Unknown Time

It took some time for Melody to settle down and get to sleep finally. She could not tell the time but still struggled in finally forcing herself to sleep, wanting to stay up and continue drawing in her new notebook, as well as due to her nerves. There was still that underlying fear, that the gargoyle or another monster would come in the night whilst she was vulnerable and kill her, though she had to be rational and remember the kindness that Corinna had shown her, which seemed genuine.

When she woke up, she waited in boredom, already having gotten bored with drawing, to spend the time lying injured on the sofa and instead resorted to attempts at paper folding that resulted in her making paper aeroplanes. The decadent gothic architect and aesthetic of the room was somewhat ruined by the discarded paper planes, as well as the cartoon drawings of frogs sprawled on the coffee table.

Eventually, Corinna came downstairs and gave Melody breakfast with little communication. This was how things were going to be it seemed. The rest of the day, Corinna would disappear, likely on the roof waiting for another portal to open, and like clockwork would come down to check up on Melody, handing her food or another piece of entertainment such as a jewellery music box with a ballerina inside, or a board game that could be somewhat fun playing by oneself, and then there was the awkward trips to the bathroom with the gargoyle aiding Melody to the toilet and waiting outside for her to do her business. Melody tried to coax Corinna to stay, hating the lack of company, how isolating it was to remain stuck on the sofa all day long, and how suffocating it was to be in that room, but Corinna would always leave so quickly, rushing away whilst Melody was in mid attempt in asking for her to play cards with her. Either Corinna had really bad hearing or was purposefully ignoring her as a rejection. Melody supposed she couldn't complain too much about her host after all she had done for her, and she could be in a far worse situation right now, she only hoped that her leg would get better soon so she could walk around and explore the place.

One evening, as Corinna was handing over dinner, Melody tried to show her her pyramid of cards she had successfully stacked on the coffee table, having spent most of the day doing so. Corinna looked at it for a moment, for quite awhile oddly, and then just gave a simple nod of approval before about to retreat out of the room again.

"Wait, I- the blood moon!" Melody blurted out, wondering if that would get the gargoyle's attention more instead of asking to play Cluedo. And she was correct.

Corinna paused, hesitating before opening the door and turned to face Melody.

"The blood moon is coming up soon, in a few days, yes?"

Corinna nodded.

There was a pause.

"Well, what is the plan?" Melody asked. "Does this place get attacked?"

The gargoyle reached for the whiteboard that was kept in the lounge to communicate with, and responded, 'no, cliff too difficult.' hen added, 'safe.'

"Oh, that's good." Melody bit her lip, desperately trying to find something else to keep Corinna to stay longer. "I suppose everything is boarded up already, we don't need to build any more defences?"

'Plenty already,' Corinna replied, then added, 'too many, overprepared.'

Melody smirked at that. "So, what do we do all day?" She hesitated. "What do you do all day? Do you still wait for the portal? They don't open during blood moons."

Corinna stared for a moment as if this was news to her, then she looked down at her whiteboard as if in consideration.

"How are you during blood moons? I'll be safe, right?" Melody laughed nervously to ease the tension of the question. "If you need a distraction we could-" She stopped as she saw the answer on Corinna's whiteboard. "You turn to stone? As in.. you freeze?"

Corinna nodded.

"For the whole blood moon?"

Corinna nodded again.

"Sorry, that sounds... scary..." Melody's voice trailed off, imaging being trapped in stone herself, wondering if Corinna was still conscious through it all. And then she thought about how even more alone she would be in the house, with Corinna just being a statue. Perhaps that was why the place was safe during blood moons, because monsters were drawn to others and not inanimate objects which is what Corinna would essentially be. What if a monster did attack? Melody would just have herself to fight against it, and she had no mask yet to transform into a monster herself. At the very least, her leg would be healed by then.

'I have weapons,' the gargoyle wrote as if reading Melody's concerns. 'You will be safe here without me.'

Melody swallowed, thanking her though her doubts and fears were not completely settled.

With that matter concluded, Corinna finally left the room to return to the roof and Melody was once again left alone in that isolating room, struggling to find something to alleviate the boredom.

