Chapter 1

The House

Hey guys! Wanted to post this some time ago. Thanks to Emma8916 for some minor ideas!

Madeline felt scared and alone for the first time in her life. She didn't know where her loving dad was, and no one else she knew had even looked at her since the incident. Ghosts, spiders, snakes, and demons didn't frighten her, but this did.

When someone is sitting in the back seat of a limo, they usually feel at an advantage. Smug, perhaps. But Madeline felt nothing but foreboding and fear. The leather seat was cold, and the windows were shaded such a dark black colour that she couldn't see anything outside.

The only she could do was clutch the large turquoise duffel bag that carried her very little belongings. Important things like clothing and things she cherished. Everything else she had left behind, in the little, abandoned haberdashery.

"You're here," the chauffeur grunted gruffly in a low gravelly voice. Muttering a meek thank you, Madeline opened the door and slid out of her seat, watching as the limo - her key to driving away from this place - slipped and disappeared into the horizon. It was gone for good.

Emitting a sigh, she turned to face her future home - and enormous, mansion-like Victorian building with aged grey walls and a dark blue tiled roof. Huge, arched windows with matching blue curtains were pressed into the crumbling structure, flickering with shadows as people passed.

Iron spiked gates surrounded bushy, trimmed undergrowth and skeletal trees. A fountain of graceful swans, now run dry and cracked, stood in the middle of the courtyard, in the centre of a dark grey brick path that led to a flight of stairs leading to the redwood front door, which was flanked by two ivy-covered pillars.

"Home sweet home," Madeline murmured melancholically, her aqua-and-violet curls pressing into her cheek as harsh winter winds blew against her tiny frame, as if daring her to run. Away from this house, away from captivity, away from fear.

Yet she did not move, neither to the house or back into the streets. She had nowhere to go, and this place was her only sanctuary for a long time.

Giving a decisive yet dejected nod, she grasped the handle of her bag tighter and started towards the entrance of building.

Wide-eyed gargoyles eyed her from the rooftops, their misshappen shapes and demonic grins making her flinch. Her flats echoed on the cold marble as she prepared to knock.

"HELLO!"

"Aargh!'

The door flung open to reveal a petite, angelic looking blonde in a tight, glittery red dress and white turtleneck sweater. Dark rings framed her dazzling blue eyes as she grinned strangely and clasped her cold hand over Madeline's.

"Apple White, dearie!"

Madeline said nothing. Apple (if that was her name, as the girl had said) was beautiful, sure, but their was something twisted and ugly about her red-lipped smile, forced and manicacal.

She took back her hand. "I'm Madeline," she said in the most polite way she could muster. Apple laughed. "What a ridiculous name!" she cried.

"Yeah, and Apple isn't a weird name," Madeline whispered irritatably to herself.

"What was that, hun?"

"Nothing."

Apple laughed again, the sound disturbing and alienic. "Well, I'm sure you said something. Or else I wouldn't have heard it!" She ran a hand over her alarmingly pale skin sensually. "Would you like an apple, sweetheart?"

It was only then when Madeline realised that a woven basket handle was strung on Apple's snow-white forearm, revealing unnaturally red apples nestled on top of a pale pink cloth.

Madeline was hungry, having had no breakfast. "Thank you," she said quietly as she reached for the fruit.

Suddenly, Apple released a high-pitched, ear-shattering scream. "What are you DOING?" she shouted, grabbing Madeline's wrist and squeezing it with an alarming force.

"I…"

"These are MY apples!" Apple continued as she started to cry. "You thief! Greedy bigot!"

With that, she slapped Madeline across the face and ran, disappearing into the darkness as her shoulders rattled with each audible sob. The blow wasn't relatively hard, but Madeline had fallen over at the shock of it. She clutched her bruising cheek and felt even more frightened than before, afraid of the other terrible sick-minded fiends inside.

"Are you alright?"

Madeline jumped and looked up to see a comely girl with smiling, deep brown eyes and thick curls that matched. Her hair was streaked with hot pink highlights and twisted into a loose braid. A rose clip was pinned to her hair, and she wore a matching summer dress and black stilettos. "Newbie, huh?"

