'And Then They Lived...' Chapter 1

"Did you hear?"
"You mean about that poor little girl?"
"Poor little girl? What about the victim?"
"Shhh. Here they come."

The cage and carriage shook violently as it traveled down this crooked road. The poor little girl in the cage was thrown about like a rag doll. The two driving the carriage sneered and jeered at her, laughing hysterically. "Just think," one of the Blackbird drivers said, "just the Dreary Woods and off you go to the Cage, little girl."

"And wot a bloody mess you made," the other one said. "It'll be some time before they piece that bloke back together, aye, Seven?"
"You got that right Nine," Seven replied. "Whatever happens to you in Sixpence, you deserve it, you little bitch."

The girl in the cage looked at them, glaring. Her red cloak was in tatters and her face covered in dark blood. Her eyes were dark and grim. The eyes of a murderer.

"You see, little bitch," Seven said, "we Four and Twenty Blackbirds don't take to kindly to your kind of behavior."
"Or yer kind of people," Nine added, smiling.
"Right, and you stupid sods off and go to the Cage, where you never see the light of day."
"You know, Seven. I really don't like the roads around 'ere."
"Too bumpy?"

As the two in front conversed amongst themselves, the girl was quiet as she was flung around the cage. For what she had done, she was rather calm. Too calm. It was enough to give the onlookers a sharp chill that shot down their spines. They mumbled inaudible words as they stared at her.

"By the way," Seven said, handing the reins to Nine and turned toward the girl. "What name would you like to go on your headstone in Sixpence?"
"Go to hell," the girl snapped, angrily.
"Why you little—!"

Seven was being held back by Nine. "We don't need you cause a fuss," he scolded. "Besides, I got the report that says her name: Mary Weather Redd."

Mary Weather looked at them with the glare still. She adverted her gaze to the shocked onlookers. She shut her eyes. What's happening, she thought. Why is this happening? Why?

"Why indeed."

In front of her, standing on top of the carriage, was a man. He was hunched over, his arms hanging down instead of being on his sides, with only one hand on a crooked wooden walking cane. His lips were twisted in a crooked grin. "Isn't that the best question of all: Why?" he cackled, coughing horrendously.

The poor girl was confused. Was the man real or just a twisted figment of imagination?
"WOT THE BLOODY HELL!?" Nine shouted turning toward the man on the carriage, letting go of the reins. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"
"YOU STUPID BASTARD!" Seven yelled trying to get a hold of the reins again.

Simply, the man grinned at the two Blackbirds. He tipped his top hat to the two of them without saying a word.

Violently the carriage began to swerve to and fro across the road. Seven gasped "Aha!" as he caught the reins. But, suddenly, he was dragged underneath for the rein became tangled around his ankle. He screamed bloody murder as his body was being torn by the jagged road.
Nine tried to pull him back up but…

BUMP! BUMP!

Poor Seven was run over.

Nine snarled at the man and lunged at him. "LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!" he screamed in a blind rage.
"Me?" the man said, placing a hand on his chest. "I did nothing of the sort. You're the one who let go of the reins."

As Nine lunged at him again, the crooked man moved out of the way, leaving Nine balancing on the edge, scared to death.

A push with the cane and then a loud THUMP!

The carriage came to a slowed halt and the crooked man jumped off of the roof. He unlocked the cage Mary Weather was in. She patted her dress and cloak down and stared at her savior. "Thank you," she mumbled.

But, he was already walking away. Mary ran after him. She could hear him muttering something. "What are you saying?" she asked.

His face was suddenly in front of hers. "Oh, just a little rhyme," he smiled. "And you are welcome, Little Redd."
"How'd you know that? Only my grandmother called me that."
"I know many things. Many, many, many things. Like, for example, why you were in that cage there. Though, I have to wonder that one best question: Why?"
"He was the big bad wolf, that's why." Mary pouted and kicked the uneven gravel on the ground.

A smile and then walking.

"There once was a crooked man, who walked a crooked mile," the man said aloud. "He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile. He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse and they all lived together in this little crooked house."

