From Light to Darkness

2 - Nostalgia

When I woke, the early morning sun was dull and gave very little light to the room. With a shock, I realised that my palms were not drenched in sweat and my pusle wasn't racing at an unnatural rate. I had managed to get through the rest of the night without having a nightmare. This luck would not last.

To my left, Eloise was still peacefully sleeping, breathing at a slow, steady pace. As were my three brothers.

I started to think about the past and how happy our family used to be. One paticular memory stuck to my mind. There were six of us: my mother, my sister, my brothers and I.  My father had gone to the village to do some sort of buisness and so my mother was telling us a story before we went to sleep. Growing up, I'd been surrounded by stories and tales. Many of them were clearly just myths and legends. Sometimes they would be quite believable, however that was rare. Even as a small child, I could easily tell the differnce between fiction and reality. I had never been one to be fooled.

The same could not be said about my siblings. They often got frightened and agitated when listening to my mother's tales. Believing every word, they would exchange anxious glances and gasp at every climax.

In our village, rumours of monsterous creatures which roamed the dark forest could be heard almost anywhere. There were also legends that, long ago, these things  would often enter the village and terrorize all who lived there. My siblings soon became frightened of the (foolish) idea that, one night, the 'monsters' may give us another visit. Me? I thought it was absurd! There was no way monsters and demons existed, even more so in a place like the small, peaceful village where I lived.

So, there we were, the five of us gathering around my mother whilst she was telling yet another tale. The way my mother spoke when telling stories, gave me a hard time accepting that they were false. I desperately wanted to believe them, but I just couldn't. 

"A long time ago," said my mother, "there was a noble prince named Erik. One day, he was in the woods, hunting the wolves that kept terrorising the nearby village. Despite his best efforts, he looked all day and night and found nothing. However, just as Prince Erik was about to give up and return back to the palace, he came across something else. It was much bigger than any ordinary wolf  but it resembled it with it's other features: teeth as sharp as a freshly- sharpened knife and  yellow eyes glowing with fury and hatred ." 

At this, my brothers and my sister had given a short gasp and began looking at each other frantically. Me - I just laughed. The others, my mother included, looked at me with a shocked expression.

"Why is it you laugh, Briana?  Do you find murderous creatures humorous in some way?" 

"Of course not," I had replied to my mother,"if they were real." 

I was then worried that I'd made my mother cross as she did not reply at first. But, then, she gave a large grin and laughed. Once she had finished, she continued the story...

I returned to the present, wishing that I had not started thinking about my mother. Seeing her again, it reminded me of how much I'd missed her. It hadn't been the same since she had died - even father had been much more distant as, now, we hardly ever saw of him. It was only my eldest brothers - Edmund and Alfred - who spoke to him (and that was only because he took them to work on the farm every day).  He didn't even bother communicating with my  younger brother, Rowan, who was only six years old. It was my responsibility to take care of the younger ones.

I looked around and everyone was still asleep. The sun was nearly up which meant that father would be taking my brothers to the fields soon. I had a long day ahead of me...