There is a house, and nothing else; A house that stood eerily in dark nothingness, with only the specks of bright light around. It was a dark velvet black blanket that had tiny pin prick where the dazzling glittering light shined through. The house stood on its own, floating in the black abyss, nothing under it, or over it.

Within the house were four women, Women who never age, and who were required to reside in this grand citadel. Each girl had time where they would take care of the house- reside in the house. The three other sisters, for the time that the other sister would be caring for the house, would be under the house in a prison. The prison was dark and gloomy, with one giant cell that took up most of the room. The bars were wrought from iron and diamond, not that it mattered. The cage that held them back only allowed each sister to get out, when it was their time. None of the girls knew why, or how the cage worked, but it was there and they weren’t going to ever question that.

Epiphany was first. She was the first sister, when they had started, to rule the house. She would walk around, knowing what and who she was. Her dark black pixie like hair made the blue of her eyes stand out. Epiphany would walk down the halls bringing the cold feeling where ever she went. Normally all the animals in the house would be far away, but some still watched her as she would walk down the halls, painting the walls a very plain white, or grey.

After what some would call a day, the grandfather clock in the hall would chime. A light, loud sound that you wouldn’t be able to ignore, echoed through the house. Epiphany knew that after ninety chimes, she would slowly walk down to the prison where her next sister Andromeda would take over.

Andromeda was the liveliest of all the sisters, and was always wearing a light, airy outfit. There was always a bounce in her step and a twinkle in her eye as she skipped around the house. Even though Epiphany had already left, the cold feeling in the house still lingered, and the grey’s and whites of the walls were drab and dull. This upset her, because those weren’t the colors she was used to. She crossed her arms huffing. Epiphany always found a way to make the house seem cold.

Nevertheless, Andromeda would prance down the halls painting them pale yellows, soft pinks and light greens. As soon as she finished, she would smile and laugh running through the halls singing. Her voice carried through the rooms, and the soft sounds of her pets echoed her singing.

“Oh! My pretties!” She giggled, petting one of her dogs. “Our little Epiphany never likes to clean house does she..?” The dog just look up to her as she blew all the dust off the various knickknacks. Andromeda sighed, “It looks like we have a bunch of cleaning to do.”

