Whispers in the Dark
an excerpt

I ran as fast as I could in my human form. I ran as if the very demons of hell were after me. The wind blew against my flushed face in the cold, humid air. The lush forest around me was just a green blur as I ran. I didn’t take time to look at the irregular flowers or pixies that danced on the dewdrops on the leaves. The trees themselves were rustling about, moaning and groaning in the troubling wind. Even they knew something was brewing and they certainly didn’t like it.

I glanced behind me to see if my pursuers had gotten any closer. Dark spots behind me insured they were safely far away. Though, something was different, but I just couldn’t pinpoint it. I shook my head and continued running. All of the sudden, the ground shook and the sky turned red.

Everything was black and red-tinted. I fell to my knees, scraping them on the rocks. I stared at the blood gushing out of my knee-more than it should have been. It spilled over and dribbled down the side of my leg. Still it bubbled like hot water on a stove. A fountain formed on my knee, about an inch tall. I could feel my life slowly draining. The ground in front of me burst open, shooting dirt into the sky and flinging in all sorts of directions. I stared, wide-eyed, as a huge, beautiful, monster emerged from the hole. Its eyes were coal black and it had long blond hair reaching to its ankles. It wore a blood red suit and black gloves that went all the way to its forearm. It stared straight at me, making the fountain in my knee shoot higher. I felt like screaming, and I wanted to run, but I couldn’t. Its eyes were so mesmerizing. Beautiful, yet hard and cold. It raised a long silver blade and lunged at me. The blade went straight for my heart, piercing my skin and I screamed. My life slowly ebbed away as blood trickled onto the blade and the beautiful creature laughed.

I opened my eyes, feeling warm sun bathe my skin. A knock came at the door as I swung my legs over the side of the large bed. I strolled to the door and cracked it open.

“Rach?” a small voice squeaked.

“Yup?”

“You were screaming again…”

I sighed; mad at myself for screaming at my dream again. I’d been having the nightmare for over a week now and it wasn’t easy to see it over and over again, trying to decipher its meaning.

“Sorry I woke you, Crystal,” I muttered.

“It’s that nightmare again, isn’t it?” Crystal said, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. The dim hallway light shone on her pale skin, making it almost look white and her golden hair looked gray in the light. I nodded reluctantly. “You should see a doctor about it…it might help.”

“Are you kidding?” I nearly screamed, “They just tell me that everything is okay! Well, it’s not! They don’t know what I go through every day! They don’t understand anything, anything at all, just like the rest of you humans!”

I slammed my fist against the door, breaking it in half. Splinters went everywhere and Crystal screamed. I’d acted rationally, and made a mistake. Crystal would hyperventilate and not understand why I was so mad at doctors and, I forced myself to think of the last word that would probably hurt Crystal the most, Humans. The two halves of the door were still hanging on their hinges, barely, and I reached down to gather up Crystal. She never had weighed much but, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that I was holding her if we didn’t have the sense of touch. Splinters of wood fell out of Crystal’s hair as I carried her to her room. She kept saying she was dizzy and asking what had happened. I lay her on her bed then shut her bedroom door behind me.

I stared at what was left of my bedroom door. Sighing, I got down on my knees and started to pick up every little splinter. It took awhile, but when I got them all up, I held them all in my hand, whispered a spell and they all slowly put themselves together and back on the door. I smiled, remembering how excited Crystal had been when I showed her the house. She hadn’t had any place to stay and needed money to eat. Her parents had left her on her own, just like mine had. We became fast friends and I let her stay at my place.

I stared at what was left of my bedroom door. Knowing that it would be awhile before Crystal woke up; it was no problem for me to get dressed with the door open. I grabbed a crimson vest and some leather shorts. I grabbed my money and slipped it into my shorts on the way down the stairs. Pulling on some worn out, fading blue leather shoes, I hopped out the door. I jammed the door so that no one could get in.

As I jogged toward Julye, I thought about the door incident. I definitely owed Crystal an explanation. There was no logic behind my reason. They always had made me nervous though, taking me into dark, earthy caves that smelled of incense. It felt like I would never see the light of day again. The only light there was, was a small candle. I cherished the little light while I had been forced into the cave, rarely taking my eyes off it in the cave. Doctors, or shamans, as most called them, were another reason I didn’t want to live in a major city. In a city, every month, you had to visit the shaman for a checkup. Out on your own, like me, every year or so, a party of people would come around and round you up to go to the nearest shaman for a checkup. Of course, I had “accidentally” not been home a few times, when they had come around. But nervousness and being uncomfortable, was not my real reason.

