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"a sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost"
-anonymous

song to listen to: little lion man by mumford & sons (slowed)

warnings: descriptions of death, descriptions of corpses, descriptions of violence/riots, descriptions of blood, screaming, break downs, loss of loved ones, swearing, sequences of violence

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rosie peters's point of view

The second the screams sounded from Union, Josephine and myself ran to the frighteningly normal scene. Everybody was surrounding the Meeting House, screaming and shouting and banging on the doors and windows. It was utter chaos; and there was no hyperbole in the sentences, I speak the utter truth. I spotted Thomas in the crowd, who was busy shouting about how the Devil was in Union and how we would all pay for it. I couldn't hear that nonsense anymore; I dashed towards my lover and prayed that he could tell me what has happened.

"Thomas!" I shouted over the crowd; his head turned towards mine. "Thomas, what's gone wrong? Why is everybody in a panic?!"

"Pastor Miller's locked all of the children in the Meeting House, it's the Devil's doing!" He was shouting this, but not to me.

Thomas was shouting to all of Union. Pastor Miller took all the children and had them locked in the Meeting House-all of them? His words seemed to be speaking at least half the truth, so of course, of course it would be all of the children. What else would cause Union to go crazy like this if not the possibility of losing their children? If that were true, if all of the children were locked in with the presumably mad Pastor Miller, then...

"Julia..." I mumbled my realization aloud, and realized why everybody was panicking all at once. "Julia! Julia's in there, Jules is in there!" I followed a small group to one of the side doors; Solomon broke the door open and went inside.

Isaac and a few other men tried to hold Sarah, Abigail, Josephine, and I back from going into the Meeting House. Five seconds. Of course, we fought back-those were our siblings in there, after all. They were defenseless, we were the ones that would always defend them. They needed our help. Ten seconds. The longer the men held us back, the more unlikely it became that we would get to them in time. Twenty seconds. We were finally able to break through the door, the men's arms, and the whole lot of Union poured through the Meeting House.

It was a creepy sight to see; Solomon was on his knees halfway down the aisle, and all of the children sat in separate pews. I couldn't imagine the terror they must've felt upon being held captive by Pastor Miller, but they all seemed to be just fine. Speaking of which, I didn't bother to give Pastor Miller even a side eye, because at the moment, the only thing that mattered was my sweet Julia, and whether she was alright or not. None of the children were moving, but I assumed it was solely due to the fear and probable shock coursing through their veins.

I spotted Julia's reddish brown hair; although it was just the very top of her head that I saw, she was too small in size to be able to be seen fully in the pew. Father always poked fun of our youngest for her height, but I always defended her; 'give or take a couple of years and she'd be taller than you, Father', that's what I always told him. I ran towards her beautiful head of hair and bent to my knees, ready for Julia's sweet embrace.

But I was horror-stricken instead. I let out an anguished scream at the sight of my little sister with blood gushing from where her eyes should've been. Tears began to stream down my face, and I did the very best I could to keep my shaking at a minimum; I wrapped her corpse in a hug and let out a scream into her dresses.

"Julia, Julia no..." I mumbled in utter hysterics as Josephine came down to let out a similar scream to my own.

The Meeting House was soon filled with the screams and cries of mothers who never got to brush their daughters hair one last time, of sisters who never got to say their last words of love, and of brothers who never got to poke out one last joke of their youngest kin. There were other screams about witchcraft and how the Devil's come into Union, and I finally believed they spoke the truth.

The Devil had been welcomed into Union, the Devil targeted our Pastor and took our children so as to stop the bloodlines from continuing on. The Devil had only one intention, and that was to destroy Union. Taking the children and the pastor was a damned good start, I'll give it that. But now the Devil would pay, along with whoever invited the Devil to plague Union. And I'd make damn sure of that.

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"Father, Julia's been killed by Pastor Miller, and he's been killed by Solomon Goode, how on earth are you set to say that I've had something to do with this?!" I shouted in madness as the sun set on a dark day for Union, tears of anger and grief streaming down my face.

"You have something to do with every bad thing that's happened in Union, look around you! You caused the pigs to die, you are the reason Julia was still out and about, you caused our roof to cave two winters ago, you-" He didn't make any sense, and I could bear it no longer.

"Is that what you're going to tell Union?! When all the great men come to determine which of us women are witches?! Which of us have played with the Devil?! That your own daughter is responsible for the death of her youngest sister?!" I was shoved down to the floor-or at least, that was his intention, because Josephine caught me before any real damage was caused.

"Just go, Father. Do what you must." Josie didn't make any sort of eye contact with our father as she spoke to him; it was something she'd always been too scared to do.

I watched him walk out without saying goodbye, all of us did, even Mother. When he got as angry as he just did, the other women of the Peters claimed to 'know better' than to mess with him. But in my opinion, when a man gets on that high and mighty anger horse, they must be challenged-and not by a faulty Trojan Horse, but instead by a nightmare in disguise as a daydream. The tears that streamed down my face were a mix of both anger and sadness, and I began to cave into myself. Josie wrapped me in a sweet hug; and I clung to her as if my life depended on it.

"She didn't know, Josie, she-she didn't know..."

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oooooooohhhhhh what did julia not know?

how suspicious does rosie sound rn?

it's intentional bcuz it'll all build up to something that may very well be worse than rosie's inevitable death & mia's death

don't forget to vote and comment please!!

even you silent readers

yeah, i'm talking to YOU