Touch Me ✔

Chapter One

I gathered courage and proceeded towards the cemented pathways and quiet civilization. My feet were grateful to be greeted with a less harsh trail, but I was still cold and my body already ached all over. As I walked towards an uncertain future, I felt a dark despair beginning to build within. I wasn't sure what to do about it or how to ease such pain.

Just as I was passing a glass window, a light flickered to life behind it, catching my eye. It was an electronic shop. I knew this base on sight. I knew what each electronic device was. That was a computer and this one, the one that was now flickering with images of a late night host, this was a television.

I placed my fingers on the glass in front of the display, watching the images with apt attention. The man spoke of celebrities and then of news events. There was quiet laughter in the background. I tapped on the glass once and the channel switched to that of advertisement. I tapped the glass again and it changed to a violent movie where men fought to the death for nothing. I continued to tap the glass, watching the images change and the voices change with it. I found myself mouthing the words hesitantly with them, learning a language I already knew. And something within told me I knew many others, some of which weren't used in this day and age at all.

As enthralled as I was in my activities, I almost didn't hear the shift of a quick step in the distance. I instantly double tapped the glass to blacken the television screen behind it and froze. I listened carefully, waiting to hear something other than the air shuffling trash along the sidewalk. And then I heard it again. A soft step, just a minor movement too quick to see, was stalking closer towards me.

I turned and ran the opposite direction. My hair flowed behind me, brushing against my back at a quick rhythm as my feet tapped against the sidewalk quietly. Adrenaline was suddenly pumping through my veins and I almost couldn't feel the strain of my unused muscles at all. As I ran, I noticed how empty the streets and buildings were. It was as if the only souls left in this place were me... and the spirit stalking close behind me.

I was beginning to breathe harshly, the air burning at my lungs as I pushed myself to flee and hide. I sharply turned down the side of a dark building, intending on changing directions in an attempt to confuse whosever attention I had caught. I only made a few steps down this alley before an intense pain struck the bottom of my right foot. I instantly yelped, the sound surprising and deafening to me. Before I could prevent it, I tumbled to the solid ground roughly.

For a moment, the pain was enough that I didn't want to move ever again. I wanted to be back on that forest floor, alone and slumbering in the darkness. But despite my desperate wishes, I was still on this harsh cement floor instead. I pushed myself back up into sitting position, sliding back until I was pressed against the wall of the building. The shadows, I felt, covered me pretty well despite the glow of my hair and overall appearance.

I leaned forward to inspect what caused me such agony to find a small shard of glass embedded into the padding of my foot. Regardless of the appalling appearance of the wound, I wasn't bleeding much at all. I reached forward to remove the glass, but just the slightest touch sent another wave of shocking pain throughout me. I whimpered and held my leg to me instead as if I could cradle it back to health.

The dark despair was all but swallowing me now. Before I knew it, my eyes were burning with tears. I tried to control my darkened emotions, but all I could think about was the pain, the darkness around me, the confusion as to where and who I was, and the spirit that had been following me moments before. I closed my eyes, hugged my knee to my chest, and began weeping morosely in the shadows.

"Look what we have here," A deep voice rang out in the quiet night only feet away from me. I stifled my sobs into small whimpers that I couldn't subdue and raised my head. At first, all I could see was a tall silhouette in the darkness. But then he was abruptly leaning in front of me, his movements too quick for me to see. Something told me he could move as slow as any normal person if he wanted, but this one intended to frighten me. "Why are you crying, little angel?"