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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Charles and Margaret's home
March 27, 1970
Her angel would surely be able to complete her plan as predicted. Catherine's undoubting faith in her daughter was solidified with the everlasting bond that Miss Parker shared with Jarod. And with what the scrolls had said, providing they were right, this relationship would play a great part of her life and everyone around hers. The Centre would fall by their hands only. Sighing, she placed the shining and freshly recorded DSA into a protective case. She didn't know how long it would take for her angel to find it and whether it would ever be opened again. For all she knew, the scrolls could be wrong and they would simply live in misery forever. She had to have faith, her daughter and Jarod would come through as they always did. Catherine's mind filled with ideas about Jarod. How could he help Miss Parker from inside The Centre? She picked up the phone on her bedside table and dialed a number, waiting for the receiver to pick up.
"Hello, Mr Fennigor. We need to talk."
*****
Isle of Carthis
April 2, 1970
Catherine walked along the busy streets of the island stumbling when a man in a brown robe bustled by her, knocking all of the items in her hands onto the stone pathway. Quickly, she bent down and started collecting her things before the fierce wind carried them to the sea. As she began walking again, she saw a little girl playing by the edge of the woods. Seeing that she was alone, Catherine approached her apprehensively and whispered a soft hello.
The girl looked up at her and smiled, clutching a porcelian doll clad in a tiny navy dress. Catherine smiled and asked if she lived here on the island. The little girl merely giggled and started to run through the dense forest.
"Wait!" Catherine yelled, "where are you going?"
The free-spirited child continued to giggle and flee farther and farther away as the woman struggled to keep up with her. Catherine could no longer see her and stopped to look around her to see nothing but thick trees everywhere she looked. She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. A squirrel chirped behind her on a treebranch at face height. Catherine smiled and reached her hand toward it cautiously, closer and closer. Until suddenly the animal, as if posessed by an evil spirit, snapped its jaws at her and flung itself to the ground dashing away. Catherine cocked her head in surprise and had the idea to follow it.
She appeared in front of a small chapel and laughed when she saw the little girl sitting on the steps, no longer holding her precious doll, "Were you trying to lose me?"
The girl only stared and brushed the fur of the squirrel in her lap.
Catherine kept talking, "Do you think you could help me?"
She nodded, "Its in the chapel."
"What's in the chapel?" Catherine asked, stepping forward slowly.
"Your future of course." The girl giggled and stood up. She looked at Catherine for a moment, "I've waited a long time for you."
Catherine stared in surprise, "You've been waiting for me? But how could you--"
The little girl snickered and scampered away behind the little chapel, but Catherine followed her only a couple seconds behind her footsteps. By the time she reached the other side, the girl had vanished. Perplexed, Catherine turned back around and ventured inside the small building. There was a creek as she pulled the heavy oak door open. She gasped when she saw the inside.
There were cobwebs hanging from the corner of one wall. She watched as a spider feasted on its prey maliciously. Taking a few slow steps forward, the walls echoed with the clicking of her heels and her shadow followed her from the candles' flame. There was a box in the front of the room and what appeared to be a confessional on the left. Just as Catherine was about to lift the lid of the box, the door flung open.
"What do ye think yer doin', Stranger?" a voice boomed, causing the woman to jump.
"I- I'm sorry. A little girl led me here. I'm looking for something," she explained.
"Lil' girl? There've been no lil' girl here for years."
Catherine shook her head, "Then you must be mistaken because she brought me here just a moment ago."
"What have ye seen?" the man, clad in brown robes, whispered, his eyes shifting mysteriously as he changed the subject.
"Seen? Nothing. I just arrived."
"Then go talk with one of the others about boarding. Strangers are not generally accepted if they bring along with them suspicion and curiousity."
"I won't be any burden to you. I won't be staying long anyway."
He nodded, "Be on yer way then."
Catherine hesitantly slid by him between the rows of pews and as she closed the door behind her, the man crept to the box in the front of the room. He opened it and there was inside a bible, a small leather pouch, a portrait of a girl, and a blurry sketch of three eerie statues. Clutching the box, he hurried out the door, the walls emphasizing the action with vibrating echoes.
*****
Catherine pondered the little girl and her whereabouts the whole walk back to the small village she had been originally. The wind sang an unpleasant tune and she wrapped her scarf around her neck tightly. Chill was biting into her skin without mercy and she needed to get to shelter quickly. There were near no people wandering the streets of the town. Suddenly, Catherine felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned around to come face-to-face with one of her co-workers.
"Jacob!" she exlaimed, giving him a warm hug, "my dear Jacob, what on earth are you doing here?"
