Marie-Zombies of Mariesville

*This is the origin of a character from my story “Zombies of Mariesville” and it’s underneath my folder titled “Zombies of Mariesville”. Gacha Club character designs are under my forum titled “My character designs<33”. Enjoy!*

Far off in the woods, there lived the Lavein family. It was in a mansion on a hill that seemed to simmer with magic that the Lavein family had spent their days and nights. The family was of Mr. and Mrs. Lavein and their children, Marie and Jackson Lavein. They were a family of witches and spent their time learning magic and cultivating their craft, ever so intent on getting better and better at what they did.

Both children were very much fascinated by the magic in their lives, as most kids would be, except they both expressed it in different ways. Marie would spend her time at the garden, swept away by the beauty of the vivus plants, yellow vegetables shaped like the letter C which supposedly brought the living undead back to their human state, according to spell books that she had, and simple lavender flowers that she liked to use for healing potions.

Their parents both gave them spell books and let them hang out at the garden, but somewhere along the lines, when they got a little older, Jackson stopped coming to the garden altogether, spending his time instead with a boy the same age as him named Elvis who lived in a house that was just a bit further from the Lavein’s. Jackson wished to show Elvis and only Elvis his own powers.

Marie wasn’t upset about it, per say. She was just a tad lonely.

She wasn’t too keen on having to search the whole woods in an attempt to look for a friend who may not be there at all.

……………………………………………………………………….

1936-Flashback

“Look! I’m making lavender flowers grow! Isn’t it just gorgeous?” Marie asked as she placed her hand on the ground, laughing in delight at how the lavender flowers twisted and turned from the gaps in between her dirtied fingers.

She and Jackson were outside in the garden, the sun glimmering from atop the trees on an airy pink sky. It was early in the morning, their parents let them go outside before breakfast was made. It was Marie’s favorite time of day because it seemed like the whole world was waking up, that the freshness of the cool night had seeped into daylight.

Jackson frowned and furrowed his brows, as though he thought that her idea wasn’t very exciting at all. He always didn’t like what she did, nothing she did ever made him happy.

Marie let the lavender flowers crawl back into the Earth, the plants slightly tickling her skin. Oh well then. If he wanted to be boring then that was his choice. She’d find a way to make him smile. There was always a way.

“Wouldn’t it be cooler if you summoned a demon?” Jackson asked suddenly.

Marie hitched a breath, shell-shocked that he had ever said such a thing. Their parents let them read about demons in the history books, but they had so vehemently warned them both against ever summoning demons or even mentioning them, as it would bring about the presence of evil.

And Jackson had just said it so casually.

“No, Jackson. Summoning a demon would only hurt us in the long run. There are other ways to do magic than to summon a demon. You know that.” Marie said.

He sighed glumly and sat slumped on the ground, digging his finger in the dirt as if he so desperately were trying to occupy himself with something to do, something to distract himself with.

So Marie brought her arm out and wrapped him into a side hug, caressing his black hair.

He didn’t deserve to be sad.

………………………………………………………………………

1941-Flashback

Marie lay in the garden outside, playing with a strand of her lavender-colored hair. At least, that was the color she wanted it to be. Her purple hair was a much lighter shade than actual lavender flowers, but she wanted to say that it was lavender because lavender was wonderful.

Lavender smelled so heavenly. Lavender rose out of the ground prettily. Lavender made her feel as though she could rest for hours upon hours upon hours, without any interruptions. Lavender made her forget for a moment that the only real friend she had was Jackson and that he didn’t spend as much time with her as he used to.

No, Marie wasn’t mad at him. Not at all. She wanted her little brother to be happy. But it got hard sometimes when it felt like she was an only child.

“Marie!” Jackson’s voice called out…wait, Jackson?

Marie sat up from the ground and turned around to face Jackson.

He was standing at the end of the garden, his green eyes seeming to glitter in the moody afternoon sun, a smile on his pale face. He was smiling, which is something that Marie had rarely seen from him.

Standing next to him was a boy who looked to be around his age. His blue eyes were downcast, Jackson whispered something in his ear that made him lift his head a bit higher than before.

“Marie, I want you to meet my friend, Elvis. Elvis, this is my older sister, Marie.” Jackson said, gesturing to Marie.

Marie waved at Elvis, Elvis awkwardly waved back. She had heard stories of the boy that he liked hanging out with, the boy he thought was so sweet, but she didn’t really think much of his existence being a significance until she saw him right then and there, cementing him in reality.

“Can you show him a magic trick? I want him to see all the lovely things that we can do!” Jackson beamed.

So Jackson did like what Marie did? He really appreciated her?

Marie placed her hand on the ground and let her happiness bloom inside of her like a flower, like how the lavender flowers grew from between the gaps in her fingers, like how much bigger the smile on Jackson’s face had gotten and how Elvis himself grinned at what she did.

Her brother did care. Perhaps she did not initially see it, but it was always there.

………………………………………………………………………

It was the year 1943. Marie was fifteen years old, Jackson was thirteen years old. Marie had grown more used to Jackson spending time with Elvis and she in fact, had grown to love Elvis as though he were her second little brother. Their parents loved Elvis too and had only warned Jackson to stay away from Elvis in case he turned out to be a rather rotten person.