"Y-Yeah," Madeline managed, still shaken from Apple's outburst. The brunette helped her up, sighing at her swollen cheek. "And to think I was once friends with her," she muttered almost silently.

"Well, welcome to the House of Twisted Ever Afters," she laughed, shaking Madeline's hand.

"House of Twisted Ever Afters?"

"Well, that's what it is; to me, anyway. It's really called The Grimm House for the Mentally Unstable. Like an asylum. But less…asylum-ish."

The girl shook her head. "Why are you here?"

Madeline cocked her head to the side in questioning.

"At the House, I mean."

"Oh." Madeline laughed, a genuine one that made the girl smile. "Well, I was born with naturally aqua-and-violet hair, and my dad and I run a really colourful tea shop."

"That's it?" the girl asked, clearly pissed.

"Yeah." Madeline shrugged. "And I suppose I am a bit…odd…so they sent me here."

"Ugh. People these days…" She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Well, I'm here because I have sleeping beauty syndrome."

"Which is…"

"Sleeping days or weeks without waking up. I also have belonephobia."

Madeline was surprised. These 'mental problems' that the girl had could be easily fixed in the normal world.

"Wow. I can't believe they just sent you to this place."

The girl smiled. "I like you. Consider me your first friend."

Madeline grinned, then gasped as another person appeared out of nowhere, right in front of her. The newcomer had lavender corkscrew ringlets held back by a cat-ear headband, as well as ripped jeans, ankle boots, and an oversized purple t-shirt with a toothy smile on it.

"You must be Madeline Hatter. I'm Catherine Cheshire, your roommate. I'm here to show you around. I see you've already met Briar. Come on, I'll take you to our room."

Madeline paused for a minute at Catherine's outspoken and blunt wording, then nodded. "Okay. Bye, Briar."

She waved goodbye at the taller girl and followed her roommate as Briar left adruptly.

The entire interior of the House was in panelled redwood walls and matching floorboards. The foyer was a small room, with an umbrella rack and a few pegs. The only visible way into the main building was a flight of stairs. The stairs led into a huge room, scattered with mismatched couches and armchairs, with a large coffee table, brick fireplace, and lamps littered in every nook and cranny.

Teens were lounging about the furniture, reading from the ornate bookshelves lining the walls, chatting quietly amongst themselves, or looking out of the window. It seemed nice and cozy enough.

The people she saw looked different from the people she lived among in her town. Some looked beautiful, but had twisted expressions, like Apple; some looked normal like Briar; some were too skinny or too fat; and others seemed to have an animal theme, like Catherine.

Two large doors were tucked into two seperate corners of the room, one dark fushcia and the other marble blue. Madeline followed Catherine into the fushcia one, which led up to another flight of stairs and into a large corridor.

What first seemed like random rectangular holes in the sides of the corridor were really other passages leading to each person's room they shared with someone else. Kitty went up to a passage that was surprisingly and comfortably short.

The doors were just a curtain of beaded strings, hundreds of them. Catherine pushed a couple aside and allowed Madeline to enter first.

The room was small, but spacious enough. Two single beds armed with a bedside table each sat agaisnt one wall, with twin dressers on the opposite, a floor-length mirror stuck between the dressers. A wooden door that Madeline confidently assumed was the bathroom sat on the right wall, while another bead-curtained door was on the left wall.

"Come," Catherine said. "We should talk."

She opened the curtained door to reveal a study room of sorts - two walls lined with bookshelves, the other wall sporting a large arched window. A snug circular desk was in the middle, with two swivel chairs facing each other and a lamp. A large folder was perched precariously atop the smooth wooden surface.

Catherine pulled out a chair for Madeline to sit down, then poured a cup of tea from a hidden kettle behind a pile of books. Madeline accepted the teacup gratefully and inhaled the fragrance of the beverage. It warmed her hands as she took a sip, with turned into a gulp.

"You like it, don't you?" Catherine laughed, flashing her a strange yet wonderful grin. "Earl Grey. One of my favourites."

Madeline nodded, finishing the drink, and set it down. "So…what are we here to talk about?" she asked, resting her head on her elbows.

Catherine immediately sobered up, grasping the folder. "You see," she said slowly. "I'm going to introduce you to Grimm House. It's not what you expected."

