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The Next Day
"Wake up, son." The voice of the middle-aged man reaches Archadien's ears. "It's time to get to work. We got a long day ahead of us."
Archadien gets up, dresses, and goes outside to their family farm. Dawn had not yet come, for it was still dark outside. "Split the wood," his father says. "I'll milk our new cow."
Picking up the rusted axe, the young man sets each log on the stone slab and splits it. Two hours later, when he finishes, he realizes that the sky isn't getting any brighter! "That's odd," he says to himself. He goes to the barn to check on his dad.
Grasping the latch to the barn door, Archadien realizes that it is locked! He knocks for a time, but with no answer. He then peeks through the windows, but they are strangely blocked by a mysterious fog. Concerned, Archadien runs back to the woodpile and picks up the axe, then uses it to hack away at the barn door. Finally, he breaks through.
Inside the barn is a horrible sight. Their prized cow, Sue, is on the floor dead. With a pitchfork in hand, Father is battling a strange man in black robes. "That guy looks strangely familiar..." Archadien thinks.
With a groan, Dad thrusts the pitchfork towards "Black"'s chest. But with supernatural speed, the man jumps back in the nick of time. Then "Black" takes out a dagger. Amazingly swift, he dodges another pitchfork thrust and shoves the knife into Father's stomach.
Dad looks down at his slit-open belly unbelievingly. He gasps and blood seeps out of his mouth. With stomach acid leaking out, he collapses to the floor, dead.
"What have you done?!" shouts Archadien. But the man in black does not answer. Instead, he pockets the dagger and starts slowly walking towards the boy. Frozen with fear, Archadien does not move. Within inches of Archadien, "Black" stops. Then he begins to speak.
[ 07-03-2003, 08:47 PM: Message edited by: Willard ]
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