Haunted Rayne

Prologue

ELEVEN YEARS AGO

Maria J. Westwood Correctional Facility
Lockwood, Pennsylvania
October 28, 2007

┈┈

"Leave me alone!" Nicole Livingston shrieked. Her vocal cords rattled so violently they stung. Where did it go? Where did it go?

It was well after hours in the Maria J. Westwood library, and Nicole trembled as she scanned the darkened shelves. She tried using her sleeve to reach the tears that poured over her cheeks from beneath her glasses, but it was no use. They were dangerous, those tears. They sloshed down her cheeks like a quick-forming hurricane, clouding her vision and knocking the wind out of her.

Where did it go?

An icy touch brushed her right hand, and Nicole recoiled. She backed into the bookcase that towered behind her. Several top-shelf hardcovers came crashing down, a wave of knowledge striking her repeatedly. With arms held overhead, she tried to shield herself, but one of the books' corners punctured her scalp. As the air grew still, a warm, crimson stream trickled through her blonde hair. She raised a trembling hand to the back of her head, but the moment her palm was about to fall on the wound, she felt something else. Something that should not have been there.

Something cold. Something bony . . .

Fingers?

Nicole screamed and whipped around, but there was nothing. No one. She could hear it though—light footsteps echoing in the spacious room. Her eyes scanned the dark, back and forth, back and forth, but saw only shadows dancing across the hand-sculpted mahogany shelves.

She staggered out of the library and into the hallway, slamming the doors shut behind her. Students weren't supposed to be out of their dorm rooms this late at night, but the security guards were the least of her concerns. Her chest heaved as she sobbed, pleading for air—hoping that someone and no one would hear her at the same time. Her hands gripped the walls for support, but it was as if fear itself weighed her down the way it could only in nightmares.

Oh, what a fool she had been to follow that stupid note, the one that said he would meet her there. Of course, he wouldn't. Which word should have caught her suspicions first—love or library? The reality of it all was so disenchanting, she had almost forgotten why she was even crying in the first place.

The shadow people.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw them once more. They slithered through the cracks in the library doors with a soft hissing sound, their shapes flickering in and out of existence, never quite solidifying, as though they were caught between dimensions. Slowly, they filled the hallway, a swirling mass of darkness pulsating with malevolent energy. A few of the shadows protruded ahead of the rest, a multitude of arms reaching out to slink their torsos along the ceiling. Despite their human-like forms, a disturbing aberration tainted their appearance—a nightmarish parody of humanity. Limbs twisted and elongated, faces devoid of features save for hollow eye sockets that seemed to gaze into the very depths of her soul. Their breath tickled her ears. They whispered things she couldn't understand—didn't want to understand—and she shook her head wildly.

"No!" she wailed. "Please! Leave me alone!"

But the shadow people continued their onslaught, their forms shifting in ways that defied logic. With a surge of adrenaline, Nicole dashed down the hall and out the doors. A brisk wind sliced into her, cutting her short of breath, but she never stopped running. Move, move, move. She barreled across the field, running behind buildings, through the hole in the fence, and into the woods. The dense forest was overflowing with cameras that failed to hide in the nearly bare branches of trees; they were everywhere—little red eyes—watching her, capturing her every single rule-breaking move. She zipped through pines, zigzagging around the fallen branches that blocked her path. Autumn leaves crunched beneath her feet, heart pounding her chest as she fled from the haunting specters behind her.

Wiping the tears that soaked her cheeks, Nicole almost ran into the cement wall that caged her inside the campus. She gasped at the near-collision—a loud and sharp inhalation of disastrous proportions. She spun around and froze.

Had they heard her?

Even if they hadn't, there was no longer a place left for her to turn. She had reached the edge of campus. The edge of this callous prison. She was trapped. With a despondent sob, Nicole sank into a fetal position, fingertips slipping down the damp, mossy wall until she fell to her knees at its base.

The fear that entwined her thoughts was all-encompassing. It tangled with a gloomy cynicism that was as thorough as every comprehensive essay she'd ever written, every day-planner she'd ever filled. What if she never graduated? What if she never had the chance to turn it around and make something of this life? What if she never published a book? Never fell in love? Never got married? Never had kids? What if this was it? What if they found her? What if they killed her? Would it be painful? Would it be quick?

That panicked self-reflection seeped into every fiber of her being, screaming at her that she wasn't good enough for anything or anyone. Not a boy, not her parents, not a career, not life!

Maybe she deserved this.

Nicole scanned her surroundings, fearful eyes twitching back and forth.

Where did they go? Where did they go?

Twigs and branches snapped beneath boots in the distance.

No.

Her hand flew to her mouth to muffle another gasp. Where was it?

Snap, crunch, snap.

Choking on terror, she struggled to stifle her sobs.

Snap, crunch, snap!

Nicole whipped her head in the other direction. Where was it?

SNAP, CRUNCH—the whisper hit her ears first, cold and close. Its lips brushed her earlobe as it said, "Run."

She bolted from the wall and fell back into the woods, breaking through shadows, racing far from the whispers, running away from anything and everything, running fast, running until her legs throbbed, running until her heart thumped so loudly in her chest that she could no longer hear the sound of leaves crunching beneath her, running until—

Something sharp pierced the flesh of her abdomen, bringing her to an abrupt halt. Her eyes widened.

No. This couldn't be it. It couldn't be over. She had a plan. She had a life to live. There was so much more she needed to accomplish outside of this treacherous place.

Why her? Why now?

The pain twisted, spewing blood from her mouth as the sharp object sawed upwards through her chest. She fell with a rough thud onto the fragile blanket of leaves coating the earth. Every time she tried to cough, she could do nothing but gurgle, splatters of hot crimson raining over her lips. Spasms stunned her muscles as the cold traversed her entire body.

The last thing she saw was moonlight, reflecting off a glimmer of silver, and a tall dark shadow towering over her.