Adelaide’s abnormalities

*This story is under my folder “The Anstead family”. Gacha Club character designs are under this forum: https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/topic/117842-my-character-designs-lt-33-3?start=135. Enjoy!*

Introduction 

Adelaide Anstead, Samantha Anstead’s younger sister, found comfort in the fog and in drawing the horrors, for her older sister was much too vibrant, much too colorful, for her liking.

She loved her sister and she loved her Mom, but sometimes she wondered if life would be better within the gloom and shadows, if she could take time for herself.

And though Adelaide knew that her quiet nature would put off people, she wished that they weren’t horrified by her, that they spent time talking to her, because her preferring to be alone wasn’t what they should have been afraid of.

It was her being a vampire that should have terrified them.

Chapter One

“Do you want to go out into the woods later?” Samantha asked suddenly.

Adelaide was in the bedroom that she and her older sister, Samantha, shared, lying on the hardwood floor drawing pictures of blood and all manner of things gory on a piece of paper when she heard Samantha speak.

So Adelaide looked up from her paper, at Samantha who was doing some glitter art thing on the chair at her desk and asked:

“What if we get lost?”

Samantha’s lips had curled into a grin and then she said with a chuckle:

“We’re not weak humans, we can survive long enough in the woods if we get lost! Also, we won’t get lost because we’re not going too far!” 

Adelaide didn’t quite agree with Samantha’s ideas, for she was always thinking of new ways to begin ridiculous, maddening things, but she said nothing and continued to draw, hoping that Samantha would drop it.

She didn’t.

Chapter Two

“Come on, Adelaide! Don’t you want to go outside and experience something that’s not all doom and gloom?” Samantha asked, her high, wheezy clown voice on the very edge of annoyance.

Yet Adelaide pushed aside any foul words she wanted to say to her sister, collecting herself as best as she could, and said:

“It’s doom and gloom to you, but not to me. You like stuff with glitter and bright colors, I like stuff that’s dark and creepy. We just like different things, that’s all.”

Adelaide didn’t look up from her colored pencil drawing of twisting trees and a bloody body standing in the middle of it, for she had to make it absolutely and positively perfect, then she heard Samantha speak up again:

“Yes, that’s fair, but we spend a lot of time inside already and I’d appreciate it if you could join me outside.”

Adelaide understood that, but Samantha could have literally just left to go outside without her. Why did she want to bring Adelaide along? Did she really like doing things with Adelaide that much? Was Adelaide willing to put down her black, white, and red colored pencils just to join her sister on something to do in the expansive, nondescript, bug-infested outside?

“Alright, I’ll finish this later. I’m almost done with it anyway.” Adelaide said, putting down her black colored pencil.

“Yay! It’s going to be so much fun!” Samantha beamed, jumping right from her chair in the speed of light, probably faster than that, even, and snatched Adelaide up from the ground.

Samantha was squeezing Adelaide a little hard, but she could feel Samantha’s joy seeping over to her, and Adelaide smiled a very, very small, not quite noticeable, grin.

Maybe the outside wouldn’t be as bad as she thought, with Samantha around.

Chapter Three

“Isn’t this all so pretty?!” Samantha asked, cartwheeling throughout the woods, her red, glittering tutu a blur as she did so.

“I wish the sun wasn’t out right now, but yes, it’s pretty, I guess.” Adelaide mumbled, staying close to the trees. She had to agree that the vibrant, colorful flowers dotting the ground were very, very pretty, but the sunlight was just too distracting and she couldn’t get burned by it and-

She felt herself being hoisted up into the air by Samantha, who was carrying Adelaide over her shoulder. They were still under the cover of trees, only Samantha was holding her.

Chapter Four

“I’ll stop when we get to the big tree! That’s where I hung my bag overnight, on one of the branches. It’s got sticks and fabrics inside of it, so that we can have the perfect fort! I’ll drop you off at the tree and then I’ll climb the trunk and take the bag! After that, we’ll get to working on the fort! How does that sound?” Samantha asked as she ran-or walked, Adelaide wasn’t too sure, Samantha was fast with both-still holding her. 

