Chapter One [edited]
One foot in front of the other, quickly, quickly. . ‘Oh Jeez, you keep doing it, talking to yourself,’ I thought. I swerved my head around, looking over my shoulder. Walking around another side street, I skirted the rows of houses lining the street. Every few times I glanced behind me I could see a man in a black jacket following me, but then when I looked back the next time- he was gone.
“You’re imagining things, he’s not there,” I told myself, begging it to be true. Hopping a fence into the park, I cut through the thick of the forest to Hibbert Drive. Peering back again, I still saw nobody. My chest heaved in a relieved sigh; imaginary or real, I’d lost him. I walked less briskly now, catching my breath.
Crack! From somewhere to my left, off in the trees, a twig snapped. My heart thudded against my chest, its poundings echoing into my skull. I planted my foot and took off. Sprinting down the remainder of Hibbert, I took a left onto Mallory Lane, my arms pumping their fastest. I could hear my shoe soles clod onto the pavement with every stride. Not bothering to look back, I kept booking it. I swerved right took a left and then a right again, zigzagging across streets. Then I jumped a few fences and cut across enough back yards to bring me around to Redwood Street. Hunched over and catching my breath, I looked behind me once more, still I saw nobody. Street lights illuminated the pavement, and the stars cast a weak light onto the ground. I pulled out my phone: 11:30. I cursed at myself, it was a half hour past curfew. Stealing in through the back door, I paused to listen. The microwave was going in the kitchen, my mom was probably cooking in there. Around the corner in the living room, my dad was passed out on the couch, the TV still going. Tiptoeing up the stairs I threw my shirt into the clothes hamper and climbed into bed, my heart still racing.
This wasn’t the first time I’d seen someone- or THOUGHT I’d seen someone following me, and I was spooked. Last weekend I’d seen someone at the museum, and at the burrito place. He showed up Thursday after the movies, and today walking home from the pool. Trying to wrap my mind around the thought that I had a stalker was hard. What did he want? I had to fix this, soon, if not right this second. But the moment I told my parents I was out past curfew, I was off to an all-boys boot camp in New Jersey. According to my dad, “It’s happened far too many times, and far too frequently.” So there was no way I could bring anything up to him tonight.
I tossed fitfully for close to an hour, trying to put away my nervous thoughts; a little later I drifted into a restless sleep.
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I had never had such a bad headache in my life; it felt like someone was trying to tear my brain from my skull with a vacuum. Moaning pitifully, I sat up in bed.
“Oh Dear God,” I fell back in bed with a thump; no way in hell was I getting out of bed right now. I laced my hands together behind my throbbing head and stared blankly at the ceiling. Patterns of lights played across my vision, dancing along the white-painted backdrop. My head felt deflated, like somebody let all of the air out of it, and every time I shifted in bed it took all my strength to keep from passing out; that’s how lightheaded I was. I called for my mom.
“Mom! I’m dying up here, bring me some killer meds, I need them.”
Looking back now, I talked like the biggest tool in the history of the world. I rolled over slowly, waiting for an answer, but none came. It’s early Saturday morning in the middle of June, where the hell is she? I sat there for another fifteen minutes, then called out again.
“Jesus, mom! I’m insanely sick; I can’t even get out of the freakin’ bed!” Still, ten minutes later, no answer came. Now I was worried. Using every ounce of will power I had, I painfully stood up. My skull felt like it was about to blow up. I took one step and everything went pitch black for a second. Then, I started seeing stuff.
It was like my body was torn in two, or rather something was torn from my body. First I was there on the bed, then I was floating in the middle of my room, staring down at an unconscious me. My figure was now silvery and slimy, kind of a ghostly form. My limbs had trouble moving and seemed to disappear when they moved away from me. Down below, my body didn’t respond to my motions, instead it remained perfectly still. I wanted to float down, slide back into my real body, but some outside force was tugging at me.
My awkward spectral form started to wane. A blinding flash of light split the room, and I was tugged into nothingness. I sped through darkness and time, thousands of images rushing by. My head spun, the pictures twisting by in infinite spirals. It was like I was in the turning pages of a history book; masses of people ran past each dressed differently. Archaic buildings loomed briefly as I skirted them, speeding by through the dark. Numerous distinct languages floated through me, seemingly meshing together in the void. The colors merged into white and the blackness began to cease, tendrils of light chasing it back into the span I crossed.
Thump! The ground had rushed to meet me as I landed painfully on my side. My face contorted in a grimace while I clutched my throbbing ribs. My fall had knocked the wind out of me and it took a few moments to get my breath back. I took a quick look around, I was somewhere in a stone room. Unshapely walls rose around me, broken and crumbling. In this room’s center there was a shattered table and a granite slab to sit on.
“Crap, I’m going nuts. You’ve done it Ben, you’ve really done it,” if I was hallucinating I knew it was bad. Either I was crazy sick, or I was epic crazy. At the far end of the room rubble was piled in front of an opening. The rubble was easy to move, but there was far too much of it to make quick work. I tried to take big armfuls and toss it to the side but there were too many tiny stones there for that strategy. Picking the big stones up one by one proved too slow, and trying to take stuff from the bottom just complicated things. I took a deep breath and tried to collect myself.
“Now is not the time. It will come soon enough, but the Dominion is not yet ready to be unleashed. Soon fire shall envelop all, soon, soon,” I held my breath as I listened to this strange voice. From the other side of the rubble a hissing drifted into this room. I pressed my ear closer, straining to hear more of this strange speaker.
“But what of you? Are you ready to take form yet?” another voice, this one trembling and quieter spoke.
“No!” the first voice spoke again, and I heard a small squeak, “I can only take form once, and when I do so, it is permanent while I am alive, so I must make sure I am as powerful as ever!” there was a great pause, no sound was made. Fear began to spread into my limbs as I realized I was breathing loudly, and in the silence outside the two strangers had heard it.
