Darkness Begins After The End

Prologue

"And they all lived happily ever after. The End."

Everyone clapped at the conclusion of the story, except for me. While I saw the smiles and wonder in the eyes of other little girls and the groans from the little boys, I couldn't help but feel there was something more to this story than just the end. We don't meet our ends until death, the day our story stops being written is the day there's nothing more to write about. Did it mean that they were leaving out their deaths? Was there something more they took our between the happily ever after and the end? I raised my hand, I had to have my question answered once and for all.

"Yes, Ciara, what's you question?" my teacher asked, her warm brown eyes glowing as she looked at me.

"Did Belle die?" I asked in my little high pitched voice, "Did the Beast not fully turn back and tear her to shreds in the woods?"

My teacher's eyes shone a look of pure shock and horror, widening to a size I didn't think was possible. She bit her lip, looking down at the floor for a second, not knowing how to respond to such a mortifying question. I was sure she didn't expect it, I was only 7 years old, after all. I shouldn't know about all the darkness this world has in it. I had experienced traumatizing things, I could always remember the feeling of blood dripping from the ceiling. I looked at the way she tapped her foot on the floor, her eyes still showing that look of true terror. She scratched the back of her head, nervous laughter escaping her mouth.

"W-What makes you ask that?" she twirled a piece of her auburn hair around her finger, "Her and the beast fell in love after he was a prince, simple as that."

I shook my head, "Then why would they write the end? She didn't die, the beast didn't die, they were still alive, correct? The end implies that they died in my eyes, so either they cut out the part where they died and marketed it as a children's story, or they felt the need to say they lived happily without telling us what really happened."

At this point, all that could be heard in the room were the arms on the clock ticking as each minute went by, my question still unanswered. All the girls with the wonder in there eyes bore looks of disgust towards me, turning their backs when I glanced in their directions. The boys were silent, no comments about how gross blood was, no snickering about how she married a beast, nothing. My questions had burned themselves into their little minds, burrowing their way into their darkest fears. This was the fifth time that year I had transferred schools, all for the same reason, and it seemed after only a week, I was going to be kicked out yet again. I looked back to my teacher, hoping for some sort of answer to pop out of her mouth, but even she didn't have words to answer me.

"Ciara, how about you go out into the hallway for a second, hm?" she asked me, motioning towards the door, "I'll come and talk to you in a few minutes."

I bowed my head in shame as I stood up, silently walking out the door and into the hallway. I sat against the wall, burying my head in my knees. Tears began to escape my eyes, making their way down my cheeks, dripping softly onto the floor. I looked at the display of art across the hall through my tears, my vision quite blurred. Though there was art work and little stories, I couldn't distract my mind from the scene that had just occurred in the room. I heard the soft click of the classroom door opening, looking over to see my teacher, visibly shaking from the incident. She sat down beside me, turning her head to look at me.

"You're a very interesting little girl, Ciara," she said, "I never thought about the endings of stories like that before. I kinda thought they just ended."

"You're just saying that," I huffed, crossing my arms, "Everyone says that, but they never mean it."

"Oh, I mean it," she put her hand on my shoulder, "You want me to tell you something?"

I didn't answer, not even with a nod, but she began to tell the story anyway.

"I was like you once, though that was far before you were even born. I was an odd little girl, I saw the terror in every little thing on the planet. How teddy bears looked like they would shoot razor blades out of their stomachs if you hugged them. How dolls looked like they would always watch you, waiting for the perfect time to kill you while you slept. Even how a knife resting in a knife block on my kitchen counter could kill me. One day, my parents told me I was adopted. This hurt, but it made sense to me. No one had the tendencies I had, they say the joy in everything while I saw the darkness. One day, when I was 18 years old, I discovered who my father was. In an old book left to me from him, was a spell. You cast it upon a bowl of water and it revealed who the giver of the spell truly was. My father was a Father of Horror, they called him. He brought nightmares upon all of those who lived. I soon discovered, I was the Mistress of Darkness, haunting the corners of peoples mind's, the dark corners they wanted to get rid of. You just might be one of us. I believe you are the continuation of the Hollows bloodlines.

There was nothing that could've prepared me for that. I sat there in shock, staring at the now red glow emitting from her eyes, proving that this was no joke. She smiled a sad smile and went back into the room. So, my teacher was an evil entity, big deal. But I was a continuation of the Hollows bloodline?

Did that make me have the power to see the ends of peoples lives?