Challenge Submission Cherry Cottage

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Challenge Submission Cherry Cottage

Alex Gold

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Linda looked out of the window happily. Outside was the Cherry tree that gave her cottage its name - full in bloom. There were small birds twittering about the tree, filling the morning with peaceful melodies. It was certainly a beautiful morning. Linda had to pinch herself, she couldn't believe it. She had gotten the cottage that she wanted and she had just married the perfect man. She could positively

Linda had always been a friendless soul, who had resigned herself for a lonely existence. That's why she couldn't believe it when George had taken notice of her. He had to say very plainly that he was in love with her because otherwise he wouldn't have thought anyone could love her. Before, she had felt ugly, unwanted and unclean. But now, she felt like the most beautiful woman in the world.

It was a whirlwind romance, taking place over the span of two months, which finally ended with both of them getting married and moving into Cherry Cottage. It was a picturesque place, with trees all around the place. the nearest town was a good five miles away. But that didn't bother them. Linda had grown up in a bustling town, and had grown fairly sick of all the noise and chaos that made up of living there. So when George showed her this place, she was instantly enchanted and wanted to buy it up immediately. They had just settled in, Linda hadn't even fully unpacked her boxes. Well, at least the stress of moving was over, and she could finally look around the place.

Linda heard footsteps and soon she saw George who was coming up from the basement. "How are you doing Ms Featherly ?" George asked with a smile. Linda blushed. She was still getting used to her married surname. "I'm doing very good Mr Featherly. What were you doing down in the basement?" she asked. George smiled, "I was just setting up my mancave down there. For some personal Me time. Please don't go down there, you might mess up the placement of some of the things down there. " He was still smiling but there was a hard glint in his eyes. Linda just nodded at him, she was willing to agree with everything at the moment. "Of course, honey. " George relaxed and kissed her forehead.
"I'm going outside to the market in town. Will be back soon. Stay safe. " With that he walked out quickly in the direction of the town.

Linda looked at him longingly till he disappeared from view. Linda didn't really know what to do with herself so she decided to clean up the house. She dusted all over the house till she got to their bedroom. She was dusting the drawers until she came to the drawer at the bottom of the cabinet. Very early on, George had mentioned that he was going to keep sensitive documents there and to never try to open it. The drawer was kept locked at all times. It was one of the things she wasn't allowed to see, along with the mancave.

She hesitated, she had already said she wouldn't peek in on his private matters. But then, she suddenly had a memory of her mother telling her that the husband and wife should keep no secrets save for the one thing their family was ashamed of, which was so shameful that it wouldn't be mentioned to another soul out of their family. But minor secrets should be shared completely with each other. Did George have a secret that was as shameful as hers that he had to keep it locked up ? Surely not, nothing could be worse than her secret. The secret that her mother begged her never to reveal to anyone.

She would have left it alone, but when she had gotten closer towards the drawer she had noticed a faint smell. She bend down again and sniffed. It was certainly something though she didn't know what. Her curiosity was piqued now. She wanted to know what was so important that she couldn't see. She went downstairs and got a bunch of keys that were for the other drawers and cupboards. Surely one of the keys would fit in this drawer. On the fifth key, she felt the keyhole turned and the drawer opened.

At first she was surprised by how mundane everything was. There were papers and documents that were important to George. She was about to lock the drawer back up when something in the far back of the drawer reached her eye. It was a little book, and she noticed that it was from there that the smell came from. She gingerly took the book out. It was a small, dark green book. Didn't look like anything special, but when Linda sniffed it, she could smell faint traces of cherry scent. George must have gotten the idea to spray it with this scent from the tree outside. But why would he spray that scent? Linda had always thought that George was a manly man who didn't even own a scent. Linda opened the first page and read, "George's Journal".

Linda had gone for enough already, she wasn't going to stop now, she turned the pages and gasped in fright. She almost dropped the book. In it, she saw pages of photos of girls under which were vile words which George must have done to them and ending with their death. She couldn't read anymore. She shut the book forcefully, put it back in the drawer and locked the drawer tight.

Her mind was whirling. Surely this couldn't be right. But then she realized that she had only known him for two months. She hardly knew him at all. Now he realized why he was so insistent on moving in together and on moving to this out of the way location. She was undecided as to what to do. Then she hit her head. She needed to call the police. That was obvious. Why didn't she think of that at once?

Then she heard some whistling and looking outside she saw George coming back with a bag in hand. She tried to calm her breathing down. She would just have to pretend to be the good housewife and then try to call the police when she was alone again. He was not to guess that she knew, because if he did guess, she would have to reveal her secret to him as well. And she didn't want to do that. She went down to meet him like normal.

George was in a good mood it seemed. He dropped the bag on a table. And came over and hugged Linda. "I'm sorry I told you not to go down to the basement. But if you want to see it, then come with me. " He dragged the unwilling Linda down some steps to the mancave. He carefully unlocked the door, went in and carefully locked the door again, then he pulled her through then pushed her on a chair. "You'll be my little prisoner. " He went to the side to take some rope. Linda shuddered, "I don't want to be" she said. George shook his head, an evil glint in his eye, "You've got no choice."

Linda looked at him calmly, "You leave me no choice then. " She seemed to grow out of nowhere. Her face changed and became narrower. Her neck became longer. Her whole body seemed to be covered with a dark brown fur that had appeared out of nowhere. There were sharp claws on her hand as well. George shrank back in fear, cowering until his back was pressed on the wall. "You humans couldn't call us by our names, our language was too difficult for you, so you called us Thielbars. " Linda snarled. "We may have a superior sense of smell, and speed but that didn't stop you humans from hunting us down. Long ago we had decided to become humans as well, just to fit in. That is my family's secret and you forced it out of me. I'm sorry but I will have to kill you now. Noone learns the family secret and lives. " So saying, Linda jumped at George.

After a little while, Linda, now back in human form came upstairs and went to the phone. She dialed the police, "Hello, police? Please come at once. My husband is dead! I think some sort of animal got him. Please, come quickly." and Linda sobbed into the phone to the best of her ability.
 
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