Fading Light

A New Change

From what I was told, it happened on a chill, autumn evening; right when the tip of the sun vanished below the horizon. I can still remember the picturesque sunset: the remaining rays painted the edge of the sky a gentle pink, until the darkness of night slyly consumed the pretty color into a menacing purple-gray. I tried shriveling in my toddler seat, but no matter how low I got, the darkening atmosphere still watched me.

"Daddy, it's getting dark out. Can I have your phone to make it brighter?" My sister said.

"For the fourth time, no. We're almost home," Dad said harshly.

I peeked over at Mom. She laid motionless against the seat and her head leaned onto the window.

"You never let me do what I want!" My sister shouted.

The growing monster chased after us. I didn't understand how everyone else was so calm.

My seat suddenly held me back from being flown forward. We spun in what felt like a big circle. Me and my sister's screams harmonized, our voices bounced inside the car. We slammed into something on our right. Something pulled us down, but we stayed where we were. I noticed my tears fell toward my sister instead of down my face. They made the tiniest splat on her cheek. Even at 3, I knew that wasn't normal.

She looked right at me. I never forgot the traumatizing fear that filled her vivid green eyes.

"Mommy! Daddy! Help!" I screamed.

My father carefully shook Mom. Her eyes opened. Her brown eyes—different from Dad's, Stella's, and my green irises—gained consciousness.

"What's... going on?" Her movement made the car wobble. It tipped us back and forth.

"Nobody move," Dad said sternly. I couldn't understand the rest of his words over my crying. He looked over at me. Through my blurry, tear-filled eyes, I stared into his. They were completely concrete. They penetrated my shaking soul with a wave of reassurance, like an anchor securing a ship in the middle of a storm. "Sweetie, calm down. Everything will be okay," he spoke to me softly. He looked at the rest of my family. "We're going to be alright. I'll call 9-1-1, and they'll tell us what to do." As he pressed some bright buttons, a car door slammed shut.

A gasp escaped out of me and Stella's throats. I swear I felt my heart thumped against the skin of my chest. A bright light illuminated the sky, followed by a soft boom that echoed across the land. Raindrops tinkered on my window. Above it, there was a balding head with patches of white hair. I wanted to see who it was, but I was so afraid that with one slight movement, I'd send us down.

"Dad! Help us!" My father shouted.

The figure came closer to the car. Once I saw more of his features, I immediately recognized the stranger.

It was Grampy. He stopped in front of my father's window.

"What are you doing?" My father yelled. The confidence in his voice from earlier evaporated.

"You knew you were going to get this one day," Grampy's familiar voice rattled in my ears. Another boom cracked across the sky; it sounded louder than the last one.

"What the hell are you talking about? Get us out!"

"Why should I help you when you're still putting my granddaughters' lives in danger?"

"Pop, we talked about this multiple times," Mom gained awareness of what was occurring. "We can have the girls back."

"You had your chance, but you couldn't control yourselves. I'm surprised you're still in one piece after leaving."

He's always been mad at them ever since they've had those smelly drinks. They'd act funny after having a few bottles. I didn't know how a drink could make you act weird. The scent lingered everywhere we went. It was even in the car with us.

"Dad, I'm sorry." My father said. The car gradually tipped more to its right. Everyone gasped and instinctively grabbed onto each other. "At least save the girls."

Grampy remained silent. As the lightning lit the ominous sky, the amount of drops on my window grew. When I looked back at Grampy, he raised his one arm toward Dad. I glanced at him and his eyes grew wide. Just that slight movement made my heart increase its speed tenfold.

"You had your chance, you were just too stubborn to take it."

I never knew so much could happen in a split second. A bang rattled the car, I thought it'd push us over the edge. Dad's head flew back and laid against the seat.

Stella and Mom screamed.

"POP!" Mom yelled. But before she spoke again, the same BOOM flew in and shattered the air in the car. Blood poured out from the hole in her forehead and she also laid motionless against the window.

Stella and I looked at each other. Tears ran down both our faces as our lungs grasped for the pieces of oxygen broken from the blasts.

Grampy lowered his arm, lowered his arm, and opened my door. I kicked at him as hard as I could. He talked to me, but I interrupted every word with a frantic scream.

"Larissa. Larissa."

He was forcefully pulled back and punched in the face. He fell to the ground and the person who loomed over him had long, flowing silver hair. He pulled out a long, sharp weapon and threw it downward.

Grampy screamed in bloodcurdling agony. My heart couldn't take in everything that happened. My lungs ached from their uncontrollable pants.

Suddenly, the car was pulled and sat back onto its side. The tall, silver-haired figure stared down at my fidgeting grandfather.

Grampy uttered a few words I couldn't understand to him.

The stranger stared at him so intensively, it was like his eyes were the real weapon that slowly killed Grampy. He pushed the sword deeper in his chest, and spoke similar words Grampy said.

Grampy peeked over at me one last time, gave me the biggest smile I have ever seen him wore, and I watched the light in his green eyes fade away.

"Grampy!"

The stranger pulled the sword out and glanced over at me. His irises were the same shade as my grandfather's. Once our eyes met, my body wanted to do anything it could to get away from him.

I wanted to escape.

I wanted to run.

But the only thing I could do was cry.

I whimpered and cowered as much as I could in my seat. Though I desperately tried to impossibly shrink myself away from this monster, his grassy-green eyes didn't hold the same anger that penetrated Grampy.

They were soft. And full of light.

He placed the sword back in his holder and cautiously approached me.

"Stella!" I screamed.

She didn't dare get near me.

I looked back at the stranger and pushed myself out of my seat, but the seatbelts were locked tight.

He stood before me and gently placed a finger onto my cheek, wiping away a tear. His voice was so heavenly comforting, his words immediately lowered my anxiety.

"Ceri– ú- nifred. Everui nad na– okaui."

He undid the seatbelts and picked me up into his arms. There were other people who looked just like him. Long silver hair, green eyes, and brownish-green outfits. They all stood around the car. He spoke to the others in his foreign language, as if commanding them. One of them opened the door and took Stella in her arms. He took both of us into the darkest depth of the woods.

I reached my tiny arm out to my disappearing family. "Mommy. Daddy. Grampy,"

The stranger hugged me and whispered foreign yet soothing words into my ear. The darker it got around me, the tighter I clung to him. He spoke the same words my father told me.

"Don't worry. Everything will be okay."