He arrived by the cover of darkness, unseen and unnoticed by all, but one.
Charlotte Owens jerked awake, her breathing laboured and tears in her eyes. A throbbing pain swelled in her temple, cut through her head and ran down her spine, making her skin prickle with sweat and fat tears carve tracks down her cheeks, soaking into her pillow.
She knew she was crying out, maybe even screaming, but the sound couldn't reach her. That world, her reality, didn't matter anymore – not now that she had caught scent of a ripe fear, so full of hatred and loathing that not even sleep could deprive her of witnessing it, of tasting it.
Her powers, her alterations – the strength that made her so unique, so dangerous, so terrifying, surged in her veins, making her skin tingle and her mind spin. The gifts they had cursed her with bloomed inside her chest, a black toxin spreading through her, blurring the lines between right and wrong, between good and bad and leaving only fear.
Charlotte was vaguely aware of the painful scream that escaped her lips as her alteration broke free of her mind, of the bonds she constrained it with. It roared, its power surging, encompassing her entire being, drowning out her conscience as it fled forward from her, searching for the morsel that had woken it so violently from its slumber.
It found him in the darkness, alone, only a shadow, unaffected and calm, standing in the gloom of the compound, staring at the low buildings where the students now lived, amidst the snow and ice.
He didn't move or even flinch, his expression cold and apathetic. So lacking of all emotion, he could have been mistaken for a statue, if it hadn't been for the fear that seeped from him, poisoning the air and tormenting Charlotte to her very soul. She could taste it, inhale it, feel it as if it were an electrical charge in the air. It made her hair stand on end and her alteration purr in sheer delight of the fear's terrible beauty.
It almost seemed too perfect to destroy, too perfect to kill. It was so concrete, so unavoidable, so tangible.
Her alteration flared its nostrils, grinning a satisfied grin as it moved towards him, breathing deep the scent of his fear.
This man, calm and unperturbed as his death approached, smiled, his eyes fixed to where the students slept, with an unnatural fascination, a predator in his own right, stalking out his own prey.
For he feared them, hated them. He was ready to destroy them, but not if Charlotte destroyed him first. Her alteration raised its head to strike.
"Charlotte?"
It hesitated.
The one voice that could reach her in the darkest recesses of her mind called to her, drawing her away from the monster waiting in the shadows; the monster waiting to destroy them all.
Hi everybody and welcome to Feared! I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, the first of many and are ready to follow Charlotte on another adventure! If you have enjoyed this I would love if you could vote and leave a comment! Means the world to hear your feedback! XD
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Feared
Science Fiction'Play the game, she thought, remembering the only three words that had helped her to survive at Kingston. Only back then she had known the game, she had known what they wanted her to be, what they had wanted her to do - this man was different. She d...
