The Messengers [Chapter One]

The night must have been confused. Instead of the sky hosting an exceptionally delicious black color across its body, a majestic navy blue took its place. The blue made the sky look a lot shallower than it really was, like it was a lake instead of an ocean. The stars shimmered dimly and refused to come out of their hiding spots behind the clouds as they shivered at the sky's new look. Even the moon had decided to change; he was covered in a sickly yellow haze as his gaze fell upon my house.

Cold wind trickled down my spine and I felt goose bumps rise on my arms, and even though my warm bed was calling me closer, something about seeing the sky like this held my gaze. The forest that stood behind my house had always seemed dark, but within the shadow of the night it looked sinister and cruel. But the wind was refreshing, and as I tasted the cold wet air on my tongue, I relaxed. I lay my elbows on the window sill and gazed out. The wind played with my brown hair, tousling it around my shoulders, and I groaned. I spent at least an hour making sure every end was perfectly straight... I placed my hands over my head to try and shield it from the wind, but it slipped between my fingers and blew the strands of hair around my face as if to prove that there was no way I could stop it. I gave up on trying. There was no one to see me tonight anyway.

I looked down at the ground underneath my window and could almost see that familiar figure waving up at me. He would’ve worn his usual red sweater, my favourite one, and his dark hair would have been lovingly blown aside by the wind, so that it framed his face perfectly. Mine, on the other hand, would look like it had been through a blender.

He still would have told me I was pretty. He would’ve laughed as I tried to climb down the side of my house, and he would have been there to catch me if I fell. The memories stung in my mind, and felt so real that I could hear his voice calling out for me still. He was unreachable now, and I had to get used to it.

My eyes flickered back to that spot every now and then though as I hoped he realized that we were perfect for each other soon enough.

My cheeks were getting numb from the cold, and my vision blurred. I sighed and closed the window; I was tired. I walked away and lay on my bed. The night was a perfect shade of dark blue and I regretted closing the window immediately. After some hesitation, I ran back to the window and opened it wide. I wrapped myself in my bed sheets and closed my eyes. I was concentrating on slowing my heartbeat down. Eventually I lost feeling in my left leg, then my right. I felt my arms relax by my sides, and my breathing slowed. The chaos in my head was silent now, like the calm before the storm. I knew I was almost unconscious as I sank deeper and deeper.

An explosion of blue light spread across the sky and created a wave of sound that rippled through the air. When it hit my house, my room shook with such a violent force that I fell out of my bed and landed flat on my back. I muffled back a scream, curled into a ball and waited for it to stop. Books fell off of their shelves and crashed around me as I tucked my head closer to my chest. The smaller I was, the less of a chance there was that I would get hit. Suddenly I was aware of every heavy object that I had in my room. I remembered at least ten hardcover books, three soccer trophies, and a bowling ball. I almost heard it rattling and rolling off the side, directly above where I was huddled.

How do you survive an earthquake?! I shouted at myself. The answer snapped into my mind just as loud as I crawled on my hands and knees towards the desk against the far wall. I curled underneath it, wrapping my arms around my head protectively and I held my breath.

Finally the tremors stopped and my body managed to stay together in one piece. I cautiously lifted my head and took a look around me. I saw where I had been before, and now the bowling ball was in my place. It had fallen off the shelf just like I thought it would, and embedded itself in my floor. I shivered in horror when I realized how close that had been from being my head. I crawled towards my window sill again and looked up. Only a light blue haze remained in the sky, but just as my heart beat started to measure was when my eyes fixed on the white figure inside the blue light.

What is that? I wondered.

Whatever it was, it was stunning. Slowly, it swirled towards Earth like a falling star, glimmering in absolute brilliance. I strained my neck to get a closer look at it and leaned my head forward. Bursts of vivid lights shone from it=s body as it tumbled to the ground head first. I watched it fall more rapidly as it sliced through the air and vanished behind the trees, deep into the forest. I imagined the size of the hole it must have left when it hit the ground, and it looked like something along the lines of the Grand Canyon.

I was so dazzled that I didn’t do anything except listen to my own harsh breathing for a few minutes. Then I slunk back under the desk and put my head in my hands. I waited for another tremor, an explosion, or a powerful storm. I was waiting for the end of the world.

About an hour had passed, and frankly my legs were in a really uncomfortable position. I stretched a little and walked out of my room, backwards. My eyes still didn’t dare leave the window until I had to, only to make sure I didn’t accidentally fall down the stairs.

I ambled along and stopped at my brother’s room. Kevin’s door was slightly ajar, but I opened the gap more by pushing it with my foot. The hinges squeaked loudly and swung the door so roughly that the doorknob smacked into the wall. I cursed under my breath as I looked for my brother’s figure in the dark. There wasn’t anything that I could see. I stood there for a couple of seconds to let my eyes adjust, then took a couple steps to the side of his bed so that I could properly check for any damage.

Brown hair covered the top half of his pillow and his cheek was squished against the bottom half. Kevin’s mouth was hanging wide open and he was breathing nosily, reminding me of a drowning fish. His blue eyes were closed and his arms and legs were sprawled out, but there was no sign of blood. I breathed a sigh of relief, he was okay. His floor I couldn’t say the same about though. Sports trophies and magazines littered the ground in a way that Kevin would have hated. Any sort of disarray that he saw would make him feverishly clean and organize until everything had its own glow. I made sure to pick everything up and put back in its proper place before he woke up and freaked.