She flipped open the folder to the first file. It was labelled 'Members' and had photographs and documents. The first was a large group photo of many teens, with grim expressions and dark clothing. Madeline spotted Briar, Apple, and Catherine among others. Each teen was circled with either pink, blue, purple, or golden permanent marker.

"These are all the house members this year," Catherine explained. Madeline recongized the majority of people from the lounge room. They seemed drabber in the photograph.

"I used the colours to sort into groups. Pink is Unnatural Obsessionists."

Catherine pointed out the seperate Obsessionists. "That's Apple, who's totally creepy and has an obsession for apples. And her name is her favourite food, which is weird…other than that, she's so kind it's impossible."

Madeline followed Catherine's finger to a strawberry-blonde girl with a kind face but alarming eyes. "That's Ashlynn. She's obsessed with shoes."

"Then there's Daring, who's obsessed with himself. He has Narcissic Sydrome, which - yes - is a real thing. He's literally in love with himself. I'm being serious."

"Sparrow's here because he's obsessed with stealing, a kleptomaniac."

"Blue is the Animal Group. That's me, Bunny, Hopper, Duchess, Rosabella, and Cerise. I'm here because my mum is loves cats so much, she fed me cat food for every meal. I also like catching mice and playing with a ball of yarn, which probably isn't natural…Bunny is…see if you can guess. Yeah. Rabbit. She also digs holes everywhere and has underground rooms and stuff. Hopper, nervous guy who thinks he's gonna turn into a frog, and Duchess who might be a swan. Cerise is convinced she's part werewolf. Maybe she is. Everyone says that her ears aren't normal."

"And Rosabella…" Madeline looked at the picture of a bright-eyed brunette with a yellow headband and rectangular glasses. "She's Briar's cousin, and people say…she's into Bestiality and has Stockholm Syndrome. But we don't know for sure."

Madeline shivered.

"Purple is the mismatched. People who don't really have a group. Cedar, that girl there, can't tell a lie," Catherine introduced.

"She can't or she won't?" Madeline asked.

"Can't," Catherine replied. "She has a rare brain function that stops her from telling lies, and she doesn't really act human… And Briar…you've met her. Darling Charming, sister of Daring, who's too rebellious and adventurous for her own good and was sent here as a punishment. That, and also her mum was at the hospital to check on a relative and she saw Darling almost - almost undergo and surgery to get transgendered, but she stopped it in time. But Darling already had a boyfriend! Chase Redford, Darling's boyfriend, who goes on punching sprees. But only five times a year at the MOST. Lizzie, Chase's twin, with SERIOUS anger management issues. Hunter Huntsman, who rips off his shirt and plays hero when anyone trips or whatever."

Catherine rolled her eyes; it was then when Maddie realised how catlike they were. Golden irises and slitted pupils. And Catherine's teeth were pointy, but not as much as a wolf's or shark's: more like a lion, or a leopard.

"And golden? Stands for the weirdos! Alistair is convinced there's a secret, crazy land underneath our's called Wonderland. Some strange mental disorder, I should say. Raven Queen-"

Raven's hair was the colour of her name, with violet eyes and darker purple lips. She looked like the type of person who would poison you with an apple, but she also looked gentle and mysterious.

"-Who's rumoured to be into withcraft. Blondie Lockes, total pain in the ass. She always wakes up in the middle of the night screaming that she's being chased by bears. She has really severe OCD and is nosy to an extreme rate."

Madeline nodded, absorbing in all the information that had been tossed into her head for the past ten minutes (courtesy of Catherine), but was drawn in by the interesting disorders her fellow housemates-to-be possessed. Catherine had filled her head with questions and Madeline wanted answers.

"What about you?" Catherine half-purred.

Madeline paused. "What?"

"Well, why are you here?" Catherine pressed. She leaned in, and Madeline instinctively scooted back a little. Her feline roommate seemed to take no notice in Madeline's discomfort; in fact, the move made her smile.

"I was naturally born with brightly coloured hair, and the tea shop that me and my dad run is…unique," Madeline explained, as she had told Briar before.

