Broken Glass

Prologue

I was always told of creatures that lurked through the night, but I never thought the horror stories would become my reality.
The fear that came over me every time my adopted parents came through the door was enough to send me into a state of paralyzation as the panic spread throughout every muscle of my body. They're idea of fun was contorted and twisted. They savored to watch fear's spark ignite and completely consume their victim.
They found entertainment in my hysteria, until my fear gave way to sleep.
They had been my fifth, maybe even sixth home in the past two years. I was what people labeled a 'troubled child' and would never surpass anyone's expectations and maybe, just maybe they were right. When I was first aquated to them, the emotions were high; I remember being petrified of rejection. I desired a forever home, and sought out approval with such determination I was willing to do anything. A sliver of my heart hoped that the approval would bloom into love. A feeling I had never been given and if someone did love me before, I cannot remember.
Eventually when my social worker got their paperwork approved and everything that needed attending to settled, it was finally time to move in with them. Anxiety was high. I would chewed on my nails so aggressively, blood was drawn. I was practically bouncing off the walls, with anticipation, ready to finally have parents of my own. But if I knew then, what I know now; I would have begged, even pleaded for my social worker to find another family. Those eight years were the worst of my life.
They left me with permanent scars and chains, saturating every inch of who I was. Leaving me to wonder who I'd become.
I tried to forget. I tried to forgive but neither of those tactics were successful as long as they we're alive.
My nights were sleepless, searching for the monsters that hid in the dark. The monsters that were searching for me. Their voices echoed in my room at night, ringing through the air, long and clear, bouncing off the walls and haunting me in my nightmares. I would grasp the blanket tightly over my body to fend them off but they hovered around me. Pressing down on my chest, making it hard to breath as my lunges tighten up.
I began drowning myself in fictional novels, sending me to a safe place in my mind, creating my own perfect world; safe from the monsters, safe from my own thoughts and safe from them. Their 'games' evolved over the years. The severity of the situation increased until I found myself in a panic attack, that would only end when I fell unconscious from the lack of oxygen, and soon all my decisions were carefully calculative. I began planning my days by the seconds, looking for a way to prevent any interaction with them.
The tragic part; what they said was true; I was no one. People from town didn't know of me existence and everyone at my school wasn't aware that I was Alive, and if I was to disappear no one would care enough to notice. Solitude was my only allie and was the closest thing to a friend I had. My routine had become the law and I was content. Completely avoiding them and sticking to the background at school.
But one night they crossed the line, and I followed suit. I did something unspeakable that sent me to a mental institution until I was approved for a new home. Approval meant that I had proven to the court and the staff at the 'hospital' that I was in fact sane and had not fallen off the rockin chair, which proved to be more challenging than it really should've been, however, I, myself didn't know if I was sane. I faced felony charges and possible life behind bars, though by some kind of miracle I was released as innocent.
My life continued in the foster system, no one wanted me because everyone was well aware of the felony chargers I had faced and that I also was institutionalized for the safety of myself and the society. Until one couple was brave enough to meet with me. I'm not sure what they saw me as, but the young couple didn't see me as the world had. They didn't see me as insane or mental. They saw me as something completely different. Maybe they saw me as a person like they were; capable of emotion; or maybe they were insane like me.
At first I detested them, they could end up being just like my first home. I isolated myself from them as much as I could; locking my bedroom door, refusing to eat meals, and never speaking. But they persisted, and very slowly my behaviors began to change; I was beginning to give short, clipped sentences until I would voluntarily ventured to the kitchen for dinner. Katherine and Bolt Larson saved me as much as they could in the little time we were together.
The voices were still there though; slight whispered hiding in the fortress of a shadow, but sometimes they'd leave their domain and enter mine. Creating a rift in reality, that only I noticed. Alienating myself from society. Though I ignored the shadows' howling calls and started to build a steadfast foundation for my second chance at a normal life.