I looked at him again as I walked out of his bedroom and tried to force back a giggle. No one else could look so peaceful, but at the same time look as stupid as Kevin did when he was sleeping.

I walked past my parent’s room and glanced inside. The moonlight from their window traced out two bodies lying underneath the bed sheets, rising and falling with each breath. I poked my head in and inspected their room. Surprisingly, everything was in place. Satisfied, I quietly made my way downstairs and into the kitchen. I sat down at the table and put my head in my hands. A blue bird sang joyfully in the distance to signal the coming morning, like it would have every morning.

Had this been a dream? I doubted.

But the proof ruled out my proposition. Of course it did, how else I would explain the utter disaster my room was in. But I was still unsure. If it had been true, how come no one else had noticed it? The night went on as if it had been undisturbed. Kevin didn’t wake up, my parents didn’t wake up, and no one noticed. Was I the only witness? My desire for answers clouded my thoughts until all I could think about was the falling star. I knew what I wanted. I stood up and walked towards the closet by the backdoor. On the top shelf, there was a flashlight tucked in the corner. Two pink rain boots sat in front of me and I slipped them on quickly. Putting on my blue jacket I unlocked my front door and stepped outside into the dark.

The icy wind bit at my nose and whistled past my ears. I knew in the back of my mind that this was a stupid idea, but curiosity propelled me forward until it was impossible to turn back. Every step was immediately following the previous one, until I was well past the entrance into the forest and my house was hard to see past all the trees. I listened to my feet crunching on the ground, and the sound seemed to melt in a pleasant melody with the cricket=s chirping in the grass. I kept walking.

Mosquitoes circled around me with interest, but didn’t dare come closer than a few feet. When they did get braver, they flew towards me and purred in my ear. I tried to swat them away with my hands, but instead of flying away they kept diving around me like kamikaze jet pilots. I swore I could almost hear them laughing as they landed on my arms. I ran forward as fast as I could, hoping to run too fast for them to catch up. I whipped the flashlight behind me to look, when something caught my foot and I was hurled towards the ground. There was a satisfying splat as I hit the wet mud. I lay on my stomach for a few moments before I turned my head to the side and looked behind me. I rolled my eyes. It was a just an overgrown tree root.

Grumbling, I stood up and assessed the damage. There was a huge mud stain on the front of my yellow shirt, and both legs were covered in the wet brown sludge. I swore and tried to wipe some of it away, but it spread out and sunk deeper into my shirt. I whimpered in frustration and ignored it, because after all I had sacrificed already, there was no way I was turning back.

All the trees looked the same. I couldn’t remember what direction I took when there was a fork in the road, and I didn’t even know how to get back to them. I knew I was really deep in the forest, but it felt like I was walking in circles.

Another hour past, but all I could think about was a shower. My hair was ruffled, my clothes were caked with mud and my face was splattered with dirt. For once, I hoped that he didn't’t decide that tonight was the night to take me back and find me wandering around the forest instead. I sighed, and immediately took that back. If he did decide to go on a walk this late, or if anyone did, I could’ve asked them for help. Why didn’t I wait until morning to go look for it? It wasn't=t as if it had legs and could walk away. I stopped dead in my tracks. What if it did?

The thought made the hairs on my arms prickle. Could it really be alive? Flashes of the white orb of light falling from the sky swam in front of my eyes. Nothing could’ve survived that fall, not a chance; unless this was something different. I shivered, my hand gripped tighter around the flashlight. I continued to walk on as I scanned the forest carefully. I must be deep into the woods by now, I felt like I had been walking for months. My legs were screaming for me to stop and rest, but my heart was slamming too hard in my chest for me to relax. I tried focusing on the night’s noises to comfort me and keep me company.

That=s when I realized that the forest had gone deadly silent. I stopped again and tried to listen carefully. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, even the mosquitoes had suddenly vanished. What was wrong, had everything disappeared? Or maybe, had everything been running away? I walked faster. The wind stopped blowing the leaves in the trees and brushing past my cheek, and that’s when I realized that there had been no wind. Everything was standing still, motionless.

My arms were prickling and I wanted to scream, but instead I kept a steady hand on my flashlight and focused on keeping to the trail. If I went off of it into the trees I could end up anywhere, and rescue was less likely. I suddenly wished for some pepper spray or my dad’s old handgun. My vulnerability scared me, and I felt like I had a huge target on my back as I walked along.

I batted my eyelashes to try to force the tears back like an unwanted house guest. I felt a different pair of eyes look at me for a while now, and it made me more terrified than ever. I was being stalked.

The flashlight still searched all the bushes and trees, but I could see nothing. It was only when I occasionally heard a twig snap under an unseen foot was when I jumped out of my skin. When I heard it the fourth time, all my desire for answers died and I whipped around and ran back along the path. The trees blurred around me as I ran as fast as I could, but I felt the eyes following me with every step. My breathing was harsh and I could feel adrenaline pumping through my veins, sending it all to my legs to make them move faster.

I saw something whirl by me from the corner of my eye, and I yelped. Now it was on my left side, and it was closer now. I screamed until my voice gave out and I prayed I was close to home. Just when I thought I made a good distance between the danger and myself, I tripped. My heart stopped when I realized it was the same tree root again. I scrambled to get up, but something growled deeply in my ear, a kind of hungry and fierce noise. I froze as I could feel its hot breath on my face, and I tried to scream again but the dark ate at the edges of my vision, swallowing it whole and knocking all consciousness out of me.