The Lord of Shadows - Chapter 2 revised

Morning dawned through the storm clouds that  still hung in the cool damp sky, and Nire’s parents readied themselves for work.  The power had finally come back on around 4 a.m.,  and the exhausted brunette slept until early afternoon. When 2 p.m. rolled  around, she was still laying in bed, thinking about her sketchbook. She decided  to go ahead and call Jen. No doubt her friends would be able to cheer her up.

 Not long after her  phone call, Jen and Nikki showed up at her doorstep. They had made it a point  to bring with them a new list of art related careers each time they got  together, and Nire couldn’t help but laugh as the two girls traded off listing  as many professions as they could find.

 Somewhere after  the second page of job options, Nire laughed out loud. “Okay okay! I get it,  there are lots of things I could do!” She smiled at her friends who handed her  their lists as they walked down the sidewalk. Nire folded them up and put them  in her pants pocket.

 “Anyway Mouse,  Nikki and I have a surprise for you,” Jen said to her friend.

 “Oh?” Nire asked,  curiosity trailing her voice.

 “Yup,” Nikki  responded, “but we have to go downtown for it.”

 The two girls  refused to tell Nire what they were doing, but none the less the curious  brunette followed her friends onto the 10-80 bus to downtown. Once they reached  their stop, the girls pulled their friend off the bus and eagerly dragged her  down the busy city street.

 “Slow down guys my  legs are too short for this!” Nire shouted at her friends laughing.

 “Oh, I’m not much  taller than you,” Nikki responded. “Stop fussing and hurry up! If you hadn’t  slept in all day we wouldn’t have to hurry before they closed.”

 As they rushed  down the sidewalk Nire realized where they were headed. South Eaton Paint  Supply. It was a locally owned art supply shop, and they always closed early on  Thursdays. The two girls pulled Nire into the shop and around the tightly lined  shelves to the drawing section. Nire stood back and watched her friends with a  smile on her face as they pretended to look extremely studious at each sketch  book. Finally Jen picked up a rather expensive black, hard bound sketchbook.  Nire’s mouth dropped.

 “You guys can’t  buy me that,” she protested.

 “Sure we can,” started  Jen. “We are going halves-ies, see?”  Jen  held up a $10 bill, and so did Nikki. They grinned.

 “That one’s too  expensive guys, there are cheaper ones that are just as good…” Nire protested  again.

 “Nope, we are  getting you this one. Besides it looks like it might be more waterproof than  the flimsy paper, spiral ones…” Jen teased. The girls walked to the counter and  paid for the book as Nire trailed behind them, her protests going unheard.  Nikki took the small paper bag and they left the store with Nire in tow.  Hopping the return bus home, the girls stopped at the park near South Eaton   Bridge and headed towards  a grassy area in the bright afternoon sun.

 They sat under a  tree, and Jen took the sketchbook from the bag that Nikki held.

 “All right Nire,  you can have this sketchbook on one condition!” she exclaimed, holding the book  and shaking it at her.

 “What?” Nire asked.

 “You must draw Jen  and me in the first two pages!” Nikki responded with a smile.

 Nire laughed. “Okay,  you’ve got yourselves a deal!”

 Nire drew the portraits of her two best  friends as the sun tapered in the sky. As soon as Jen was done posing in a  ridiculous manner for her portrait, Nikki assumed the position of perfect  posture, and a very composed look. When Nire had finished, Jen snatched the  sketchbook from her hands and showed Nikki their portraits. They ooed and awed  at the drawings, and Nire just laughed at them.

 Suddenly Jen  reached over the sketchbook and grabbed the pencil out of Nire’s hand. She held  the book on her knees, shielding it with her hand from Nire’s eyes. The two girls  giggled as Jen drew something on the inside of the front cover that the brown  haired girl craned her head to see. Nikki pointed to the drawing and whispered  something.

 “THERE!” exclaimed  Jen as she held the sketch book out at arm’s length to admire her work. Nikki  just laughed. Jen closed the book and handed it to Nire with a smug grin.  “There ya go.”

