“The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow.” ― George R.R. Martin

Previously:

It is a nightmare he has driven you into: one that you have consistently denied and told yourself is not real, even now. Oh, but how real it is, a dark voice whispers in your mind. And as though a sudden ripple has disturbed the dark pool of your memories, a haunting vision awakens and emerges from its depths.

~*~

The warmth from the truck's heater thawed the remnants of the cold that had settled deep within your limbs with blessed relief. A dull ache began to reside in your muscles from today’s previous activities, but you could care less. A drowsy smile lifted the corner of your lips as you fought off the intoxicating desire to sleep, a feeling of complete satisfaction lulling your senses.

     For Christmas, you were given a new pair of beautiful ice skates with blades that gleamed of promise and excitement. You and your parents decided to take some time off to travel down to Farmer Donavan’s pond for a delightful afternoon of ice skating. Your eyes lit up as you recalled the way the skates had cut into the ice with terrific speed and ease. Not able to contain yourself, you tore off down the pond as though all of hell’s hounds were on your heels.

     “SLOW DOWN!” you heard someone bellow.

     What? You? Never. With a wicked grin, the little demon that you were rocketed across the ice even faster.

     “Don’t make me come catch you,” the low voice warned. And then, feeling a large, hulking presence drawing nearer, you turned around to see the massive form of your father hunkering towards you with increasing speed. With a large grin and outstretched arms, he began to roar as though he had transformed into a monster. “I’m gonna getchya!” he whooped.

     With a terrified shriek, you sped away from the ferocious beast in delighted terror. Laughing and squealing as he began to gain on you, you pleadingly wailed, “Save me, Mommy!”

      Feeling as though those large hands would nab you any second, your fear heightened as his voice continuously grew closer and closer. “I’m gonna getchya, I’m gonna getchya, I’m gonna ge- OOMF!”

     Confused by the sudden withdrawal of the beast, you turned around to see that he had nose-dived headfirst into a snow bank. Seeing your mother sheepishly grinning like a guilty culprit with a snowball in hand, you realized it was because your mother had completely schmucked him in the face. Did she know how much trouble she was in? The vengeful howl that ripped from the snowbank next gave you a good guess as to how much. An incredible snowball fight that lasted for hours had followed.

     A small, content smile pulled at your lips as thoughts about the snowball fight drifted into your mind. Feeling utterly and truly happy in this moment, you couldn’t help but heave a mighty yawn. Chuckling at the steering wheel, your father turned his head to you and said, “It appears our little lion has had a long day.”

     Your eyeballs popped out a little at that. “I am not little!” you retorted. “I am ten years old!” Counting on your fingers, you raised your hands up to your father’s face. “See! My hands are full.” And with that, you curled your fingers and gave a mighty roar.

      A rumble of laughter burst from your father’s frame as the biggest grin you ever saw spread across his face. “How right you are,” he exclaimed, a merry twinkle shining in his fierce green eyes. “Our little girl is all grown up now. What big claws you have!” And with a deep chortle, he ruffled your hair affectionately.

     Protesting, you shoved away the offending hand and pouted sourly. Your hair felt like it had poofed out like a dandelion’s head.

     “Now rest, my brave lion. We have a bit of a drive ahead of us.”

     Nodding slowly, you felt yourself begin to relax into the cushions and all fell quiet. Exhaustion began to soak into your mind and limbs.

     The quiet, peaceful atmosphere in the car appeared to seep in from the world passing by outside the car windows. The dark cloak of night shrouded the thick trunks of the surrounding forest and soothed everything into a still slumber. The iridescent moon, bright and high like a beacon in the sky, cast its luminance upon the icy snow blanketing the ground and the never-ending stretch of road ahead.

     Like a winter’s spell, your eyelids began to droop wearily of their own accord. With a sleepy sigh, you rested your head against the shoulder of your mother and smiled as you felt the tender of your mother’s fingers brush the hair away from your face.

     “Sleep, dear. We shall be home soon,” your mother murmured.

     Submitting, you snuggled closer into her soft form. Willing your conscience to drift off into oblivion, you closed your eyes and silently said goodnight to your parents, the sleepy moon, and the boy standing in the middle of the r-

     “Look out!” your mother screeched.

