THE RISE OF THE DAMNED

The lace adorned wedding gown displayed on the mannequin remained aged, but the silk bodice was untarnished. Time had not withered the gown, however, their was a shimmer in the fabric that did not look nice. Draped with silk, the edges had a dim shimmer, which emitted something odd.

A draft moving under her cloak caused Emily Carter to shiver as she caught eyes with the peculiar wedding shop. She remained in disbelief about the supernatural, but the legends and heresay about the Veil of Sorrow was something that couldn’t be simply neglected.

In her late night newscasts, she had heard of a dress that so many people wore, but those who did were bound to death and Emily had to suffer through many quirky encounters as an investigative journalist, but they are nothing now compared to this one. The last sight of the dress was in Blackwood, a rural town which sat on the outskirts of nowhere.

After traveling on barren roads for kilometers with minimal satellite connection, she finally arrived at the building.

"Seems like you're lost in the wrong series of places," were the first Mrs. Holloway's words. She had sunken eyes and looked as if she'd been through years of endless struggle. "Your presence here isn't safe."

"I'm present to uncover the story."

With a simple shrug of her shoulders, Emily inched towards the dress. "There’s always a how and a why; it's not spoiling anything if I tell you every starting point can keep you awake at the end," she said with evident sarcasm.

“You aren’t the first to cross that path. That zealous hiker ended up in the graveyard,” she continued, allowing a faint shudder to stem from her.

"Which makes me suspect you have something to recount, wouldn’t it?"

Slow to respond, the old woman finally managed a draw out sigh.

“Backtracking towards my first tale. It starts in 1876. The first victim is Isabella Devereux. Defined by her gentle beauty, she was a young bride. Life never seemed pleasant considering she was literally slaughtered on her wedding night, courtesy of the man who loved her best.”