| Something About Salem Cartier Wasn't Right | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 21 2017, 12:55 PM (96 Views) | |
| Leon Kaiser | Oct 21 2017, 12:55 PM Post #1 |
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[justify=500]![]() Something about Salem Cartier wasn’t right. Artemis couldn’t figure out exactly what it was that threw her off. Her nerves told the story, forcing her away from the woman that strolled through her home. The first few months were fine to her, even if they were lies forced to be a truth. The ignorance was truly bliss, making the normalcy of her home life complete. Salem, or rather this imposter, catered to Artemis’s wants. Through these manipulative acts of kindness, Artemis found the little differences that the doppelganger couldn’t hide. Her cooking was still pleasant, albeit devoid of the sweet notes that Salem favored. Instead, she would add more salt to a dish than a hint of brown sugar. She would play around with the dogs, but they never welcomed her as easily as they first did Salem. Instead, they sauntered around her, unsure of if she was going to hurt them when she came to pet them. Her father told her that people with a clouded heart were the bane of animals, instilling a relationship of distrust around them. If naturally, you were loved by animals, then you were indeed a pure person. The final alarm that blared the loudest was the way that she treated Lily. For a woman who ran away with a warning to find this girl, their relationship emitted a cold aura. Artemis believed that it was because of the immeasurable gap of time between their meetings. Salem had Lily a long time ago, and hadn’t seen her since. To her, Lily didn’t exist. And if because of some traumatic memory or purposeful distancing, Artemis couldn’t tell. She could only bear witness to watching Lily try her hardest to remain distant from the imposter. When she would open her arms for her “daughter” to give her a hug, Lily would shy away. Over time, this relationship didn’t grow warmer. In fact, Artemis noted that Lily got further and further away each day. Artemis couldn’t pinpoint what was happening in her own home, but her own animalistic senses kept her on guard. There was no intimacy between them; Artemis refused that. It started off as initial anger towards the abandonment and changed over time. It became precautionary, seeing as Artemis couldn’t shake the feeling of dread when the imposter was around. A predatory monster lingering around Artemis’ peripheral. It came to a head on one of the few mornings where Lily and Artemis were alone. Artemis tended to her beck and call, silent as it may be. Lily hadn't spoken a word since her arrival. She had figured out a way to communicate through simple nods and a few smiles. Lily, at first, was nervous around her. When you’re brought into someone’s home, and you’re told that the scarred woman gazing at you is your mother...you’re skeptical. Artemis knew that much, but over time, they bonded. The puppies helped, and Artemis’s natural warmth towards her helped too. Everything encompassed together with a single note. Lily wandered up to the dining table, sliding the small slip of paper across to her. Artemis, chewing on her biscuit, took a quick look at Lily, Lily, with her doe eyes, motioned for her to open it. As such, Artemis listened to her little girl. The girl said simply two words: Follow me. Lily started down the hallway, not giving Artemis much of a choice. Lily scurried fast towards the unknown destination, with Artemis trying her hardest to understand what possibly be so important. She went into her room, making sure to open the door slowly and quietly. Once it was wide enough open, Lily gave Artemis a pleading gaze and went inside. Artemis noticed that Lily locked the door when she closed it behind herself. Artemis strolled in, remembering quietly that she hadn’t gone in Lily’s room more than a handful of times. The little girl would exit her room far before either of her parents had a chance to enter. If they needed her, she was always around. Small details that were ignored forced themselves into relevance as Artemis recalled everything. She pursed her lips, almost biting them at one point. “I really don’t know my child,” she thought, sadly. Lily moved past Artemis until she reached a storybook. “The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches”, the title said--a book that Artemis purchased for her. It was playful, but Salem wouldn’t read it to her. In fact, she hardly read to her, most of the time, it was Artemis that did that. Lily dumped out note after note, before motioning for Artemis to take a look. Artemis squatted down to retrieve them, opening them up as she acquired them. Many were drawings, depictions of Salem on fire. Others were small letters, saying that her mommy wasn’t here. Artemis’s eyebrows narrowed as she looked up at Lily, who kept staring at the ground. There was only misery in her posture, and Artemis could hear a small whimper. She was hiding her crying. “Lily, what’s this?” Artemis spoke softly, lifting up one of the final notes. Inside was a drawing of “mommy” chained to a wall with a similar drawing smirking evilly. All around the fearsome woman’s body was the word “fake”. Lily made it repeat over and over again, with intense bearing down on the pen marks. The intensity scared Artemis slightly, but she didn’t falter. Was Lily planning on doing something heinous? “She’s not Mommy,” Lily said, her voice docile and faint. Artemis’s eyes were wide with shock. Lily had never spoken before. In the months of them living together, Artemis gotten good at telling what Lily wanted. Never once did Lily have to say what she wanted. Instead, she would motion or dart her eyes, but Artemis noticed. Her words were cryptic and to anyone else, they might have been taken as untrue. However, for a girl to break her vow of silence to say those words, Artemis couldn’t help but place faith in them. “Fake?” Artemis said, mostly to herself. Lily nodded slowly. “I need you to hide,” Artemis came to the conclusion quickly, pointing to the closet, “there, go in there. I’ll handle this.” Lily nodded once more before heading to the closet. Artemis followed and sat down