A Sapphire's Tale

Chapter One

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Droplets of water cascaded down, splattering against the windowpane, leaving their watery trails in their wake. The rain had started out soft, but now, it poured in torrents, each droplet racing to catch the others on its way down. It sounded like a thousand tiny taps against the world outside, washing the roads and the green pasture beyond. The peaceful sound was periodically interrupted by the occasional crack of thunder, each one louder than the last, shaking the house with its power.

It's really coming down now.

Evelynn Sapphire sat in the quiet of her dimly lit bedroom, a book open in her hands. The faint glow of the night lamp beside her illuminated the page, casting soft shadows around the room. She gazed out the window, her eyes tracing the rhythmic path of the rain against the glass. The once calm, almost magical rhythm had turned into a steady, intense barrage of water, and with it, a sudden pang of realization struck her.

"Forgot the clothes outside... seriously?" she muttered, her voice low as the weight of the moment settled over her. She sighed, rubbing her forehead with one hand in frustration.

With a groan, she put her book down and stood up, stretching out the kinks from her body. The sudden flick of the lights overhead startled her, as if the brightness of the room had jolted her back into full awareness. It was as though the light had erased every ounce of fatigue that had weighed her down.

"Gosh, why now?" she groaned again, blinking rapidly at the overhead bulb. Now that her tiredness had evaporated, it seemed sleep was no longer an option.

Evelynn glanced back at her bedroom, taking in the cozy stillness that defined her usual solitude. But it wasn't solitude tonight-it was a moment of reflection, one that she often found herself wandering into. Her eyes drifted toward the pictures on the wall, each frame holding a memory. Most of them were of her and her siblings with their grandmother, smiling together in the warmth of a life that now felt distant. She ran her fingers through her brown hair, her thoughts inevitably gravitating back to the past.

But it was the photo at the center of the wall that caught her attention the most, the one that stood out in vivid clarity against the sea of memories. It was a photo of two people holding hands. A man and a woman, their faces illuminated by joy, their smiles captured forever in time. The man had deep brown hair and kind gray eyes, his face etched with laughter lines that told the story of a life well-lived. The woman beside him had fiery red hair that seemed to glow even in the photograph, her green eyes sparkling with life.

Mom... Dad...

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Evelynn's lips as she approached the frame. She placed her hand against the glass, her fingers grazing the surface where their smiling faces were frozen in time. The smoothness of the frame felt like a sharp contrast to the chill of the room, as though she could erase the coldness of her current reality by touching the warmth of their memory.

"I miss you, Mum... miss you, Dad," she whispered, her voice barely more than a breath, as though speaking too loudly would shatter the fragile bond she had with their memory. The words came out quietly, without a tremor, though a sadness lingered in her chest.

She fought to hold back the tears that threatened to break free. At seventeen, she had learned how to live with the absence of her parents. It wasn't easy, not by any means, but it was something she had come to accept. Five years had passed since that fateful accident; an explosion, a massive tanker crashing in the wrong place at the wrong time, and her parents had been caught in the middle of it. That was the moment their world had shifted from ordinary to unimaginable.

In that moment, Evelynn realized she was the last piece of them left. She had inherited her mother's emerald green eyes, the ones that had always sparkled with warmth. Her hair, a rich brown, was the same shade as her father's. The older she got, the more she saw it. Every glance in the mirror was a reflection of them, a reminder of what they had lost.

Looking around at the familiar sights of her grandmother's home, she couldn't help but wonder what her life would've been like if her parents hadn't died. What would they have become? Who would they have become?

If only they hadn't gone there. If only they stayed home instead... If only...

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a sharp bang on the door.

Startled, Evelynn froze, her heart skipping a beat. Her blood ran cold as she looked toward the door, unsure of who -or what- could be on the other side. For a long moment, the house was eerily still. The rain pounded against the windows, but all she could hear was her own pulse thundering in her ears.

Who could that be?

The noise didn't come from anyone she knew -at least, that's what she thought. Her grandmother was asleep upstairs, and her siblings were scattered in their rooms, no one else to be found.

Evelynn hesitated. The house was old, and sometimes it creaked with the sounds of its age, but this was different. Something about the knock didn't feel normal. It was too sudden, too... insistent.

With a shaky breath, she slowly walked toward the door, reaching for the handle. Every instinct in her screamed to check the peephole first, but there was no time. The knock came again, louder this time.

Bang, bang, bang.

Her hand trembled as she touched the knob, hesitating before slowly turning it. The door creaked open on its own before she even had a chance to pull it fully. A chill rushed over her skin, colder than the air should have been.

Her heart skipped a beat. Was someone -or something- out there?...