Eternal Darkness - Book One ✔

Chapter Four

The times it had happened before it would be over before I could really freak out. Dennis and Johan sometimes got those same tingles, if they had been sitting still for too long or been in an uncomfortable position, but this, this was definitely different. 

I watched in stunned horror how my palms began lighting up in the utter darkness, and like it was ignited from within, a pale blue light broke through my skin and flickered just for a second.

I gasped and jumped back, but it wasn't like I could run from my own hands. I clenched my eyes shut, counting silently to five before opening them again, wishing it had just been my mind playing a trick on me.
But it wasn't. I looked down and saw this small flickering blue ball, hovering just above my palm. 
I was mesmerized; the light danced on my hand, like a blue flame in the blackness.

I gaped open-mouthed, staring at it, not knowing whether to scream out loud or smile. Suddenly, my mind went back to my nightmare, to the blue light coming from my father, blinding me.

Was it all connected somehow? Had I inherited it from my father? Whatever it was. 

My whole body tensed up at the thought of my father. I never truly got a chance to know him.
"They're here.." Whoever they were, they were responsible for me never seeing my father again. I had a pretty good idea what they were, which had really been the catalyst to why I hated those creatures with a passion.
They'd taken him away from me. They took him from me and my mother and left us to fend for ourselves. My mother, frail and scared had run for two days straight before she'd practically collapsed with me in her arms. Thanks to them, my life and childhood had been torn apart. 

Repressed anger flared up in me and out of nowhere the small blue flame transformed into a tall blinding light beam, shooting upwards into the sky, illuminating my entire body and surroundings.

"Shit!" I shouted, before clamping my mouth shut.

I turned my palm downwards, minimizing the exposure of the light, breathing deeply as I tried to calm myself. The whitered garden I was standing in was baded in an almost shimmering glow. I started counting to ten this time. 

It seemed to help. The flame was getting smaller with each calm breath.

After a few breaths, the light had all but disappeared from my hand.

I leaned heavily against the wall of the house, trying to take all in that had just happened. It wasn't exactly easy. 

Whatever had just happened, it had something to do with my father. Pity I couldn't go ask him. He was gone. You don't truly know that, a voice in my head said and I caught myself thinking.

What if he had somehow escaped that night?

No! My father was dead, otherwise he would have come for me, my own inner voice stood its ground.

I could not keep having these internal discussions about this. It had been years and the only family I had now were sleeping soundly in the house behind me.

I shook my head, clearing my mind, and thought I might as well go wake up Dennis and Johan and tell them. They deserved to know, even if I couldn't explain it to them completely.

But as I turned the corner and came up to the front door, I froze.

I could have sworn I had closed it completely when I had gone out.
It was now wide open, and instantly, my heartbeat quickened.

Either one of the guys had come outside, which would be highly unlikely because I would have heard them, or...

Or something else was in there with them!

I couldn't leave Dennis and Johan, there was absolutely no chance of that happening. We looked out for each other and dammit, I would not run away.

I inched closer towards the door, feeling my way along the wall, careful not to trip over any rocks on the way. The bright moon provided some pale silver light that helped guide my way. 

I gulped down saliva as I stepped inside the now eerie looking house, my eyes darting around whilst my ears searched for any sounds, but it was all quiet. So quiet.

I didn't know why, but I felt like I needed to get down to Dennis and Johan, and so without checking the rest of the house, I strode through the empty hallway and straight into the room with the secret hole in the floor.

I still couldn't hear anything as I climbed down the steps, but as I stepped off onto the hard floor, I heard a yawn and someone shuffling about in the dark.

"Em? Is that you? What are you doing?" Dennis muttered, and I heard him get up.

"I don't know, but I don't think this place is safe anymore," I whispered, suddenly afraid that someone else would hear me.

Dennis and I had been through quite a lot during the years we'd known each other and he usually trusted my instinct, so it was to no ones surprise that he didn't protest at all.
He woke up Johan with a gentle nudge and told him to be quiet.

I found my way over to them and quickly and quietly, we filled our backpacks with water and as much food as we could without them getting too heavy.

No words needed to be spoken between us as we left the secret hole in the floor, and it bothered me that we left food behind, but I had to trust my gut, and it was telling me to get the hell out of there.

We didn't bother closing the hatch, we left it as it was and in a single filed line, Dennis first, me in the middle and then Johan at the rear, we walked out of the room and through the abandoned house.

My skin prickled with unease, and though I knew it was incredibly stupid of us to go out in the open in the dead of night, I would somehow feel safer being outside. At least I hoped I would.

"Let's just go to one of the other houses on the street and stay there until morning," Dennis whispered as we practically tiptoed through the open doorway and outside, our heads going left and right.

"We'll each take shifts and then take tomorrow morning to recover before we move.." Dennis' voice abruptly halted as well as his steps, and I nearly walked into him.

"Dammit," Johan cursed under his breath from behind me and I took a glance around in the dark, my heartbeat instantly picking up speed. It wasn't hard to miss the dread in that single word.

Then my insides froze completely.

Even in pitch black, there was no mistaken the subtle, yet visible red gleam of the pair of eyes that were watching us just on the other side of the street.