Diamond Rain

Prologue

ALESSA

I was walking in a long dark path and without anything in sight, I felt scared. My body was already exhausted. Cold floor and slows drips of water from the unseen place around me was all I could sense. Walking in this endless and dark tunnel for hours made my body almost reach its limit.

"Father...Mother..." I desperately called out hoping someone would come to my aid. But in the end, no one showed up.

"Where is everybody?" my voice croaked from the excessive amount of fear that I felt. Losing my last strand of hope, I sat and hugged my knees against the cold and unseen floor.

It was at that moment that the tears that I was trying to stop minutes ago had fallen one by one. I felt helpless. All my life, I was filled with bright sparkles of light all around me. Who would've thought that I would experience this now? Being all alone in this freezing and grim place was the last thing that I thought could happen to me. Without my siblings and my parents, it felt like I was suddenly abandoned into the deepest part of the world.

Preventing a single soul to come to my rescue.

"Alessa..." I jerked upon hearing a shivering and creepy voice of an old lady out of nowhere.

"W...who's that?!"

My body shivered and I swung my right leg backwards, putting on a defensive stance that I learned from my martial arts lessons. I have to be strong, I have to stay alive. But no matter how much I enlighten myself, the creeps that I felt had successfully taken over me.

"Alessa...we need you..."

Again, in that shivering and cold voice.

"W...who are you?! Show your face!" I shouted, "...but then again, please don't show your face." I looked around, trying to find even a little streak light but there was only pitch darkness all around.

"Alaric!" I cried out loud calling my twin brother's name. I know he won't leave me alone. But where is he? Where's Naomi and Elliot?

"Please help us..." cried the shivering voice again.

I jerked and my body stiffened when I felt someone touched my shoulders. The fingers against my skin were ice-cold and I felt my blood suddenly ran to the top of my head wanting to get out of my body as soon as possible.

"Please no..." I pleaded.

"Your father knows everything..." the voice at my back said, whispering against my ear.

"F...father?" I repeated.

I slowly turned my head to face the woman at my back. A feeling inside of me was curious to see her face. She was asking for my help and I can't just leave without knowing anything.

Not unless I'm still alive after this.

But the moment I saw the woman's pale face, my whole being turned numb. I was like an empty cell ready to be thrown anytime. Her face was all wrinkled because of old age and it wasn't as scary as I expected it would be but when my gaze locked with hers, I gasped.

She had no eyeballs and blood was dribbling from those empty sockets.

As if on cue, all of the courage that I was searching for earlier had suddenly turned into words, "NOOOOOO!"

Gasping for air, I woke up to see my spacious and cozy room. No scary voice, no unseen people and no cold gust of wind. It was just me, my favorite bunny plushie as a kid that I call Riri and the warm light coming from my fireplace.

"It was all a dream. That same old dream."

My body uncontrollably shivered at the mere thought of it. I could feel my tears against my cheeks and the trickle of sweat against my neck. I then hugged my knees and a soft sob escaped my lips.

"...until when will you stop haunting me?!"