Subtle Changes

Prologue

It all happened so fast and terrifying. The pain. The sudden black and red haze over the girl's eyes. The creeping feeling of death. The far away screams echoing in her head, all of which came from her own mouth. The cold nip of the dark night.

She couldn't see anything and the stun of it all left her stock still. Frigid scratches etched their way down her soft skin and along her arms. The damp, cool night air was the only thing keeping the seven year old awake, slapping her every time she sank deeper into herself. Blood rushed in her ears preventing her from hearing anything but her own shouts of fear, bloodcurdling and rough. Soft droplets of blood trailed down her arm, sending new shudders through her spine.

The open wound on her shoulder was quickly forgotten by the attacker, to be replaced by the young girl's stomach. All the girl could do was scream and scream until she figured out that no one would hear the dire pleas for help. Her cries for help were replaced by an eerie silence as the attacker basked in the rays of his own murderous rage.

A new laceration opened itself up over her stomach, sending a gasp through her lips. She couldn't duck down into the gray pool of unconsciousness, some invisible hand clutched her above the tempting escape of the dark.

She no longer felt the pain that had scared her so, but the minutes of torture, given to her by the unknown enemy, felt like hours. The numb that replaced the sharp pricks of pain was what she feared more than the harsh torture. She knew it would all be over soon, though. She just had to bide her time. The numbness crept through her, foreshadowing her peaceful slip into the nothingness.

She lay on the cool, dewy grass, outside of her own home. The backyard, completely enclosed by trees, was out of view by anyone in the house. And she knew they wouldn't find her in time. The impending end did not frighten her as much as it should have, maybe it was just her personality or the numbness her whole body felt.

Just as the cold grip of something dark reached to drag her under the line defining it all, there was a cessation in the ripping on her stomach. The girl grunted as the attacker pushed her farther into the ground to help him stumble into a standing position.

The assailant backed away from her just before she succumbed to the pain. The girl could hear him breathing deeply, roughly, as if worried or scared. She found the fog had lifted from her sight to reveal the silhouette of her attacker.

He was staring right into her eyes. All the girl could do was stare into his stunning dark crimson eyes. A mix of fear and wonder tingled through her. It seemed like she was staring into his hypnotic eyes for hours and yet also mere moments. She picked up every detail of his eyes, yet she also felt it went by all too fast.

The eyes weren't the amazing thing, though, it was a certain sparkle he had. Around his eyes was his glittery skin, ominously reflecting the late night moonlight. When he turned slightly the girl could no longer see the amazing light reflecting around his eyes.

His eyes were tearing up when he finally fled her mangled body. She waited until she heard the rustling of the assailant running through the trees to black out. Without the strange person standing with her she could no longer bare the weight of her own blood loss.

Before the black curtain fully closed around her she could hear yelling. Far, far away she heard her neighbor's high pitched scream of utter fear echo over the whispers of the surrounding trees. And then the whole neighborhood was awake and wondering.

Footsteps rushed to her side but she was already far under the cloak of darkness.

Chapter One

Annabel

I just couldn't shake the feeling of seeing the

eyes