     With a start, your eyes opened to a nightmare from hell. Before you, a pair of unholy, red eyes bored into your own. In that flying moment, the pitched squeal of the tires and the curdling screams of your mother drowned into the background.

     A boy, his dark figure remaining eerily stationary in the center of the road, soon filled your vision as the truck threatened to slam into him. With his head cricked to the side, his inhumanely possessed body glowed a ghostly white in the headlights. And he was smiling.

     Your father yanked the steering wheel to the right in an attempt to avoid the boy, but it only caused the back end of the truck to swerve out from behind you. As the front of the truck met the boy, his satanically red eyes gleamed and remained fixed upon you – only you.

     Then you saw something that caused every vein in your flesh to freeze. Like vapor, he’d passed right through the front hood.

     And then your world began to whirl. The truck spun rapidly across the icy road and veered dangerously off the side of the road and down the hill. Your mother’s screams died when the right car window exploded as the truck’s side slammed into a tree. With a terrifying lurch, the truck lifted violently, flipped, and began rolling down the hill. A dark world spiraling out of control, you screamed helplessly as your body was thrown about. Mercifully, the snow slowed the truck’s decent and made it come to a halt upside down along the slope.  

     Cold, sore, and scared, you let out a terrified wail as you hung upside down in the dark vehicle. Warm, familiar hands found your face and pulled it into a large, comforting chest.

     “It’s alright. I got you,” your father murmured, and rubbed your head soothingly. Your sobs turning into weak hiccups, you hugged him as hard as you could.

     Lifting your chin, you found your father’s fearless green eyes peering into your own. “Daddy, what was that? Is it gone?” you trembled, your body shivering in complete terror.

     “I am not sure, but everything is going to be alright,” he professed, his relaxed demeanor calming your frantic heart. “I need you to be strong now, okay? Can you do that for me, my brave, little lion?”

     Swallowing down your fear, you felt a surge of determination swell in your chest. You wouldn’t let your father down. Nodding your head eagerly, you saw your father smile and give you a warm kiss upon the forehead. “There’s a good girl.”

     After your father instructed you on how to catch yourself with your hands, you were both able to release yourselves from the seatbelts holding you in. A little dizzy, you scrambled over to your mother. “Mother! Mother, wake up!” you yelled, shaking her frantically, but she only continued to hang limply in her seat. Something dark and warm dripped beneath her into a growing puddle. A new kind of fear crawled across your skin and wrapped around your neck in a powerful vice.

     “God, no. Please! Evelyn!” your father cried, cradling your mother’s slack face in his hands. A large, hideous gash opened the side of her temple and leaked rivulets of blood into her hair and onto the ceiling of the truck. Your father pressed two fingers upon her neck and all became silent.

     The smell of blood and something else tainting the air, your lips trembled as you dared to ask, “… Dad, is Mom going to be okay?” Your heart pounded harshly in your ears and tears began to well up in your eyes as you awaited his answer.

     Suddenly, his hands were working in a frenzy at the belt holding your mother in. “We have to get out of here, now!” he yelled.

     This was not good. Come to think of it, it was beginning to become really warm in here, and something smelled a lot like smoke. The exasperation in your father’s frame became evident as he tugged at the seatbelt. “Damn! It must be stuck,” he grunted, sweat beginning to gather upon his forehead.

     A hand pierced through the driver seat’s window without warning and began clawing at the shattered glass like paper. A feral growl erupted from outside and shuttered through the metal frame of the truck as the being’s hands tore at the glass with inhumane speed.

     It had come back.

     A pair of satanic red eyes peered in through the hole it had made in the window, and you released an earsplitting scream from your chest. Nothing in your nightmares could have prepared you for this.

      Your father pushed you behind his body and shielded you from the demon awaiting outside. “Go! Run! Climb out through the window!” your father bellowed, his eyes hardening to emeralds as they took in the creature. His arms insistently shoved you towards the window.

     “NO! I am not leaving you!” you cried out defiantly as you latched onto him in a white-knuckled grip.

     Your father whirled upon you and grabbed your tear-stained face within his hands. “Mommy and Daddy will be right behind you,” his reassuring voice washed over you. “Be strong.”

     Swiftly kissing you upon the forehead, he glanced behind him to see long, black arms and legs climbing into the compartment. “Go! Quickly!” he bellowed as he urged you towards the window.

