Breaking the Glass

Chapter 1

Ian drew the curved blade along the whetstone slowly, the gritty sound filling his ears. Small sparks flew from the blade as he pulled metal from stone. He ran his finger along the steel, splitting his pale skin open. The wet, sticky crimson liquid dripped from the fresh cut onto the floor under him.

“Perfect,” Ian said as a small smile spread across his face. He grabbed for the towel that was laid haphazardly on the chair next to him and cleaned up the mess he made. As he got up, he reached for his coat that was hanging on the wall and placed the large blade in its special case his master, Richard, had made for him last year.

He tried not to think of this memory as he got his wooden case from the corner of the room. As he was leaving a thin line of light came from the curtained window. It found the picture that was on one of the high shelves of the basement.

As he looked at what the light shined on, his expression changed from determined, to a look of depression in a second. He always tried not to look at the familiar girl in the frame, because of the memories, but now, as he looked, he recalled the last night he ever saw her.

 

“No, you don’t need to bring me home, I’ll be fine,” Ann said as she headed for the front door, her blue dress flowing behind her. Ian sighed and grabbed her hand as she brushed past the other people in the room. “I’ll bring you home, it’s not safe at night,” Ian said as she turned around and looked deep into his eyes. She sighed and then smiled at him. “Ok, but, I’m telling you, I can take care of myself,” she laughed.

As they got out of the cramped house, Ann stopped in her tracks and looked up at Ian. As he looked at her he raised his hands to her face, caressing her cheek lightly. Her golden hair fell over her moss colored eyes as he leaned forward. They were inches from each other, and Ian could feel her breath as her breath hitched. Their lips touched, and Ian could feel her kissing him, so he joined in, enjoying this moment.

After what seemed like eternity, they let go, and started breathing hard, trying to catch their breaths. “That was exhilarating,” Ann said as she locked lips with him again and placed her arms around his neck. He kissed her again, and put his arms around her waist, wishing they could be like this forever.

“Why don’t you two get a room?” a male voice said. Ann let go of Ian and looked at the voice. Her face turned red as she saw who it was. “We were just-” Ann mumbled, as if trying to find words. “I was bringing her home,” Ian replied as Ann looked at him for help. “Ok, well, it didn’t seem like that a while ago, but be careful. And Ian,” the guy said as he took off his coat, “Don’t hurt my sister… or else,” he looked at Ann for a while and walked off, mumbling something.

After he went into the house, Ann turned to Ian and he noticed she was red with embarrassment, “Sorry, about my brother. I know he’s just trying to watch out for me, but, don’t worry about him, he won’t hurt you,” She smiled up at him. “It’s ok, he should be like this, for such an amazing girl,” Ian said as he grabbed her hand. She entwined their fingers together and they started walking toward her house.

“Did you hear that?” Ann said as she got closer to Ian, “It sounded like a moan, or something,” she said looking toward the park they were in front of. “It was probably just the wind,” Ian said trying to comfort her. “Ok, well, if I hear it again, we’re going see what it is, ok?” she said looking up at him, terror in her eyes. “Ok, fine,” Ian said as they continued their walk.

Ann tugged on Ian’s sleeve, (like a little girl) “I heard it again. There is definitely something, or someone there in the park,” “Ok, we’ll go see what it is,” Ian said as Ann got closer to him. They turned to the right, walking into the park. They started to get closer to the swings when they heard the moan again, only this time it was a voice. “Help me,” it said.

“It’s probably just someone playing a joke on us,” Ian said as they started going toward the sound of the moaning voice. By the time they got to the stone wall of the park, they saw a girl on the ground. It looked as if she was dead, but her eyes shot open as they got near the little girl. “Help me,” she said again in the same tone she used before.

“She’s probably hurt,” Ann said as she untwined her fingers from Ian’s’. Ann got closer and started to kneel down beside the girl on the ground. “What happened?” Ann said to the girl, “Help me,” was all she replied. Ann bent her head to the girls chest. The girl under her twitched and moved her head to look up at her.

She grabbed hold of Ann’s face with her boney hands. “What are you doing?” Ian said stepping closer to the little girl. The girl shot him a look and twisted Ann’s head causing it to make an awful cracking sound. “NO!” Ian yelled as the girl shot up and started to lick up the blood that was now stained on Ann’s dress.

 

Ian looked away from the picture as the memories clouded his mind. He didn’t want to think of this right now. He had to fix what had happened that night. As he got to the door, he looked down at the pot on the side. The purple flowers looked dull and dark in the basement. But he couldn’t risk anything anymore.

He grabbed one of the purple flowers and opened the door letting the light flood in. He cringed from it and left the room not looking back at the picture. He whispered, “I love you, Ann,” and closed the room back into darkness.