"Hmm…" Catherine leaned back and rested her booted feet on the table, ignoring Madeline's pointed look. "Curiouser and curiouser," she drawled. "Is that all?" She cocked an eyebrow inquisitively.

Madeline nodded. At least, what she had assumed. Everyone had thought that her hair was dyed and looked at her strangely when she had said it was natural. Many people had also left her father's teahouse looking dazed and disoriented, and she wouldn't be surprised if the locals had accused her father for adding something illicit to the tea.

"I suppose…"

Catherine shrugged. She had seen worse - yet she said nothing.

"Hmm. The world is turning darker," she announced in a sad voice that sounded wiser and more mature, and didn't match her appearance and smile.

Madeline paused and stared into Catherine's eyes, which were downcast and nostalgic - and something in Madeline clicked.

"You lost your family to the people who banished you here," she said quietly. "That's why you've been so bitter, right? And that's why you've seperated all the House members into groups. Because you need to know who to trust, and not make the same mistake."

Catherine glanced up, surprised. Shocked. Scared, even.

"How did you know?" she whispered.

Madeline closed her eyes, catching the faint memories of her mother.

She had straight hair. It was aqua, with a violet streak through it. Her skin was pale and her blue eyes laughed in a way that no one's mouth could. She was short, like Madeline, and equally giggly and eccentric.

"You're not the only one, Catherine," she responded, reopening her eyes.

Catherine smiled: not the smile that was too fake and cheery, or a smile that was strained. A genuine, happy smile.

And then she smirked.

"Call me Kitty."

—

Cerise hated the bell - it hurt her sensitive canine ears. Apparantly, the House Keeper Milton Grimm thought that 'refreshing' music (aka a toddler banging on a piano) was a better substitute for the lunch bell.

And the dinner bell.

And the breakfast bell. And the wake-up bell. And the bedtime bell (ridiculous to have one, since half of the house members were already asleep by the time the 'bedtime bell' rang, so it just served as a jolted-out-of-terrific-dream bell).

Anyway, by the time that the hideous, out-of-tune, appregios started, everyone groaned, sighed, or covered their ears and started heading towards the dining hall. Which was really just a fancy name for 'tacky meal room'.

Cerise started towards the door, everyone else flooding through. She took her usual seat on the stupidly long, redwood table (which clashed horribly with the golden candlebras), at the very end of it, seperated from everyone else. Cerise always was a lone wolf - no pun intended.

She watched as her ex-boyfriend flirted with Apple, his golden hair glinting in the light, his eyes shining like -

Cerise growled and shook her head. There was no way she was going to fall for his charms. Not after what happened.

Lunch was ridiculous. A cheese-and-bacon roll with potato garden salad and cordial that tasted like dialuted urine. Like always. As Cerise gazed at the bacon hungrily, she noticed Ashlynn Ella eye the roll strangely.

As everyone took their seats, Cerise noticed a new kid sitting between Kitty and Briar. Cerise suddenly smiled: a rare thing for her. "Hey, Briar! Nice crownglasses!" she called. Briar laughed; everyone else seemed either confused or ignored it.

It was little inside joke of their's. Cerise had made it up eight months ago and they still used it:

Cerise was sitting on a bench near the picturesque beach. Yellow sand (literally yellow), deep blue waves, Apple flirting with a lifeguard. The usual scene at Mirror Beach.

Milton Grimm called it 'special field trips', but it wasn't exactly a field trip. And it was as special as his ass. Cerise pulled nervously on the hood of her red hoodie. Bikini-clad girls eyed her weirdly, as if they were questioning why she was wearing a hoodie in this weather.

Ignoring their looks, Cerise contentrated on staring at her boyfriend, Daring Charming, who was surfing expertly in nothing but blue board shorts, on a rented navy-coloured board. Cerise sighed - Daring was freakin' hot. And a real romantic under those shiny pectorals.

Daring caught her eye and winked. Cerise awkwardly waved back, and Daring chuckled, making Cerise's heart skip a beat or two.

"You and my cousin are secretly dating, aren't you?"