“You hung a bag in a tree trunk filled with sticks and fabrics last night…because you want to make a fort? Do you even think that the stuff inside the bag will be enough to make a fort? Why do you want to make a fort? What’s the point of it? I-“

“Who cares about what the point is? It’s fun! Haven’t you ever experienced joy from fantasy movies of children making forts to experience the whimsy and woes of childhood whilst fighting evil villains? Or do you only like drawing the goriest and bloodiest things your sad, lonely mind can come up with?” Samantha beamed, going on in her usual tirade that was supposed to make Adelaide “rethink” her love of gore and that she was supposed to enjoy “nice” things.

“I’m not sad or lonely! Don’t say that! I just like spookier, scarier things. That’s just how I am. But…if you think that you can make a fort with what you have, without problems, then I guess it could be fun.” Adelaide said, because while she was annoyed with Samantha for seemingly missing the entire point of their conversation earlier when Samantha judged Adelaide’s drawing hobbies, Adelaide was willing to see how building the fort would play out.

Hopefully Samantha would actually start listening to her.

Chapter Five

Adelaide was then set down under a shady tree, while Samantha climbed up another tree to grab a glittery blue and green sequined bag hanging from a tree, then she threw it on the ground and from the bag, many sticks fell out.

Samantha then began to build those sticks out into a fort, Adelaide came out from under the tree and tried to help as much as she could, for she could not leave Samantha to do the work by herself.

But seriously, did Samantha really have time to hang a bag of sticks on a tree branch? Perhaps last night she did it. Yes, that made sense.

Chapter Six

“I didn’t really think that this was going to work, but it’s actually really pretty!”  Adelaide beamed from her spot under the tree.

She and Samantha had just finished making the fort, Adelaide added some wildflowers in for a magical touch, Samantha added in colorful and patterned fabrics from her bag for whimsy, along with silver tinsel that winked in the sunlight.

Samantha seemed proud of it too from how she grinned wider than she normally did, before running away and leaving Adelaide by the tree.

She’s probably going to eat some animal in the woods. Adelaide thought as she rolled her eyes, for Samantha was always hungry after any type of work that required more stuff with her limbs, work that wasn’t jumping and cartwheeling.

Chapter Seven

Adelaide crept over to the fort under the shadow of the trees, so she could be in the comfort of darkness, secluded away from all.

The silence gave way to thoughts of twisting trees and maggots in leaves, thoughts of all things creeping and crawling, all things unsettling swirling throughout her mind.

The shadows and silence were solitude, a sign that everything was calm and clear, that she could be far from everyone and everything, and exist where there weren’t any bright colors burning into her brain, giving her a headache, just like the noise of the outside.

Adelaide could be safe with all that looked gloomy enough to decay.

Chapter Eight

After a while, Samantha walked in with a limp, bloody squirrel in her claws, the salty, metallic scent of blood spilled circulating in the air. Adelaide hadn’t realized how hungry she was until Samantha plopped the squirrel in between them and then, she peeled off bits of its flesh to eat, making sure that Samantha would have some too.

They were both monsters, they needed the taste of death to live. People may have been frightened of them, but they didn’t need to be, because it wasn’t like they would eat the people.

Mom said that it was wrong, so of course, they’d listen to her.

At least it was just Adelaide and her older sister in the fort, no bug-eyed humans staring at them and making Samantha feel bad.

Just the two of them in their wonderfully secluded fort, disconnected from the blinding brightness of reality.

Chapter Nine

Adelaide stuck her fingers into the dead body and licked the blood off of her claws, a warmth settling into her from the calmness of it all. Though shadows may have formed in the darkness, there was a sense of tranquility from that darkness, for the lights were not there to blind.

The creatures of the darkness also looked less scary than humans. Seriously, how could humans live with all of that flesh stretched upon their skin? It was disgusting and-

The door creaked open.

Chapter Ten

A human girl walked in, her eyes wide with curiosity. Adelaide felt the strong, strong desire to tear through the girl’s flesh and teach her a lesson, because she had no right to be in their fort, no right to be near them.

The human girl’s eyes fell upon them both, becoming flickered with shock and fear as though she wasn’t expecting them to be around. Maybe she didn’t even know that they existed.