Couple years past, good years, but every sunny day can end in rain. Though I had convinced myself that, that day would never come, simply because I lived my fair share of rainy days to last several lifetimes.
My small family lived in an even smaller town, located in Alaska— where there was no actually neighborhoods and everyone lived miles apart. The closest school was about a 45 minutes drive, passing grazing horses and goats standing on cliff edges, chewing peacefully.
Everything about this second chance was simple. Simple relationships, simple routine, and a stable mental state. Well as stable as the voices allowed it and they were beginning to speak of a great storm. I soon began to recognize the thunderclouds peaking the horizon, overlapping one another, rolling in from all directions. It was unclear what day the storm would arrive but shards of the upcoming storm haunted my dreams, a glimpse of what is yet to come sent by the darkness that surrounded me as I slept. I wasn't sure how bad the storm would be, but nothing could possibly prepare me for the aftermath.
This day however was suppose to be one of celebration. A handful of people were invited; people directly related to Katherine and Bolt that I had become comfortable around and one friend from school; we were inseparable close. It was the day of my sixteenth birthday that began as any other. The sun was shining almost too brightly as the people I truly loved arrived.
The party might have appear insufficient, nevertheless the party to me was absolutely and utterly perfect. I couldn't had asked for anything more, except to live in that moment forever, like the kids from Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children; being able to live in one moment, a happy moment were you know without a shadow of a doubt that nothing in your life could go wrong, but then it does.
I was dangling from cloud Nine, having a good laugh with my little family, that not only accepted me but loved me. However the storm had arrived and everything within me was being destroyed by something buried deep within me. It had been awoken, like a light switch in my brain was flipped on and then it started. The beast that I didn't know lived in me came out. The initial feeling reminded me of a dam breaking; all those emotions I had as a child came flooding through me, like a tsunami destroying everything in its path, but a lot more than mere emotions surfaced. A side of myself I was completely unaware of came with it. The side of myself that had not let go of our horrible past, harboring so much animosity, This side of myself mortified me.
Blood was the first that came to my mind, then coherent thoughts began surfaces. I not only wanted blood, A yearning, and irresistible crave for it arose in the back of my throat. Then another thought came to me, similar to a slap in the face; I desired everyone to feel the way I did; how my childhood was ripped away from me; replaced by suffering, and the voices that followed each and every second of everyday. How I would stay up all night constantly scared of the monsters that hid under my bed and that lived in my closet, tucked away in the shadows. The same emotions that sent me over the edge in the first place, was in the forefront of my mind and we couldn't let those emotion pass without doing something about it.
The switch had been turned on and I had no idea how to turn it off but I'm not sure I wanted to.
After the hatred washed over me the pain began, beginning deep within my bone marrow and radiating out, through my muscles and tends until it reached my skin. With every heartbeat a new kind of pain pulsed through my entire body, like nothing I've ever felt before and words can never come close to describing the effects.
Shortly after the pain began I groggily remember collapsing on the prickly grass in our backyard, my fingers digging deep into the moist soil as I cry out in agony. The first bones to break and morph were my shoulder blades, I could feel them pop out of their rightful place and snap, forming themselves to a totally different purpose. It didn't stop then though, my whole body seemed to follow suit, my screams grew louder and louder with each pop and crack that my body produced. Almost blocking out the horrified sounds my family was creating, but I could hear them and just like my screams their voices became louder as the shift proceeded. I couldn't tell if I could hear them better because my voice was giving way to strain or my hearing was altering somehow. When the pain subsided I laid there, pants heavily racking my body, still trying to understand what just happened, but nothing I thought of made any kind of sense. Though hearing voices radiating from the shadows doesn't make much sense either. A wave of nausea came back ten times the intensity then before and a force of animalistic aggression washed over me and then all control was stolen away and the side of myself that lived in my worst hours had complete authority over what my body had just shifted into.