Cerise jumped: she hadn't noticed Briar standing before her. The brunette smiled quirkily; like Daring. And Dexter. Cerise didn't say anything for a long time - she was too shocked.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

"But…H-How did…"

Briar shrugged. "I'm smart, I suppose." Cerise agreed on that fact. Briar and Dexter were really smart. While Daring was egotistic. But thoughtful, oh so thoughtful…

Cerise blinked, blushing at the thought. She realised that Briar was still looking at her, amused. The hoodie-wearing girl looked for something to say.

She noticed the pink sunglasses perched on top of Briar's curly head. They were always perched up there, and extremely elaborate. In fact, it kind of looked like a retro crown…

"Nice crownglasses," Cerise blurted randomly.

As she chuckled to herself, Cerise noticed that the entire room had fallen silent. Not a sound, not a breath. It was so silent that her wolf ears were burning.

In the doorway was Raven, a gothlike girl. Her hair was in a ponytail at the nape of her neck. A silver headband was sitting on her violet head. Her clothes consisted of a black gothic punk tank crop with a fishnet turtleneck and sleeves, a silver belt around her waist, black leggings, and black ankle boots with silver spikes. Silver bangles, necklaces, and earrings were making Raven's neck, ears, and arms rather shiny. A silver chain was wrapped around her torso and right leg, a tattoo of a crow of her left wrist. She had a nose piercing and a belly button piercing too. A black velvet purse dangled from her crossed arms.

Everyone was petrified of Raven, after all she was probably evil. She had tried to stab her roommate Apple twice and now the alienated beauty was terrified of the goth. The house members stared in fear as Raven's heels clicked on the floor as she walked around to Cerise. Eighteen heads turned as she sat down and tightened her belt casually.

Raven looked up and gazed at the onlookers. Suddenly standing up, she screamed two words at the top of her lungs:

"Oxtsfallis Rectapunefylis!"

Immediately, the students started chatting amiably and normally, as if nothing happened. Raven slumped back down and started to boredly examine her nails and Cerise gawped.

"Hi," Raven said, looking up.

Cerise stared.

Raven took a bite of her cheese and bacon roll before gagging. She took out a packet of purple tablets from her handbag and swallowed two at the same time. Noticing that Cerise was looking in disgust at her own food, Raven took out a box of salted caramals and placed them in front of Cerise.

"Have some," she offered.

"It's okay," Cerise replied, reaching a hand inside her hood and rubbing her ear to calm herself down. She was afraid of Raven, very afraid.

"Don't worry, I didn't poison them or anything," Raven said, then laughed at her own bland joke. The fact that she had mentioned that they weren't poisoned made Cerise slightly paranoid.

Raven paused and frowned as Cerise didn't take any. She hastily took the box back and popped two in her mouth before putting in back in her purse and leaving the room, leaving Cerise real damn confused.

—

Briar walked around the gardens, having nothing better to do. Briar was a smart girl, she liked to think and she liked to be right, which she was most of the time. Her curious brain whizzed as she thought.

Milton Grimm was acting weirdly suspicious lately, oddly suspicious. Terribly suspicious. Maybe she was paranoid, maybe she was correct in her observations. Very likely the latter.

Briar walked into the grassy oval, where she saw a huge burrow-like hole, definitely Alastair and Bunny's doing. Several disturbing moans, pants and grunts were coming up from said hole. An abandoned shovel and several discarded clothes were scattered around the burrow. Briar recongised Bunny's fancy vest, nylon grey skirt and white button-up, along with Alastair's cream coloured shirt, cobalt blazer-like jacket and - disturbingly enough - his brown trousers.

"Alastair!" Bunny's voice cried in what seemed like ectasy.

"Bunny…" Alastair's voice grunted, and Briar tried not to listen.

"Ohhhh, ALASTAIR!" Bunny screamed.

That was it. Briar sprinted for her life, despite how many times she had heard their furious lovemaking, she never got over it. She suddenly felt like running - she ran along the entire border of the House before returning to her usual spot, the iris garden.

She sat down on a hard bench and thought. She thought about her friend Faybelle who had gone missing last week, just disappeared. They found her mutilated body down in the forest, where she had went. Faybelle had a mental disorder that made her think she could speak to ghosts.

Faybelle's death was heartbreaking. Briar had locked herself in her and Ashlynn's room for days and only came out on the promise of extra milk chocolate for Sunday Treat and the fact that she didn't need to go to therapy with Miss C.A. Cupid for a week.

