Master Mosquiton: New Beginnings: Prolouge: And so it Begins

Master Mosquiton: New Beginnings

By Mari (A.KA Maric, Maricc, Mar, Animeiac, and Anime-iac)

 

Disclaimer: Inaho is the (c) property of the Mosquiton Project. Tearesa, Natasha, the large guard, Grandma Elenore, and Max the German Shepherd are the (c) property of me.

Prologue: And so it begins

The time is Midnight.

The year is 1998.

 

It's dark, and a storm is brewing over the small village of Transylvania, Rumania. High above the village is a castle that looks

like it hasn't been lived in for years. It's dark and dreary place and was mostly covered in moss and vines.

 

Suddenly a small flash of light blinks into existence, seemingly going slowly from window to window. Inside the castle the small light illuminates a small dark hallway. To an outside observer, the darkened hallways would seem rather endless with rows and rows of doors. However, the light stopped at a particular familiar door that bore a small heart shaped sign that proclaimed the room behind it belonged to one "Tearesa Hitomebore".

 

Then quietly, the door creaked inwards, and the light broke upon a room that held only a few broken toys, some torn down pictures, a closet, a faded clothes drawer, and a small bed with a few worn sheets. In the bed was a little girl, who couldn't be more than eight years old. She had light brown hair that spread over her non-white- pristine pillow in a feathered fan that stopped just past her shoulders, her bangs falling onto her forehead above her eyebrows and a few wisps of dust on her rosy cheeks.

 

When the light flashes over her little face, her eyes squints and she begins to squirm. She parted her lips to exclaim her startled fear, but a hand quickly covered her mouth.

At first, she was scared of this strange intruder, but when her eyes opened, she looked up and saw who that hand belonged to, and was instantly mollified.

The hand belonged to a teenaged girl, fifteen, whose red hair hung just above her shoulders, her bangs in the same style of the little girl before her, and her blue eyes wide and alert. Her jade tee-shirt, blue jeans, tennis shoes, and dark brown jacket were a little soiled from her tiptoeing down the long-unused castle corridors. One cross-shaped earring on her left ear glittered in the beam of her flashlight as she removed her hand, confidant that the child wouldn't cry out.

 

"Shh." she whispered, comforting the little girl as she ceased her trembling, "It's okay Tearesa, it's me."

"Inaho!" hissed Tearesa, her liquid-brown eyes wide. "You cut your hair!"

 

"Not so loud or else we'll be discovered." Inaho shushed the child as she turned on the room light and shut off her flashlight.

 

"But why big sister?" Tearesa asked still not understanding what all the secrecy was about. Then she caught sight of a couple of small suitcases on the floor. "Are you going on a trip Inaho?"

"Not just me. We both are." Said Inaho as she opened the drawers and pulled out a few of Tearesa's good clothes. "You're coming with me."

 

"Why?" Tearesa asked again, scrambling out from beneath her sheets.

"Because this is not our home anymore." Inaho answered with a sad voice and a few tears. "Now get dressed and pack up a few of your things. Only the stuff you'll need, we can't take everything." Inaho added as her sister reached for a stuffed rabbit. "We haven't much time."

 

"But where are we going?" Tearesa questioned more as Inaho got together the last of the little girl's most important belongings.

"As far away from here as possible." Inaho answered slowly.

Tearesa quickly got dressed, squirming into a frilly pink shirt, denim blue jean overalls with a daisy on the front, and white shoes and a light green jacket. Bent to lace up her shoes, her little tongue poking out of one corner of her mouth, Teresa suddenly had a thought. "But what about Grandma Elenore?"

"I asked her to come with us," Inaho muttered, a little distracted by the world outside of the dank room as she feared all the

noise will be noticed. "...but she told me she can't because of her condition. I promised her that I will take care of you." Inaho paused

a moment then turned a comforting smile to her little sister. "I don't like leaving her behind but she couldn't stand the thought her

leaving us with our stepmother." Inaho then pulled out some scissors from the inside pocket of her jacket.

"Why do you have those?" Tearesa questioned.

"So I can cut your hair."

"My hair?" Tearesa covered her head with a self-conscience hand.

 

"I have to Tearesa!" Inaho explained, "I cut my own hair so I won't be recognized. I don't want you to get caught too. Now turn around."

Tearesa did as she was told. Tearesa shed a few tears as locks of her light chestnut hair drifted lightly to the floor, and finally

looked at herself in the mirror after a few misgivings. It now fell to brush the bottom of her earlobes.

"Now help me removed these sheets so we can make a rope to climb out." Inaho told Tearesa, snapping her out of her longing gaze at the glass.

They both ripped the sheets into strips so that the rope would be long enough, and as they finished tying up the ends, Inaho opened the bedroom window and tossed one end of out the window and tied the other end to the bed.

They carefully climbed down rope and made it safely to the ground. As they grabbed their suitcases, a loud bark came from behind them, in the corner. Out of the corner came a large German Shepherd who wagged his tail happily at the sight of the girls.

The dog trotted up to Inaho and Tearesa and jumped on Inaho to lick her face with gusto. "Max!" Tearesa said happily as she hugged the dog.