Sydney's twin brother smiled gingerly and replied with his Belgian accent, "Why, following you of course, until you ran off into the woods. I don't know what you were thinking, you could have gotten lost."
"No, the little girl. You must have seen her," Catherine's blue eyes widened curiously.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Catherine," Jacob replied, bewildered, "but a blizzard is approaching rapidly and we need to get to someplace warm."
"Follow me," a strange voice answered Jacob's unspoken question. The two turned to see a middle-aged woman wrapped in an old ragged shawl. It was simple enough to tell that that the woman was blind and beheld a giving and gracious soul.
"You- you would take us in, just like that?" Catherine asked humbly.
"Come along, Dear, and your friend, too. You'll catch your death out here if you don't."
The two eyed eachother before following her.
*****
"I'm here looking for something. Something that I hope will save us all," Catherine explained by the fire of Ocee's Herbal Shop. Jacob sat beside her sipping a cup of steaming tea. Rocking back and forth, the strange woman sat before them.
"What do you mean 'save us all', Catherine? Save us from what?" Jacob questioned, much like his brother.
"Ahh," Ocee intervened, "you're searching for the scrolls."
"Why, yes I am. How did you know?" Catherine inquired curiously.
Ocee gave a small smile, "Because everyone is looking for the scrolls."
"Do you know what they are, Ocee?" the younger woman sat forward in her seat, placing her mug down on the coffee table.
Ocee nodded, "Powerful. That is why people want them so desperately. Because of their great power. People want to be powerful. That must be what you want as well, Dear?"
"Oh," Catherine leaned back in her seat, "I, well I do need that power. You see, those scrolls are my last chance. My last chance to save my little girl from the horrific terrors that my husband will surely bestow upon her if I don't find a way to stop the madness around me."
"You have a daughter?"
"The most wonderful," Catherine relished the thought and continued, "and Jacob here can help us. Correct me if I'm wrong?"
Jacob looked between the two women and nodded, "I am here for you Catherine."
"Good," Catherine clasped her hands together, "Ocee, do you know where the scrolls are?"
"Nobody knows where the scrolls are, Dear. That is something that nobody knows, yet everybody wants to know." Ocee took a sip of tea and continued to rock.
Catherine looked around her and saw a picture on the fireplace mantel, "It's her."
"Who, Dear?" Ocee asked.
"The little girl," Catherine stood and grasped the picture, stroking the frame.
"Why, Angel? She has been dead for years now."
"But I just saw her today. It can't be," Catherine shook her head.
"It can," Jacob stood, "your Innersense. It must allow you to see her for some phenomenal reason."
"Wait a minute, did you just call her Angel?" Catherine's eyes filled with a loathsome kind of terror.
Ocee's head rose, "That's what her father called her, before they were killed."
"Who is they?" Jacob stood and eyed the picture, hovering over Catherine's shoulder.
"Her whole family was murdered by their father in his haste for power."
Jacob and Catherine's eyes met and she squeezed his hand reassuringly, "Ocee, we have to find the scrolls. Thank you for all your help."
Ocee nodded as the two walked out of the door hand in hand.
*****
"Catherine, how do you know where to go? Have you been here before?" Jacob asked the confident woman.
"I have not, but someone else's mind has," she replied mysteriously. She laughed at the baffled look on his face and slapped his shoulder playfully, "I had some help in this my friend. You don't think I could do this all by myself do you?"
"You constantly amaze me, so I would not be surprised," he smiled warmly.
Catherine only shrugged her shoulders, "Well, its for my little girl."
Jacob nodded, "So who is it that helped you?"
"Well," Catherine slid her hands into her pockets, "you have to promise not to tell anyone, especially your brother."
"I promise," Jacob affirmed.
"All right. I snuck Jarod out of the Centre and brought him to my house to do a simulation for me," Catherine looked up at him for his reaction.
"Sydney's charge? Catherine, I can't believe it-"
Catherine interrupted, "I know, it was an awful thing to do to the poor boy, but I-"
"No. I can't belive you were able to do it!" Jacob stopped and placed his palms on her shoulders, "once again you amaze me, Catherine."
"Its all for one cause," she looked up and pointed at the building ahead of them, "that's it. Jarod said to go there."
"How did he know?"
"I gave him everything that I already knew. I had seen the contents of a box inside the chapel during my first trip here. Just from that and a few maps of the island I had with me, he was able to tell me exactly where the scrolls would be. I just hope he's right."
Jacob nodded, "He's a bright boy. The best the Centre has ever known from what Sydney has told me."
Catherine wore a grim face, "That's what frightens me, Jacob."