“Take care of our eavesdropper, Flametongue, burn him to ashes,” for a second my heart stilled, the regular thump of its beating absent.
BOOM! The rubble flew in a million directions as a fiery blast shook the room. I ducked and covered my head as the loose stones rushed past. The room began to heat up, trickles of heat licking at my neck. I peered up from my fetal position, a massive beast stood there, its red eyes fierce with hunger. It looked like a jungle cat, like a panther, but its fur was red. Just a little behind it, through the door formerly blocked by rubble I caught a glimpse of a black cloak passing. The red panther growled, its legs folding under it, readying to pounce. Steam hissed from its mouth and ears. I had never been so scared in my life, I just wanted to melt right through the floor.
“Please take me back, please take me back,” I muttered furiously, begging to go back to my own room. The jungle cat opened its mouth and a furious torrent of flames shot at me.
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Slam! I thumped back down onto my bedroom floor, my ears ringing. The world spun around me, a million different shapes and colors pirouetting across my dizzy mind. Nausea woke in the pit of my belly, begging to release my stomach’s contents back into the world. Dizzied, the urge overcame me and I hurled onto my bedroom floor. The barf smelled disgusting, I needed to get out or I might have to hurl again. I stumbled harriedly out of my door and onto the second floor landing.
“Not good, not good at all bro.” Fire! Flames licked at the ceiling and grasped around for anything that hadn’t caught ablaze yet. A wild spasm of flames sprang out in front of me, a cloud of ash rising into the air. I ducked down, my head still spinning furiously and painfully rolled down my burning staircase. In reality I probably didn’t break a single bone, but it sure felt like all 208 bones in my body were irreparably shattered. I struggled to stand up, my brain ricocheting around my skull. ‘What the hell is happening?’
“Mom! Dad!” I called out, hoping they were OK. I crawled beneath the smoke and ash that drifted towards the ceiling and made for my front door. I gingerly reached out a hand to turn the doorknob, “Ouch!” My hand stung as the smoldering knob branded my palm.
“You’re an idiot bro,” I told myself. I wanted to scream, but the panic in my chest held back the yell. I pulled my shirt over my head, wrapping it around my hands. The knob was still hot when I touched it, but it didn’t burn my hand as I opened the door. Smoke ran out my door into the open air, the outside world vacuuming it away.
Fresh air relieved my contaminated lungs. Coughing fits purged the blackened breaths from my chest as I lay on the ground. As I stared at my burning house a feeling of helplessness overtook me. Regretfully I stood up, every muscle in my legs screaming in protest of my action.
“Jesus… Mary… and Joseph,” I held my breath, praying that this was not happening. The red-furred panther stood stoically on my tree lawn, teeth bared, “If I make it through this I’m joining the track team,” I muttered to myself as I found my second wind. My sore limbs moaned as I bounded away, sprinting my fastest. As I ran I made a huge racket, hoping someone from the neighborhood would wake up and come to my aid. The night was still dark; the stars only dim specks in the horizon, the moon hidden in a bundle of clouds. The thing was gaining on me, with every one leap it took, I took three strides. My lungs burned with the effort, running low on air. With every strained breath my pace slowed and the thing got even closer. My foot caught an uneven sidewalk tile, the ground scraping across my skin as I fell against it, exhausted and panting. Rolling over weakly, my life flashed before my eyes as the panther pounced. Rows of sharp white teeth neared my face as the red beast flew through the air.
“Rymja,” a deep, harsh voice split the slideshow of my life that rolled past my eyes. A flash of lightning illuminated the night and struck the pouncing beast with a resounding crack. I scrambled out of the way, still expecting the downed beast to pounce again. The air sizzled with heat as the panther disintegrated and cloud of black particles rising from its vanishing body.
“W-who th-the he-ll are… you?” I couldn’t help but stutter, I was petrified. Standing at the end of my street was a large man cloaked in black. He began to walk toward me, his dark figure blending into the night, disappearing for a second. With a crack he appeared before me, a hand extended to help me up. After helping me struggle to my feet he wiped his huge hands across my back, patting off the dirt. Stubble clung to his cheeks and down through his chin and neck. His hair was midnight black and hung in a ponytail down his back. Dark eyes dominated his face, almost completely devoid of color.
“I cannot ask you for much at this moment, but can you walk?” his voice was gravelly and rough. I tried to reply but my voice seemed stuck so I simply nodded. I struggled to keep up with his long strides, my feet still very much sore from running for my life.
“You might want to call 9-1-1,” I pointed back at my house; it was now completely ablaze.
“It’s far too late for that,” the guy in the flasher jacket mumbled a few words under his breath. A second later my house evaporated, the fire quenched. Where the building stood a second before was now an empty lot, an old swing set sitting vacant there. He started to walk away, but there was no way I was following.
“Who the hell are you?” despite standing in the middle of the street with nothing but boxers on, right after my house burned down and I was chased by a supernatural jungle cat; I felt pretty darn smooth.
“Benjamin, I beg of you, ask no questions now. There will be a time soon enough when all your questions will be answered,” my stalker man paused, sighing heavily. His face was twisted in agitation while he watched me stand there.
“No way in hell am I taking one more step until you explain everything that just went down,” crossing my arms, I cocked my head at him.
“I don’t have time for this,” taking two enormous strides he walked over to me and threw me over his shoulder. With one hand he held me in place, the other clutching something by his neck, “Fara!”
And we were gone, leaving a quiet, dark street, with one less house; with one less home.
Even though this scene didn't really give readers substantial information besides introducing the idea of a mysterious stalker, it did introduce the kind of action they can hopefully expect in the future.
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