Dawn of Eve, MJ Howson [lightweight ebook reader TXT] 📗

lumpy bed, her eyes fixated on the locked bedroom door. The only light filling the nearly pitch-black room came from beneath the doorway. The faint rattle of Caretaker’s keys echoed in the hallway beyond the door. The lock snapped, and the hinges creaked as the door swung open, allowing light to spill into the room.

“Hello, Eve,” Caretaker said. She had Eve’s small black roller-bag, covered in bright red spades.

Eve didn’t bother to reply. Her excitement over finally leaving Camp Ascension was tempered by her fear of what waited beyond the black wooden door on the other side of the complex.

Caretaker entered the room and flicked on the overhead chandelier. The wood and iron structure bathed the room in a warm orange glow. She placed the bag beside the armoire and motioned Eve to join her. Together they packed Eve’s clothes into her suitcase. Eve walked back to her bed and reached beneath the pillow. She grabbed her diary and pen and brought them to her open bag. As she went to put them inside, Caretaker snatched the diary from her hand.

“What are you doing?” Eve asked.

“Did you think you could take this with you?”

“It’s mine!” Eve lunged for her diary, but Caretaker held the book above her head out of reach. “Give it back. Give it!”

“How many rules have you broken while here?” Caretaker crammed the diary into her robe’s pocket. “Bad girls must be punished.”

“That’s not fair!”

“You’ve broken too many rules, Eve.”

“But I’ve been punished for those!”

Caretaker frowned and stared at Eve. Her eyes softened, and she asked, “Do you promise to behave yourself?”

Eve lowered her head and clenched her fists. She couldn’t believe Caretaker took her diary. All her memories, hopes, and dreams were in there. She forced a smile and said, “Yes.”

“Good. Then follow me.” Caretaker patted her hand against the pocket with the diary. “You’ll get it back after you leave.”

Caretaker turned and walked to the door. Eve followed her into the hallway, dragging her bag behind her, the plastic wheels clapping against the cobblestone floor. They passed the schoolroom and then the playroom. The hallway ended, and they turned right toward the forbidden area. When they reached the iron gate, Eve watched Caretaker flip through her keyring to get the key to open the jail-like door. The rusted hinges creaked as the door swung open.

Caretaker remained silent and led Eve through a maze of intersecting orange-lit hallways until they reached the black wooden door. Caretaker slid a jet-black skeleton key into the lock, looked at Eve, and said, “Happy birthday.”

Eve’s heart raced as the door swung open. Her eyes immediately settled on her parents. They were wearing long black silk robes, their faces partially hidden in the shadows of the hoods.

“Mom!” Eve said. She left her bag in the hallway and ran across the room. “Dad!” Eve cried as she flung her arms around her parents, squeezing them with all her might. “Can we go? Can we finally go home?” Eve looked up, searching for hope. The black hood cloaked her mother’s face, allowing a few strands of long copper hair to escape the darkness. “What . . . what is it?”

“It’s time,” Father John said from behind Eve.

Eve let go of her parents and turned around. Father John and Mother Martha were standing a few feet away. Each wore the same style robe as Eve’s parents. Eve rubbed the tears from her eyes and looked around the room. Fear immediately rippled through her body.

A huge stone altar dominated the center of the room, flanked by two matching pillars and a circle of torches. Seven pillars stood near the opposite wall, each with a torch affixed to the back. Each pillar held a doll. Six of the dolls, half boys, half girls, had lockets around their necks.

Eve stared at the dolls, disturbed by how each wore the colors of her six departed friends. Even their facial features and complexion resembled the other children. The doll without a locket sat on the center pillar. Its wavy copper hair and sapphire blue eyes reflected the flickering flames nearby.

A circular clock, three feet in diameter, mounted high on the wall behind the dolls showed the time as 11:51. Black iron clock hands pointed to faded roman numerals. Falling snow could be seen through the high-mounted windows. The only sound in the room was the howling wind and the crackling torch flames.

Caretaker walked over to Mother Martha and handed her Eve’s diary. As Mother Martha flipped through the book, Caretaker strolled to the far end of the room and exchanged her drab gray robe for a black silk one.

“I’m glad you kept yourself busy writing everything down,” Mother Martha said. Her green eyes darted between the diary and Eve as a frown spread across her face. The knuckles on her overly large hands became red. Mother Martha crammed the diary into her pocket. “But you can’t take it with you.”

“No!” Eve ran toward Mother Martha, but her father pulled her back. Eve glared at Caretaker and said, “You promised!” She turned to her mom and, with tears in her eyes, asked, “What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry,” Eve’s mother said. She gently ran her fingers through Eve’s hair and then looked at her husband and said, “Okay.”

Eve’s father slid his arms around Eve and then picked her up off the ground, cradling one arm behind her back and another beneath her knees.

“What are you doing?” Eve asked. She looked around in a panic. She watched her mom, Caretaker, Father John, and Mother Martha take positions around the altar. “Stop! Let me go!”

Eve kicked and screamed as she tried to free herself. Her father carried her to the altar, where her mother and Caretaker helped to pin her arms down flat. Eve looked around, lost and confused, her heart pounding in her chest.

A six-inch-long dagger sat on the pillar to the left of the altar. The diamond embedded in the black onyx handle reflected the light from the nearby torches. The other