 Nire opened the  book, and on the inside cover was a small message that read:

 “Jen and Nikki,”  followed by a drawing of a heart, and a crude drawing of a mouse. “Friends  forever.” Nire smiled and laughed. Mainly, at how silly the mouse looked.

 Later that evening  Nire felt much better than she had the day before. She really did have  wonderful friends, and she was happy to know them. As she sat in her window  seat she opened the sketch book again and looked at the faces she’d drawn of  her friends; Jen with her silly expression, and Nikki looking so serious.  Flipping back to the front inside cover she read the message out loud to  herself while tracing her fingers over the pencil lines.

 “Jen and Nikki,  ‘heart’, Mouse, friends forever.” A small smile crossed her lips and she  watched the sky outside darken and stars begin to appear. For the first time,  Nire felt excited about college. The three girls had planned to move in  together and share an apartment. Now that she was feeling a little more secure  about her future possibilities, she was eagerly looking forward to beginning  the rest of her life.

It was Tuesday  now. Three more days and Nire would be 19. Her friends had been planning a  surprise for her, and her parents, she was sure, were also involved. As she hit  the switch of the lamp on her night stand and lay down in bed, she watched the  sky outside her window. Only the smallest sliver of moon hung in the sky, and  Nire watched it slowly glide across the night until sleep finally closed her  eyes.

 She found herself  standing in darkness. There wasn’t anything around her she could see, however  she could see herself. So it wasn’t  really dark, there just wasn’t anything there. She turned in place and looked  all around her, not exactly sure what it was she was looking for.

 “Hello?” She  shouted out into the nothingness. “Hello? Is anyone here?” she called again. A  familiar voice came to reply, and it made Nire’s heart stop in her chest.

 “Come to me,” it said. It was not a  command, nor was it a question. More of a suggestion…  The voice was low and steady. It rolled through the darkness as if it came from  all directions.

 “Who are you?!” Nire shouted back with  desperation in her voice. Fear began to trickle its way inside her. The fear of  not knowing…

 “Come to me,” it said again, sounding a  bit more urgent this time.

 Nire turned in  place, trying to find the source of the voice that seemed to come from nowhere  in particular. Frustrated she shouted back.

 “I don’t know  where you are!” Her heartbeat sped up, and she felt the rush of adrenaline as  her cheeks grew hot and her hands began to shake. She felt as though she was  going to come to tears.

 “Come… Come to me,” the voice repeated,  seeming more distant than before.

 “But I don’t know  where you are!” Nire shouted back, and tears started streaming down her face as  she panicked. “Why am I crying?” she  asked herself, unable to figure out why she felt so upset.

 “Come…” The voice faded away as she spun  in circles. Unsure of which way to go she started running in a random  direction, hoping it was towards the source of the voice. “Come…” It beckoned to her again as she ran, but it didn’t seem to  be getting any closer. As she ran as fast as she could, the voice faded  completely and Nire’s tears turned into sobs. Why, why am I crying? She asked herself again as her feet carried  her deeper into the nothingness. Suddenly she felt the sensation of falling,  and screamed.

Nire woke in her  bed, her face soaked with tears. Footsteps came running down the hall, and Jane  burst into the room.

 “Nire are you all right?!”  she asked in a panic.

 Nire sat up in bed  and wiped her face. “I… I didn’t realize I screamed out loud…” she said with a  shaky voice.

 “Nire honey, what  on earth is wrong?” her mother asked as she came to sit on her bedside.

 “I don’t know… I  had a strange dream and I was crying, but I don’t really know why. Then it felt  like I was falling and I woke up,” she sniffled. “I guess I screamed out loud  when I started falling.”

 “Don’t you  remember what the dream was about?” her mother asked, wrapping her arms around  the girl. Richard poked his nose into the doorway, and Jane shooed him off.

 “Well, yeah. But  it doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know why it upset me so much,” Nire  explained.