Miss Cupid was a sweet woman with curly pink hair in a bun, and she always wore kitten heels, a pretty fuchsia dress under a white lab coat, and cat eye glasses. She was a therapist and assigned medicine for the House members.

Briar got up and started walking. She liked thinking better when she was walking. As she passed the oval again, to her relief, the disturbing noises had ceased and they had stopped altogether. Bunny and Alastair were now hacking up more of the turf a few metres away, Alastair basically destroying the ground with his shovel as Bunny dug enthusicasically with her hands.

Briar couldn't get over how odd they were. It was weird because Alastair had just arrived last fortnight and Bunny had ignored him for a week, until all of the sudden they were having sex in burrows and trying to dig up 'Wonderland'. Yet Briar couldn't help but feel that she kind of wanted a relationship too, definitely not one where she dug holes with some boy and had sex in there, but someone who she could rely on and trust, for once.

The sun was setting already. The day had gone by quickly, but not quick enough. She wanted to end her (what she called) 'life sentence' at this house.

In the distance, she saw Alastair and Bunny making out furiously and stripping each other of their clothes before they stumbled into the hole. It was extremely weird how they seemed to be productive for just a minute before they got seriously carried away with their libido.

"Well that escalated quickly," said a voice behind her.

Briar turned to see Hopper, a cute guy who was socially awkward like her cousin Dexter, who came for visits every day thanks to his sister Darling and brother Daring, as well as Briar herself. Hopper was nice, extremely sweet, but his mental disorder sort of disgusted Briar. Hopper always thought he would turn into a frog, which included fly eating, hopping, and croaking like a frog. Other than that though, he was the best.

"Hey Hopper," she greeted.

"Briar," Hopper replied, before smiling and staring at the ground like he was trying to hide his blush. "It's nice to see you."

"You too, I guess," Briar replied politely.

Hopper cleared his throat and stared behind her, his face the colour of his hair. "Um…is it weird that Bunny and Alastair are having…um…"

"Hardcore underground sex?" Briar finished bluntly, before wincing as a particulary loud cry of pleasure shattered her ears.

"S-Sure," answered the ever-innocent Hopper. He paused. "Um, do you mind if I speak to you for a minute?"

Briar opened her mouth to point out that he was speaking to her now but that would have seemed rude and impolite, and as Briar was raised up, ALWAYS be polite. Especially if the person you are talking to is pretty cool.

"Okay," she said instead, and Hopper lead her to a quiet part of the courtyard.

"Well, um, you're - you're smart and all, right?" he asked as soon as they were tucked in a small nook.

"Uh, I guess?" Despite how smart Briar was, she underestimated her own cleverness a lot.

"Well, uh, this is going to sound crazy."

"We live in a house of crazy."

"Well, I…" Hopper thought for a second. "This is going to sound particularly crazy."

"I won't vomit, slap you, or run away screaming," Briar promised, her usual oath when it came to craziness.

"I-I-I th-think…IthinkCookGingerlikesme," Hopper quickly blurted in one big jumble of words.

"Cook Ginger?"

Hopper nodded.

"As in, the Cook Ginger with the bright pink pigtails and huge round glasses?"

"Do you actually know any other Cook Ginger?"

"Admittedly not."

"Exactly."

Briar blinked for a second.

"Okay, elaborate," she said.

"Well, she usually gives me a bigger serving of everything," Hopper began, which made the brunette raise an eyebrow. "She also always compliments how nice my shirt looks, and how nice my hair is and stuff."

"So, you want to beat around the bush, compliment her and stuff," Briar instructed, while Hopper looked extremely confused.

"What?" he said.

"Well, and also tell her how nice her cooking is and everything," his companion added enthusically.

"Wait, wait, wait," Hopper interrupted. "I'm trying to make her NOT like me."

"Really, why?" Briar asked.

"Well…" Hopper's lip wobbled. He looked closed to tears. He turned pale. "Because of her great-uncle," he managed, before bursting into tears.

"Oh dear," said Briar, and put her arm around Hopper.

Because Ginger's great uncle was French, and so every Tuesday Ginger cooked frog's legs for supper.