Darkness Calls [SHELVED]

Darkness Calls [Chapter 3]

There’s something very unnerving about waking up to a pair of ethereal eyes staring back at you.

My hands flew through the covers, searching for anything I could use for defense or offense. It settled upon a hard, smooth, angular form - the book I’d fallen asleep to. Forgive me, Terry Pratchett. I wasn’t sure how much damage an old book would do, but at the very least, it would make some noise - hopefully enough to stir my uncle who apparently hadn’t been bothered by my screaming. I threw the book at the only target: the eyes.

There came a little bit too much noise.

Glass cracked and shattered, falling from the door and breaking into bits as the shards dropped to the floor. The silver eyes followed the falling glass as if...

I groaned, smothering myself in a pillow. It’d been my reflection. Those silver eyes were mine. Footsteps approached my room, muffled by the pillow so that it sounded more distant.

“Dinah?” The door creaked open. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, though it came out like, “Mmf, mm fmmm.”

Glass scraped against the floor, swept as uncle opened the door. He’d changed into more appropriate sleeping attire though he was wearing reading glasses. “I can see that.”

Uncle Mason ordered me to stay on the bed while he went and got a broom. I pulled the pillow tighter in an attempt to asphyxiate myself back to sleep. When it didn’t work, I was pretty sure anything else wouldn’t be able to help. I got up when uncle returned, offering to sweep but he assured me that it would be safer to stay on the bed instead of accidentally bleeding all over the floor.  I settled for watching as uncle used the broom to bring the shards of broken glass into a neat mound, which he promptly swept onto a dustpan. By then, my cheeks were burning with embarrassment.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, picking up the book I’d thrown and brushing off debris from its covers. “Though you could explain why the mirror deserved Discworld thrown at it. I’m pretty sure you just angered a legion of fantasy fanatics.”

“Would you believe me if I said that the twists and turns were so frustrating that I couldn’t help myself?”

“I would if the lights were on when I came in.” He smiled, handing me the book as he sat at the edge of my bed. “Is everything okay, Dinah?”

I nodded. “I was just having a dream.”

“I heard.”

My face heated up even more. “Oh...so, I really was...”

“-shouting?” he finished for me. He sighed. “Your aunt mentioned that you’d been having nightmares ever since you...ever since you came back.” Which was everyone’s polite way of saying, found in the middle of the woods stark naked.

“Once in a while,” I lied. In truth, they’d been happening almost every night but this was exactly the kind of conversation I didn’t want to have.

“We weren’t able to talk about it earlier.”

And I still don’t want to talk about it. But something told me saying it out loud would just open up more avenues for questioning so I just deflected. “Not much to talk about. I was pretty tired from the drive here.”

“I’d imagine. It’s a - what - 6 hour drive from New York? I’m surprised your aunt had let you take the trip on your own.” He winced at his own words.

“It suprised me too,” I said to reassure him a bit. My aunt had spent the days after I was found coddling me with her personal assistants every chance she could get. I could barely break a sweat without someone waiting on the wings to catch it with some overpriced towelette.

When she’d suggested I take the trip while she handled some paperwork, I’d jumped at the offer. Anything to escape her. That she’d let me drive on my own was very out of character for her though maybe she’d finally grown tired of the burden that was I and my amnesia. But a trip out in the country was long overdue. I didn’t need to be reminded that I was held back because of my absence. That all of my friends had moved on, graduated from high school while I was left to navigate the halls of senior year on my own. Most people would scoff at a summer in a backwater town but for me, it was a much welcome escape.

I hadn’t noticed the awkward silence that had descended during my reverie. See? Told you I was used to those. Uncle Mason coughed. “So...are you planning anything tomorrow? Or-” he glanced at the clock on my wall. It was four in the morning. “-today?”

“Probably gonna hang out with Piper,” I said. Not like I knew anyone else in town aside from her and Amma.

Uncle snapped his fingers. “Right! You could help her with Founder’s Day preparations. It’s only a few days away.” He must have read the confusion on my face. “She’ll probably fill you in tomorrow. Get some rest. Still have a few hours before sunrise.” Uncle patted my leg and finally rose.

“I’ll try,” I said, more to myself than him.

He stopped at the door, glancing back at me with a sad smile. “Feel better, Dinah.” Maybe he wasn’t as oblivious to my avoidance as I’d thought. He took off his reading glasses as he turned. Had he been reading because the noise I made kept him awake? I caught a glimpse of his bright green eyes and immediately flinched away from them. They were the same as my dad’s. The same as mine used to be.

---

The nightmare had changed. The pain wasn’t there anymore. Neither was the darkness. Or at least not much of it.

I stood on a cliff-face that overlooked the small, boring town of Willowbrooke. I didn’t know why but somehow I knew I had to be here. There was nothing special about the town. Nothing of note ever happened. But in a few short days, it would be the epicenter of a great beginnning.

What?

The underbrush rustled behind me. “It’s about time.” My voice came out odd - several pitches too high, with inflections I wasn’t familiar with using.

“It’s difficult to be on time when you don’t set a meeting place.” I should have tensed but I didn’t. The voice was a man’s - familiar, somehow. It was hoarse as if his throat had dried out. The thirst was already taking him.

Thirst?

“Excuses. Do you have him?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

I felt my lips curl into smile. “And so it begins.” My vision began to darken then as I tilted my head. Something was wrong. We weren’t the only ones here. “...wait.”

I blacked out then.