 “Not a nightmare?”  Jane questioned.

 “No, not really,”  Nire answered.

 “And you’re okay  now?” she asked, wanting to be sure.

 “Yeah, I’m okay.  Sorry I woke you guys up.” She looked up at her mother and smiled, reassuring  her she was all right.

 “Okay sweety…”  Jane started. “Let me know if you want to talk about it anymore tomorrow,  okay?”

 “Okay.”

 “Are you going to  be able to get back to sleep all right?” she asked as she neared the doorway.

 “Yeah I think so.”

 “All right then.  Goodnight sweety.”

 “Night mom.”

 As her mother shut  the door Nire flopped down on her bed and let out a sigh. What was that all  about?

 Late the next  morning Nire sat and ate breakfast alone at the kitchen table. Her mother and  father were both at work, and she had slept in a bit after the disturbance late  last night. She quietly pulled off pieces of her muffin and popped them into  her mouth. With her head resting in her free hand, she couldn’t stop thinking  about that dream.

 It was the same voice. She thought to  herself. The same voice from that first  dream. She poked the remains of her muffin with her finger as she thought. Why would I try to find it? The voice  frightened her, it didn’t make any sense that she would actually try to go  towards it in both dreams. Perhaps the heaviest of questions that weighed on  her mind, was why she had hurt so  much. She hadn’t just cried… it wasn’t that simple. It hurt.

 As she stared off  into space the dim light in the kitchen slipped away, and sunlight washed the  floor in a yellow glow as a cloud passed overhead. Nire focused her eyes and  looked outside. It looked like a nice day out. She thought that perhaps a walk  would clear her head, so grabbing her bag she left the house through the back  door.

 It was quiet as  she walked thoughtfully through the grassy field.

 It bothered her. The dream was more than  just confusing. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. She couldn’t stop thinking  about the way she’d felt when it  called to her. The way she’d felt when it started fading away. Why…

 Her thoughts were  broken when she realized she had already walked into the forest and made her  way to her favorite spot, on what must have been autopilot. She blinked and  looked around her, surprised she was already there. Having been so lost in  thought, she hardly remembered walking there at all.

 Nire sat on the  large rock and continued thinking about the dream as the day passed slowly  around her. She lay down and stared into the canopy, watching the leaves rustle  below the bright blue sky. Her thoughts were interrupted as a shadow crossed  her face. Blinking she focused and searched for the owner of the shadow.

 It’s that hawk…

 “Oh!” she shouted  as she jumped up. Completely forgetting the dream and remembering she’d wanted  to draw that hawk weeks ago when she’d been caught in the storm.  She quickly grabbed her bag and turned in  place, her eyes turned towards the sky, looking for the hawk.

 “There!” she  shouted out loud as she spotted it circling inside the trees not too far away.  Hopping off her rock she kept her eyes on the bird as she walked towards it. As  she neared the hawk, which was now perched on a tree, her foot caught on a root  and took her to the ground. Falling on her hands and knees into the underbrush  she quickly shot up and danced around hysterically, brushing her hands wildly  all over herself to make sure nothing unwanted had crawled onto her.

 After she was  fairly sure she was critter-free, she brought her attention back to the tree  tops in search of her target. Damn…  she thought as she scanned the branches. Where’d  it go? She couldn’t quite remember exactly which direction it had been in.  A small tickle on the back of her neck made her screech and brush the spot with  her hands. Great now I’m going to be  feeling spiders on me all day… she thought.

 Deciding on a  direction, she wandered to where she thought the hawk had been, but looking  around she still couldn’t see it. Suddenly she came to the realization that not  only had she lost the hawk, but she had no idea where she was either.  Frantically  she turned in place, looking for anything familiar, but there was nothing.

 Damn it! She screamed to herself. Ok Nire calm down… the sun is in the west so  all I have to do is walk away from it and I should be able to find my way home. Nire turned, to where the sun hung low in the sky. Crap it must be almost 7:00 – Mom and dad are probably wondering where  I am. Turning away from the sun and following her shadow she walked east.

