing throughout the narrow forest, it was like it bounced back to her like a frisbee, a thorn had through her sandals and stabbed her, she plucked it out grunting. Aubrey soon realized the thorn was linked to a berry tree as she picked the berries. A blood curdling scream pierced the air. Aubrey froze.,
She wasn't supposed to be even here, who was that? Why were they in the forest? And most importantly who caused that scream? Aubrey's mind was racing as she quickly gathered the berries running back. As soon as she turned to run it was as if the forest had shifted, there was a narrow path where she came from, now it was split in two paths with a tall girthy tree that looked as if it was smiling down on her. Aubrey looked back in confusion, the berries that she had once picked, the berry bush that was there a second ago was replaced with a straight forward path deeper into the forest. Another scream rose, closer this time. Too close for her satisfaction, Aubrey made a run for it, dashing through the shifting forest as thorns were caught on her side. After a few minutes Aubrey was panting, just now noticing the scrapings on her arms, blood trickling down from the passing of the thorns, Aubrey's vision went black, hands cold as ice grabbed her. The next blood curdling scream, was Aubrey's.