The Dark Ones

Chapter Five: All These Choices

Now, everything was changing . . . fast.

Quickly, she sprung to her feet, going straight for her wardrobe. Rue grabbed a few clothes and stuffed them in a travelling bag. This was it for her. Serpent's Creek has been home to her all seventeen years of her life. The last couple years had been rough.

The image of Ajax's fiery eyes flashed in her mind. She knew that gaze, had seen it before. He wanted her and he would stop at nothing until he has her. For what reason, she had no clue. Rue paused as she forced a cloth in her bag. She was scared. The darkness swelling inside her was growing beyond her control.

She was losing her mind.

Rue feared for what she was growing into. There was an unnatural force pulling her towards her half dead housekeeper and she wanted to indulge. She felt the wave through her body. It was like swearing to keep away from the handsome jock in her school and then suddenly, his naked lips were pressed upon hers. It was hard to say no, even if it was just at the tip of her tongue.

Even worse, the thought of sucking the life out of another human made her stomach mushy.

Her last dress slipped off the hanger. Dizziness followed, and she lost her footing staggering until she found support with her arm on a wall by the side.

Everything went dark for second, a throbbing in her head following.

The room grew blurry and she brushed her fingers over her face. It didn't help. Rue hurried to the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of water. Her hands trembled, grip tightening on the glass, and then it shattered.

A wide gash cut across her palm, but instead of blood, dark vapour escaped from the wound. She panicked and quickly grabbed her backpack.

The door jammed shut behind her. Rue made her way down the streets. It was already twilight. The eerie silence on the street was occasionally disturbed by chirping crickets. Street lamps showered the pavement with their golden radiance. Dogs barked as she made her way past the lawn of several houses.

She pulled the hoodie of her jacket to cover her hair and tucked her hands in the pockets. There was no bus heading out of town this late at night. The plan was to walk across town, find shelter at her Nana's place, and skip town after dawn.

Nana would understand. She didn't have to say much or interpret her emotions to the old woman. There has always been a bond between grandmother and granddaughter, more than anything she had with her mother.

The light flickered above her. Rue stopped. Soft voices grew around her, a hushed tone letting out whisper after whisper. Her Dark Passenger never spoke, not since her eleventh birthday when it first came out to play. She didn't know it then, but Billy, her neighbour's dog was the first casualty of its hunger. It didn't take a minute and the dog had been left lifeless, looking like a fossil dug from a bog.

She could never forget that day. No one wanted to say it then, but she knew, deep within her she knew she was not like all the other girls and would never be.

A bright flash of light showered on Rue's face. She squinted, blocking the light from her eyes with wide open fingers.

"Who is there?" a voice called.

Rue gave no answer. She tried to slip into an orchard at the front of a small house. A man quickly blocked her path.

He lowered his torchlight. "Girl, what in God's name are you doing on the streets at this time."

"I . . . I . . ." Rue stammered, eyes staring downwards.

"Are you lost," he said, lowering his flashlight. "Do you need help?"

Rue stepped sideways, "Stay away from me, just stay away . . . please."

She tried to escape the night watchman from the side, but the man grabbed quickly to her backpack. Rue turned with spring steel quickness and pushed him with both hands to fall on flowers by the roadside. The watchman reached for the side of his belt and pulled out a taser.

"Stay right there," he screamed pointing it at her.

Rue jumped over the man to escape. He shot once. She went still immediately, trembling from the pain. Her skin felt the sting of a thousand needles, accompanied by a sharp ache splitting her head. Rue dropped to one knee and screamed.

The bulbs of the streetlights above her shattered into a hundred pieces.

"I'm sorry, kid," the watchman stood over her.

Rue's heart raced faster and faster. She wanted all her pain to end, she wanted an end to her fear, and in her heart, she willed it to be.

Her eyes grew an inky black. A figure crawled out from the shadow cast by Rue on the floor. It dripped black tar and looked like a gaunt man rising from a pool of ink.

Rue's mind was no more hers.

The watchman froze, torch and taser falling away from his loosened grip. The shadowy creature embraced him quickly. It burst into a cloud of dark vapour, seeping into the man's flesh. The watchman moved away from Rue. He staggered like a drunkard, reached for his taser, set it to the highest current, and put the stun gun in his mouth.

"No!" Rue raised her right arm to stop him.

The watchman shot the darts. He slumped on the floor and went into a seizure. Rue reached towards him and put her hands on his chest. He fell still, eyes wide open in death. Dark vapours escaped from his flesh and took the corporeal form of a creature darker than the night's sky.

"I hate you," Rue cried. "Why won't you leave me be? Why can't you just leave me alone." Tears dropped down her cheeks.