This Isn't About Reya

Chapter Five

As darkness enshrouded the city, Reya rose from her bed. Stepping softly, she cracked open her mother's bedroom door, then closed it once she had verified that the slow, even breathing meant she was asleep. She slipped on her snow boots and pulled her heaviest coat over her shoulders, then slipped out the back door.

Nighttime on Aquilo-Nix was brutal. The snow blew in thickly and forcefully, curving with the gusts until it showered almost parallel to the ground. The cold had frozen the top layers of snow solid, and Reya could easily walk across the sheen of white without leaving footprints.

In the darkness of night and the hazy grey of the storm, it was difficult for Reya to see. But she had walked the same road almost every day her whole life, and its pathway was ingrained in her stride. It felt like a puzzle piece sliding into place with each step, the way her memory traced the footfalls. 

Soon enough, a blurred outline of a blackness which was darker than the night appeared in front of her.

The forest. 

Against the nebulous sky, the pine trees rose like inky stains. She tred carefully across the snow-covered road, her eyes straining against the blackness. 

Eventually, she came to the spot where she had first seen the shadow, after Svetlana had slapped her. The butt print was gone, covered by the ever-shifting layers of frost and ice. But she knew the patterns in the trees, the way the needles shifted slightly in the wind.

She would never forget.

Reya stopped just outside the edge of the woods. Her fingers were trembling, and not because of the cold. She took several deep breaths to calm herself, and then she called out.

"Hello?"

There was not an answer, except the wind howling through the branches.

"I know you're there," she said. "And I know you have the girl."

She waited for a response, but there was nothing.

"Thank you for saving me..." she tried.

But still, the silence strained.

She was beginning to get agitated. It was there, she knew it. She wasn't crazy. Something had taken Svetlana.

"Thank you," she said again, "but you need to release her. I'll get in trouble if you don't!"

Only the gale answered.

She growled in exasperation. "I'm coming in!" she called.

She stepped quickly past the pine needles, her boot landing in snow which had not been touched in years.

The darkness seemed to thicken. Reya felt her chest tighten.

She took another step, coming fully into the woods. The branches of the pines obscured the little light which had breached the cloud cover, veiling the entire woods in infinite obsidian.

She could see nothing. She turned around, the panic edging her heart again, worried that she would not be able to find her way out of the woods. But the border between tree and road was visible, barely, just a shade lighter than that which buried her now.

Reya breathed relief and took several steps forward.

"Stop."

She did. Her face drained of blood, her knees wobbled, and her tongue swelled in her throat.

She let out a pathetic squeak. 

She couldn't see anything, but she felt a presence brush past her. She let out a cry and stumbled away from it.