That didn’t matter. She still came. She was still afraid. She would be just like every other human except for their Mom. Afraid of something just because of what she saw, unwilling to hear them out.

Already, Adelaide could feel Samantha’s storm of guilt forming, unintentionally radiating over to her. In any second, her sister would chase after the human girl with apologies for making her frightened and trying to get the girl to be her friend, all the while Adelaide would be alone.

Adelaide may have liked the solitude, but she wished Samantha would just stop caring about humans for one second and realize that most of them deserved nothing more than to die.

Chapter Eleven

The human girl took off and ran. Samantha got up, her face ridden with anxiety and cried out:

“Wait! Don’t run! We won’t hurt you, I promise! Come on, I’d love to have more people over! We won’t eat animals, we’ll have a tea party! We can play pretend! Come on! Come-“

“Samantha, we should go home now. It’s almost lunchtime.” Adelaide said, putting a clawed hand on her wrist. She didn’t want to watch Samantha run, she didn’t want the girl to leave.

“But we already ate.” Samantha said as though she wanted to shrivel up within herself.

“Mom could have dessert.” Adelaide suggested.

There was only one human that Adelaide would ever love and that was Mom, who treated both her and Samantha with kindness, who made wonderful desserts and who never let them down.

Dessert would make everything better.

Chapter Twelve 

Once Adelaide and Samantha made it home, they both asked for ice cream from Mom, because one could never go wrong with ice cream and so, Mom made Samantha a bowl of vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles because Samantha loved everything to be extra sugar, and Adelaide was given a bowl of red velvet ice cream with chocolate drizzle, as it resembled a bloody heart the most.

Adelaide said nothing at the dining room table, as there was nothing of importance to say, but it was quite unusual that Samantha was incredibly quiet. She usually filled the air with her annoyingly high-pitched voice, so why wasn’t she speaking? Was she still upset about some human?

“Samantha, is there something wrong?” Mom asked.

Ah, so even Mom knew that something odd was going on!

Chapter Thirteen 

Samantha didn’t say anything, just looked at Mom, then back at her ice cream, then back at Mom.

The silence and tension felt so awfully heavy and annoying that Adelaide wished that someone would say something. Was Samantha too embarrassed to even talk? Because Adelaide wasn’t about to say what happened. It wasn’t of any importance to her and if Samantha wanted to feel better, she had to speak up for herself.

Adelaide just wished that it was soon, because she wanted to eat her ice cream without the awkward quiet in the air. Because it wasn’t calm, but awkward.

Chapter Fourteen

“I know that you’re thinking about something, what is it?” Mom asked, sitting in a chair next to Samantha.

Was she finally going to do it? Was Samantha finally going to get rid of the strangeness that was in the air?

“Me and Adelaide built a fort outside, then we got hungry after that, so we started eating, but then this human girl saw us and started to run away. I was chasing her, trying to get her to stop, but she wouldn’t listen. Are we really that horrifying?” Samantha asked.  

Adelaide was ever so grateful that Samantha spoke up, but she had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes, because why would Samantha ask such a question? Why would she even care about what they thought? Adelaide still felt bad for her, but…Samantha was older. Wasn’t she supposed to not be scared of things?

Again, why did she worry so much about humans? Would Adelaide ever know?

Chapter Fifteen 

“No, you’re not horrifying at all. It’s just that people take one look at you and see what you are, not who you are, especially kids. You’re only ten years old now, you’re going to find friends later on in life, I promise. Now, for lighter news, the both of you will be getting another sibling!” Mom said with a smile.

Well, at least Samantha looked like she calmed down, but…what was that Mom said about “another sibling” again?

“Really?! Why? I don’t want another sibling, I’m fine with Samantha! Why-“

“Adelaide, don’t give me that attitude. Be happy that you’re now going to have someone else to play with.” Mom said in a sweet voice that somehow felt predatory.

Adelaide didn’t know if Samantha could catch the slight offness in Mom’s tone, but maybe she did, with how Samantha looked like she wanted to crawl within her own skin.