I couldn't comprehend what was going on with my body or my mind, but what I did understand was I had become the monster I feared for so long and it felt exhilarating. Knowing I had nothing to be scared of until its desire for blood landed on the people that were standing directly in front of me, their lips part in shock and I could literally smell their fear as I heard their hearts hammer against their ribs. Suddenly my body was moving forward on its own accord as I sat ideally in the depths of my mind were the beast had pushed me to. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I was completely mortified, I stayed silent as the beast locked in on her targets. She marched forwards with fluid, hypnotic steps. Her eyes never leaving my loved ones. My own shock began to subside as I began to push through our mental connection only to be yanked back into the confines of my own mind. My already damaged voice became almost non existent by the time the beast was done with her prey. Her desire was somewhat quenched but I knew she'd be back, not sure when or even where but she'd be back.
I wasn't aware of how long she had control; time was almost irrelevant, but it felt like decades before the reigns were returned, but by then it was already too late; the damage was already done.
With my body surrendering to my control; bones began to pop back into place leaving me utterly bare, outside in my backyard on my hands and knees ragged breaths heaving From my lungs,tears escaped my eyes as deep sobs left my mouth. I didn't want to face what just happened and I certainly didn't want to open my eyes. I longed for the blanket I once used to hide from the monsters. The blanket I would cover my face with and hide my eyes from seeing the shadows dance across my room at night. The same blanket that protected me, but I knew nothing would protect me from what just happened.
With every ounce of courage I could gather, slowly I lifted my head and saw the mess I made. Remorse and regret were the most prominent emotions I felt but several others accommied them, it took me back to the little girl I once was. Scared and weak I decided then that I would not allow myself to divert back to how I grew up. Gulping down a much needed breath I removed any emotion that would lead to vulnerableness. Grasping the old habit formed when I was them. Completely surrendering to the feeling of emptiness that builds in your chest when you have nothing left.
I slowly stood to my full height and absorbed the sights around me. I scan the area daring myself to mourn, to cry, to break down. But it never comes no matter how bad I want to be weak again I push myself to be stronger. Prickles of tears sting my eyes as I vigorously wipe them away and lift my nose to the sky. Shunning the emotions that were escaping from my chest and spreading like a wildfire through my body.
Even with little to no light left I saw the scene in front of me to perfectly, the blood covering the decorations and drowning the grass, glistening from setting sun. Furniture thrown across the yard in complete chaos, the grill was knocked over with smoke lifting to the sky. A soft melody hung in the air as the radio sat on the window seal and suddenly the house I cherished became a heavy burden. I almost couldn't look at it without a rush of dangerous emotions. Searching for a quick escape from my reality, simultaneously a soft wind leaves the forest surrounding my old home. I slowly took a step towards the woods and as I did so the wind picked up even more sending different scents into my nose. Scents that I have never smelled before. My long black hair caressed my face, almost like it was encouraging me forward. I just stood there, stiffly gazing into the forest. Searching the shadows for the ominous song of the dark. Whispers drifted with the wind from the shadows playground, conforming to my body, leaving chills to spread across my naked silhouette. I was just about to take another hesitant step towards the unknown when sirens filled my ears their relentless cries sending a jolt of adrenaline through my veins, without any hesitation I charge into the trees that harbors my foe, the shadows engulfed me upon entry and fear nipped at my sinking heart as the darkness latched onto me by my ankles. As I run I felt the darkness seep in my skin and traveled throughout my entirety. Rejuvenating my physical scars, sending enormous bolts of energy through my nervous system. I felt so empowered, so free and so dominating.
Realization set in as my whole physique became one with the shadows surrounding me. I was no longer to be afraid of darkness. I am the monster that's under my bed and with that thought I pump my legs faster until I felt the popping and cracking begin again. Within a Matter of seconds I was on all fours running with supernatural grace through the dense foliage passing town after town with the only thing that could bring even a smidge of comfort; leaving and never returning.
I am now the creature that lurks at twilight, the creature of old that fills books of legends. I am now the sinister phantom that haunts the shadows, hiding in darknesses depths. I am Brynna.