But that was not Elvis. Elvis was a curious human boy who was both in awe and terror of the Lavein family’s powers. Their parents had only said that to Jackson because they wanted him to be careful, but everyone in the house knew that Elvis wasn’t someone to worry about.

Like many other days, Marie was roaming down the hall of the mansion, running her hand through the smooth surface of the wall, carelessly letting lavender flowers grow on the wall. While the flowers never stayed long enough because there was no dirt in walls, she still did it anyway, for she loved the way the flowers tickled from her fingers and seeped into the walls, bringing life to dull white paint. She had learned to let lavender flowers grow wherever she liked from the spell book and intended to use that to her advantage, letting her light spread wherever she liked.

She did other things too, like rest at the garden. But for that day, that day with a chill in the air, Marie decided to stay inside, watching the lavender flowers grow and letting her lavender hair flow.

She didn’t know why she was born with violet hair. Mother said that some witches were born with different colored hair because their energy was more present and thus, it came out in vivid hair colors.

If that was the case, then was Marie calm? Most of the time she felt a sort of calmness within her, but that one day when she was fifteen, that one day, there was a certain nagging, persistent fear. The flowers kept on growing and yet, her mind was screaming about Jackson, asking herself:

What, exactly, did Jackson do with Elvis all day? If his hair was black, then what was his energy? Was it all dark and corroded? Or was it simply muted? Was Jackson as happy as he seemed? Was-

“Marie!” Jackson called out in a sobbing, shaking voice.

Marie abruptly moved her hand from the wall and ran up the stairs, towards Jackson’s room. Once there, she swung open the door and…

Jackson sat on the ground, staring at a fading image of Elvis being tied down by pulsing, bloody strings, all congested together to look like veins that had tangled up.

Marie walked up to Jackson and sat next to him, wrapping him up in a hug just like she did all those years ago. What they were both seeing was only a ghostly vision of what a demon was doing to Elvis. If they were seeing a ghostly vision from what a demon did, then that meant a demon was summoned, and that the demon was showing them an image of torture before it went on its way.

It was all in the books.

“I just wanted to show him all what we could do. I wanted him to be impressed. I didn’t think that I…that I wouldn’t have enough control…that a demon would have more power…that…it’s…it’s all…it’s all…my fault…it’s…”

Jackson broke off into shaking sobs, unable to continue. Marie said nothing and placed her hand on the ground, searching for the demon’s presence.

Walls…darkness…silence…a woman…a woman with malice tinted around her…claws…teeth…torture…soulless eyes…empty eyes…not…quite…human…

Marie closed her eyes and focused on the “woman” hiding in the walls, the woman who had exuded too much hatred for her to be of the living world, whose name was Helena Blackrose, her name screeching in Marie’s mind.

She couldn’t let her hurt anyone. Not for a long time. I need to keep her in my grasp…keep her trapped…

Marie let her energy seep out of her in lavenders, propelling herself to let her terror fester within, to let her fear become something stronger, something that was to be reckoned with. Flowers would do nothing to trap Helena, she needed to strangle her…keep Helena away…

But inside of her was boiling, burning panic and the force of Helena’s wickedness trying to bury her in the ground, cram her into the Earth…she had to keep fighting…she couldn’t let Helena win…she couldn’t let Helena overtake her…

Marie’s lavender flowers burst into purple smoke that leaked through the open cracks and hidden crevices of the house. She could feel the energy crawl out of her and strangle Helena within the walls, keeping her in a firm grip.

She allowed the energy to push her farther and farther into the walls until Marie couldn’t feel anything at all, until she felt that she could safely let go, for the remainder of her energy was keeping Helena in the walls, and most of it crawled back to her.

Marie opened her eyes and took deep, slow breaths. She needed to be calm for Jackson. She couldn’t let dread rule her life or else she’d lose everything she held dear.

“She’s trapped for now. I used up a lot of my energy to keep her in this house, but I don’t know how long it will hold. I think she’ll be here for many years, though. I looked at the book. I learned how to trap demons from the book.” Marie said.

Jackson’s cries were quieting down, but his tears were still present. He still felt the loss lingering in him, Marie supposed.

“We’ll just say that a demon broke through the magic barrier of our house and that I trapped it. We won’t tell them that you summoned the demon. They’ll believe me because even the toughest magical barriers can break from a demon’s touch.” Marie said.

Jackson swallowed down his sobs and asked in a timid voice:

“Is there a way to get Elvis back? To save him?”

Well, Marie hadn’t read about saving victims from demons. As far as she knew, if demons captured anybody, they were as good as dead.

But Jackson’s green eyes were so full of sadness and he held onto Marie as though she were his lifeline, and she said:

“I haven’t read about people being able to save others from demons, but I’ll look for a way. I’ll help you get him back. I promise.”

She then wrapped her other arm around him, so that both arms were enveloping him in a hug filled to the brim with her love.

She’d try to help him if that made him happy.