Frozen

Midnight Feathers

I glanced down at my pristine lacy attire feeling very much out of place here, watching with disgust as an empty wrapper and rusty cola tin blew noisily across the ground, almost making contact with my feet; I stepped back slowly to avoid it, holding onto my dress as I felt the wind travel slowly up my legs.

When I looked up I couldn't contain the tiny frightened gasp that escaped my lips as I acknowledged that I was no longer alone. For I was now surrounded by people, they appeared normal in appearance, no different than the passengers from the train, but something about them wasn't natural, they weren't natural.

Naively hoping that I was just imagining the danger of their presence I gently bite down on my bottom lip, trying to control my fear, to appear inconspicuous as I assessed their company. I gazed briefly at them one by one, understanding that they were most certainly encircling me in a predatory manner. I felt the fear shudder through me as I comprehended that Ardiel and the others had arrived, that they were here for me.

I struggled to overlook the fact that the threat was in fact now here, that they practically had me cornered. Straining to appear unnerved by their presence I assessed their appearance once more, trying to distinguish Ardiel in the offensive circle.

As I once again stared at them one by one, I was shocked by the vacant look they each had in their eyes; I wondered how I had missed this feature during my first assessment of them, how I had ever thought them to appear normal. Sure enough they were dressed ordinary or more specifically dressed like the dirty environment they currently inhabited, with woollen hats, dirt stained coats and torn trousers, but their eyes were extremely empty and ethereal.

I felt no familiarity towards either of them, therefore could not identify Ardiel in crowd, but I never truly thought I would be able to. I remembered so very little about my past, my memories before Sameal and Hayl were of my icy imprisonment and nothing more. I wondered idly if my memory loss was a gift or hindrance at such a time, if it was better to accept my fate unknowingly than to be aware of details and technicalities of my impending doom.

As I gazed into their otherworldly eyes I wondered which of them would strike first, which of them, if not all could sense the immense fear that radiated from my suddenly freezing fingertips; as I did so my mind was consumed by such intense fright and confusion that I was caught completely off guard when one the beings spoke.

"Ah young Lilith, I'm pleased to see you are no longer permitting us to play childish games of hide and seek, come now, let's go home!"

Her words echoed unnaturally all around me, sounding menacingly ghostly; I scrutinized the speaker, her filthy wiry brown hair, her fingerless black gloves covering hands with brittle grime filled nails, her rotten black teeth, understanding that the words had left her chapped lips but the woman before me was not the one who had actually spoken them. Ardiel and others were somehow possessing the homeless people before me, I suspected Ardiel was the speaker but I did not ask because I was more concerned about the words she had spoken.

"Hide and seek? Home?" I choked out lamely, beyond scared and confused.

"Come now we don't have time for this nonsense, you have been hiding for almost two centuries, enough is enough Lilith!" The toxic voice echoed strangely making the demand more pronounced and deadly.

"Hiding I haven't been hiding," I exclaimed bewildered, "I've been trapped, but...but...you already knew that didn't you Ar...diel?" I stuttered quietly aware of the increasing cold tingle emitting from my fingertips, making the air around me even colder.

At the sound of her name the woman's stance became stiff as if she had not expected me to realise who she was, the others seemed blind to her movements though, instead they merely gawked at me blankly.

"Prosperous! Why dear child if I knew of your whereabouts I would have come to collect you right away. And if you had have been trapped, then who freed you, you silly child?" She mocked patronisingly yet there was a toxic edge to the question, an edge that alerted me as to why Sameal and Hayl had left me to face her alone. Ardiel did not know that Sameal and Hayl had rescued me but she was desperate to know this information.

"I, I don't know who rescued me." I choked out hopefully appearing sincere.

My sincerity must have been lacking for she instantly bellowed "YOU'RE LYING!" the noise erupted from the speaker's lips so loudly that the echo caused a loose slate to come crashing down from the nearby boarded up building.

I side stepped quickly to avoid the slate hitting me on its free fall to the dirty ground where it smashed into many piece around my feet, as I stared at the debris now beyond terrified I whispered "How can I be lying if I was never trapped?"

At this the dirty spindly woman snarled aggressively, the deadly sound causing the slates to shudder dangerously, threatening to crumble down upon us; I gasped sharply watching with wonder at my visible breathe against the cold air around me.

I sensed that I wasn't the only one to notice this because one by one they all stiffened before turning their attention towards Ardiel, who simply collapsed soundlessly onto the grimy ground. I watched with astonishment as the others copied, suddenly collapsing like domino's all around me, my eyes darted around the circle, watching them fall in slow motion; amazed when lovely white feathers suddenly rained from the sky, gradually turning midnight black before landing against their lifeless bodies against the ground, a single black feather for each one of them.

I removed my hand away from my awed mouth, ignoring the tears that now uncontrollably poured from my eyes, before darting in the direction Sameal and Hayl had walked, being careful to leap over their motionless bodies. I felt the air fill my nostrils, as I almost choked from the tears, stopping abruptly, frantically fisting my locks in my hand, whilst my tear filled eyes searched desperately for Sameal and Hayl.  

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