Young Writers Society

“Hey,”

I felt someone gently nudge me but I didn’t respond.

“Hey lady,” the young child’s voice cooed again. “Wake up.”

Immediately my eyes flew open as I jack-knifed into sitting position. My heart was pounding so hard my vision was blurred with every thud. Stiffly I turned to the open room from my firm bed in the corner but saw no one. The tall shadows cast by the several candles that lit loomed in stillness, hiding no life.

As I pulled my knees in I rubbed my arms, trying to dispel the chills. Cold sweat beaded on my forehead as I sat there. I held myself tightly as images like that of a nightmare popped in my mind. Closing my eyes didn’t make them go away.

Was it all a dream?

Unconsciousness ebbed away as aches and pains settled in. I swallowed hard as I looked at the bandages covering my body. Those cursed bandages. These people should’ve let me die and save me the guilt and the shame. I squeezed my fist and released it, watching the blood stop and then circulate.

“Don’t cry,”

I looked up and saw a little boy standing only a few feet away from me, his small face contorted with concern and sadness. His bright green eyes shown crisply in the dull light; his dark blonde hair frayed in different directions.

“I’m not crying,” I said, my eyes dry and sunken deep. Where did he come from?

“My mom said we’re leaving with the caravan soon,” the boy replied. “So I may not see you again.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about and what to do. It pained me to see a small child in a world like this. A place where innocence was shattered and childhood was only a story of what could have been.

“Where’s your mom?” I said finally. I looked at him with tried eyes and he seemed to mirror my reflection.

“She told me not to tell,” He answered. The boy lowered his head with his shoulders beginning to shake. His voice, broken, as he shuttered, “I don’t want to be hit anymore. I don’t want to want to thirst anymore!” Tears fell from his eyes that were so heavily masked by shadows and darkness.

I reached out to him, hoping to comfort him in some way, when he suddenly pulled away from me and dashed for the closed door. I got up at once and followed him. My body was numb and I fumbled slightly out the door as I tried to see which way he went. I was shocked my ribcage would let me so much as run. Though my dread was stronger than my pain.

The hall was no brighter than the room. A few torches here and there gave sparse light but I caught the smallest glimpse of his back. I turned right and ran after him.

“Wait!” I called. “It’s too dangerous!” My fear of those demons even so much as scratching that boy was like reliving that dreadful night.

I couldn’t see ten feet in front of me as I sprinted down the stone hall; my bare feet pounding on the earth. Breathing hard, my arms pumping at my sides, adrenaline pouring into my veins, these were all signs that I was very much alive, and this wasn’t at all a dream.

The faint sound of his feet hitting the floor slowly started to fade. I stopped at an intersection of four halls, listening for him. There was only silence. My eyes frantically searched the empty hallways as far as they could see. Nothing. No one.

Just as I was inhaling to call out to him I heard heavy footsteps coming towards me. I couldn’t figure out where they were coming from as I spun in circles trying to find its source. They grew louder. As quickly as I could I slipped behind one of the corners and hid in the darkness out of the radius of the torch. Silently I prayed the person was coming down any hall but mine.

The footsteps stopped in the center of the intersecting hallways.

I held my breath, too afraid to even make the slightest movement. I hadn’t even seen the person but could already sense the air they had about them, almost like an odor. Whoever this person was, they were a silent killer. Power and intellect was abundant, but their soul was so distant it was like they didn’t even have one.

After standing there for a few moments, the stranger walked on. I saw a dark shadow moving onward. I waited about a minute before I stepped out of the darkness and into the light. Looking down the hall where the person went I saw nothing but pure black, not even so much as a distant torch.

As I turned in the opposite direction I my heart skipped a beat. A tall person standing over me didn’t move an inch after I had walked into them. Like a brick wall he just stood there, motionless.

Surprisingly I wasn’t afraid. I was even bold enough to look up into their face. The torch was behind them and I couldn’t make out a single detail. I knew this was the person I just saw a moment ago. My breathing became shallow as if I were about to fall asleep.

It suddenly occurred to me that I was holding onto the person’s jacket. As I began to take a step back the person grabbed both my wrists with one hand.

“What are you doing all the way back here alone?” A deep, lifeless tone emitted from the shadow-veiled face.

I opened my mouth to answer but nothing came out. My throat seemed to close itself so that I was condemned to silence. I don’t think he was expecting me to reply.

In a single move he twisted my arms behind me and started walking me down the hall that I came. I cringed as I forced to move against my will. Every time I retaliated he held tighter and dug his thumb into my forearm.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“Some place where you won’t get out,” he said plainly.