Cold-Blooded

True Fear

 There is a fear that is passed down throughout the generations. A fear of the darkness, the unknown. We have always had this terror, and it all started when they started to ponder the stars.

"What are those lights shining overhead?" The question was out in the open now, however there was no reply. Purple clouds fill the sky overhead, parting only to give way to the sun and the question is forgotten for the moment. The night returns and the unsettling feeling returns. People begin to murmur to each other.

"What could those lights mean?" The answer never came. The people would pray to the gods they believed in, to no avail. Fear spread amongst the villagers, how could there not be answers to their most burning of questions. It seemed clear that the only reason they had heard nothing was because it was the answer was too awful for their ears. Imaginations ran wild with all of the endless possibilities of the terrors that lived in the dark. The things that could have created those lights. People shrank away from the starlight and coaxed children outside, fearing how they could change if it rested upon their skin for too long.

One individual questioned the beliefs of her people. What if they were being tested? What if they need to better themselves? Could it be possible they were on their own? She took it upon herself to answer these pressing questions. She stayed out night after night studying these points of light that had stirred the darkest fears in the hearts of man.

As she learned of their beauty, she tried to show these to the people around her. However they shrank from the knowledge she offered back to their dank candlelight homes and kept her in contempt. A young child grew angry at the ridicule the woman faced as she spent night after night gazing up at the stars. The lonely child also felt that a longing to stare up at the night sky, to spend the time searching to discover what he could find. All it took was the one night the child's parents were not watching close enough. That night the child ran out to see for himself what kept the woman so transfixed at with the sky.

The young woman enjoyed the child's company and shared her findings. Together they spent a few nights together, gazing up into the unknown. The other villagers did not approve of the woman's actions, and were furious that she had corrupted another. Planning in secret, the people gathered torches and lamps to forcefully show the two the correct path. The night came, and the people congregated. One of the group had a darker intention and had brought stones and a blade with him unbeknownst to the mass.

"You must leave." The woman and child rose to their feet anxiously as they heard the fast approaching footsteps. The woman had worried something like this would happen and feared for the child's safety.

"I won't leave without you." The woman's eyes softened, but she shook her head.

"They won't rest until this ends. They need someone to take the blame." Tears sprang to the boy's eyes as he turned and sprinted to the woods. The woman closed her eyes and waited for the angry townsfolk. The people refused to listen to the young woman's reason and it only took one stone for the dam to break and allow all the fury and violence to spew forth. Only the glint of a knife coaxed the boy from his cover in the trees.

"No!" The scream startled all of the townspeople as the ground beneath them grew darker and darker with blood. The boy slid to the cooling body of the young women sobbing as a silence befell the onlookers. The people looked around at each other in fear knowing in their hearts that they didn't truly fear the stars or the dark. They feared what they would do to each other when the light of day wasn't there to keep the shade of their souls from surfacing.

Did you enjoy it? Anything surprise you? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading!