Beyond the mist

Chapter-1

Black and red.

That's how I always saw her, dressed in black and red. It was something she had got from her mother. An obsession with the two colors. I never really understood why but to be honest, I never wanted too. 

There were too many things about her that made no sense. Sometimes I considered it my unfortunate luck that I was stuck with her but when I looked and saw the people around her, I would instantly feel better.

There was no one else I would rather be stuck with.

Here is a fact: you will hate me by the end of the book.

I just know you will but that's okay because this isn't my story, it's hers.

I am just a part of it. Consider me as your narrator if you must.

I first realized she was absolutely insane when she drowned a thirty year old man to death. She was 6  years old then. I have always been a little terrified of her since then.

5 year old Myra was terrified of monsters and a year later, she realized that she was one.

A monster. 

They all were. 

But for the sake of their own sanity, they called themselves the markeds. Two small black lines engraved on their skin was the reason for all their misery. It was what made them the monsters. 

Not bloodshot red eyes or two horns on their heads, but two small black lines. 

I actually found it quite funny sometimes.

They all lived beyond what they called the mist. A black wall of void darkness which went all the way from the ground to the sky. It surrounded the entire town like a prison and there was no escaping it. No one from either side could cross the mist as it would burn whoever tried to touch it to ashes.

But it wasn't always like this.

Until 18 years ago, the town of Cantabridge flourished in happiness and peace under the rule of the markeds but it all went crashing down when the cursed fever hit the city. No one knew where it came from or what caused it. Hundreds of people were dead in a matter of months and the markeds lost all of their powers to it.

So of course, the council chose this very moment to declare war and the markeds were banished from Cantabridge and that's when the mist was made. After their banishment, they made their own council of which Myra's mother took control and after her death, Myra took control.

None of the council members were too thrilled about receiving orders from a 16 year old but there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. 

She had a privilege.

                                                                                              ***

It was just another cold morning when Zach burst into Myra's room, panic written all over his face.

"S-something is happening!" he stuttered, sneaking looks outside the window as if he was expecting something to burst through any moment.

"What?" Myra asked lazily as she pulled her blanket closer to her.

Now for most people, Zach was terrifying. He was insanely tall and broad, you could easily say he worked out quite a lot. Sometimes, I wondered how he fit through the tiny doors in Myra's house and whenever he walked, I swear I could almost hear the floor creaking. But that could be because the house was too old. 

"What?" Myra repeated her question, a little louder this time. 

"Something is happening to the m...s-someone is coming through....I think s-something-"