in front of the crack in the door that Lily kept. “Lock the door, I’ll be right back.” “Do you promise?” Lily asked, “she might hurt you.” Artemis sat there, seeing the glint of tears in Lily’s eyes. She was worried, but Artemis smiled confidently back. “Don’t worry, my love, she can’t hurt me.” ❁ Artemis came downstairs, hearing “Salem” whistling. The tune itself was foreboding, sending a chill throughout Artemis’s body. “Twisted Nerve”, the imposter seemed to have picked up on the mood of the room. Artemis came behind her, and the woman spun to meet her gaze. Artemis took a good step back, scanning her body for any weaponry. She didn’t find any on her form, but it could have been hidden. A knife could be tucked in the back of her pants, even if they were simple boy shorts. “Yes, my darling?” she sang. “Salem,” Artemis hid any vocal quips that could send off a signal. She didn’t quiver, stutter, or breathe wrong. In fact, she used every bit of her forced accent to stop herself from panicking. The years of her hiding her Newfoundland accent for camera work proved to be a benefit, outside of the obvious. “I need to show you something.” The imposter’s eyebrow twinged with interest, “pray tell, what?” Artemis brushed past her, mostly to get a hint of any animosity. She could perfectly stab her, under the belief that Artemis didn’t know what she was doing. Nothing came, which only made the young woman more cautious. Approaching the kitchen table, Artemis withdrew each of the notes, opening them for the imposter to see. She stepped away soon after and trained her eyes onto the woman’s face. A raw sense of confusion crossed her false features first before the corners of her mouth twitched, a beginning of an unexpected grin. She picked up one of the notes slowly, the one that depicted Salem chained up with the fiend smiling at her misery. A savage grin did follow the discovery, remarkably close to the cartoonish image that she held in her hand. Putting it down, she turned her head slightly to Artemis. “Lily is quite the talker, isn’t she?” “Who are you?” Artemis skipped the formalities in favor of a sharp tone. “She set this up so perfectly. So crafty, just like her mother--” “I don’t repeat myself. You heard my question.” “So intriguing.” Artemis scowled, but refused to cross her arms like she had wanted to. She needed them available. “So annoying.” “Where the hell is my wife?!” The imposter’s head snapped towards Artemis. “Shut your mouth, you loudmouthed imp!” Artemis growled and charged forward, grabbing the imposter by her shirt. Her hands went to her throat, but there was a struggle. Toppling over several things in the kitchen, they fought for control. She was strong, but she didn’t train. The imposter resorted to kneeing Artemis in the gut repeatedly until there was separation, but Artemis only saw red. She tackled her into the countertop, driving her spine into the corner of it. The imposter stiffened up instantly, hissing out, hiding the pain evidently ripping through her body. Her limbs locked up and Artemis took her by the back of her neck. With a roar, she threw her into the opposing wall, causing the intruder to hit the ground with a loud crash. “Since you didn’t answer my question,” Artemis held her gut, assessing the damage, “I’ll ask another.” The faker got to a knee, coughing herself. Artemis walked over, taking a hold of the closest object to her. “Where’s my wife at then?” Artemis wielded a cast iron pan, still stained with some of the grease from breakfast. “I’d rather answer the first; you didn’t give me a chance to answer,” the faker spoke, wiping her mouth. Remnants of blood was left on her lip and cheek. “I’m a person who didn’t think your wife deserved happiness.” “The whore daughter of a groundskeeper get to have this?” she motioned to the whole room, but aimed at the entire life that Salem had. She scowled, and let out a frustrated noise. “I’m not the only one that knew of this, so we took her. We took her and you’ll never find her. Because I won’t tell you where she is. I took her face, and that’s all that really matters.” “Artymoose,” she mimicked Salem’s playful tone perfectly enough that it made Artemis visibly cringe. “Why couldn’t you have kept up the act? Why did you have to pry? Everything would have been perfect.” She narrowed her eyes at Artemis, her smile becoming more demented with each word, “I could have loved you better...in every way.” “Where is she?” Artemis repeated, breaking her rule with a sharper version of the question. The faker winked, “I’m right here, babe. Like I’ve always been.” Artemis dropped the pretenses and grabbed her by her hair. In the midst of the grabbing motion, Artemis took her other hand and buried into the faker’s cheek. It was enough to disorient her, a brutal strike that drew blood. She had her chance and charged her into the nearest object. How ironic as it was, Artemis threw her false wife into a mirror. She didn’t bounce off it, but she slid down the broken glass, leaving a trail of blood down the wall. Artemis hovered over for a moment, before taking a deep breath. Lowering herself down, she grabbed the bloodied body of the imposter and hurled her through the glass pane door. Tumbling across the pavement, leaving another trail of crimson on the property. Closing her eyes, there was only a brief moment of reflection before Artemis went off to check on Lily. She didn’t turn to look at the pile of broken glass and blood that was the imposter. Instead, she checked her hands to see any glass or blood remained. Nothing. She entered the room and knocked on Lily’s closet door, “I beat the dragon.” It took a moment, but Lily opened the door ever-so-slightly. She scanned Artemis’s features before landing on something that struck her confused. “Why are your eyes red, Mama?” Artemis didn’t realize that could have happened. “I had to be strong for you, my dear.” ❁ Venturing back downstairs, Artemis told Lily to stick close to the living room. She had to check. She had to see. But when she came around the corner and peered out the shattered door, she didn’t see the imposter anymore. She was gone.[/justify] Edited by Leon Kaiser, Oct 21 2017, 01:13 PM.
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