Blinded by Darkness

Prologue

   They said they would be back in time to see Everly before the creatures came, but they were wrong. One quiet night, Everly Adams was home alone awaiting her parents arrival from the next village over with firewood. She sat and practiced her piano until she heard a loud bang on the door. It was 11:20 PM and she wasn't expecting any visitors for almost an hour. Not being prepared for The Quiet Ones, she hid inside the piano and hoped they would not come in. She was lying on top of the piano strings and the closing lid of the instrument was lying against the side of her head. All of a sudden, an eerie creaking sound came from the entrance of the house and she heard chains banging against the wooden floorboards. Tears rolling down her face and hands cupped over her mouth, Everly tried her hardest to keep quiet, but her heavy breathing seemed to echo inside the piano. Her long red hair was starting to dampen. Then, something she never expected would happen, happened. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. The large button on the sleeve of her afternoon dress got caught on a few of the piano strings. She tried slowly tugging at it, but it wouldn't budge. She thought a few more tugs would do the trick, so she grabbed her sleeve, quietly sobbing, and pulled a little harder this time. In that very moment, the piano strings snapped and quickly flung up and glided against Everlys face. They scratched her cheek and cut her eyes. They whipped against her eyes so quickly that it burned. She knew she couldn't move from that spot, no matter what. So she sat there bleeding and sobbing, this time a little louder, and waited for The Quiet Ones to find her and take her away. But the chains hitting the floor seemed to quiet down. Then the door slammed shut. She knew her house was the last target of The Quiet Ones, so as soon as it left, she climbed out of the piano and sank to the ground. Her blood slowly dripping on the floor, Everly tried to shout for somebody, but she was crying so hard that almost no sound came out. She couldn't even say anything clearly. She layed on the floor for a half of an hour until her parents rushed home. It wasn't until they came through the door that Everly realized that she couldn't see anything. Her parents were holding her in their arms, rushing her to the doctors house next to the village garden. Once they got there, all Everly could say was, "Can't see! The piano! Quiet Ones!" She was hyperventilating and her face felt like she'd just been whipped. The doctor had her stay overnight, but when Everly woke up the next morning, she still couldn't see. Everly had become blind.