Daughter Born In Darkness (revised)

Prologue

Growing up, my life was perfect for the first 5 years of my life anyway. It was just me and my grandfather raising chickens. He acted more like my father than he did my grandfather but things were great. Things were bright and cheerful. My life was calm and peaceful, filled with as much normalcy as he could offer me. The only issue was as I got older I couldn't help myself, I started to ask him questions about my parents. It was shortly after I had asked him about my mother a woman came. I still remembered that day vividly and it was a day that started to change everything. It wasn't a positive change for me and to this day I regret having asked him.

"Isla, she is older now, she has been asking about you," my grandfather said to her. "Eventually she's going to need you. You are her mother and there is only so much I can do for her. She needs you."

"I didn't even want her!" She spat her dark eyes glaring at my grandfather. "You begged me to keep her."

"She loves you Isla, you can't just abandon her," my grandfather said softly his face kind and the complete opposite of her face. "You can stay here with us if you need to but she needs to know you Isla."

"What did you name her?" She asked him tightly making my heart sink. I had figured out she was my mother based on the conversation but she didn't even bother to name me or at least remember my name.

"I chose the name Brielle," he stated simply.

"Fine, I'll stay but don't expect me to spend every moment with her. I have a lot to do," she spat before striding out of the room neither of the adults noticing me in the corner of the room  with tears rolling down my chubby cheeks as I watched them argue about me. No one ever noticed how much kids witnessed or what they knew.

That day was the beginning of when I found out about things I wished I never had. Things that no one would ever have wanted to know. Over the next few months things had been quiet until the day my mother came into my room and asked me to play a game with her. Like the ignorant child I was I jumped at the chance to be near my mother. I had longed for that moment if only I had understood what would happen.

"Brielle, let's go into the tunnels. I want to show you something," she said with a smile and an unreadable look in her brown eyes. Without a second of hesitation I took her hand letting her lead me into the basement despite the gut feeling I shouldn't be down here. She continued deep into the tunnels. The deeper we went the harder it was for me to breathe. It wasn't like there wasn't air it just felt wrong and I hated the feeling. We entered a room and my blue eyes instantly darted around the room. In the center of the room was a stone table with a lot of candles on it.

"I want you to sit right here," she said pushing my tiny 5 year old self over to a box. "Watch." She instructed. She gave me a firm look before she started to chant.

Bile rose in my throat as she continued to chant and I saw flashes. Images of people screaming and blood so much blood. Tears fell down my cheeks as the bloody imagery continued until everything was silent and my mother had stopped speaking. I looked over at her and that's when I saw a black mist oozing out of her and the horrifying bliss on her face. The sight was enough to send a chill through my body. She faced me after a few moments but didn't acknowledge the panic or fear in my eyes. She didn't even point out the wet streaks from the tears.

That was just the start of the ever darkening childhood I would have. By the time I was 10 I had started to see more things outside of the curses. My mother used darker and crueler spells and a few times I had even seen demons that were bound to her. The time I spent with my grandfather lessened as my mother tried desperately to get me to help with the curses. I didn't want to help her. It felt wrong and I couldn't do what she wanted me to. When I refused she started to use her magic to make me sick and when I wasn't sick I was to be beside her at all times. I think she thought she could force me into becoming the person she wanted but it only made me long for freedom away from her and heightened my stubborn defiance.

By the time I was 14, I had come to hate my mother. I loved her and the idea of a mother but at the same time the pain and anger I felt towards who she actually was overwhelmed me. I despised everything she stood for but I felt trapped. I was in a life I didn't want with no way out as far as I could see. If I tried to leave she'd curse me with the intent to kill instead of just making me sick.

My grandfather loved me and I never questioned that fact but he loved my mother too and was blind to what she was doing to me and everyone around her. He didn't stop her from harming me and in some aspects it hurt that he didn't help me or see what damage she was causing. I wasn't the bright child I used to be and instead had grown hard and withdrawn out of necessity.

Then came the day that changed my dark life in ways even I couldn't have seen coming. My mother had dragged me out of bed in the middle of the night. She didn't give me even a moment to get dressed and so I entered the tunnels in pajama shorts and a tank top. My feet ached as I walked through the rocky tunnels. My arms and legs were covered in bumps as the cold air ripped across my exposed skin. She didn't slow or glance back at me as her heels clicked across the floor. I rubbed my eyes as we reached the altar room and she opened a book.

"What are you doing?" I asked her groggily as I wiped sleep from my eyes. She didn't respond to my question and instead focused on her curse. I sighed in frustration crossing my arms to try and warm myself as best I could though it didn't work well. I moved to stand beside her and that's when I saw a photo of a little boy. I knew whatever she was doing wouldn't be pleasant for him. Nothing she did was pleasant for anyone but herself. My heart ached for the boy but once again I felt like I couldn't stop her. I couldn't fight her dark magic. I was just normal so what chance did I have?

My mother started chanting and pain ripped through me and my head pounded. I staggered back from the altar as my throat closed up. I felt like I was suffocating on the evil energy flowing through the room. I leaned against the wall as the room spun barely staying on my feet and then came the images. The little boy contorting his body while a warm light tried to force the demon out of him. I groaned feeling every ounce of the boy's agony as my mother's magic continued to take hold of him and his actions. My brows furrowed as I saw flashes of a woman with dark hair and bright blue eyes. The woman seemed to be feeling exactly what I was and trying desperately to push passed it and help the boy. She had a strong light around her and it was unlike anything I had ever been exposed to in my entire life.

I didn't get to see anything else as it all faded away and my mother had stopped chanting. I took a deep breath as the thick darkness pulled itself into my mother who smiled happily at the feeling. I knew whatever she had done was far from over as the energy hadn't calmed fully and instead went dormant as if waiting for the next time. My mother turned towards me with a calculating gleam in her eyes.

"Can you feel it? The power," she said as I gave her a nod. It was the answer she wanted. "Soon I will have it all." She said before she stalked out of the room. When the clicking of her heels had vanished I moved away from the wall rushing through the tunnels and back to my room. I shut my door leaning heavily against it as the fear bombarded me. I had seen what my mother could do with just a fraction of the power I felt just now and I could only imagine the destruction she could cause if she gained control of the full extent of the darkness I sensed during that curse. I shakily crawled back into my bed trying to fall back asleep but my mind kept cycling.

I stared up at the ceiling thinking of that poor little boy and what he just went through. A second thought that drifted through my mind was about what my mother was planning. How many more people did she plan to hurt? Lastly, were thoughts of my relationship with her. Why had she made me watch? Was she planning on finally ending my life like she had always wanted to? Would she hurt me, would she pull me into her curse this time? The most prevalent of all my thoughts was, could I resist her much longer?

It was early the next morning when my body became exhausted enough to fall asleep. I fell asleep despite the anxiety and fear flooding my thoughts. When I drifted to sleep my head was stuck on the unknowns but there wasn't anything I could do besides ride it out.