Silent Night

12 years ago

“Mom where you taking me?!” My cries and pleads wasn’t being heard as my feet shuffled against the ground.

The iron crib of mom’s hand cutting off circulation of blood in my arm, as we dash through the thick dense forest. The rain pelted my hair, the loose strands stuck to my face as we race across the woods. Clawing of tree branches cutting into my wet damp skin. Not knowing where she was taking me, but her eyes darted from tree to tree watching for something or someone. My legs turned into jello with no feeling left in them, my chest heavy with bricks as I tried to keep up with mom. Her legs are just way too long and nimble when she runs, mine is just stubby and short. The forest falls silent as all life was drained, all I could hear was the heavy harsh breathing of our breath.

Screeching reverberated across the dimly lit forest, piercing my ears feeling the warm blood running down my ears. Trying to cover my ears from the sound wasn’t going to help as they near closer. Being tired, cold, and hungry wasn’t a plan I came up for being woken out of bed just to run away from our bond fire town. My life was once there, but not anymore. We don’t get what we always want but for them they did, and I was too helpless to stop them. My eyes darting from tree to tree, terrified of shifting of the branches around me, splashes of water with the whistling of the wind slipping in and out of the forest around us.

I have to calm myself down, but anxiety always gets the better of me. This forest would be considered beautiful only if it wasn’t deary and misty out.

“Come on Andi!” Mom’s heavy breath voice lost in the wind, as she hauled me along from where I stood trying not to hear the screeching, tearing of fresh human flesh. For a six-year-old kid, this isn’t a type of childhood your mother would hope for. Like I said before you don’t always get what you want. Continuing scurrying through the forest with the rain hailing down.

Hearing mom muttered dark things under her breath while wiping water away from her eyes. A nagging feeling of something just wasn’t right, it’s just like you know something gonna happen or just like deja vu. Jumping into puddles doing hopscotch trying to distract myself from my real anxiety. My dreams come in as nightmares being able to see when someone gonna die wasn’t a gift it is a -

Forgotten souls mourn around before me. Rain pouring down. The dimly lit sky overhead. I was alone with blood all over my soft cotton Dora shirt. Lifeless body lying in front of me. Cold lifeless -

Shaken awake by mom looking at me with concern written in her eyes.

“You worry me when you get like that,” mom whispered to me, rubbing my head trying to regain balance.

I don’t try to worry her about when I get my dreams, but the dream was growing increasingly stronger than I wanted to admit to her.

“I don’t mean to worry you,” I said quietly, “I can’t control it when it happens.”

Mom noticed my sudden shame to my power that I consider a curse. “You’ll have control over your powers. It’ll take all lot of time, but I know-”

A shape of fur, fangs, and claws spring from out of the shadows, cutting off mom’s words as it hissed and snarled, bloodthirsty for our blood. And my dream slide right back into my thought as my blood ran cold. I froze, unable to move. Triple sticks of power abruptly erupted from mom clenched fist, fear engulfed over me.

Before the beast’s claws try to reach for me, it was slung as if was batted from the air, sending it sideways. It struck a tree with a high pitch angry whine of pain.

Mom’s fest crackled in the rain like firecrackers, except with long like electrical section coming off of the circular blade.

“Mommy, what’s going on?” Quivering of my voice, “Mom?”

“We have to keep moving,” Mom holding no emotion, “They're not far behind us.”

Dreams were apart of me, coursing through my veins whether I want to have them or not, and the day when my dreams came, I was blacked out for days even weeks at a time.

I shivered, forcing my thoughts away. Realizing something very dark that mom was keeping away from me, a chill traced down my spine, not realizing the battle within was manifesting. Mom placed her hand my shoulder.

“You’ll be alright, I’m here.”

Forcing my fear back with a shaky breath. It wasn’t all in my head, all my fear. The rain sizzled upon mom’s circular blades, I slowly looked around drifting to branch to branch, shadow to shadow. Knowing that someone was there watching waiting, my muscles tighten and clutched.

That’s when I saw the second set of eyes staring back, right before it flew out of the darkness towards mom’s back. I picked up a rock and threw one but missed, but watching mom’s unfriendly side appeared behind her. Or I just have a really terrible aim point-blank range. She whirled to confront the monster, expecting another aerial assault as she unleashed a streak of lightning that zapped the struck of the tree, washing it in red flames. But this was different than the last. It merely just jumped back into the nearest darkest, learning from its fallen comrade.

The coat shined like the deepest midnight with a hint of silver lightning of the depth of its thick, slick fur. The dew of the rain dotted his fur, reflecting the silvery moonlight, giving him a slick oil like complexion. He was tall and had barrel-chest, the rest of his body was pretty much evenly lean. Long, thick mane reach his neck to his shoulder. But it was the most beautiful creature I ever saw.

Landing in a wet puddle pacing in front of mom, going right to left then right again, looking for an opening, racing past her, biting her directly on her hamstring, as it passed by. She swung her circular blade into the wolf as it tried to dart back into the cover of night, but the creature collapsed into the puddle of mud with a yelp, instinctively snappings its canines over his shoulder. The jaws of the monster clamped around her forearm, and an immediate burst of energy released from her forearm into the creature sending it seven feet away into thorns of bushes. Staggering and whimpering, noticing that its lower jaw was gone, watching it lep back into the woods.

In the back of my mind wondering what was that thin- hearing mom hiss as she fell to the ground. She stared down at her leg, groaning and hissing in mine, the look in her eyes she held a sorrowful look in them, running off trying to help her up -

“Go, Andi,” pushing me away gently. "You need to go, I’m only gonna slow you down.”

Howling and screeching echo through the forest circling around us, knowing it was too late for me to run somewhere and hide. Grabbing at mom’s good arm giving it a pull, “You have to with me,” my voice cracking with the clump growing in my throat. "You promised you promised, YOU PROMISED!”

A warm hand came gently to my cheek, with a gentle smile spreading across her face before I relieved it was pushed away. Running back to her a solid force stopped me, an invisible shield was stopping me from getting to her.

“Goodbye, my little dreamer,” as another creature spring out the shadow targeting mom's shoulder. A burst energy surrounded me, with black spots filling my mind, as the last thing a saw was mom throat being ripped out, as everything fell silent.

Someone was shaking, there voices very muffled. Couldn’t concrete on what's going on around me, with too many muffled voices around. But hearing a deep smooth sandpaper voice saying, "What's your name sweetheart?”

Open my mouth to say something but black spots filled my mind again.

"That's it, now we need your name, we’re gonna get you some help and…” his voice began to fade in and out, the lights were being shut on and off.

“My name…” I choked out gasping for breath.

“Yes your name sweetheart, what is it?”

"Cassandra Duscha."