SHADOWS - Adversary

CHAPTER 2

Nora shivered and wrapped her bare arms around herself.
It was so cold. She looked at her surroundings and realised she was in a forest. Everything was black and white.

"I'm dreaming" she muttered to herself. The more she looked around the forest, the more details she noticed. There was not a gum tree in sight, not even a paperbark, just a whole bunch of tall fir trees.

I'm not even dreaming about Australia any more, seriously? She thought. One freakin' day in the USA and I've already been Americanised. Rude.

Nora's thoughts were interupted as something rumbled through the ground. An earthquake? She'd never experienced one before. She began to panic until she remembered it was just a dream. Still, she felt uncomfortable, unsafe. Nora knew enough about her dad's old job to know that things can in fact attack you in your sleep.

The ground beneath her feet groaned and cracked.

"What the hell!?" She shouted at her mind, jumping back.

"Precisely that." Said a light voice from behind Nora, who let out an embarrassing shriek, spinning around. A woman in a white dress smiled at Nora, her orange hair like flames against her colourless surroundings. Although Nora felt no wind, the woman's hair and dress swirled around her as if she were caught in a cyclone.

"Who are you?" Nora demanded, her confidence flooding back.

The woman's smile widened. "I'm a part of you." She disappeared.

Nora bolted upright in her bed, panting. She wiped the cold sweat off her forehead and untangled her legs from the blanket. I need a coffee, she thought.

Five minutes later, Nora sat down at her hotel room table with a hot mug between her hands. It wasn't a large hotel room, nothing fancy just somewhere to stay for a few days. The walls were white and plain except for a few horrible paintings that looked as if someone had just wiped their ass on the canvas. They matched the shitty-brown couch and bedding though.

Nora thought of the nightmare she just had. It was weird. The more she tried to remember how it went, the more details slipped away.

The cell phone on the kitchen bench rang shrilly, snapping Nora out of her moment. She got up and picked up the phone, reading; DAD.

"Hey Dad," Nora sighed, sitting back down and taking a sip of her coffee.

"Hey Nora." Peter answered. "When did you land?"

"About..." she glanced at the brown clock in the kitchen, "four hours ago."

"Jeez, how are you even up?"

"I have an appointment, remember?"

"At six in the bloody morning?"

Nora rolled her eyes. "Yes Dad, at six in the bloody morning." She wasn't planning on telling him about the dream, it was probably just the nerves. Plus, she didn't want him to think that she was going soft.

Peter huffed. "Well, I just wanted to wish you luck on the job."

"You're assuming that I'm gonna get it."

"Pfft! Hell yeah I'm assuming, because you definitely are!" He laughed. Nora found his confidence in her comforting, but also kind of pressuing. She didn't want to disappoint him.

"If you say so. Bye Dad" Nora smiled.

"Bye." He hung up.

Nora looked down at her coffee, thinking. She needed this job. Not only had she wanted it her whole life and wasn't really qualified for anything else, her entire family had had it.

Her father's family, the Mayfields, had been in the business since the 13th century. But her mother had only been the third in her family to have the job.

But her mum, Alice, had died just after Nora was born, so she never knew much about her. Peter had said that she had died on the job, but Nora already knew how dangerous it could get.

I'm not afraid though, Nora thought. She wanted to help people, just as her father had when he was younger and that's what she planned to do.