The morning sun rose into the sky, casting bright golden light across the peaceful stone paths of Blackwood Cemetery.
Inside the small wooden cabin, the warm sunlight streamed through the wide window, filling the room with a gentle, cozy glow.
On the plush brown couch in the corner, B shifted under her blanket. She didn't open her pitch-black eyes. She didn't sit up to greet the day. Instead, she reached out with her small pale hands, grabbed the top edge of her soft blanket, and pulled it all the way up over her head, completely hiding her entire body underneath.
She was feeling extra snoozy today.
Her frail fifteen-year-old body felt light, warm, and deeply relaxed. The soft cushions beneath her back were simply too comfortable, her pillow was too soft, and the blanket kept out all the world's troubles. She had zero desire to move a single muscle.
She slept straight through the early morning hours.
When 9:00 AM passed, she was still fast asleep, snoring softly under her blanket. When 11:00 AM arrived, she didn't budge. Even when the sun reached its highest point directly overhead, marking the middle of the day, the white-haired grave keeper remained completely buried under her blanket, lost in a deep, unbroken slumber.
Outside the cabin, hidden under the shade of the tall ironwood trees along the outer wall, the eight Vanguard Exorcists were wrapping up their long night patrol.
The Commander tapped his wrist-mounted radar screen, checking the spectral readings for the hundredth time.
[ AETHER DENSITY: 0.00 % ]
[ ALL TARGETS: NEGATIVE ]
The Rank 4 Dread Class entity was officially gone. There was no residual cold, no tar-like slime, and no trace of dark energy anywhere in the cemetery.
THU-THU-THU-THU-THU-THU!
The dark green military transport helicopter returned, hovering just outside the main iron gates to pick up the squad for extraction.
The Commander pressed his ear-comm button to report to headquarters. "Director Vance, this is Vanguard Squad One. The sweep is completely finished. We have confirmed with absolute certainty that the Rank 4 threat is gone. We are preparing for helicopter extraction."
/Understood, Commander,/ Director Vance replied over the radio line. /However, before you board the transport, check on the civilian inside the keeper's cabin one last time. Our thermal sensors show she hasn't left the building all morning. Ensure she is alive and unharmed./
"Roger that, Director," the Commander said.
He gestured to his deputy, and the two heavily armored soldiers glided silently across the grass, stepping onto the wooden porch of the cabin.
The Commander leaned forward, peeking carefully through the wide glass window into the quiet room.
Inside, he saw the small, lump-like shape resting on the brown couch, completely covered from head to toe under a soft blanket. Every few seconds, the blanket would rise and fall in a steady, peaceful rhythm, accompanied by a tiny, faint snoring sound.
The Commander blinked behind his tactical visor.
"Is she... okay?" his deputy whispered, raising an eyebrow.
"She's fine," the Commander whispered back, a faint smile touching his lips under his helmet. "She's just extra lazy. She's been sleeping like a log all morning."
He tapped his comm-link. "Director Vance, civilian status confirmed. She is completely fine and deeply asleep. Requesting final extraction."
/Permission granted. Return to base, Vanguard One./
The two soldiers stepped softly off the porch, joining the rest of their squad. They ran through the iron gates and climbed into the waiting helicopter.
THU-THU-THU-THU-THU-THU!
The heavy helicopter lifted off into the sky, turning west and flying away into the distance until the roaring sound of its engines faded into absolute silence beyond the horizon.
The exact moment the helicopter vanished past the distant hills, something strange happened inside the cabin.
Kick!
On the brown couch, B's short legs suddenly kicked outward, tossing the warm blanket straight off her body.
She stood up off the couch in a smooth, fluid motion. Her pale feet touched the wooden floorboards, her long, floor-length white hair spilling over her soft green dress.
However, her face remained completely blank. Her pitch-black eyes were shut tight, her eyelashes resting still against her pale cheeks. A tiny, steady snoring sound escaped her lips as she stood perfectly upright.