March 27, 1970
Her angel would surely be able to complete her plan as predicted. Catherine's undoubting faith in her daughter was solidified with the everlasting bond that Miss Parker shared with Jarod. And with what the scrolls had said, providing they were right, this relationship would play a great part of her life and everyone around hers. The Centre would fall by their hands only. Sighing, she placed the shining and freshly recorded DSA into a protective case. She didn't know how long it would take for her angel to find it and whether it would ever be opened again. For all she knew, the scrolls could be wrong and they would simply live in misery forever. She had to have faith, her daughter and Jarod would come through as they always did. Catherine's mind filled with ideas about Jarod. How could he help Miss Parker from inside The Centre? She picked up the phone on her bedside table and dialed a number, waiting for the receiver to pick up.
"Hello, Mr Fennigor. We need to talk."
*****
Isle of Carthis
April 2, 1970
Catherine walked along the busy streets of the island stumbling when a man in a brown robe bustled by her, knocking all of the items in her hands onto the stone pathway. Quickly, she bent down and started collecting her things before the fierce wind carried them to the sea. As she began walking again, she saw a little girl playing by the edge of the woods. Seeing that she was alone, Catherine approached her apprehensively and whispered a soft hello.
The girl looked up at her and smiled, clutching a porcelian doll clad in a tiny navy dress. Catherine smiled and asked if she lived here on the island. The little girl merely giggled and started to run through the dense forest.
"Wait!" Catherine yelled, "where are you going?"
The free-spirited child continued to giggle and flee farther and farther away as the woman struggled to keep up with her. Catherine could no longer see her and stopped to look around her to see nothing but thick trees everywhere she looked. She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. A squirrel chirped behind her on a treebranch at face height. Catherine smiled and reached her hand toward it cautiously, closer and closer. Until suddenly the animal, as if posessed by an evil spirit, snapped its jaws at her and flung itself to the ground dashing away. Catherine cocked her head in surprise and had the idea to follow it.
She appeared in front of a small chapel and laughed when she saw the little girl sitting on the steps, no longer holding her precious doll, "Were you trying to lose me?"
The girl only stared and brushed the fur of the squirrel in her lap.
Catherine kept talking, "Do you think you could help me?"
She nodded, "Its in the chapel."
"What's in the chapel?" Catherine asked, stepping forward slowly.
"Your future of course." The girl giggled and stood up. She looked at Catherine for a moment, "I've waited a long time for you."
Catherine stared in surprise, "You've been waiting for me? But how could you--"
The little girl snickered and scampered away behind the little chapel, but Catherine followed her only a couple seconds behind her footsteps. By the time she reached the other side, the girl had vanished. Perplexed, Catherine turned back around and ventured inside the small building. There was a creek as she pulled the heavy oak door open. She gasped when she saw the inside.
There were cobwebs hanging from the corner of one wall. She watched as a spider feasted on its prey maliciously. Taking a few slow steps forward, the walls echoed with the clicking of her heels and her shadow followed her from the candles' flame. There was a box in the front of the room and what appeared to be a confessional on the left. Just as Catherine was about to lift the lid of the box, the door flung open.
"What do ye think yer doin', Stranger?" a voice boomed, causing the woman to jump.
"I- I'm sorry. A little girl led me here. I'm looking for something," she explained.
"Lil' girl? There've been no lil' girl here for years."
Catherine shook her head, "Then you must be mistaken because she brought me here just a moment ago."
"What have ye seen?" the man, clad in brown robes, whispered, his eyes shifting mysteriously as he changed the subject.
"Seen? Nothing. I just arrived."
"Then go talk with one of the others about boarding. Strangers are not generally accepted if they bring along with them suspicion and curiousity."
"I won't be any burden to you. I won't be staying long anyway."
He nodded, "Be on yer way then."
Catherine hesitantly slid by him between the rows of pews and as she closed the door behind her, the man crept to the box in the front of the room. He opened it and there was inside a bible, a small leather pouch, a portrait of a girl, and a blurry sketch of three eerie statues. Clutching the box, he hurried out the door, the walls emphasizing the action with vibrating echoes.
*****
Catherine pondered the little girl and her whereabouts the whole walk back to the small village she had been originally. The wind sang an unpleasant tune and she wrapped her scarf around her neck tightly. Chill was biting into her skin without mercy and she needed to get to shelter quickly. There were near no people wandering the streets of the town. Suddenly, Catherine felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned around to come face-to-face with one of her co-workers.
"Jacob!" she exlaimed, giving him a warm hug, "my dear Jacob, what on earth are you doing here?"