The bell on the clock would chime, once every so often. Sometimes, Andromeda would just sit, sit and weep in front of the clock. She would cry for the clock, for her animals, and even herself. Tears fell in cascades, pooling on the ground at her knees. Red eyed she would look to her plants and watch them grow while the salty water droplets fell from her rosy cheeks onto the dark brown wooden floors. At ninety one chimes, Andromeda would stand and her sister Reza would take over.
She was the warmest of all the sisters. After Andromeda had cleaned up the cool house, she would make sure the house was livable to her. Reza would make sure all the colors were warm, and the furniture moved to make the house more open. Then she would sit, sit and gaze into her hand held mirror watching her pale grey eyes blink back at her. She would carefully apply her makeup, just to wash it off and re do it.
Reza would soon be taken over by her sister Anonna.
The first thing that Anonna would change would be the warm colors that her sister had painted onto the walls into deep reds, yellows, and browns. Every speck of green that Andromeda and Reza had painted was gone, overtaken by the monotonous brown.
Anonna and her sister, Epiphany, were the dirtiest of the four sisters. She would leave her things on the ground, waling over them if need be. Though the house was never clean, it was always filled with the sound of her violin.
Andromeda’s animals, who would be walking around the house, would hurry and scurry across the floor, hiding; not from the music, but from the cold they knew was coming.
Ten tolls before Epiphany’s was to reign; that is when she would start to play, quickly and fiercely. Anonna would allow her vow to skip across the strings, until the last ring on the clock echoed through the halls. When it did, quietly she would place the instrument back in it’s case, and walk wordlessly back sown to the cellar, and Epiphany would switch.
Epiphany was tired, annoyed, and furious she had to share the house with her sisters. She hated Andromeda the most. The overly perky girl had gotten on her very last nerve, and Epiphany wasn’t going to leave.
She made the house especially cold this time. The walls were coated in extra paint ant the only thing you could see was white.
At the last chime of her turn, Epiphany pulled up a leather arm chair next to the clock and sat next to the clock, waiting for her sister to come up.
Down in the jail, the three sisters were confused, where was there sister? Andromeda, being herself shrugged it off and jumped up, the prison letting her out.
Bouncing her way up the stairs she was shocked as the cold hit her. Andromeda covered her arms, goose bumps appearing on the exposed part of her skin. She shivered.
“Epiphany” her voice was unsure.
Arching a dark black eyebrow she spoke, Epiphany’s voice harsh. “What?”
The rude sound in her voice shocked her. “Oh, well.” She started, “I was just going to tell you that the ninety first bell tool just went off and it’s my turn.”
Epiphany chuckled, “Says who..?”
Andromeda looked down and played with the edge of her skirt. “Well sissy, it’s always been that way. After ninety one tolls it is the next sister’s turn.”
“Who’s going to make me?” She stood, getting up out of the chair, standing akimbo, annoyed with her sister’s banter.
“It’s my turn!” She whined.
“I say it’s my turn. I’m tire of sharing this with you guys. This house, this place, should be mine! I’m tired of it, and I’m not doing it any more. No matter how much you whine and cry, I am not leaving.”
Andromeda was at a loss for words. Part of her told her just to go down, back into the cellar and let her sister take her turn. There was also the side of her that was telling her tostand up to her sister.
“Well?!” Epiphany growled.
Whimpering once Andromeda ran downstairs looking at her two other sisters. Anonna looked up first. Her dark intelligent eyes watched Andromeda.
“What is it?” she said curtly.
“Anonna! Behave!” Reza snapped, wrapping an arm around her sister. “It’s ok Andromeda, what’s upsetting you.”
“Epiphany…”
“Yes?” Anonna said, waving her hand as if for her to continue.
“Epiphany won’t let me have my turn.”
Reza gasped, and Anonna looked un amused.
“What do you want from us then..?” Annona replied.
Andromeda shook her head, “I just don’t know what to do. If I should stay down here, or…” She trailed off, as if wanting an answer from one of her sisters.
“You should go up there and just act like she isn’t there.” Anonna said, pulling out a book and beginning to read.
She looked unsure about her idea, “What if she gets mad..?”
“It’s that or let her take your place.”
“I think she’s right Andromeda.” Reza said.
“Of course I am.” Anonna interrupted.
Reza shook her head and continued. “you have to go out on a limb here.” Her big grey eyes watched her carefully, they were soft, caring.
Andromeda nodded once and made her way up the steps into the house once more. It was colder than usual, but her sister was nowhere in sight.
Taking a deep breath, she started to paint the walls the pale greens that she always had. Breathing life into the pots of soil that had been sitting there over the reign of her sister, she watched the small sprouts grow and reach up out of the soil.
Only when she had started painting again, Epiphany showed back up. “Oh you!” she hissed looking at the walls.
The red head looked at the paint brush in her hand. “It’s my turn!” she snapped, looking up. “You can’t take that from me.”
“Try me!”
And with a few quick steps, Epiphany had made it to the potted plants and with a wave of her hand the plant drooped, dying, the green of the walls being painted over with white.
Huffing, Andromeda repainted, just to have her and her sister fighting over that. What neither of the sisters realized is what they were doing was actually hurting the house, the animals.
The house was unstable, and was shaking lightly at each toll that went through and the sisters were still fighting. All the plants, would start to grow, because of Andromeda, and Epiphany would just come over and kill them. Even the animals were harmed, some frozen to death.
Sighing Epiphany was finally annoyed, so she gave in. “I wanted this, but not bad enough to fight over it.” With that said, Epiphany turned on her heels and left Andromeda to clean up the mess.
The once cheery sister looked up at the walls, which were painted green with big slabs of white covering parts of the green. It was a mess. The bell tolled. “Twenty five.” She said to herself. “Sixty six tolls is all I have left.” She looked around and took a deep breath, hoping this would never happen again.