Chapter Seventeen: The Beginning

A cold breeze kissed the pale flesh of my cheeks as my eyes began to flutter open. I had awoken to the sound of the bell tower chiming thrice, signaling that the light within the quaint town of Marabelle, New York was emerging and the streets began to bustle with scenes of life.

The townsfolk kept to their concrete sidewalks and brick roads, knowing well to stay away from the dark alleyways that seemed to watch them as they walked past by. Many had spoken false tales of the danger lurking, snatching every foolish soul that dared to step foot into the whispers of the creeping dark.

It was just words, or perhaps there had been some truth to the tales that haunted children's minds if they ventured too close. Rest assured, the only thing lurking in this dark alley had been a young girl with the company of a few rugrats.

There had been many more hidden mysteries in these shadows, many with different purposes. The ones that caused the most trouble by terrorizing the Daybreakers, I called them Deezer's.

Those who now tormented the poor individuals from Marabelle were once pure and bright until they lost their souls to the dark and couldn't venture too far into the light or their flesh would burn from their bones.

The dark shadows of the home we lived in were a parasitic disease we couldn't escape. I often wished I had the freedom to explore without being burned from the very beaming warmth of a golden orb I had ached to see.

The lurkers beneath the blackened surface of a peering alleyway terrorized the pedestrians the most by luring them with their desires.

Some people dared to venture further, their aching need to satisfy their curiosity began to take over their minds and make them take a step further but the fear that took over their hearts with each groveling step forth had forced them to turn around and flee from the black death.

Some weren't so lucky as those who escaped the obsidian's grip. Some were snatched away into the night, their screams muffled by the darkness and their souls being stolen away to replenish what little flourish we had, but what came in eventually had to come out.

After each scream of the chilling nights, I had finally lost count of the days that had gone by with each soul that had been devoured into wickedness and eventually became part of the corruption. I often spent my shivering nights upon a shadowy terrace that rewarded me with a tinge of light from the moon.

On the nights I felt the most alone I turned to the shimmering sky and somehow I felt the moon giving me the comfort I needed and the stars the company I somehow craved. Sometimes, if ever I felt more lonesome than usual I'd talk to the night sky and sometimes it even felt like it was speaking back.

It sounded more insane than the mentality of a patient inside an asylum but in truth, insanity was more of normalcy and solitude was a gift in the dark side of town.

Being a Shadow Walker was never easy. It's a cold life of loneliness and starvation. Looking for scraps and wondering if you'd be eating even the slightest crumb for dinner.

Falling into the mischief you'd been fighting for so long because you've got nothing else to go on for. Starvation and the soulless crime that happened within this shadowy town of mine aren't even the worst part.

It's the fear of knowing you either become a predator or prey inside an unfair game of kill or die. Somehow in this twisted game, I was neither predator nor prey, I just existed.

Shadow Walkers like me who choose to keep away from the evil of the dark wouldn't survive in the life of the light. We hardly thrive in the darkness, but we know how to survive just long enough to breathe another speck of oxygen in this breathless town.

Here in the shadows, we didn't get names or identities. If you did, you needed to hide it or you were a target. We were one with shadows. You had to be nothing and no one to survive.

All you were able to feel was the searing ripple of nothingness and the aching pain of wanting to be more but knowing it wasn't worth the try. We were all heartless and hopeless victims of our tragedies just begging whoever was listening to survive to see another day.

Those were the rules and that's how it had to be. I soon grew tired of weeping sorrows of the souls who desired an escape and the smell of rotting flesh from the fellow Shadow Walkers that once stood tall not long ago in the town of darkness.

They were my beginning, and I was the end.

The day was dark and gloomy in the shadows like every ordinary night but there was a sudden commotion in the Daybreakers town. Gasps and blood-curdling screams echoed in every corner of their city, and the loud sound of pattering footsteps on concrete and the shudder of machine guns rang out.

I climbed higher than I had ever been before on my wobbling terrace for a better look before my eyes widened. Their town was in danger. Of course, it didn't matter because it didn’t involve me, but I felt my heartstrings pull at the scene before me.

I felt a strange feeling inside my body. My palms began to sweat as my heart began to ache, and my stomach tied into a knot. My breath began to quicken as my eyes darted around the town, bodies of deceased children and adults were starting to scatter and drop everywhere.

The only color my side of town ever saw was the empty blackness of nothing while this simplistic town of Marabelle finally saw another color than piercing white and shimmering bright colors. This time, their town was painted crimson.

It was a mass murder. But why did this small town deserve this massacre?

My next question was only a matter of help. Why wasn't anyone helping? I couldn't watch it anymore. The screams in this fragile darkness I called home were too much for me as it was, so I began to climb down and hide like a cowardly Shadow Walker did.

I closed my eyes and counted to ten until a bright light began to brighten the darkness that my shut eyes provided for me.