 But the forest  still surrounded her. She looked over her shoulder to the sun, which was now so  treacherously low that it barely showed through the trees. The yellow light  hung above her, glimmering on leaves in the canopy, but Nire walked in the long  stretched shadows of the trunks.

 A familiar feeling  of panic began to creep into her chest as the yellow glow moved higher on the  trees and the ambient light grew darker and darker.  She’d been walking for hours now, but there  had been no break in the trees. It should  have ended… She thought. The sun sets  right behind the house… East had to be the right direction to go.

 Not being able to  think of another solution, Nire kept walking and the light continued to fade.  When the sun finally sank below the horizon and she was left alone in the  twilight, she felt the fear that had been creeping in like a thorny vine squeeze  her heart. I’m lost… She thought to  herself as tears began to well in her eyes.

 The crickets had  begun to chirp a while ago, and there was the occasional burst of light from a  stray firefly. At least it was warm… but that was only a small comfort as she  sat on a rock in the darkness. She could think of plenty of other better places  to sit, but those places all had a high likelihood of also housing other  creatures that had the same good idea. Like spiders… and snakes…

 So the rock it  was. At least nothing could crawl into her hair unexpectedly here. She hugged  her knees, trying not to cry as the strange noises of night surrounded her.  There was no moon tonight, and the forest was almost completely black. Her  mother and father were probably worried sick by now. She hadn’t even left a  note saying shed gone for a walk in the forest… she hadn’t planned on being  gone when they got home.

 They would have no  idea she was lost out here, or even where to start looking. They’d call Jen and  Nikki, and they wouldn’t know anything either. For all they knew she’d been  kidnapped and left dead in a ditch somewhere. The thoughts of what her parents  must be thinking flooded her mind, and she began to cry.

 As she sobbed  quietly into her knees a rustling sound in the brush behind her caught her  attention, and her head shot up to listen for the direction of the sound. She  jerked her head to the left, and then the right. It sounded like it was coming  from all around her… and it was getting closer.

 Terror surged through  her and she froze as the rustling sounds surrounded her. The possibilities of  what could be making the sound rushed though her head, and before she even knew  what she was doing, she had jumped off the rock and ran. She could hardly see, and blocked her face with her arms as  she plowed through the forest. She couldn’t tell if the sound was following  her, or if it was just the sound of her own footsteps. A tree branch hit her  hard as she flew though the woods, but it didn’t stop her.

 The sound of her  own heartbeat and ragged breath drowned out everything else in the forest.  Blood pumped through her ears, and her arms had been caught numerous times by  stray branches. It was a miracle she hadn’t run head on into any trees yet, she  thought. Suddenly through the sound of her own footsteps, she thought she heard  a whisper. No. no, no, no. Not a whisper. Her mind was playing tricks on her.  It was just the fear. But then she  heard it again, and this time it was louder, and much clearer.

 “Come to me…”

 Nire brought her  hands to her temples, blocking her ears as she tried to keep it out.

 “NO!” she shouted.  “You’re not real! I’m just imagining you because I’m scared!” she tried to  reason out loud. As a child she always thought she heard voices, she always  thought she saw shadows move. But it wasn’t real… it was just her fear. It’s not real It’s not real! She shouted  inside her own head.

 Her feet were  still carrying her full speed into the darkness and a branch caught her face.  She suddenly realized she had closed her eyes, and had been running completely  blind as she tried to escape the whispers. Her eyes shot open at the sudden  sting on her cheek. Stop… she told  herself. Her lungs were burning and her legs ached as they pounded the earth  beneath her. Stop! She yelled inside  her head, but her legs didn’t want to listen. The fear in her chest kept  driving her forward.

 Her next step  convinced her completely that stopping would have in fact been the right  decision, and the fear in her chest found its way to her lungs, and then her  lips, as she fell.