Remember

Chapter One (edited)

The ground shook beneath her feet and spiraling tendrils of black smoke snaked up from beneath the cracks of the earth all around her. They paused; the smoke was almost human-like in a sense. The head of the faceless smoke turned towards her, the never ending darkness staring into her as if it knew something about her — everything about her.

But she was not scared as she reached a slender hand up towards the nearest tendril. To her surprise, cool air brushed her fingertips, caressing them and welcoming the warm touch. The darkness grew larger, the tendrils of smoke coming together to snuff out the light of prairie she stood in, leaving nothing but black in its wake.

A noise rustled in the grass behind her. The darkness seemed to pause all around her and the dome of it cracked and pulled apart where the noise had resonated. It shrieked, coiling back into its temporary home under the rocky surface of her home. Of Earth.

The grass rustled once again, yet no figure appeared. Only a voice that seemed to echo around her where the smoky tendrils once hugged her small frame. It whipped around her form and blew around her ashen hair like the voice was the wind itself. "Colette..." Its cool voice brushed by her left ear and around to her right. "Break the barrier..." The voice sounded old, as old as the world itself. This voice was not human, man nor woman. It was purely existence itself.

"Colette." It continued to repeat her name, the voice growing louder and louder each time it spoke. Its winds grew strong as it became the force that blew the grass throughout the entire prairie. The darkness could be heard shrieking again, and as if the shrieks gained power from the inhuman noise, it grew even more powerful. Until it was the only thing she could hear, feel, and see. The wind was her and she was the wind, scouring the earth.

***

"Colette! Colette!" There was a small hand on her shoulder, shaking her violently. Her body was wrapped tightly in her lavender bed covers — the ones she hated so much. If only she had not ripped her favorite midnight blue ones. "Colette!" The little boy's voice grew louder and more frantic, and even though this was practically a daily routine — Colette refusing to be woken up and her little brother, Lawrence, panicking that he may never wake his sister up -- his voice never failed to hold genuine fear in it.

"Lawrence." Colette finally spoke, shifting ever so slightly in her cocoon of sweaty sheets. The grogginess in her voice was evident as she pushed her brother's hand off her shoulder. "I'm awake, just leave me alone." She opened just one eye to see if he had left but only found his silvery blue eyes staring into her forest green one.

Colette never understood how her and her brother could look so different. They both sported the family's stark black hair and olive skin but where her hair was straight, his was curly. Her skin was porcelain smooth and his was slightly freckled. Their noses, mouths, and other facial features were so off from one another that most people they met never thought the two were related, let alone to their mother whose complexion was even more different than the two of theirs. It left Colette to believe none of them were actually related.

Lawrence's lip quivered, his eyes darkening to show hints of worry and sadness. Colette slid off her bed, detangling herself from her sticky sheets as she bent down and embraced him. "You scare me when you take so long to wake up." The quiver had found its way into the seven year old's voice. Colette knew exactly what was on his mind.

Her brother had never grasped the idea of old age so, when their grandmother and grandfather both passed away in their sleep, Lawrence gained a slightly irrational fear of the rest his family all dying in their sleep. "Lawrence, you know grandpapa and grandmama were both old. I am still young, and you know my work makes me very tired. I'm not leaving you anytime soon. You have nothing to worry about." She kissed him on his head, his mid-length hair brushing against her jaw. "Now go downstairs. I'll be there in a bit." He stepped back and looked at her with worry for a moment before exiting her room.