Chapter 3: Dear Father
"She`s coming around I think." She heard the voice, but it was so far away, miles away. Maybe it didn`t even exist. Softness was under her, basking her in comfort, but she felt no comfort. Who would have? She didn`t know where she was, or who she was for that matter. What was a shadow? What was she? Human? Alian? Who was Seth? She began to breath faster, finally getting some energy. Her eyes cracked open and she moaned slightly. Seth sat next to her, watching her curiousely. He watched the rise and fall of her chest, he watched the steadly increasing alertness in her eyes, and he watched her reaction when she looked at him. She was weary of him, not fearful. He understood that. She had been living with a far greater monster than him. "Welcome home, Shadow."
She opened her eyes fully and took in the sight around her. She was on a black silk bed that was made much like a hammock. Covers basked her in warmth. She peeked over the side of the bed and gasped, backing off suddenly. Seth sat on a chair but the queston in her mind was, what was the chair sitting on? It seemed that beneath the chair there was nothing but a sea of darkness. "Where am I?"
Seth smiled slightly at her as he stood up, walking on the air it seemed, over to her bed where he sat down. She pulled away from him with her eyes wide. They were not fearful, more or less suprised. And why wouldn`t she be? She looked into his eyes and saw a glimmer of something she had never seen before in his eyes. Sympathy. He was frowning at her and looked on the brink of tears. "What has he done to you?"
She blinked, trying to keep the tears from coming. Someone knew. Someone felt her pain. Someone felt what it was. "How...."
He stopped her by touching a finger to her lips. She then saw a series of images. Him hovering in the air, watching her being beat almost scensless. Him watching her mother hitting her. Him watching her sleep. He was just watching. Looking at ehr breath, wanting to hold her, to take away her pain. He smiled at her. "You are no longer human. A human can`t deal with this much pain."
She suddenly felt a cold trail on her face and her eyes stung. When she blinked she felt another cold trail. A tear? She reached up and touched it, holding it on the tip of her finger. "I am human, I can feel."
He smiled at her, carressing ehr cheek with his thumb. "No, shadows can feel too." With that he stood up and turned to leave. Without thinking, she lunged after him. There were so many questons to ask him. The side of the bed ended, and the endless drop below her began. She would have screamed, but what good would it have done. She closed her eyes as she felt the air rush by her. She was going to die. She had just expirianced what humanity felt like and it was going to end. Her feet smacked against something and a deathly cold substance covered her up to her chin. She moved her legs, but it was so thick. It was like mud but it clung to her, refusing to let go. She kicked ehr feet harder until her head was above the waves of darkness. "Help!"
Then she felt it. A cold and clamy hand that clung to her ankle, ripping her beneath the waves. She didn`t know how far down she went, but soon her lungs felt as though they would explode. That was when the air bubble went over her. She took a breath of air, but the air was stale. She closed her eyes, trying to rub out the mudlike substance. Then there was a strange smell tinging her nose. The smell of blood, maybe even the smell of suffering. She didn`t know. He eyes opened and they were now clear. In the world of darkness, she stood in a field of flowers with the sun setting but still claiming it`s ownership of day as it clung to the horizon. She took in a breath and sighed, feeling a cool air whip through her hair, forse itself into her lungs, and finally she felt the comfort it brought.
"In your imagination, you can be queen over it all Cristy, remember this moment forever."
She was a child of three, and in the darkness her father held her. She leaned on him, smiling with content. "Can I chase after the sun daddy?"
He laughed in a comforting way. "No frazzle, but we can hold it in our hearts untilo mourning comes again."
She let ehr arms creep around her as the stale air disappeared and she was basked in the scent of perfumed flowers. She fell to her knees, buring her face into the ground and inhaling all the smells that came. They were so farmiliar to her, yet they were an enigma. She heard the slight thump of a foot in freont of her and so she sat up, the smell of flowers and happiness still hanging in her nose. She suddenly felt rock bite into her shoulder and tear through her dress. She would have scream, whimpered, anything - but she couldn`t. He stood in front of her, firmly pressed against her and staring into her eyes as though there were nothing else in the world. His touch was cold and his eyes had lost their shine long ago. "Why have you come here?"
She took in a few breaths, not really sure what to say. "I-it was an accident."
He smirked and inched closer to her. She leaned her head back but the rock prevented her from avoiding him completely. "Nothing is an accident Emily." Her mouth was suddenly covered with his. She inhaled sharply as his hands rubbed circles on her back. She soon found herself kissing back, wrapping her arms around him. He was farmiliar somehow, but she wasn`t all too sure how. Finally he pulled back, leaving soft trails of tickling flesh across her back and still the tickle of warm breath on her lips. It was without warning that he backed away, and it was without warning that his hand landed hard against the side of her face. She screamed in suprise and spun toward the cliff, hitting her forehead against it finally. Her vision turned red as blood trickled down into her eyes. She looked at him, now horrified, as he hovered over her. "Her eyes were deathly white, her skin was deathly pale, her cheeks were higher than the highest mountains, her heart was made of coal, her breath was filled with ice, Her candle had been snuffed." He leaned closer to her, crouching down and glaring at her. "Your candle has been snuffed!" His hand whipped across her face again and the world turned black before her. She let a few tears fall before she closed ehr eyes, knowing she was going to die.
"He`s never done anything this bad before." She flinched at the touch on her cheek, but was imidiately calmed by Seth`s voice. "It`s alright Shadow, you`re okay."
Her eyes opened slightly, or as far as they could. Both of them were swollen almost shut and she felt a silken bandage on her forehead. "Who...."
Seth touched her lips with his finger tip and smiled. "Shhhh, it`s alright. I`ll explain it all, in the mourning. You`ve had a busy day, you need sleep." She nodded finally, and he left.