If Only She Didn't Peek (still working)

The twin sisters, around the age of sixteen, were merrily walking through the woods while picking all the flowers and berries they could find in there. They would never go unnoticed by the villagers when they are out of their homes when they have to go to the market. They’re beautiful stormy eyes, sharp and defined features accompanied with slick dark chestnut hair made them a sight for sore eyes. Aislinn and Verena, whose personalities were on point to the meaning of their names, one called “dream, vision”, the other “to fear”.

They had plucked all they could and turned around to walk back home only to find the path they came from to be vanished. They were so engrossed in their collection that they didn’t notice where they were and that someone was watching their every movement. They searched for the path, or another path that might lead them somewhere, but instead, stumbled upon an old, almost worn out cottage to get shelter for the night had befallen on them.

They opened the door to find the place filled with wooden statues of people who looked so real that if painted could be mistaken for actual persons. But their expressions were all that of fear. This brought a feeling of uneasiness for the sisters as they had never seen anything like this at their village market. They had seen beautiful sculptures of almost everything they saw everyday that this contrast, horrified them.

An old man, who looked to be at least 60 with greying hair came from a room within the small cottage. His dark brown eyes surrounded by wrinkles of old age held a startle in them to find people in his home.

He smirked, wickedly, his boney looking but strong hands folded on top of his belly, said "What are you doing in my house? Are you lost?".

The elder, by a minute, replied "Please sir, just for the night. We'll be out of your way in the morning."

The man said "No it's alright, you can stay as long as you like, but you cannot enter my room. No matter what sounds you hear, even if you think I'm dying, or in need of something, just call me and I will come."

The twins agreed. When they asked for some blankets, the man simply lit up the rustic old fireplace made of white stone which had a mantle occupied by smaller fist-sized figurines of the statues. He then went back to where he came from, his nearly dark lair of a room, lit up with what looked like an old oil lamp, opposite to the kitchen.

The twins were searching for a comfortable position to sleep in but in vain.

"The old man could've at least given us a pillow. I wonder what he's hiding in his room. Maybe gold?" grumbled the younger with discomfort.

"You can sleep on my lap and I'll lean against the fireplace wall. Also don't say that. It's his house we're staying tonight in. He can have whatever he wants, Verena."

"Whatever Aislinn” she rolled her eyes.

The twins did their best to be comfortable and once they found that position, they soon fell asleep.

Verena awoke from her sister’s lap when she heard the sound of craving from the man’s room. She remembered the man’s words but curiosity got the better of her. 'What if he does have something valuable in the house?' she thought as she walked towards his room, slowly and making sure not to make a sound. She creaked the door open enough to see a boy almost her age all tied up and the man looking at her like she’s his next prey. His next words frightened her the most “Now, it’s you or your sister who’ll be my next piece… You get to choose.” At this point one thought crosses her mind 'What did I get myself into?'

The old man sits and stares at her widened eyes, amused.

"You're a curious lass, aren't you? Let me think. Are you always the one who gets in trouble just because you couldn't keep your mouth shut or your hands to yourself?"

She gulped, still staring at the scene in front of her. Many thoughts then ran in her head. 'Why is this boy here?' 'What was the man trying to do?' 'Is he going to kill the boy?' 'Is he going to kill us?'

The old man took her silence as the answer and came up to her, swivelled her around, holding her hands against her back with his left hand his right on her mouth and her back against his torso. "Now before you scream, let me remind you that there are wild beasts in the forest who love the night to hunt. It's either you or your sister who goes into the forest to be hunted. One of you will stay with me to help me finish up with the boy. Understood?" he whispered in her ear, his breathing brought a shiver of disgust and horror down her spine.

She thought for a while. Should she sacrifice herself or her sister? She couldn’t choose. She had to act swift. Had to say something just for the sake of some time. As she was about to open her mouth, the man brought a cloth over her mouth and let her hands go to tie it. In the corner of her vision she saw the knife he was using to carve the wood and swiftly acted upon it.

She closed her eyes and shock enveloped her body. In the spur of a moment, She had taken the knife and stabbed the man on his left shoulder. She had stabbed a person. No matter what the intentions were, she had harmed another soul, another body of her species.

The man screamed in pain waking up Aislinn who didn't find her sister beside her. She looked around the statues to find her. When she didn’t she then went near the room to find her sister with a knife and the old man down crouching down and holding his shoulder. By the time Verena could go to her sister the man held her legs making her trip and land on the cold stone floor, freeing the knife from her hand. They both jumped towards the knife which was near Aislinn as she stood in shock. Instinctively, she took it up, holding it against the man, protecting her sister, with fear in her eyes.

“Who are you and what were you doing to my sister?” She let out her voice and cursed when it sounded so weak.

The man simply smirked and replied “You have no idea how to use that, do you? Just give me the knife and you both shall be free. You can just go out of the cottage and never see me or the boy again.”

That was when she noticed the boy tied up. But, to her surprise, he didn’t seem to be in any distress at all. His hands were loosely tied, clothes clean, no scarring, no terror in his warm aqua blue eyes either. Before she could figure out the purpose of the boy, Verena had already gone up to him to free him just to have power against the man.

The boy looked at her with a warm smile of gratitude before pulling out his own knife from his belt and holding it against Verena’s neck.

“Hello, ladies!” Said the boy in a mocking tone which he was very proud of.