"Oh I'm sorry Max." Inaho said with a sad smile as she petted the dog. "I wish you could come with us, but you can't. There's no way you could get over the fence. Besides, someone has to stay here and help take care of Grandmother."

Max whined sadly when Inaho told him he couldn't come. "We're going to miss you too." Inaho hugged Max with tears in her eyes. Without warning, a bright light shone on the girls and the dog.

"Who goes there?!" a male voice hollered.

"It's the Hitomebore Sisters!" another added. "They're trying to escape!"

There were screaming and phone calls and guards running all over the property in an attempt to capture the two escaping children. If one didn't know any better, they'd swear it was a maximum-security prison they were running from, not their late father's home.

"Uh ho." Said Tearesa breathed, terrified and clutching her suitcase closely.

"Run, Tearesa!" Inaho shouted as she clasped one of Tearesa's hands in one of her own and snatched up her suitcase with the other, sprinting towards the fence line.

Max bought them some time by barking at the guards.

Inside the castle there was a knock on a door of one of the rooms. An angry female voice screeched in response. "What is it!?"

 

Before the young man who had knocked could respond, the door swung back, and, silloughetted by the harsh bedside lamp, stood one of the most frightening looking mortal women any man could face.

"E-Excuse me for the intrusion, Lady Natasha DeMon-Hitomebore." he stuttered fearfully. "But I think there's something you should know."

 

"This has better be important for waking me up this time of night!" replied Natasha with a mean growl. She was in her mid forties, her dark brown hair in curlers, flashing green eyes, and wore nothing but an overly extravagant green satin nightgown.

"Well you see ma'dam, the Hitomebore sisters are... well..." The guard tried to explain with a nervous grin, his knees shaking in fear.

"Yes?" Natasha questioned the guard irritably, one eyebrow raised.

"They're gone." The guard finished with a gulp.

"Gone!?" Yelled Natasha angrily.

"Yes ma'am." the guard confirmed miserably. He knew he'd get pay cut for this one.

"Then what are standing there like an idiot for?!" Natasha asked furiously as she threw a pillow at the guard. "Go out there and get them back, you fool! Don't let them get away!"

"Yes ma'am." he nodded, turning on his heel to escape his boss's fury gratefully. "What ever you say."

***

"Hurry Tearesa! We're almost out!" Inaho huffed as she and Tearesa ran out of the gates.

However, springing from the shadows cast by the nearby foliage, the largest of the palace guards grabbed the both of them by the scruff of their jackets. "Ha ha!" laughed the guard, then sneered. "Thought you two could get away with it!"

Inaho and Tearesa had all but given up hope of a life of freedom when Max came running at the guard and bit him in his rear end. The loyal German Shepherd didn't understand the entire situation, only that his two girls were going to be hurt, so he retaliated in the only way he knew how. With his teeth.

"YEEEEEAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!" roared the guard in pain as he grabbed his sore rump, releasing both Inaho and Tearesa from his grip.

They took off with a shouted "Thanks Max!" over their shoulders and disappeared into the woods.

Max only sat, his ears perked and his tongue lolling to the side as he chewed lustily on the guard’s torn trousers.

***

"You Idiot!" Screamed Natasha from one of the castle's windows, now wearing a purple robe for modesty sake. "How could you just let them go!"

 

"That mangy mutt of theirs snuck up from behind and bit me!" the burly man protested from the ground, still rubbing his posterior.

"How dare you use that tone of voice at me!" Natasha barked at the guard.

The man had enough sense to cower. "Sorry Lady DeMon-Hitomebore! I did not mean to raise my voice at you."

 

"Never mind that!" shouted Natasha impatiently. "Just go after them! If they enter the woods during this time of night, we may never find them!"

"Yes ma'am!" said the guard and he went off to round up some of the castle guards to help.

Moments later the guards were in the woods with flashlights and mean looking rotwilers searching for the girls.

"Find anything yet?" one of the guards asked another.

"Not yet."

"Well I hope we find them quick." spoke up a third. "This place give me the creeps."

"Don't tell me you believe any of those rumors about these woods being haunted do you?" asked another.

"Well, you never know what you would find in here." added a fifth guard, laughing evilly for the benefit of his comrade's already spooked nerves.

"Just shut up and keep searching!" barked the lead guard. "The only thing that's scarier than the woods will be Lady DeMon-Hitomebore if we don't find those girls!"

 

"Don't worry Sarge," said the first guard. "They couldn't gone that far."

How little that guard knew. Inaho and Tearesa used to play in the woods when they were little, and as a result, knew it very very well. However, just as they reached the end of the tree line, they were spotted.

"I found them sir!" shouted one of the guards.

Inaho and Tearesa froze like two deer caught in headlights. Both were too terrified to move. Despite the fact that they had enough gumption to try to flee, they were both very young and that much fear was bound to catch up on anybody, child or no.

"Good work soldier." Complimented the large guard and turned to the girls. "Now then... why don't the two of you be good little girls and come back home. Your momma's worried about you..."