Sydney's twin brother smiled gingerly and replied with his Belgian accent, "Why, following you of course, until you ran off into the woods. I don't know what you were thinking, you could have gotten lost."
"No, the little girl. You must have seen her," Catherine's blue eyes widened curiously.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Catherine," Jacob replied, bewildered, "but a blizzard is approaching rapidly and we need to get to someplace warm."
"Follow me," a strange voice answered Jacob's unspoken question. The two turned to see a middle-aged woman wrapped in an old ragged shawl. It was simple enough to tell that that the woman was blind and beheld a giving and gracious soul.
"You- you would take us in, just like that?" Catherine asked humbly.
"Come along, Dear, and your friend, too. You'll catch your death out here if you don't."
The two eyed eachother before following her.
*****
"I'm here looking for something. Something that I hope will save us all," Catherine explained by the fire of Ocee's Herbal Shop. Jacob sat beside her sipping a cup of steaming tea. Rocking back and forth, the strange woman sat before them.
"What do you mean 'save us all', Catherine? Save us from what?" Jacob questioned, much like his brother.
"Ahh," Ocee intervened, "you're searching for the scrolls."
"Why, yes I am. How did you know?" Catherine inquired curiously.
Ocee gave a small smile, "Because everyone is looking for the scrolls."
"Do you know what they are, Ocee?" the younger woman sat forward in her seat, placing her mug down on the coffee table.
Ocee nodded, "Powerful. That is why people want them so desperately. Because of their great power. People want to be powerful. That must be what you want as well, Dear?"
"Oh," Catherine leaned back in her seat, "I, well I do need that power. You see, those scrolls are my last chance. My last chance to save my little girl from the horrific terrors that my husband will surely bestow upon her if I don't find a way to stop the madness around me."
"You have a daughter?"
"The most wonderful," Catherine relished the thought and continued, "and Jacob here can help us. Correct me if I'm wrong?"
Jacob looked between the two women and nodded, "I am here for you Catherine."
"Good," Catherine clasped her hands together, "Ocee, do you know where the scrolls are?"
"Nobody knows where the scrolls are, Dear. That is something that nobody knows, yet everybody wants to know." Ocee took a sip of tea and continued to rock.
Catherine looked around her and saw a picture on the fireplace mantel, "It's her."
"Who, Dear?" Ocee asked.
"The little girl," Catherine stood and grasped the picture, stroking the frame.
"Why, Angel? She has been dead for years now."
"But I just saw her today. It can't be," Catherine shook her head.
"It can," Jacob stood, "your Innersense. It must allow you to see her for some phenomenal reason."
"Wait a minute, did you just call her Angel?" Catherine's eyes filled with a loathsome kind of terror.
Ocee's head rose, "That's what her father called her, before they were killed."
"Who is they?" Jacob stood and eyed the picture, hovering over Catherine's shoulder.
"Her whole family was murdered by their father in his haste for power."
Jacob and Catherine's eyes met and she squeezed his hand reassuringly, "Ocee, we have to find the scrolls. Thank you for all your help."
Ocee nodded as the two walked out of the door hand in hand.
*****
"Catherine, how do you know where to go? Have you been here before?" Jacob asked the confident woman.
"I have not, but someone else's mind has," she replied mysteriously. She laughed at the baffled look on his face and slapped his shoulder playfully, "I had some help in this my friend. You don't think I could do this all by myself do you?"
"You constantly amaze me, so I would not be surprised," he smiled warmly.
Catherine only shrugged her shoulders, "Well, its for my little girl."
Jacob nodded, "So who is it that helped you?"
"Well," Catherine slid her hands into her pockets, "you have to promise not to tell anyone, especially your brother."
"I promise," Jacob affirmed.
"All right. I snuck Jarod out of the Centre and brought him to my house to do a simulation for me," Catherine looked up at him for his reaction.
"Sydney's charge? Catherine, I can't believe it-"
Catherine interrupted, "I know, it was an awful thing to do to the poor boy, but I-"
"No. I can't belive you were able to do it!" Jacob stopped and placed his palms on her shoulders, "once again you amaze me, Catherine."
"Its all for one cause," she looked up and pointed at the building ahead of them, "that's it. Jarod said to go there."
"How did he know?"
"I gave him everything that I already knew. I had seen the contents of a box inside the chapel during my first trip here. Just from that and a few maps of the island I had with me, he was able to tell me exactly where the scrolls would be. I just hope he's right."
Jacob nodded, "He's a bright boy. The best the Centre has ever known from what Sydney has told me."
Catherine wore a grim face, "That's what frightens me, Jacob."
