Chapter 1
The old plantation house where Bonnie would be staying came into view as she turned sharply at a dusty road sign, and she could feel the muggy Georgia air surround her even inside her car; the still dampness clinging to her skin. She turned off the air and rolled down the windows in defeat; upon her nearing the house she eyed the peeling and yellowing rustic exterior of the two-story relic. The ageing structure still stood proudly in stark angular contrast to the flora that had been neatly planted in her youth and now grew up and out from the house. The overgrown garden merged into wild grass away from the home, which slowly gave way to the swampland surrounding it. With the reality of her situation washing over her, tears now threatened to fall from Bonnie’s eyes. She could feel the heat creeping up her cheeks from her neck as she reflected on the reason of her retreat into her old family home. Bonnie had gone through a particularly rough year of politics, a man whom she considered a radical right wing lunatic stole her seat in congress leaving her disgraced. No longer needing to live in the city and feeling abandoned by her voters she left within a week to the only constant place of refuge in her life. Reflecting on this, she felt panic rising in her chest and struggled to focus on driving and driving alone. The rose bushes that bordered the driveway trembled in the slow Georgia wind defiant and dark red against the faded pastel background. She was almost there.
Parking the car and looking up at the house looming over her, she fell back into her seat and attempted to regulate her breathing her chest was rising and falling at an alarming pace. Outside the shadow of the house stretched toward the swampland. After calming herself down she pulled herself out of her car, and was hit by the warmth of the sun somehow intensified by the screaming cicadas and the sweet smell of jasmine growing on the side of the house. Surveying the landscape around her, she started to pull her suitcases out of her car; she took note of the encroaching swamp on the right side of the property; the cypress trees steadily creeping towards the house as rainfall became more common in the area. Bonnie remembered playing near the swamp when she was a child with a friend, running about in the early summer catching fireflies and climbing trees. Her memories were hazy and the other girl’s face always obscured, but she remembered the girl being a little older than her and having to struggle to keep up with her adventurous spirit, wild raven hair whipping through the foliage. Bonnie blinked at the swamp and strained her eyes trying to remember more, she could almost see her swinging through the trees. Wait. Was there something in the trees? No, she laughed to herself, shook her head and rolled her suitcases to the porch glancing behind her once more before heading inside the house.
The wheels on her suitcases drowned out the creaking of the floorboards as she padded through the house, disturbing layers of dust and making the sunlight almost tangible through the open windows. She decided to stay on the upper floor merely out of habit as she had resided there as a child. Getting settled into her room, Bonnie noticed the light quickly retreating outside and her body becoming tired from the day’s journey; the cicadas outside now slowly dying out only to be replaced by the croaking of frogs. The scent of the jasmine wafted in through her window which prompted her to take out her botanical journal that she had kept up with since she attended college, her major being in environmental science. Flipping through the pages with nimble fingers worn from years of studious writing and experimenting she found what she was looking for and jotted down a few notes.
Outside, the sun just disappearing over the horizon, something lurking in the shadows of the cypress trees made its way to the edge of its swamp and stared out- surprised to see a single light on in the long abandoned house.
Turning in her bed Bonnie found herself both exhausted and restless, she laid in her bed straining her eyes in the darkness staring at the cracks in the wall and analyzing the thread count of her sheets with her fingers. She could hear the grandfather clock in the hallway rhythmically ticking away the time, the frogs outside mingled with the distant hooting of an owl. Amongst these there was a soft crunching sound outside. Propping herself up on her elbow, Bonnie closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the window. The snap of a twig and a sick feeling in her gut prompted her to hastily scramble from her bed into her shoes and out of her room. She hesitated and doubled back to grab a scalpel from her desk before heading downstairs. Walking into the kitchen, hair sticking to the back of her neck, Bonnie noticed that the night had become suddenly silent. She stepped softly towards the back door navigating her way around the counter and table, stubbing her toe on the way and stifling a yelp. Reaching for the rusted handle of the door she paused the feeling of dread making itself present once more, her grip tightened in the scalpel and she chewed on the side of her mouth as she twisted her hand around the door knob.
The door opened with an abrupt creak and the still night air caressed her face as she peered into the heavy darkness. Scanning the edge of the swamp, her eye caught on a pair of blinking lights and she foolishly thought they were the reflective eyes of some huge animal before dismissing the idea and realizing that they were just fireflies. She shifted her weight and held her breath- were they fireflies? Against her better judgment, Bonnie took a few steps forwards. There was definitely a large shadow obstructing the tree line and those lights were so perfectly still they couldn't be insects. Fear made it’s way into her stomach but scientific intrigue overrode the feeling. She needed to know what was out there. She crept to the edge of the porch and was hit by the smell of damp freshly turned earth and fungus? No. Something that was beginning to decompose. The shadow moved quickly ducking into the foliage and out of sight the moment Bonnie gasped at the scent. She ran inside to grab a flashlight and stumbled back out fumbling with the switch until the beam pierced the night revealing a new mound of dirt in the yard.
Time moved slowly as Bonnie processed to the disturbed earth; her body betraying her as she trembled violently. Bugs scrambled out of the way of the beam as it passed over the recently unearthed, mangled corpse of some poor creature. With a sound that she did not know she could make, bonnie screamed which was a short and quickly stifled event because the shadow seemed to move in the corner of her eye.
The woman from the house found the gift but didn’t like it. Marceline gripped the earth with her claws as she thought about her plan of action. She remembers how to be human, but she didn't want to visit just yet; she wanted to give a gift. That plan had gone poorly maybe adult humans don’t like dead things as much as children. Children were easier to deal with she missed the one she used to see at the house... the one who liked to study bugs and run through the cypress with her. Stepping closer to the woman Marceline decided to present herself as a human of a similar age her claws and wings folding in and shifting under her glamour she shrinks down as she walks towards the light.
Out of the shadows walked a woman with long dark hair that stuck to her forehead in the Georgia heat, her skin illuminated when it hit the light showing off strong cheekbones and lithe muscle. Stepping towards the mound of earth she looked at bonnie apologetically and nodded towards the animal saying,
“sorry about this we shot it a few days ago on the property and I came back to give it a proper burial. I didn’t know someone had moved in.” something about this woman made bonnie feel dizzy she knew that she should ask questions about hunting licenses and reasoning but all that came out was,
“what is your name?”
“Marceline”
The strawberry blond woman was attracted to her, which made the lie go down easier when it was told. Marceline looked the woman up and down and finally asked for her name as well to which she replied,
“Bonnie, sorry”
In a flustered manner. Marceline smiled at this,
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
She crooned gliding closer to Bonnie; maybe this human will be fun after all.