As I was raised, I went through many Dreamsprite families and one majestic human couple. After about three or so years with my family, a doctor, strangely it was always the same one, came by. He wore a long, gray robe with a hood hanging over his head. Around his neck was a necklace with a dragon charm on it. The first time he came, I thought nothing of it. . He took the whole family, except me oddly, and they went to get the checkup. Only, they didn’t come back. I only waited two nights for them, but I was sure something terrible had happened. I left with what little I had and made for the forest. After a little while, a week to be exact, I found another Dreamsprite family who happily accepted me into the family. Again, it was only about three or so years before He showed up again. I had begged my newly found family to stay, but they didn’t. I waited for three days this time, just in case, but they didn’t come back. It was a terribly hard time for me. I felt responsible for every one of them. I was then taken in by an old majestic couple. Yet again he came, at the same time as the others. But, just before he led the couple to their deaths, I slipped the charm off his neck. That time when I left after waiting a few days, I went on my own, not wanting to hurt anyone else. This time, I realized that someone had also followed me.

Reaching up, I slowly ran my finger over its smooth surface, subconsciously. No one had ever told me, but I had presumed that my birthmother and father had been murdered the same way. Anger bubbled inside me as I thought of all the people I had lost to the strange man. I wasn’t even sure that he was a man at all. I’d never actually seen his face, with his hood up all the time. I doubted it was a shaman either. It certainly didn’t look like any I had ever seen.

Suddenly, I realized I was in a forest, the one beside the road. I figured that I must’ve gone off road, so I went to the left, since going right was the only way to get to the forest from the road I had been on. I walked awhile, taking my time to enjoy the feeling of being able to walk through the forest alone.That is when realization hit me that I had been seeing the same things over and over. A large, green leaf, torn in half, three pixies dancing on the edges of leaves in a circle, and a tree that had a branch cut off. I was going in circles! I looked around, not really sure of what to do. Wide eyed, I ran straight, wondering if I had only imagined it. I ran until I was sure I should be at least somewhere near the road. I stopped and looked around. Three pixies were dancing on the edges of leaves in a circle; a tree had a branch cut off, and a large green leaf torn in half. My heart almost completely stopped. My breath came in heavy, short, quickened breathes.

Then, just like in my dream, the sky turned black and red and everything around me did as well. A severe wind swished through the thick branches and blew the very leaves off the trees. I ran for my life, choking back a scream. After the earth had quaked several times, I finally fell forwards. Cuts covered my arms and legs. Then everything stopped and was still. The quaking stopped, the moaning wind ceased, but the red and black tint remained. The long, dark brown, strands of hair that had slung in my face parted to the sides as I looked forward. I looked around carefully, suspiciously. Birds in every direction started cawing and flew up into the sky, away from the forest. I resisted the urge to do the same as they were; run away. I was afraid that if I moved, the quakes and wind would come back. I heard the cawing decreasing in sound and the black cloud that had been above me was out of sight. The earth started to shake again, more violently underneath where I was. I stood up, attempting to jump away from the spot, when the ground I had just been on, became a large gaping hole, sending dirt in all directions. I fell backwards this time, my back slamming into rocks and hard ground. This sent a cloud of dust into the already messy air. I rubbed my eyes frantically, trying to get the dirt out that clouded my sight. The monster I was afraid would appear as well, came through the hole. It looked exactly like it had in my dream; coal black eyes and long blond hair reaching to its ankles along with a blood red suit and black gloves that went all the way to its forearm. It stared at me for a minute, as if undecided on something and lunged. The silver blade pierced my skin, yet I felt no pain. A bright light, shot across the sky and dazzled my eyes. I heard a loud, agonizing scream, and for a moment, I thought it was me and I reached to cover my mouth. But it wasn’t. When my eyes adjusted, the beautiful monster that had moments before been stabbing me, was trembling in the presence of another, holier being, with its sword at the monsters neck. Finally, the pain seized me and I collapsed in unbearable agony, blacking out.