Love of the grey shade

Prologue

Child loud screaming, coming from the darkness, makes man and woman open their eyes and stand up. Found a lamp, man turns the light on and goes to the children's room very quickly. His wife is next to him, holding his hand.

They open the door and light the room. Their daughter is trembling. Little girl clings to the wall, has her eyes closed and, keeping her fragile body under the covers, she hopes it saves her from the outside world danger. Woman runs to her child immediately and hugs her very tight, singing a lullaby to make girl calm. Girl burries into mother's shoulder and holds mother's nightgown. Sweet words penetrate into her mind and mother's love slowly makes arisen fear go away.

- Mummy, I heard something, - her crying interrupts a quiet speech. At the same time her father lights the window and sees the dark shadow. It goes away fast, but even in this way can scare adult man with its gloom. Girl's father perfectly knows who's the owner of this scary shadow. These, as he says, scums cause panic and freezy horror in everyone, who even for a second hears their nasty whisper or looks at full of gloom and pain eyes.

- Ben, close the curtains, please, - woman says to her husband. He carefully goes to the window and pulls tight fabric. After he sees there's nothing terrible outside he finally closes the curtains.

- Why weren't they closed? - Ben fills the light on his wife to see her. Notes of anger in his voice appear. But this anger has no deal to his beloved wife, but his hostility to this nasty creatures always takes possession of his emotions. And now this hate is grown, because they dared to scare his daughter.

- We live on the first floor. You know how dangerous it is, - man turns the night light on and whole room is finally filled with muffled light, - This semblance of a man only gets pleasure while is teasing us.

In this time girl recoilers from her mother and looks around. The light calms her down and she stopes crying.

- Who was there, in the window? I heard whisper, he was saying very bad words. Why did I hear him? Because he was on the street, - girl says very fast because she's nervous. Man and woman look at each other, man nods and leaves the room. They knew one day they'd have to tell their daughter everything. And woman promised to do it when the time came. But no one knew it would be so soon.

- You understand, Aurora, that man who scared you is very different from us. And he is not the only one like this. At the night they go out, it's only their time. While we are sleeping dark people are going around our places, leaving a mess and breaking the laws. They're terrible and disgusting.

- But you said these people didn't exist. - girl doesn't understand her mother, noticing contradictions in her words.

- They don't exist among us. But to be honest, dark can't be even called people. Man shouldn't enjoy life full of destruction and indecent things.

- They are so different from us that they can even see in the darkness? - in kid's eyes appear a flames of curiosity. She wants to know everything about these strange un-people. That's how Aurora called them in her head.

- Yes, they can perfectly see in the darkness, that's why they prefer night life.

- And how were we managed to be separated? Why are we so different?

- Everyone used to live together. By the appearance dark and bright could be distinguished very easy. People like us always had a fear that dark could just kill them. There were always fights on the streets. Two opposites couldn't live together in one world. But soon happened a coup, in result of what we could get rid of this terrible creatures. A series of laws were established, controlling their activities. Soon even the nature added her rules in our life: we became blind in the darkness, and they got some kind of fear of light. With this way they could go out of their houses only from 10 pm to 6 am. At this time every bright was at home under protection.

- But it turns out we're still in danged. I heard that voice, it's strange. Is that possible?

- We can't know all of them abilities, and why do you care about this kind of things? You shouldn't even think about them. I'm sure when time comes in your school you'll be said everything about them and even will be shown how to protect yourself. For now nothing threatens you.

Girl looks away, is not understanding why she can't find out about everything now. She lie back down in her bed and runs on the ceiling with her eyes.

- Why are they like this? Why we must to be scared of them? Is that thing, that we are different a reason to destroy each other? We all are the same. Independent of external differences. Right? - girl waits for the answers.

- You don't understand how teribble they are yet. And you better don't know about it, - woman leans towards her daughter and looks into bright-grey eyes - full copy of her. - Never connect with dark. They are cruel, insidious. For them doesn't exist understanding of humanity. Feelings are alien for them. They are dangerous. They stretch to the crime. We are ideal of the life, people have to live like this. And they are bottom of the society, a mistake of the nature, evil, which wants to ruin our perfection.

Don't connect with these garbage in any circumstances.