Snoooore... z z z z z... z z z z z....
She was fast asleep. Her mind was totally unconscious, trapped in a deep dream, but her physical body had entered her mysterious 'sleepwalking state.'
Without opening her eyes, the sleepwalking B turned her body toward the wooden table by the window.
She walked over with slow, eerie grace, her small pale feet making almost zero noise against the floorboards. She stopped right in front of the table, where the three-fourths remaining apple pie sat inside its plastic cover.
She pulled out a wooden chair and sat down neat and proper like a guest in high class restaurant.
Then, without her small hands touching anything, the clear plastic cover over the pie lifted into the air on its own, floating gently to the side of the table.
A large, golden chunk of warm apple pie broke off from the crust, floating through the air like magic, right up to B's face.
B opened her mouth, and the floating piece of pie slid right in.
Nom.
Nom.
Nom.
She chewed the pie, swallowing the sweet baked apples and cinnamon crust in neat bites, all while continuing to snore softly through her nose.
Snooooore... z z z z z...
One by one, the remaining pieces of the large apple pie floated up off the plastic tray, drifting straight into her open mouth. In less than three minutes, the entire rest of the grandmother's apple pie was completely devoured, leaving the plastic tray spotless.
Once the pie was finished, B stood up from the wooden chair.
She turned around and walked straight toward the heavy metal front door. Her small pale hand reached out, unlocked the metal latch, pushed the heavy door open, and stepped out onto the porch steps.
The afternoon sky above was covered in light grey clouds. It wasn't hot, and the cool shade made the graveyard feel calm and peaceful.
The sleepwalking B stepped off the porch and onto the dirt path.
As she walked, both of her slender arms raised straight out in front of her chest, hovering parallel to the ground like an old-school movie zombie. Her head tilted low toward her chest, causing her massive, floor-length white hair to spill forward over her shoulders, completely covering her face in a thick wall of snow-white strands.
Snooooore... z z z z z...
With her eyes shut, her arms raised forward, and her long white hair veiling her face, she looked like a terrifying, ghostly phantom wandering through the quiet cemetery.
She glided slowly down the dirt trails, moving in wide circles around her wooden cabin.
Whenever she passed an old tombstone, a broken cross, or a mossy burial box, a faint, invisible pulse of pure, void-like spiritual pressure leaked out from her body. Any lingering wisp of bad energy, any stray cold draft, or any minor phantom lurking in the grass was instantly crushed, devoured, and absorbed into her vessel as raw spiritual fuel.
What felt to her unconscious mind like a peaceful dream about sweeping leaves was actually a continuous, terrifying purge of the entire graveyard.
She wandered through the rows of graves for hours, moving with creepy, effortless grace, her long white dress fluttering softly in the afternoon breeze.
Swish.
Swish.
Swish.
She walked and walked, sweeping the grounds clean of every speck of dark energy, completely unbothered by the passage of time.
Slowly, the afternoon light began to fade. The light grey clouds turned orange, then purple, and finally faded into the pitch-black darkness of night.
The moment the last trace of sunlight vanished from the sky, the sleepwalking B stopped her slow circle around the graveyard.
Her raised arms dropped back down to her sides. She turned her body around, walking slowly back toward the center of the clearing.
She stepped up the porch steps of her cabin, walked through the open metal doorway, and pushed the heavy door shut until it clicked into place.
She shuffled across the wooden floorboards, stopping right beside her plush brown couch.
She climbed onto the soft cushions, lay down on her back, pulled the soft blanket all the way up to her chin, and tucked her head comfortably into the pillow.
Her steady, soft breathing never changed for a single second. She rested on the couch as if she had never left it at all, completely unaware that she had just spent her entire afternoon sleepwalking through the cemetery like a terrifying monster.
"...no more... overtime... please.... z z z z z....." B whispered softly into her pillow, curling her legs up as she sank right back into her deep, cozy dreams.
Author's Note
EliteToeCollector
Thanks for reading!