Sofia's Curse

The Two Hunters

Sophia turns calmly and, lifting her hand, shuts the big gate with a loud bang. 

How in hell did she do that? The gate is fifty feet away! "Chris!" Victoria whispers, "What's going on?"

He takes her elbow, his eyes never leaving Sophia's. "It'll be fine," he reassuringly says.

She watches Sophie intensely and cannot help but tremble seeing a subtle sly smile playing on her lips.

Suddenly, the entrance door opens. Breathless, they watch a tall dark-haired man step out on the doorstep. He is dressed all in black, too. Every muscle in Victoria's body contracts. Her eyes search Chris', but he doesn't stop staring at the scary man.

Leeroy is looking at him, too. Then he gazes at Victoria and his lips contort in a vicious smile.

He slowly puts his hands into pants pockets and simply says, "Well, well...who would've thought..."

Then something strange happens. All too quickly for Victoria to realize, the man shuts his eyes and his face becomes a pained grimace, his eyes blackened glass. Victoria screams, and Chris protectively pushes her behind him in a nanosecond. He throws his fist at the man, but Leeroy is barely affected. Instead, he laughs.

"You never change, do you?" he says and reaches out his arms. For a moment, Victoria thinks he wants to shake hands, but then an unfathomable force pushes them away from him, high in the sky and then abruptly ceases, so that they fall harshly to the ground.

Christopher moans as sharp pain surges from his knees all the way to his brain, waking all of his nerve endings to an unpleasant morning. He is unable to move. Victoria squirms on the ground, somewhere between consciousness and coma. Everything around her is blurry and she feels like she is floating on air, apart from the pain in her body that reminds her of the grave injuries she suffers from falling to the ground. 

Am I dreaming? she thinks. This can't be happening. This isn't real. It can't be real.

Finally, she manages to regain clear vision and depicts Leeroy approaching them. His casual walk is petrifying. It tells them he is in charge. That they cannot run away. He has all the time in the world and he will enjoy slaughtering his pray. She lets a desperate gasp, and shuts her eyes, waiting for death to come.

But Chris, instead of staring at Leeroy, glances at Sophia. He frowns. She seems at unease. Why is she anxious? he thinks. She is the one who called the man to come. 

In this moment, he realizes his sister and he weren't chasing Sophia. They were the ones being chased. 

And now they've carelessly walked into a trap. 

Suddenly, a sharp pang of guilt runs through his veins and he knows he can't let his sister die like this. Not because of him.

It takes him all the strength he has to kneel up. But he does. And, not aware of what he is doing, he raises his hand in front of him so as to stop the man from hurting them. A guard waiting for a quarterback to strike. But the hit never comes. He gazes up and sees Leeroy trying to make another step forward, but unable to do so. He furrows his eyebrow and slowly stands up. He doesn't lower his hand, afraid that if he does, Leeroy will attack. Instead, he grabs Victoria's under her armpit with his other hand and pulls her up to her feet.

"What happened?" Victoria gasps. "What's going on, Chris?"

Chris doesn't reply. Instead, he makes a few steps backwards and drags Victoria with him. He still keeps his hand raised in front of him, as a shield. He is uncertain of what he is doing, but too afraid to stop. "I don't know," he whispers, "but we should run for the gate..."

Victoria's eyes go slowly from Leeroy to Sophia and she notices her eyes are shut, and her head is leaned backwards, so she is facing the sky. Her arms are slightly apart from her body, as if she was doing an invocation. Is it her doing this? 

She doesn't even know what is going on, but it certainly looks like magic. It looks like witchcraft. Is she doing it? 

Whoever is doing it, is protecting them. But why would Sophia want to protect them? She is the one who called the man to come here to kill them. She is the one who locked the gate and trapped them inside this garden. This haunted garden of a haunted house. All the flowers in here are dead. There are so many lines of trees here. They look like oaks. But they look dead, too. This entire place looks as if all life has been sucked out of it. Who are these people? And, more importantly, what do they want with them?

As she is dwelling on the happenings, Christopher keeps hauling her towards the exit. When she looks back, they are standing in front of the gate. She finally comes back to the present and grabs the... There is no knob. She starts kicking the gate with her foot, but it refuses to open. "Chris!" she yells, pulling his sleeve, "I can't! It won't open!"

He glances back and with his other hand, he tries to push it open. Nothing happens. He kicks it hard. Nothing. "The door opens to this side. We need to pull it."

Victoria feels unable to speak as her mouth are dry. Her eyes fill with horror as she sees Sophia walking towards them. "Chris!" she cries out, "Chris, they're coming!"

He looks back and sees Leeroy and Sophia stepping slowly in the direction of the gate. He lifts his hand once more, but nothing happens. They are not stopped.

He knows they don't have much time. Only a few feet are left till they reach them. "Run!" he shouts and pulls Victoria into the line of trees to their right. They run as fast as they can, cutting the line, trying to escape the evil grasp of their hunters.

"I can't," Victoria breathes slowing down, "My shoulder...I think my shoulder's broken," she pants and grabs her elbow in an attempt to ease the pain coming from above. Chris looks around and, two rows of trees down, he sees Leeroy. He is walking towards them. "Come," he whispers and lifts her into his arms. Then he rushes towards the house. He didn't plan to do it, but it seems like the only chance they've got.

As he reaches the house door, he swiftly looks back. 

No one in sight. He grabs the knob and the door opens. 

They are inside. He sees a vast foyer, covered in marble, but has no time to admire it. Instead, he puts his sister back down to her feet, and leads her towards the wide orbicular staircase. "C'mon, Vic, you can do this!" he encourages her as she follows him up.