"Never!" Spat Inaho. "We'll never go anywhere with you!"

"Why you little..." The large guard lifted his hand to strike Inaho's insolent face, when some of the trees mysteriously seemed to move, blocking the large guard from the Hitomobore sisters.

The other guards screamed in panic. "I knew it!" screamed one. "These woods are haunted!"

The entire group proceeded to run out of the forest in complete fear.

 

"How did that happen Inaho?" Tearesa asked, once the men had vanished into the night, forgetting them in their terror. "I don't know Tearesa." Inaho confessed. "But I'm not going to stick around and find out. Come on!"

 

Both of them grabbed their belongings and ran like mad out of the woods.

***

A few minutes later the scared guards were taking a breather.

"What did I tell ya? This place has too many weird things going on for me!" Said the guard who had screamed first, still catching his breath.

 

The large guard's cellular phone rang and he answered it. "Hello" he greeted.

From the other end, the other guards could just make out a rakish female voice, making chills run down their spines.

It was Natasha.

 

"Oh it's you Lady DeMon-Hitemobore." Said the guard nervously, confirming their fears.

"Answer me!" shouted Natasha, loud enough for the entire company to hear.

"Well, you see ma'am we were this close, to getting them when all of the sudden these trees some how moved by themselves and blocked our way." He explained the best he could, but Natasha didn't by it.

"Fool!" she yelled in his ear, and he held the phone away from his head as the others around him winced in sympathy. "Did you expect me to believe that! How can a bunch of trees made you lose the girls!?"

"It's a sure mystery to me, your Ladyship." The guard confirmed.

"No more excuses!" Natasha hissed angrily. "I don't care how do you get the girls just go get them! And if you don't get them by morning, you're fired!" She slammed her phone on him, nearly shattering his ear drums.

The large guard closed up his phone and turned to his troops. "All right men you heard Lady DeMon-Hitomebore." He barked at the guards. "We gotta go find the sisters or else we all be looking for new jobs!" Perhaps, he thought, being fired wouldn't be so bad. It was certainly better than the other things his boss sometimes did when she was upset. He honestly didn't blame the little girls for fleeing.

"But sir! This forest...!" began one of the other men, but was cut off by his leader.

"No excuses!" he shouted. "Now get a move on and find those girls!"

"Sir, yes Sir!" said the other guards, who saluted and took off.

"Man, I hope what we saw was a mass hallucination." The large guard told himself and followed the troops.

***

At that very moment, Inaho and Tearesa were at the village train station getting tickets for the last train of the evening. "Do

you have any one way tickets to any place that is as far from here as possible?" Inaho asked the ticket cashier.

 

"Just these last two for Bucharest." Said the cashier holding the tickets up. "But you better hurry because it's the last train

today."

"We'll take them." Inaho said, almost desperately, and slammed down a was of cash, which earned her a suspicious glance from the elderly man in the ticket wicket.

Just as they stepped onto the virtually deserted platform, one of the train conductors saw Inaho and Tearesa running toward him. He helped them on board after they flashed their tickets, and helped them to their seats.

"You two are lucky that you got here in time." He said with a warm smile. "If there's anything you need just let me know."

"Thank you." mumbled Inaho as the man returned to his duties.

"Are we going to live in Bucharest?" Tearesa asked sleepily as she snuggled into the crook of her sister's arm, the movement of the train lulling her back to sleep.

 

"No Tearesa." replied Inaho, yawing, "Bucharest has an airport. Once we get there, we will find a plane to America and we'll finally be free. I got enough money from the vault to at least pay for our air fare and a place to live."

"Really, are we going to live in America?" asked Tearesa brightly, trying to stay awake.

"Yes my little sister." Replied Inaho with a tired smile, and brought Tearesa's sleepy head back to rest against her arm. "In America we'll be free do what ever we want and we'll never have to live with our wicked stepmother ever again." Inaho laughed wearily, realizing how much like an over-worked fairy tale she sounded.

 

"I wish we could've bring Max and Grandma with us." muttered Tearesa as she finally dropped off.

Inaho looked at the window and her smile faded when she saw the castle passing by. "Me too Tearesa." whispered Inaho, her own eyes feeling heavy. "Me too."

***

Back in the castle, a lonely old woman in a wheel chair gazed lovingly at the train, her white hair knotted at the nape of her neck and her back bent with years of gravity and unpleasant situations.

 

Behind her was a tall shadowy but feminine figure with long silvered hair and pointed ears sighed.

"Thank you for saving both of my granddaughters." Said the old woman. This was Grandma Elenore. "I wish I could be with them right now but alas my illness prevents me for doing so. It will be lonely without them, but at least they are safe and will finally be free from that awful Natasha."

 

A slender black gloved hand was placed with loving familiarity on the old woman's shoulder.

"At least I still have you, my dearest best friend and my most loyal servant." The old woman took hold and the gloved hand and looked up in the sky "Oh great ancestors." She prayed. "Please look after my granddaughters and let them find true happiness, for I shall truely miss them." A trickle of tears ran down her cheeks as the mood faded behind a cloud.