Lost in Darkness

Chapter 13-Sixteenth Birthday

 I cut myself off with a cry of surprise as Grace suddenly attacked me, poking and tickling me mercilessly until we were both squealing with laughter. Mum's laughter mingled with ours. 


"How old are you girls again?" she asked sarcastically. We both looked at each other and started giggling all over again.  

 And we were still laughing when Mum finally stopped the car. 


"We're here!" she cried, opening the car door, letting in a gust of warm breeze. 

"Where exactly is here?" Grace asked, looking around and slowly getting out of the car. I was much quicker, and had jumped out of the car as soon as it had stopped and I'd realised we were here. 


"It's so beautiful," I murmured in awe, gazing around slowly, taking it all in. 

 "This was the place that your Dad took me on our first date," Mum said quietly, staring off into the distance. Grace and I were both silent. Mum never talked about Dad, and we had never had the guts to ask her about him. We didn't really remember him much; he'd left us all when Grace and I were only five. 

 Grace and I followed Mum up a short hill, which looked over a vast expanse of fields, some green, some yellow, some scattered with purple and red. The sun was setting, the sky a beautiful shade of pinky orange. Shadows were beginning to form, giving the place a mysterious air. 

 "Girls, I have something that I need to tell you," Mum said, looking at us with serious eyes.


"What is it Mum?" we asked in unison, both in quiet voices. She was silent for a moment, gazing off at the fields surrounding us. The car was parked on a little dirt road at the bottom of the hill, out of place in so much greenery. There wasn't another person in sight. Just the three of us, like it had always been. Us three girls against the world. I smiled faintly at my thoughts. 

 "You know how I always told you guys how special you are?" she began, eyes flashing nervously around. She seemed on edge. So did I, actually. I had this strange tingling sensation that I didn't understand. It was making it hard for me to think of anything else other than the tingles racking my body. I began shivering, even though it wasn't remotely cold out. 

“Mum, what’s happening?” I whimpered, scared all of a sudden. Something was about to happen. Something big. Something bad.

 “Grace, Raven, I want you to get in the car and drive away from here as fast as possible,” Mum said, her voice hard as her eyes scanned the surrounding landscape. 

“Why, what’s going on?” Grace asked, her eyes wide with fear. This in turn made me fearful. Grace was never really afriad of anything. 

“It doesn’t matter what’s going on,” Mum said, avoiding the question. “All that matters is that I love you both very much. Everything you need to know is in here.” She went into her handbag and handed us a little red notebook. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes.

 “Mum, you’re scaring me,” I said, blinking back tears, but accepting the notebook she all but shoved at me. I slipped it under my jumper and held it there with shaking hands. 

“I know baby,” she murmured, kissing us both on the forehead. “But it’ll be okay, don’t you worry. Even when the dark seems to overcome the light, there will always be a speck of light, of hope. Never forget that. Never forget which side you fight for, even if all seems lost.” She hugged us both fiercely. “Now go.”