Adelaide hated to make Samantha upset, but she had to get her point across to Mom, she couldn’t let Mom go through with her ridiculousness, so she yelled out:

“I don’t need somebody to play with! I don’t like games! In fact, I HATE games! Games are so stupid and boring, there’s no murder or blood in it. Just a bunch of rules that don’t make any sense. I don’t want to play any games, EVER! I-“

“Stop yelling! You’re hurting our ears! And Adelaide, having a sibling isn’t the worst thing in the world. It’s not even bad. It could be good for the both of you to have someone else around, right, Samantha?” Mom asked, turning towards Samantha.

Why did she just do that? She made Samantha feel even more nervous than before, Adelaide could see it in how she bristled in her seat! Not only that, but she was turning the conversation to someone else! She should have just kept talking to Adelaide, Adelaide had more to say!

“I’m a little nervous about having somebody else here, but I’ll try to be positive. We could be friends with each other over time.” Samantha said with a small smile, her eyes holding a bit of pain.

“See? That’s the attitude I’m looking for! Now, finish up your desserts and then the both of you can watch TV!” Mom said, getting up from her chair.

Mom may have been satisfied, but Adelaide wasn’t and she would let it be known how much she didn’t tolerate what Mom was doing.

Chapter Sixteen

Days had turned to months and eventually, Adelaide found herself in a hospital, watching Mom give birth to the new sibling, Samantha and Dad standing next to her.

The idea of having another sibling wasn’t something that Adelaide was really hoping for, but she tried her best to get used to the idea of someone else being around. Maybe she could show the new sibling all of her drawings and they wouldn’t be weirded out by it like Samantha was. Adelaide certainly did like the sight of blood that came from the birth, it reminded her of an autopsy, which reminded her of morgues, which reminded her of her wonderful drawings and the sense of home that came from them!

“It’s a boy!” The nurse cried out, pulling out a baby with wolf ears atop his black hair and a bushy wolf tail curled around his legs.

The nurse looked a little shocked that she was holding what appeared to be a baby werewolf, but she didn’t say anything much about it and just handed the baby to Mom. Samantha smiled, Dad looked like he was trying to hold in puke, but Adelaide wondered how Mom could keep giving birth to monsters.

It was fascinating, really.

Chapter Seventeen

It was late into the night, many months since Alastair was born. Alastair was two, Samantha was twelve, and Adelaide was nine.

Because they ate dead animals that Mom gave them, the animals still fresh with blood, there was no need for them to hunt at night, but sometimes, as Adelaide lay in her narrow bed with white lace sheets, she wondered what it would be like to truly be by herself, to bask in the moon’s light, to-

As she lay in bed that very moment, she wondered, why not get up and see for herself?

Chapter Eighteen 

Adelaide pulled away the covers and walked up to the window, pushing it open and stepping outside. It was late enough for everyone to be asleep, for even Mom to still be asleep, because sometimes, she would hear Mom hunting for animals outside in the early morning hours.

Adelaide had thankfully landed on her feet, having better balance and athletic skills than that of a human. The cool wind brushed past her skin, the moon shone amongst the string of stars in a sky.

Nobody around to bother her.

Chapter Nineteen

Adelaide ran out of her backyard, through the backyards of other houses that were close to hers, then on the sidewalk.

Perhaps she could go to the woods for a bit. Maybe blend in with the night. It’d be better than having to lay in bed, eyes wide open.

She’d like to feel the freshness of a kill that was all her own, something that wasn’t brought to her by Mom, she just…she needed something different!

Chapter Twenty

Adelaide smiled as she ran throughout the woods, the trees twisting like bones in a coffin, the cool air moving her long, black hair like the autumn leaves in the spicy-sugary Fall wind.

She ran past the fort she and Samantha made, still standing with glittering tinsel on the brown, molding wood, amazed at how it could still be there, but more so, she wanted blood. She wanted it all alone and all to herself, she-

She could smell it just a few feet away from her, the perfect kill.

Chapter Twenty-One

Adelaide peered through the trees and found a rabbit running amongst the leaves. She knew that it wouldn’t be human just from how the blood smelled, but she was still a little disappointed that she wouldn’t taste human blood.

