Chapter 4: The shopkeeper

Alice woke in her dream, she was aware it was a dream, lucid dreaming? Not sure. She was back in the mansion, someones bedroom. Sat in front of a dresser was a lady wearing a fancy dress, she was beautiful, her long black hair flowed along her back, her crimson eyes reflected on the mirror as she apply red lipstick. Her shadow began moving in strange ways. It moves away from underneath her, taking shape into something abnormal, the red eyes of the monster jolt open from within the shadow as the dream abruptly ends. I open my eyes to see that I was still at Claras. It seemed Clara was already awake as she was no where to be seen. Alice hadn’t originally planned on sleeping over but the sudden run in with the craver threw things off. She freshens up and heads downstairs, Clara was sitting on the couch eating a bowl of cereal, she had also set aside a bowl for her, how thoughtful.

“ So, you were right. Now what?” Alice asks sitting down next her friend. She looked dazingly at the tv, “ That really happened?” She asks, Alice nods as she munches on her cereal. They sat in silence for a bit, only the sound of chewing and the tv could be heard. Clara would break the silence, “ Theres a store not far from here, I’ve only been a few times with my grandfather, they always talked about weird cultural stuff I didn’t really care about then but I think its worth checking out,” Clara suggests, its not like they had any other clues, so Alice agreed. Before they did visit Clara's mystery store they dropped by Alice's home so she can change into something clean, something other than pj pants and a shirt.

Sitting on the countertop was a note from Alice's mom, she had left lunch in the fridge in case she gets hungry, she decided to pack it and take it with her. The portion size was fit for two people, it seemed her mother assumed Clara would be dropping by, or she has some kinda foresight power. Most likely not. Alice and Clara head to the shop, the news hadn’t reported any new deaths, was it because they ran into monster before it could find anyone? The store wasn’t very hard to find, but it also doesn’t stand out, objects of all kinds sat on display in front, a worn out sign hung atop that read, “ Karma Relics”, an interesting name. The shop inside was compact, shelves lined with objects of all kinds, at the back sat the counter where people could make purchases, nobody seemed to be here though. Sat in a glass casing near the back of the store was a gold white and reddish revolver, it was propped up on a red cushion, a dim light illuminated down on it. Alice had never cared much for firearms before but there was something different with this one…something wrong? She didn’t really understand what she felt, how odd.

“ This one catch your eye?” a new voice calls out on her right, “ uh, I was just…looking,” Shes says looking to the shopkeeper and then back to the firearm, the man wore a nice brown suit, his black hair slicked back. He looked to be in his mid 50s, he heads back to counter where Clara stood waiting,

“ Hello Clara, what can I do for you today?” He asks with a gentle smile on his face, “ What do you know about really tall slender monsters with sharp claws?” Clara asks immediately, just jumping right into the main topic. The man lets out a short chuckle, he rubs his beard for a bit before answering,

“ Theres an old folktale centering around the, “ Collector,” its a story told to misbehaving children back in the day that a fearsome monster would drag them away if they were naughty. I believe the monster you’re describing is just that, a monster from a kids tale,” it ws an interesting tale, one Clara didn’t care for, considering how shes seen one in person, even taken a photo, the same photo which she is showing the shopkeeper, he took one glance at the photo and his smile is gone. He picks up the photo and looks at it more carefully, making sure its not fake, or I assume thats what hes doing. He puts it back down and reaches behind the counter, next to our photo he places an old worn out photo, one that shows the exact same creature, only this one was different in height.

“ Fragmented souls is another name for them, I’ve been slowly learning about them, they exist but thats all I know,” The keeper says leaning back against the wall, “ So then where’d you get that photo?” Clara asks putting her photo back into her pocket,

“ You know the abandoned mansion down a couple of blocks down from here? I found it outside the home, on the lawn,” the keeper explains, Clara dons a more serious look, I had a suspicion as to why.

“ Thank you, we’ll come back if we find anything new,” She says, ushering me out, instead of turning left to go home she urges me right, the same direction the old mansion is. My suspicion was right. She wants to search the house. First we go monster hunting, in the streets, now an abandoned old home nobodies been in for who knows how long? How wonderful.