*

Much to her relief, Melody's leg was healed enough for her to finally walk around and was no longer confined to the sofa. In the meantime, Corinna had been restoring one of the bedrooms, having moved a bed in which was previously a completely empty room. The bedroom was right next door to Corinna's, which made it all the more wanting to go inside and see those notes again about The Eternal Abyss but Melody fought the urge. After having a wash, Melody was given a new set of clothes, which she showed her appreciation, then frowned in confusion at first, noticing that all of them were green, her pyjamas, her new shoes, coat, trousers, t-shirt, everything. She shrugged, not having any complaints.

Now that she was able to up and standing, Melody wanted to immediately prove herself, wanting to help around the house and repay Corinna in anyway she can. She found the cleaning supplies in a cupboard and swept and dusted the whole place, which consumed her time, something to take her mind off of her fears for the upcoming blood moon and her loneliness, and then she tried to takeover the cooking of the meals, especially as she had guessed correctly that the gargoyle did not need to eat in her monster form, what with being made out of stone. Corinna rolled her eyes, eventually giving in and showing Melody where the food packets were stashed, not in the kitchen but actually in the floorboards in one of the empty bedrooms which Melody had completely dismissed. Smart.

However Melody's eagerness to be useful backfired as with Corinna no longer cooking and handing her meals, their interactions plummeted, being limited to when Corinna occasionally checked up on her before climbing back up that tower built on top of the roof.

Melody kept up the cleaning, making it a project to sort a room a day just so she wouldn't be left with nothing to do afterwards and happily explored the mansion, finding the secret servant tunnel between the kitchen and the servant's quarters, and the basement once she had gained her nerves. 

The entire sector was darker than others, with Melody wondering how she knew that after having only been in this one as far as her memories went, so even during what was the equivalent of day time was dreary, a layer of mist always present and rolling over the mansion and the courtyard. It took Melody an embarrassing amount of time to go outside with that mist, and seeing the graveyard and the statues, still expecting a number of them to reanimate and jump out at her. However she eventually enjoyed the place, having come with a routine of a walk to get some exercise and eating her lunch on one of the benches, getting a view of the large barren tree in the centre of the courtyard, from a certain perspective, it looked as if its branches were holding up the moon. As pretty as a picture it was, Melody struggled to look at the moon for too long, finding it discomforting as it was watching her, something about it so uncanny. Her attentions then moved to the tower which the gargoyle was improving, fixing up the damages from the previous escape attempt.

Now satisfied with repairs, or as much as she could be currently, the gargoyle sat on top of the tower, patiently waiting for the portal to open, calculating everything in her head, focusing on the battleplan should she succeed. And then her thoughts were interrupted when she heard something from down below. She peered over the edge and wanted to curse as Melody was climbing up the tower.

"Hi!" Melody shouted, gritting her teeth as her foot almost slipped off the footholds Corinna had created, but she only grinned after as if that wasn't an accident that could have killed or severely injured her.

The gargoyle made an 'x' with her arms, trying to signal to the woman that this was a stupid and reckless idea but Melody only pretended to ignore her.

"Sorry!" she shouted out with a stupid smile on her face. "Can't hear you! I'll come up to you!"

Not knowing how to stop Melody from climbing up the tall tower without hurting her, Corinna reluctantly waited, her arms folded crossly.

Melody eventually reached the top, slightly panting but still beaming, and then sat opposite the unpleased gargoyle. She waved at her. The gargoyle glared at her back.

"Got bored down there." Melody shrugged. "Thought I would see what was happening here."

Corinna continued to glare at her, then opened her mouth, about to sign something when she realised. She looked around, not having thought to bring the whiteboard up with her, never thinking of this scenario, but Melody had come prepared and handed her a notebook and pencil.

'Dangerous,' Corinna wrote, the pencil breaking through the paper and tearing it.

"Yeah, I guess it was," Melody laughed. "Shouldn't be here then, should you?"

Corinna then wrote, 'idiot'.

"Well that's hurtful." Melody pouted.

Corinna underlined the word 'dangerous,' and then motioned to the sky.

"Oh, the lasers?" Melody asked. "Well, it's only dangerous if the portal opens and what are the chances of that? It's random, well, it depends on when another prisoner gets sentenced here, so we should be fine. Anyway, whilst I have you here..." Melody produced a pack of cards from her backpack and began shuffling it. "What do you fancy playing?"

The gargoyle stared at her.

"No? That's okay, I'll play by myself. Don't mind me, carry on with what you were doing."

The gargoyle stared even harder at Melody as she placed cards down on the limited remaining space on the tower. 

'If I win you do down?' Corinna wrote.