No matter. Meat was meat, in her eyes. The rabbit did not see her, but she could make out its brown fur amongst the darkness.

She ran towards the rabbit, claws outstretched to snatch it.

Chapter Twenty-Two

It ran from her, its eyes wide and almost white with fear, with the intent to burrow itself away, but Adelaide was faster and she grabbed it, drinking away its blood, under the light of the moon, relishing in its high pitched screams.

It may have screeched and kicked, but she wouldn’t let it go. Oh, how good it was to kill something by herself, to know that she was meant for more, to be all by herself!

She’d be sure to lick any remaining blood off her claws.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The hospital lights were straining her eyes, but Mom wanted the whole family to come. Two years had passed and Adelaide was witnessing the birth of yet another sibling.

But in that moment, that sibling had teal skin dotted with scales and dark orange hair, its teeth shining brightly. Mom had looked at the baby and dubbed it “Aiden”, her brown eyes shining with all the love in the world.

Huh. Dad’s eyes didn’t really shine at all.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Why is there brown powder around the basement door?” Alastair asked.

He was crouched next to the basement door, Dad was in said basement, watching movies, Mom was in the upstairs bedroom, feeding Aiden, Samantha was in the fort, and Adelaide was just walking throughout the halls when she saw Alastair next to basement door, brown powder surrounding it indeed.

“I’m not sure. Maybe Dad forgot to clean it up?” Adelaide asked, because she hadn’t seen the powder before.

She walked up to the door and placed one claw in the powder and-she had to jerk her hand back, for smoke drifted off from her fingers and she could feel it burning throughout her skin.

Alastair’s eyes widened in shock and he almost reached out towards the powder, but Adelaide swat his hand away, for it was absolutely no use to test it out!

What was that powder?

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Mom!” Alastair called out. Adelaide was grateful that her skin didn’t melt, only got scarred, but she wasn’t sure how long it would take for Mom to get downstairs or if she would even do anything about it at all.

“I’m gonna go get Mom.” Alastair said before running off.

Adelaide could already hear Dad coming up the basement stairs as Alastair ran off to get Mom, she thought of running, yet Adelaide was rooted right to the spot in shock, and-

“What’s wrong? Why are you just standing there?”

Chapter Twenty-Six 

Dad was looking at her as though he were shocked, but Adelaide did not know how she would answer him. Should she tell him about the powder? What if he knew about the powder? What if-

“Why is there powder around the door that burns Adelaide’s hand?” Alastair asked.

Adelaide turned around and noticed that Alastair was standing behind her, Mom right next to him with Aiden in her arms.

“What do you mean?” She asked, confusion scrawled on her face.

Adelaide didn’t hesitate and put her claw on the powder, Alastair doing the same before she could even stop him, and both of them screamed, pulling back their claws as the skin melted off and-

“Dylan, what is this?!” Mom cried out.

“There’s no need to worry, it’s just to keep the bugs out. Maybe they had an allergic reaction to it in their own way. See?” Dad asked.

He put his hand on the powder and strangely, it didn’t burn. He was perfectly fine.

So then why did theirs burn? Why was it there at all? Adelaide didn’t like the way he said “bugs”, he said it with too much hate, with too much violence, as if there was something deeper to it.

“Dylan, come upstairs. We need to talk.”

“But-“

“Now.”

Adelaide and Alastair watched as Mom and Dad walked away, towards the upstairs bedroom. Adelaide could feel her head and heart swirling with ideas that were all merged together, that didn’t make too much sense, and she asked herself:

Why?

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Adelaide was yet again at the hospital, thirteen years old, watching a new sibling be born. Mom had said it would be the “last” sibling and that Dad would be “better”, but how could that be possible when Dad hardly left the basement or was always going out to “see his friend”?

The nurse had pulled out a boy who looked human enough, but Adelaide couldn’t imagine that he was purely human, only because Mom kept having monster children.

Looking up at Samantha, who stood next to her, she could tell that Samantha might have thought the same thing with the grim thoughts circulating from behind her bright pink eyes.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

It was late into the night. Days had passed since David was born and still, nothing changed. Dad was still in his basement and that powder was still there.