They reach the second floor and he rushes to the first door he sees. He pushes them, but they are locked. I knew it, he thinks angrily.

"Who keeps their room door locked?" he mutters rhetorically.

"People with secrets," Victoria answers anyway "which is who these people are..."

He turns swiftly to give her a look of comfort, then rushes to check the other door.

Locked again. "Damn it!" he yells.

Victoria is standing frozen, staring blankly in front of her. "I don't think we can make it alive out of here, Chris," she whispers.

He jerks his head toward her. "Are you kidding me?" he puts his hand to her shoulders and shakes her. "You are not doing this! Do you hear me? When I say jump, you jump! Do you understand me?" he shouts, unswerving.

She blinks, not saying a word. His resolute determination shocks her. She's never seen him like this before. She didn't know he had it in him.

Chris nervously runs his hand through his hand. "I said, do you understand?" he shakes her again. "Answer me!"

Victoria manages to nod. His determination brought her back. She has regained the strength to fight back. "I'll check the other doors!" she says silently and runs to the opposite end of the hall. Her shoulder suddenly doesn't feel as bad anymore.

They hear a loud bang. Somebody just shut the entrance door. They realize they're not alone in the house anymore.

They quickly exchange scared looks and Victoria grabs the door handle and tugs, her eyes shut. The door opens. Her lips part. She jerks her head to Chris, but he isn't looking. "Chris!" she calls out silently.

He turns back. He sees she found an unlocked room and he runs to meet her. They hear someone on the stairs and they know they have little time left. They burst into the room and frown seeing three gilded sculptures and a big round bed in the middle, but have no time to comment. Chris rushes to the window, as Victoria tries to find the room key to lock the door. She checks the desk on the right, but there's only make-up and history books. Nothing else. She sees Chris has managed to open the window and he is calling her with his hand. She staggers to meet him. "Now!" he orders, "Jump!"

She swallows hard. "We'll never make it!" she whispers.

"It's the only chance we've-" he stops, interrupted by the sudden rattling of the door handle. Somebody's trying to get in.

He frowns realizing the door is locked. "You found the key?"

"No," Victoria breathes. "They were unlocked..."

Chris grabs her underarm and pulls her to the window, "Now!"

She listens without hesitation, aware that they are only nanoseconds left before Sophia or her dad burst into the room. She launches through the window and with a deep breath falls down towards the white wide awning. Landing feels surreal. She falls directly on her hip, but feels no pain, only a tickling thunder running all the way from her fingertips to her feet. A fraction of a moment later, Chris is beside her, groaning as he hits the surface, but somehow manages to squat to his feet. They jumped from the second floor. If there was no awning beneath, they would've suffered serious injuries.

Victoria doesn't wait for instructions. She grabs the edge of the canvas and lets herself hang. Swiftly glancing down, she lets herself drop.

Chris follows, but something draws his attention. A shadow that has just leaned over him. Hesitantly, he looks up and finds Leeroy piercing him from above. He raises his hand and Chris knows it's now or never. Never leaving Leeroy's eyes, he shoves himself away and falls down to the ground. He lost the view of Leeroy. He is surprised to see he doesn't follow. Is it old age that restricts him? Or does he feel above chasing his pray?

"C'mon!" Victoria yells and starts running towards the gate, through the thick lines of trees. For a quick second, she thinks how lucky they are the trees are there, shielding them from the wrath of the mysterious man.

Pacing behind her, Chris whispers in dashed breaths, "Can you jump over? It's pretty high..."

Victoria answers, panting, "I can't afford physical incompetence right now, lil bro!"

Chris slips an unexpected smile. His sister finds a time for sarcasm in any occasion. And she just won't let the assumption that she was born a few seconds earlier than him go. He doesn't believe she was, though. Not that it matters now. His only concern is that she doesn't leave this earth first. He would never forgive himself.

As they reach the fence, Victoria glances up. He can see she is discouraged, but tries climbing it anyway. To no avail. There are no indentations or bulges to support her feet. He approaches her without notice and lifts her in his arms. "Here! Use my shoulders! Stand on them!" he orders.

She listens, and manages to stand up. As she does, she stretches her arms and reaches the top of the fence with her fingertips. She smiles. But her smile quickly fades away. Her eyes widen in disbelief as she is watching the fence grow taller in height. She gasps in shock and crumbles down. Chris catches her before she hits the ground. His breathing is shallow and anxious.

In that moment, they realize why Leeroy didn't chase them. He doesn't need to. He will never let them run away from this place. And he has all the power to keep them in. Trapped. 

Trapped and helpless, like petite gazelles locked in a cage with a famished lion. What is he going to do with them? She knows he means harm, but death? Does he really intent to kill them?

"We'll find out soon enough," Chris answers her unspoken question. They always had an unfathomable connection. She always knew Chris' mood with only a glance at him. In moments like these, she wishes she didn't. Seeing Chris quit is disarming. He never quits, he is a fighter. Fighter till the end. Then it dawns on her - this is the end.

They hear a cracking sound. Their heads jerks to the right.

It's the gate. It's opened.

Without as much as taking a breath, they scurry towards them, sprinting as fast as they can. Chris, arriving first, grabs the edge, slides out, and places his foot between the gate and the fence for Victoria, in fear that it might shut. Victoria takes his hand and as she slides through, she takes a tentative glance to the house. 

She doesn't know why, nor what she expected to see, but seeing her comes as no surprise.

Sophia is standing there. Staring at her. But she doesn't move. She doesn't yell or call Leeroy. There is no evil on her face anymore. Instead, Victoria sees fear.

"C'mon!" Chris hisses and pulls her towards him. And they start running. Why? she thinks. Nobody is chasing them.