"Sure!" Melody grinned, hoping that even after one game, Corinna might realise how fun it was and allow her to stay or at least continue playing another time. However Melody was absolutely crushed with Corinna promptly defeating her in a matter of minutes.

"Two out of three?" Melody suggested.

Corinna shook her head.

"Let's do two out of three."

'Sore loser,' Corinna wrote.

"Am not!" Melody gasped. "We just hadn't properly defined what winning is. Come on, another round?"

'Down,' the gargoyle mouthed this time far more seriously to the point where Melody didn't know whether to laugh or fear for her life.

"Make me." Melody struggled to contain her smirk.

Before Corinna could respond, she shot upwards to her feet, looking up to the sky.

"What is it?" Melody got up too, wobbling as she could see how far up they were and then she felt it too, the change in the wind. The sky opened up and Melody was temporarily blinded by the spotlight shining down on the tower. Corinna reached for her grappling hook, about to swing when she realised that Melody was in the way to get enough momentum. She made an attempt but the hook did not reach high enough.

"I've got it!" Melody rushed forwards, almost toppling off the tower's summit as she caught the fallen hook, Corinna having to steady her.

'Down,' the gargoyle mouthed with a snarl baring her stone teeth.

Melody knew when not to provoke her further and immediately began to climb down the tower, cursing as she saw the playing cards scatter in the wind. She paused in climbing and peered up, seeing the silhouette of the gargoyle climbing up the rope into the light, whilst somehow heaving up a slab of corrugated metal sheet to block the upcoming onslaught of red beams of magic. Melody marvelled at the sheer force of willpower and endurance, especially with no hands, having been focused on her own survival the first time she saw it. And then she realised that if the portal was opening, it must mean of course that another prisoner was being thrown down. What was Corinna's plan? To ignore them and hope they survive? The drop from here would not be fatal, but fall wrong and it would break your neck or your back. No longer concerned about her own safety, Melody concentrated on the portal, trying to predict which side of the tower the prisoner would roll off of the gargoyle's metal shield and fall to. After hearing a scream of terror, Melody leapt into action, reaching out and grabbing the falling woman by her wrist.

The woman continued to scream, flailing and panicking.

"Hold onto the tower!" Melody yelled, struggling to hold on, her grip slipping. Fortunately, the woman swung herself closer to the tower and no longer needed Melody's support. They climbed down the tower together to the flattened part of the roof and the woman broke down into incomprehensible tears of gratitude.

"It's okay! You're okay!" Melody consoled the woman. "You're safe here. We'll keep you nice and fed and warm and-" She paused, wincing as she realised that she shouldn't be promising anything without Corinna's input, this was her house.

As Melody had feared but simultaneously rejoiced, Corinna had not managed to escape. She remained on the top of the tower, defeated, having not able to climb up the rope in time but managed to salvage the end of the grappling hook for her next effort. At the very least the tower was more intact compared to the last endeavour.

The woman continued her sobbing mixed in with gratitude before completely freezing in fear as the gargoyle descended the tower, jumping down deftly with a thud.

Melody had to remind herself that monster masks were not common knowledge and the woman did not see a human transformed but an actual monster before her.

"We can help her right?" Melody hushed aside to Corinna. "That whole 'wouldn't have survived without others' kindness?"

Corinna stared at the new prisoner for a while before motioning to the back of her neck.

"Oh, her crime! Yes, fair point." Melody nodded, then approached the woman slowly, easing her gently back up to her feet, offering a hand. "It's okay, you're safe," Melody ushered, calming the woman who was still transfixed on the gargoyle, her knees weak. In the distracted state, Melody peered around, catching a glimpse of the brand on the woman's neck.

Melody grimaced, her smile waning as she glanced back at Corinna. "Uh... on second thoughts... I think its best you go on by yourself."

"What?" the woman whimpered, dazed after so much happening within a span of moments.

"Yep, we've done our part, off you go or my friend will eat you."

The woman didn't need telling twice. She screamed with what leftover energy she had as she bolted down the stairs, blindly making her way through the large mansion.

Melody turned around sheepishly to face Corinna, her head bowed, cowering as if expecting her to unleash an outburst of anger for again ruining her escape attempt but the gargoyle was strangely calm, looking more listlessly at the tower.

Melody swallowed, her hand reaching around to her own back of her neck, feeling scratched scars and wondering what crime was branded under her skin, or if there even was one. "What's your brand?" she asked quietly. "Can't really see it using your mask. Are you... are you safe?" it was a poor choice of words and perhaps too late to ask after staying in the mansion for so long. Melody herself didn't know if she was 'safe' to be around either.

