Fighting In Shadows

So Close...To Grasping Freedom

Chapter One - So Close...To Grasping Freedom.

I jolted up out of my sleep, sweat staining my forehead, arms and legs. My breathing was rapid and shallow, and eyes were filled with tears. I hadn't cried in a long time, but when dreams about my past got involved, tears eventually had to be spilled. I wiped the tears away, and relief flooded me when I had noticed that I hadn't screamed in my sleep. That would've freaked the hell out of Walker. He probably would've gotten his Bloodhound, Chaser, into my room and made him kill whatever was supposedly attacking me.

I sat up slowly, sighing loudly. I swore underneath my breath, a swear that I had learned in training when Walker had accidentally sent Chaser after him, as he had given him the wrong scent. The swear was apparently the worst one out there, and Walker had forbidden me from ever repeating it. But, like usual, the swear had stuck to my brain, causing me to say it whenever it was needed--like right now.

I slowly wiped my tears away, my eyes stinging. That dream. Why did I have it? I hadn't dreamed about my mother in a long time. Of course, when I was taken away from my mother, I had dreams like that. They were always different, but the same. Confusing, I know. That was the night I had last seen my mother. We had a funeral for her half a year later, as she didn't return from the bloody battle. There was no body in the coffin, and that had made me cry even more. I felt terrible that day of the funeral. Of course, it had to be raining. And it had to be cloudy and miserable. Typical.

I sighed again, shrugging the sheets off my body and pulling myself out of bed. The time on my old, shabby clock said 4:30 AM. Great. I was suppose to wake up in 2 hours. But there was no way in hell that I would be falling back to sleep. I stood up, my legs shaky, but I forced myself to not fall. I flicked on my light, and sighed again when I saw them.

The shadows. They loomed around the room, their forms changing every now and then. I haven't seem them in a few weeks, but that's what always happens. They leave, then come back a few weeks later. Who knows where they go? They could--for all I know--go out and kill innocent people with their guilty powers. I stared at the shape of the shadow, and it stared back. I watched as it changed into a reflection. I saw myself in the shadow. It had always been attached to me, even when I didn't know it. I narrowed my eyes as the reflection of myself had darkness covered around me. It stuck to my body like skin. I quickly looked into my real mirror that hung loosely on the wall, and saw nothing but myself. No darkness at all.

'Its showing you what you really are.' A voice said to me from behind. I jumped, quickly turning around. Walker stood there, his hands hidden in his pockets. His hair fell over his eyes, causing him to brush the strands away. 'In a mirror, you can only see you're human-self. In a Reflector--or as you like to call it, Shadow--it shows you what you really are,' He explained it to me like it was normal. But I guess it was normal. For us, I mean.

I turned back to look at the Reflector, but it had disappeared. It didn't like being caught by a human. Yes, I am not the only one who can see the shadows. Humans can see as easily as I can, but the shadows like to only show themselves to people like me. Being caught off guard was apparently bad for a Reflector. And the one that was showing me my reflection, obviously hadn't noticed Walker standing there. But I didn't either, so I can't talk.

'Where do they disappear to?' I asked out loud. I turned back to Walker, only to just see the shrug of his broad shoulders.  

'They go wherever they please. You're not the only Darker out there in the world, Little. Reflectors have to disappear every now and then to visit other Darkers like you. They need to remind those Darkers of who and what they are,'

A Darker. That's what I was. And that's exactly what my mother was as well, along with my father. A Darker is a, well, creature. We can create darkness just in the palms of our hands. We can take away light and replace it with the dark. Darkness follows us everywhere, but we don't see it. We can only see it when a Reflector shows us--well, apparently. There are many Darkers out in the world, being created everyday. We were a sort of...mistake. A demon with part-angel blood in it from Hell had walked onto earth. That demon could create darkness and shadows wherever it went. And that same demon had an offspring with a human, causing more than trouble. We are a danger towards earth. We could cover the earth in darkness if we wanted.