Into the Unknown

Prologue

Prologue

It all began at the end. In other words, the day I died. I died a cruel, painful death at the young age of seventeen. I hadn't had the chance to make choices, mistakes- to live. That's something I'll always regret, but you can't change the past.

Should I begin by telling you how I died?

It was a dark winter evening. The fresh snow was gently free falling down onto the pavement, forming a huge white blanket spread over the autumn leaves. Christmas music was being played in every home as cinnamon candles were being lit.

Every home, that is, except for mine.

Instead of a relaxing evening surrounded by the ones you love, humming Christmas carols, my family was the one that consisted of the drunk, yelling dad, the bruised mother and the hiding children.

Sounds depressing, doesn't it? It wasn't always that bad. Believe it or not, there was actually a time when my father was calm and loving and my mother wasn't stressing over the bruises she had to hide.

That night was different from the rest. Me and my twin sister, Jackie, were up in our bedroom, planning the Christmas present we were getting our mother. Our mom deserved something special, so we had saved up our money all year for the perfect present. I remember how excited me and Jackie were, imagining the look on our mothers face when she opened the most amazing present ever.

We had poured out all of our money onto the floor and pushed it all into one big pile. Jackie was making a list of all the things we could buy her when the door to our room was thrown open. My father was standing there, a beer bottle in his hand a deadly glare on his face.

I quickly stood up, standing in between my dad and the money. Jackie remained on the floor, looking up at us with a terrified expression on her innocent face.

A look of shock briefly crossed my fathers face before it melted into anger.

"What are you two doing?! Where'd all this money come from?!" he shouted in my face. I flinched but no words came out of my mouth.

"You little thiefs! You disgusting snakes!" he screamed, grabbing a handful of my hair. I yelped out in pain as he threw me across the room easily, like I was a rag doll.

"Dad, p-" Jackie began to plead before being cut off by him smacking her across the face. Her mouth fell open in shock and tears filled her blue eyes.

He began to pick up all the money, stuffing it into his pockets in a drunk haste.

Jackie didn't refuse, simply holding her face where he had struck her as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Dad, stop!" I screamed, refusing to let all of our hard work go to waste. I jumped up and ran over to him, shoving him away from the hard-earned money.

He stumbled to the side before turning to face me, his nostrils flaring in pure rage. No one defied my father, ever.

It all happened very fast then.

My father reached in his back pocket, pulling out a small handgun. My eyes widened as I felt him jam the gun against my temple. Before either of us could process what was happening, his finger twitched against the trigger and it was too late for him to go back.

I felt the pain of the bullet before I heard it explode from the barrel. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt as bad as I would've imagined. It was paralyzing, however, and it sent me tumbling to the carpeted floor.

My father dropped the gun and stumbled away from me, looking at his outstretched hands in horror.

"It was an accident!" he sobbed, "I didn't pull the trigger! I didn't mean to!" 

Darkness crept into my vision as a scream filled the room. I felt hands wrap around me and someone began sobbing into me neck.

"No, no! You can't leave me!" I heard Jackie sob uncontrollably. She lifted her head and looked into my eyes as tears openly flowed down her face.

From the look on her face, I knew I was going to die. But for some strange reason, I wasn't afraid.

Another figure came into my blurred vision before I went under. I could faintly recognize my mother leaning over me.

"Oh no, Jackie, baby... no, no..." she mumbled as tears filled her eyes. She moved a strand of my blonde hair out of my eyes.

"Mom, I'm Jackie... That's Rynn," Jackie whispered from behind my mother, correcting her mistake. My mothers mouth popped open to the shape of an 'O'. After seventeen years, my mother still couldn't tell us apart.

I could hear Jackie dialing the police, but it was too late for me to be saved. I was dying fast, in fact, I only had a few more seconds before all of the life would be drained out of me. I didn't even have enough energy to say goodbye.

In the far corner of the room, a dark shadowy figure began striding over to me. I couldn't see his face, just the outline of his body. Before he could reach me, a burst of light flashed from the ceiling right above me. A light, glowing figure emerged from the radiant whiteness and hovered inches from my face.

"Come with us, Rynn Hale. You are destined to be an angel," the voice spoke in a smooth, gentle voice. I wanted to follow the enticing voice, but a new voice entered my head.

"Rynn Hale, you are mine," it spoke in a seductive, strong tone. The darkness swept over me and the dark figure held out a hand.

So I had a choice. The light, or the dark. I knew I should go to the light, but something about the dark was so alluring and tempting and drew me in instantly.

Without a second thought, I grabbed the demons outstretched hand and was dragged down into Hell, into the unknown.