Adelaide lay in bed, thinking of the night she ran away and killed an animal all by herself in the woods. Nobody in her house woke up. Nobody noticed her. Nobody stopped her. She remembered liking the feeling of blood that wasn’t her own running down her lips, the stench of death in the air, the power she got from putting something so weak, so frail, down into its place.

But was that how Dad felt when he put the power around the door? What was that powder, anyway? Why did it burn her and Alastair’s claws? Why was it still there? Wouldn’t Mom have wanted to get rid of it if it hurt them both? Didn’t she love them? She did, Adelaide knew that.

Nobody ever told her what the powder was, just like how Mom didn’t tell her why she wanted more kids, why Dad kept staying in the basement, why-

“Adelaide, get up right now.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Adelaide shot up from her coffin-shaped bed, turning her eyes towards Samantha, who stood at the doorway. For the very first time in her life, Samantha looked like she wanted to dig deep into someone’s skull and let them feel the pain for an eternity of lifetimes.

“What-what is it, Samantha? What’s going on?” Adelaide asked. Even though she wasn’t sleeping, she didn’t feel tired at all. Just hazy and confused from when Samantha brought her out of the haze of late-night thinking.

“Mom and Dad were talking about us downstairs. Dad was talking about how he didn’t understand why Mom wanted to have us as kids and that we creeped him out and then Mom was telling him to stop thinking that and then he-he shoved a huge shard of glass in her eye and she just…she bled out. I-“

“She bled to death?!”

“Yes! She bled to death. Dad really hurt her and now we all have to kill him so that he won’t go hurting us and-“

“What?!”

“Don’t look so surprised, Adelaide. You’ll be good at killing. We all will be. Dad always feared us and now he’s going to learn what it means to hurt someone we love.”

“Samantha, hold on-“

Samantha had turned around and ran off to their brothers’ rooms. Adelaide sat on her bed, picturing Mom bleeding out on the floor, Samantha watching it all, Dad hating them forever…was the powder something to kill them? Did he stay in the basement all day because he didn’t want to see them? That had to be the case, right? It all made sense right then and there, but still, how would she do it? How would she kill him? How was it all happening so fast?

Tears burned at Adelaide’s eyes. How could she not have heard it all? How could her hearing not catch the horrors downstairs?

She must have signaled it out as white noise, just like every other loud noise that would be going on at the time she wanted to relax and enjoy the night.

Chapter Thirty

When Samantha went into their shared room and told Adelaide that they’d ought to get to it, she didn’t hesitate to listen.

She and their brothers, even David, followed Samantha to the basement door. Samantha knelt down in front of the door and pushed away the powder with her claws, wincing as it burned her skin and sharply whisper-yelling at the others to not help her.

The five of them made their way downstairs, to where Dad sat watching a Halloween movie they cared not to know the name of.

And thusly, they jumped up on him from behind, tearing through his frail, feeble flesh and letting him know that hurting Mom was not an option.

Adelaide was used to feeling happy about killing, but in that moment, as Dad screamed for help he did not deserve, her mind was filled with shock at how he could do such a crime and anger that he did at all and to Mom, no less, the one person who loved them all as monsters despite it all.

In that moment, she ripped him apart like she never ripped apart living creatures before.

Epilogue 

Samantha had led everyone else to live in an abandoned cabin in the woods after the ordeal. Nobody knew the story of the cabin, but they were all grateful to have a place to stay in.

Sometimes, Mom visited them as a bleeding angel with blackened wings. She had told them that she was a “corrupted angel”-too good for Hell, too bad for Heaven, so she was an angel, but not quite and she was bound to Earth.

While Adelaide liked living in the middle of the woods, with the bone-like branches and the fresh smell of rain dropped leaves, she missed Mom’s hugs, Mom’s smiles.

And even in death, Mom still wouldn’t tell them why she loved Dad at all. Adelaide would always love her Mom, that was a given, but everything felt so muddled, so constricting, that she wished that things made more sense, that things didn’t have to end so violently.

But at least she and her siblings were alive. Though they were monsters and did not know why, at least they would always be able to survive and that was the most important thing, right?