     Not sparing a moment more, you plunged yourself forcefully into the wall of snow blocking the escape. You cried as it burned icily at your face and hands only to choke upon the smothering, cold powder. You couldn’t breathe. Panicking, your legs struggled to push you out of the bank while the truck’s metal frame rocked oddly beneath your floundering feet.

     “Stay away from my family!” your father roared at who only could have been the demonic being that had crawled its way into the truck. Your lungs began to silently scream as they direly burned for the precious air above, and yet your mind couldn’t help but envision those blood-red eyes beaming as they closed in on your forsaken father.

    The truck lurched viciously and caused the snow to mercifully break around your face. You gasped and spluttered as you fought your way out of the freezing snow. A new rumble greeted your ears, and with widened eyes, you turned your shaky form to see flames at the belly of the vehicle. Heat seared your frozen face in painful prickles. You gagged as noxious fumes billowed out from the metal frame and piping melting in the scalding fire.

     “Daddy?!” you screeched, covering your face from the exhaust. If he and mommy didn’t get out of there, they would burn alive!

     In silent horror, you realized the cries of your father had silenced into nothing. Only the truck’s shuddering groans resounded as the truck continued to rock back and forth, its metal buckling under the heat.

     “Dadd--” you cried, but it died in your throat as a black figure arose from the burning wreckage on the other side of the vehicle. And as it slowly rose to its full height, all feeling fled your body except for the dread in your stomach sinking down, down, down. The figure turned and revealed a familiar pair of red eyes and ghostly pale skin that reflected the flames beautifully. He was an angel of death clothed in smoke and breathed in flame.  And as those eyes latched onto yours and those lips upon his blood spattered face twisted into a grin, you knew that any claims you had had upon your soul no longer existed. 

     Without warning, a huge explosion knocked you backwards as the tires burst and a ball of fire erupted from the vehicle. Rolling down the hill, you screamed as your shoulder smashed into a tree trunk. Finally, you landed in the snow with a thud.

     A violent ringing pierced through your ears, and as you tried to get up, you realized your vision had been blinded by the explosion for you could hardly see the moonlit woods surrounding you. Scared, you dizzily pushed yourself to your feet and whimpered when your wounded shoulder buckled from the weight.

     Clutching your shoulder, you desperately looked about the darkness and shivered as the lonely, cold winter air ate away the heat clinging to your body. Forcing yourself to move, you felt something hard in front of you and clung onto it. Darkness… nothing, but darkness … until a ball of light kindled to life and took form. It was the wreckage, burning to an infernal crisp within the snow further up the hill. But its flames only seemed to stab an icy knife into your heart as you discovered the demon was no longer standing by the truck. The hairs on the back of your neck prickled to life.

    Frantically, you let go of the tree you had been hanging onto and began running down the slippery slope. Sharp pants escaped your trembling blue lips. Looking wildly about yourself as you raced down the hill, your eyes drew to a flicker of movement amongst of thick patch of shadows. There, within the shadows’ depths, two red orbs burned.

    In shock, you nearly stumbled further down the hill. With a bleating cry, you urged yourself to run faster. But your legs were beginning to fail you as they pushed through the thick layer of snow. Like a shade, the demon slipped in and out of the spidery shadows of the trees as he pursued you, his pair of smoldering red eyes burning a hole into your back.

     “Mommy! Daddy! Help me!” you wheezed, your tiny heart hammering within the bird cage of your chest.

      But there was no one here to rescue you. No one but the lonely moon and the baleful trees heard your cries.

     You don’t know how long you had raced through the woods. Time seemed to lengthen, and the night seemed to endure. Had it been a few minutes? Or hours? You didn’t know. All you knew was the burning within your lungs, the exhaustion seeping into your wooden legs, and the fear clawing you from the inside out. Fear is what kept you going. Kept you running from the threatening shadow pursuing you.

     He never gave up, and he never faltered. He remained fervently behind you, like a vigilant shadow trailing its master. His footsteps slow and purposeful, he walked through the snow languidly as if he was a predator stalking its prey. He was relishing this. Your fear Your weakening state. And he was waiting for the right moment to lunge.

     Frozen to the bone, your cries weakened into feeble whimpers as you continued on into the night. Only until a searing bright light flooded your eyes did you finally feel yourself collapse.