I groaned in pain, my young fragile body cowering away and covering my face to protect my orbs from being blinded through what little protection my closed lids gave me.

A soft voice began to speak, and I felt mesmerized and coaxed. It was motherly, yet so sinister. I put up a fight, but everything began to fade. My will to live was diminishing. Perhaps, this was finally the release I'd been begging for.

As the story went on, my curiosity got the better of me and I opened my eyes. My body froze into place as I stood there, watching this light grow brighter and before I knew it this quaint little home, I'd created for myself was no longer my home.

It was death.

The light kept me in a trance as I continued to feel a searing pain grow from my heart to the rest of my body.

"Don't fight, little one. Let it in, let the darkness in."

Soon a symphony of colors began to perform. With each tinge darker than the next, I began to feel drowsy almost as if something was taking over then the next thing, I knew I heard the sound of groaning metal before everything went dark.

After that night I knew nothing was going to be the same. Perhaps, lurking in the darkness brought me closer to what I dreamed of.

It was a strange feeling. The warmth of the burning light touched my pale skin, I whimpered softly as the aching daylight burned a hole through my eyes. They weren't used to the settling of living in the day.

I heard the indistinct commotion of voices that began to surround me, and I couldn't quite figure out what they were speaking of.

Who were all these people and where was I?

My body began to display signs of panic, I couldn't breathe, and my heart began to race. What about my skin, wouldn’t my flesh burn off my bones from the fury of the golden orb? Were these strange Daybreakers going to kill me like they killed the rest of their kin?

The voices faded until all I could hear was the beating in my chest.

Thump thump

Thump thump

At any moment I could've sworn it was going to explode but then again it was a surprise I had a heart in the first place. I spent the moments I lay trapped in a paralyzing fear trying to figure out where I was and what was happening.

By my frail memory from the last few hours of my missed consciousness, I had heard the chatter of the Daybreakers then came the song of the machine guns.

The light that kept me paralyzed then the sound of the bursting chamber and a tiny casing hit the ground then utterly nothing.

With all this light, could I possibly have been in the land of mercy? I didn't understand. Perhaps that was only because my poor brain couldn't comprehend the full danger of this new world I'd only heard about in stories. I was what they called a mere child.

Though, I didn't pay much attention to the terms of the Daybreakers. They didn't have much meaning in the darkness. We called my home Halica.

They gave me their pity as they observed my broken body, exclaiming as the bones emerged from my skin and my flesh was as pale as the moonlight.

The people in the room claimed to be something called doctors, which failed to extend my knowledge of what the term was.

They promised my care, but I still failed to understand why I was here. Wherever I was, I didn't quite understand. My attempts to escape were weak and restrained as my body was subdued for the very reason, I was trapped in this cushion called a bed.

"It's alright, darling. We are here to help you, that's all. There is no need to be afraid, now can you tell us your name?"

I couldn’t open my eyes and whimpered softly when I tried. I suppose the doctors understood my pain and dimmed the lights ever so slightly so that I may be able to open my orbs.

I adjusted to the dim light, turned to the side, and looked at the very person who stood tall, she was quite beautiful. Her voice had been soft and sweet, showing me a particular kindness that I hadn't known existed for someone as savage as I.

I'd whimper softly, unable to speak. I hadn't learned the very language they spoke though I understood clearly. I shook my head and frowned, staring into the woman's bright blue eyes.

They were as clear and beautiful as the night sky that I'd seen ever so rarely inside the dark that took over my heart.

She stared back into my cold eyes and frowned.

"Are you afraid of someone hurting you?"

I shook my head and motioned the best I could to my throat, opening my mouth I attempted to speak but to no surprise, I merely couldn't. It had been no use, but I assume my performance made the woman understand what I was trying to say.

"Oh, I see." Slowly walking over to me she placed her hand gently on my neck and felt.

"There seems to be nothing wrong but there is someone who can help. Sometimes the best of us just can't see what's wrong and need another set of eyes to truly view the problem”

She took a couple of steps back, respecting my need for space as I was still in shock before she continued to speak.

“There is a person I know; they are very sweet, and they love helping children. So, what I shall do is call them and have them come in the morning so we can get you some rest”

“Unfortunately, at the moment, we have to keep you on a liquid diet, but I promise you in no time we will get you back on your feet and looking a little better. It'll take time but I give you my world, darling. We will keep you safe"

She'd given me a soft smile and for once after being in the cold for so long I had felt something I'd never felt before.

Warmth.

I felt my face curl into something I’d never quite done before and watched the expression on the woman's face. Her bright emotions radiated off of her as she created a sound with her hands. It echoed in the room, and I tilted my head.

"That's the spirit! Just one step at a time!" My face hurt a little as it curled up a bit more. I didn't know what my face was doing but somehow, I liked it.