Corinna moved her arms, positioning them to form a 'T'.

Melody hesitated. "Terrorism?" she asked slowly.

Corinna shook her head, forming the T again.

Melody's eyes widened, then guessed, "trafficking?"

Corinna shook her more violently at the accusation.

"T? T?" Melody paused in thinking.

Corinna mouthed the word slowly and Melody made an attempt at sounding it out before eventually getting the correct answer.

"Treason?"

The gargoyle nodded.

Melody laughed. "Oh, treason." Then looked away, letting out a sigh of relief.

There was a long pause. 

Melody shifted awkwardly on her feet. "I'm sorry. I didn't think- I wasn't thinking," she said. "I shouldn't have gotten up there. It was stupid and selfish and I ruined everything for you again."

Corinna did not respond, she stared for a moment, then eventually reached for the notebook and wrote, 'without you there, that woman would be hurt.'

"Yeah, well... not completely sure I would have done it if I had known what her brand was." Melody shrugged, glancing at the floor. "Don't think I would have been that nice..." She paused as she felt something tap her head and she looked up, seeing the gargoyle pat her head as if in consolation, before silently heading down the stairs. 

*

Whilst it seemed that Corinna wasn't mad, Melody's brain went haywire, overreading every interaction they had after the failed escape attempt. She made endless apologies, doubled the amount of cleaning she did and anything else she could think of to make it up for her mistake, but the gargoyle reacted little to it, still calmly dismissing it all. Though Melody sensed that it was not quite indifference to the whole situation, but perhaps a calm acceptance of her failure.

The blood moon soon dawned on them and Melody waited in the lounge where most of the windows were blocked out in defence, boarded up though some pinpoints of light burst through. Melody watched these thin lines of light on the walls, the ceiling, and the floor, waiting for them to turn red. She clutched a sword that Corinna had given her for protection, and though there were plenty of other rooms that were more fortified or in a better position to defend from, Melody wanted to feel calm during the blood moon and that meant somewhere familiar to her instead of a cold and dark basement. In preparation, Melody had hoarded every single source of entertainment for the whole day, knowing that she would be unable to sleep regardless of how much Corinna remarked it was safe in the mansion.

Yet already Melody was bored, flicking the playing cards that she had managed to salvage and see how far across the room she could get them. And then to her surprise, Corinna entered the room, a playing card hitting her in the chest.

Melody shot up from her seat, apologising, despite the fact a playing card would hardly hurt anyone especially a stone gargoyle.

Corinna shrugged it off, then hesitated before eventually sitting down in an armchair facing Melody.

"Uh," Melody began. "The blood moon's soon. Are you... going to be alright?"

Corinna paused, then nodded slightly. And then after a moment she motioned to one of the board games on the coffee table.

"You want to play?" Melody grinned.

Corinna nodded, and wrote on her whiteboard, 'it will help for blood moon.'

"Ah, yeah, a good distraction!"

Melody set up the board and the pieces, explaining the rules before they began. Though she had played it before against herself, Melody soon realised how bad she was with Corinna as her opponent and the game was over quite quickly. Corinna apologised for her astounding win, and then suggested a different board game, one with less strategy and more random chance; Snakes and Ladders.

They took turns rolling the dice and moving their piece that many spaces, going up the board on the ladders and down with the snakes. There was one particular snake which both of them kept on landing on which resulted in both of them being frustrated and laughing, or at least Corinna seemed like she would be laughing if she had a voice and her facial expressions weren't limited being made in stone.

So consumed in her turn, Melody didn't notice that the light had began to change, fading into a scarlet red, thin lines crossing the room.

"Your turn, Corinna," Melody said, after celebrating in finally triumphing at passing that particular snake and getting close to winning.

But there was no answer.

Melody looked up and saw the gargoyle still sitting in the armchair, however its position was fixed, not moving at all.

"Corinna?" Melody swallowed. Though Corinna had warned her that this would happen on blood moons, she was not quite prepared to witness it, to see her friend freeze in place, to essentially become an inanimate object, or perhaps even paralysed and trapped within her own body.

Even still, Melody called out to her, waving her hand before her for a reaction, shaking her shoulder, asking her to come back, before sitting back down on the sofa in resignation, that she would be spending the whole blood moon alone.