NIGHTS OF HALLOW
Chapter 48: Inquisitive Villagers.

Chapter 48: Inquisitive Villagers.

The following day, Perdita woke up with mixed expressions on her face. She was anxious, helpless, scared, and above all she was angry.

She didn’t sleep a wink last night because of the problem with Mrs. Perkin and now the church coming to exorcise their village. If what Mark said really pushed through, there was no saying that they wouldn’t be discovered once and for all they were vampires.

It was one of the oldest ways vampires or the rumored witches were easily discovered. Though she didn’t know how exactly it was done, she knew the process involved the use of holy water and other sacrifices that followed.

Who could have gone to report to the church? Those damn people!

Was it because Mr. Perkin was missing? No, it couldn’t be. They all thought he ran away because he discovered his wife was a whore. So who could have done that? Perdita wondered as she paced around their house.

Marco had gone out very early in the morning to the house of Mrs. Perkin to search for the evidence Mrs. Perkin spoke about. Hopefully, they will get a positive result from there while they still waited for a response from Sthena.

They had interrogated Mrs. Perkin the best way they could, but she adamantly refused to speak. Even when they removed the mouth fold from her so she could speak, what she had done was scream to alert the villagers.

What is happening to them and their life? They haven’t had so many problems at their doorstep for a very long time. It’s all because of Mr. Perkin! How she wished she could reach where he was and give him the beating of his life.

She was no merciful Perdita. Anyone who tried or is trying to bring her and Marco down or kill them, she will make sure she meted out the same punishment to the person in a hundredfold painful and cruel way she could think of.

Perdita anxiously continued to pace around the room with anxiety and fear building up in her body each passing second she waited to see and hear a positive result from Marco or Sthena.

Who knew if Sthena came around or even saw the message she wrote on the wall? She can’t continue to stay home. The villagers will notice and become suspicious of her. Those annoying inquisitive monitoring spirits! They were even worst than spirits and ghosts.

Perdita cursed at the villagers who at this point, three of them were already matching to Perdita and Marco’s house.

A knock on the door jolted Perdita out of her state of restlessness. Thinking it was her brother, she immediately rushed to open the door.

"Marco! Did you find t..." Perdita hurriedly spoke when the door clicked open. She quickly closed her mouth when she saw the three villagers standing at her doorstep. Each had a smile adorning her face but at the back of their eyes held a questioning look which Perdita saw and knew they would have.

"Mrs. Castor, Mrs. William, Rosie, What are you all doing here?" Perdita questioned in a restrained annoying voice. She closed her door and stepped outside so they wouldn’t go in or peep inside their house.

"Oh, Perdita!" The three chorused in an annoying excited voice.

"We haven’t seen you since yesterday and we thought it was wise to come to see you," Mrs. William spoke up with a wide smile that showed her missing tooth in her mouth.

"Aye, yes, yes. That’s right. You didn’t come to the market to bake your buns and we wondered if you are good in health" Mrs. Castor added in a worried tone and Rosie nodded her head in affirmation.

Perdita sighed and stiffed a small laugh "Ah, about that. I was down with a cold and I couldn’t come out."

"Oh no, We’re sorry to hear that. You know the weather has been chilly because of the snow and a lot of people are down with fever. Hope it’s not as serious as that?" Rosie asked.

Perdita negatively shook her head and answered, "No, it’s not. I appreciate your kind gestures, Mrs. William, Mrs. Castor, and Rosie. Thank you for checking up on me."

The older woman chuckled, "You’re welcome, child. We check up on everyone we didn’t see or who might be sick." Mrs. William replied cheerfully.

She paused and lowered her voice and said, "Have you seen Mrs. Perkin lately?"

Here comes the real reason behind their visit. Perdita thought.

She shook her head, "No, I haven’t. Did anything happen to her?"

Mrs. William wiped her hands on the overall coat she wore. She exchanged a look with Mrs. Castor and Rosie before replying in the same hushed tone "We don’t know yet. But since the day before yesterday, we haven’t seen or heard of her."

"And there’s a rumor going on that she ran away." Mrs. Castor added in a shocked tone.

"Ran away?" Perdita questioned back in shock. She behaved as if she didn’t know what happened to Mrs. Perkin when she herself knew what happened. In fact, she was the abductor of Mrs. Perkin. If only these women knew, they would have barged into her house to rescue Mrs. Perkin.

The three women vigorously nodded their heads in confirmation of Perdita’s question. Mrs. William continued with her tale.

"The villagers said she ran away because of what happened to her and also because her husband had refused to come back to her. So she ran away in the middle of the night."

The villagers said? Perdita asked herself and internally scoffed at the lies the women were blatantly spouting from their dirty mouths. They are calling other villagers when they were probably the ones spreading every gossip going on in the village.

And what a lame thing to think of and say. That she ran away because of what happened and in the middle of the night? When did they see her running away by that time? Was it Mrs. Perkin’s ghost they saw and decided to spread that false news?

Well, either way, the person who started the gossip was somehow helping her and Marco shift the suspicious eyes of the people away from them.

"Oh my goodness!" Perdita exclaimed still humoring the older women "That is quite bad and also unbelievable. I thought she was not guilty as proven by the head warden."

Mrs. William shook her head disapprovingly "We are thought so, Perdita. You even went all out to help her, but still, she decided to run away. Seems like she was really guilty. If not she wouldn’t run."

"Have you not heard? The guilt of the heart kills and shames one faster than the one inflicted by others." Mrs. Castor remarked.

Rosie scoffed and interjected, "I hope she continues to run. But no matter how far she went, the guilt and shame will always follow her. It’s just a matter of time before she s..."

Dum!

Bang!!

The sudden noise from Perdita’s house interrupted the women who were bent on tarnishing the image of Mrs. Perkin.

"What was that?" Mrs. William asked trying to see what caused the loud bang behind the closed door.

That annoying Mrs. Perkin! What was she doing?! Perdita clenched her hand with a scrunched eyebrow.

"Uhm...that must be the chair. The legs have been wobbling lately. I guess it has completely broken." Perdita smiled nervously at the women.

"Is that so?" Rosie questioned in an unbelievable tone. She skeptically looked at Perdita and continued to say "Why don’t you bring it to the village’s carpenter? He would quickly fix the legs for you."

"Don’t worry, Rosie. My brother promised to fix it when he gets home." Perdita replied and quickly added, "I’ve taken too much of your time this morning. I’ll have to excuse you so you can start the day’s work."

"Ah, yes, yes. We will leave now. Make sure to add more wood to the fire to keep warm. The weather will get worst in the coming weeks. We don’t want you to catch a cold again."

Perdita gave a small bow and replied, "Yes, thank you for your concerns. I’ll make sure to always keep the house warm. Take care of yourselves too." If you don’t want to become the next Mrs. Perkin. Perdita added in her mind as she watched the women turn to go home.

"We will too!" Mrs. William and Mrs. Castor shouted as they continued chattering among themselves. Only Rosie kept mute and after a while, she turned to look at Perdita with a slightly narrowed look.

Such annoying humans! Perdita sighed and rubbed her aching forehead. Where is Marco? Was he successful? Why isn’t he back yet?

Just as she was thinking, Marco arrived and was quick to reach Perdita’s side.

Her eyes shone in anticipation as she questioned Marco, "Did you find it?"

Marco furrowed his brows in thought before he responded, "I found a parchment, but I don’t know if it is the one Mrs. Perkin was talking about."

Authors Note: Thank you for reading this far and supporting this book! Please vote this book with your golden tickets and power stones!