Quickly he turned toward Mary and bowed while tipping his hat. "I am Sirius Crooked."
"A pleasure." Mary looked about still confused.
"Concerned? Bewildered perhaps?"
"No, not really."

Sirius looked around and then at Mary. "No way you could go back to your home, now can you?"

She shook her head quietly.

He closed his eyes and said, "Come now. You can stay with me. But, don't think me forward in any way since we've just met."

A quick hand gesture and the girl followed, surprisingly.

They walked that crooked mile, passing spattered entrails and splintered bone fragments as they made their way to a crooked stile. It seemed nearly impossible that gravity had allowed the house to stand on its own. It was broken and seemed more abandoned than inhabited in the very least. The woodwork was so worn down, it looked as if any weight would cause the building to tumble and fall.

Sirius opened the door to let young Mary Weather in. The inside was much nicer to look at than the outside with its being decorated with books, furniture and the like. The crooked man took her tattered cloak and advised her to go to the washroom to clean herself up. Mary walked the crooked hallways of this little stile.  As she looked into the mirror, all she could say was "What went wrong?"
"Mister Crooked?" she called aloud.

A horrendous cough. "Yes, Little Redd?"
"This doesn't feel right."
"What doesn't?"

Mary looked in the mirror. "I don't."
"And why would that be?"
"This seems like it shouldn't have ever happened."
"What shouldn't have?"
"Everything that's happen to-day."

Little Mary walked down the crooked hall once more and saw Sirius on a chair, stroking a crooked cat. She sat in the one across from him. "Strange isn't it?" Sirius coughed. "Strange are the thoughts that course through our heads."
"Slightly I suppose."

"So." Sirius crossed his legs one over another. "What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know."
"Nobody knows, now do they?"

Sirius cracked a grin. He placed the cat down, which meowed at him and walked away. Clasping his hands together and leaning forward, Sirius stared at Mary saying, "Why did you kill him again?"

Mary crossed her arms. "It's because he was the big bad wolf," she pouted.
"And what made him that?"
"He was going to kill my grandmother."
"You know this for a fact?"
"Yes."

Chuckling to himself, Sirius sat back, tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair. "What a sad situation you're in," he sighed. "Only the mere age of ten, the daughter of a prominent merchant, loved by everyone in town and now, to top this off, she's also a young murderer. How in the world does that come to be?"

"Mister Crooked?" Mary said.
"Feel free to just call me Sirius. Looking at your situation, we're going to get to know each other well enough for you to just call me by first name."
"Fine. Sirius, how much do you know about me?"
"As I said previously, many things. Vast, even."

Mary said not another word. The crooked man before her just smiled and looked at a clock on the wall. He stood up and walked toward the door. "Oh dear," he stated, fixing his coat. "It appears that I'm running late on my appointment in Sixpence."
He turned to Little Mary and smiled that crooked grin of his. "Would you like to come with me?" he asked, offering his hand out to her.

But, she remained quiet.

"Both you and I know that once the Four and Twenty Blackbirds find out about the state of those two buffoons who rest across my beautiful mile, they are bound to go after you."
Mary finally spoke up and said, "But, you're heading straight to Sixpence. That's where the Bird's Cage is at!"
"True." Sirius was now face to face with the little girl. "But, those birds never mess with me. Ever."

He backed away. "Now, will you accompany me on my little errand?"

A brief moment of hesitation swept over Mary, but she agreed. She knew what he said was true. The Four and Twenty Blackbirds would go after her. But, the Bird's Cage wouldn't be where they put her. 3 murders. And two of them weren't even her fault. Yet, the blame would fall on her. She shook her head at the final possibility that crossed her mind. I'm never gonna let that happen, she thought to herself. She took Sirius' hand and he duo walked out onto that crooked mile yet again heading toward the Dreary Woods, not knowing what was going to befall them.

All Sirius could do was grin that crooked grin.

"Take a trip to Sixpence
A city full of tragedy
Four and Twenty Blackbirds
All after a child's head."