Tidal Wave (Luke Castellan)

The Arrival

Take a left here little one.

I didn't know where I was or where I was going. Some could call me crazy but I wouldn't really care. After all, I was only 7 years old and had just witnessed something incredibly traumatic. Of course I would follow around the voice in my head that's giving me directions. My judgement was pretty skewed at the moment. For some reason, I felt like I could trust the voice. He sounded kind enough and kindness was something I craved. Between the monsters and the adults giving me weird looks everywhere I went, I just wanted someone to sit down with me and ask if I was okay. I would tell them no, of course. But it would be the thought that counted.

You're almost there. Walk a little faster, they're on your tail.

More monsters. They had been trailing me for a while now according to the voice in my head. The voice had directed me how to evade them so far, but it was sounding like they were getting closer and closer. I didn't know what they wanted with me. Did they blame me for my mother's death like everyone else did? Or did they just see a helpless little kid and decide I'd be easy prey? Whatever the reason, I didn't like it. My little heart beat in sync with my legs as they moved faster. I couldn't let them catch me. I'd gotten lucky with the other monsters I'd faced so far. For some reason, some sort of instinct kicked in and let me get rid of them. I figured it was either the voice helping me or some kind of luck. No matter what it was, I knew it would stop helping me before long. I had to get to whatever safety this voice was leading me towards before they did.

A snarl startled me enough for my shoe to catch on a tree root. I stumbled and hit the ground with my arms above my head. The wind got sucked out of me. I turned over as I struggled to catch my breath. As soon as I did, I found myself staring into ruby eyes. The dog snarled down at me, slobber dripping from its mouth and onto my shoulder. I was too frozen to wipe it off. Giant fangs were on display, almost glowing in the sunlight. This was it, this was where I was going to die.

Your knife child! Use your knife!

Right, that. I moved as slowly as possible. The dog eyed it cautiously, but didn't move to strike me. It was toying with me. I reached my hands onto the ground and kicked up with as much force as my tiny body could muster. It wasn't alot, but it was enough to shock the dog back a few steps. I scrambled backwards and reached for the knife that was stuck in my shoe. I know, not the best spot to hide a knife but I didn't have many options that were easy to grab. I held the small knife out toward the dog. Its ruby eyes burned into me as it snarled even harder. Yeah, I was so dead now.

It lunged at me.

I had what I considered to be a good reaction at the time. I closed my eyes and swung my knife. If that thing struck me, I didn't want to see all the blood that would pour out. It would no doubt take me away from my reality and back to a certain crime scene. I didn't want to relive that in my last few moments of life.

But the strike never came. I peeked my eyes open to see nothing was there. Gold flecks fluttered in the wind, much like what happened every time I'd killed a monster so far. That was it. That was... a lot easier than I'd expected. I had a feeling that something was watching over me and whatever that was had helped save my butt. Maybe it was the voice helping me one last time. I was grateful for whatever divine power it was.

You must go now! Before more come!

I followed the voices' final instructions up a hill. Then I felt the presence in my head fade. It was weird, after hearing it for the last few weeks. I felt... alone. There was no one around and I was here on the hill the voice was leading to by myself. What was I supposed to do now? I took a step forward, figuring I'd investigate the area. That's when everything changed.