Scarlet

Chapter 8

Scarlet

Help me, please! Anyone!

A voice reverberated throughout Scarlet's mind. She was wandering in complete darkness, not sure where she was going, or why. But a voice compelled her, though she could not tell where it was coming from. It was coming from inside her, it seemed. The voice was female, and soft. This could be a trick, a voice in the back of her head said. Scarlet dismissed the thought and kept walking. her bare feet stepping upon nothingness. Her dress swirled around her, a white whirl of soft silk.

No! Please, don't! Not her! Me! Please!

The voice became more urgent, the woman almost screaming. The next word almost stopped Scarlet's heart.

Scarlet!

She stopped walking. Who was she? Where was she? How did she know her name? Who or what was hurting her?

Suddenly, Scarlet saw a bright glow around her. It was tinted blue, and looked like strange mist. It clouded her vision, though there wasn't much to see without it. Swirling in it were objects, things Scarlet didn't understand. Some of the things weren't even physical objects, but images. Some of them were even moving. One particular one caught Scarlet's eye. It was a girl, with short straight brown hair and beautiful golden eyes, and another woman, with long curly black hair and blue eyes. The woman was smiling at the girl, and they were hugging, holding eachother. Scarlet felt a strange sensation of warmth and familiarity. As soon as the picture vanished, the blue mist turned a frightening red. Scarlet stepped back. The mist swirled more angrily, and pictures flashed by, each one getting more and more gruesome. A small farm house destroyed; A boy stealing from a market for a small scrap of food; A pile of bodies in a dank room...

A small, brown-haired girl, lying on the grass, while a black-haired woman wept at her side.

Scarlet screamed and at the same time, the woman screamed. The voices joined together, forming a deafening sound. She pressed her hands to her ears and collapsed on the floor. Tears streamed from her face. The scream of the woman filled her head, pulsing through her.

"Scarlet!"

Another voice crept into her voice, this one male. A boy appeared in front of Scarlet. He must have been thirteen. His black hair was tousled and his clothes ragged and unkempt. He was somehow familiar. A bluish light circled him. He ran towards her and Scarlet looked up, her eyes wide.

"Who-"

But he went right through her, as if she were made of air. Scarlet turned around and found the woman, huddled around the girl. The boy was standing above her, and his voice shook as he spoke.

"What did they do?"

The woman wept and bowed her head, her hand clutching the little girl's. The boy asked again, but this time louder.

"What did they do?!"

He screamed and shook the little girl's shoulders. "Wake up! Wake up! C'mon, please! Please..."

The woman sobbed harder. The boy looked up and Scarlet met his watery, bloodshot eyes. She tried to say something, but couldn't think of what to say.

The woman stood up slowly and released the girl's hand. She touched the boy's shoulder briefly and left, her bluish light disintegrating. The boy stood there, his eyes trained upon the girl's face. He knelt beside her and touched her face with his finger. A tear fell from his cheek and onto her cheek, rolling off the side of her jaw and spilling onto the blackness. It created a ripple across the darkness, somehow liquid. Scarlet felt the reverberation run through her body.

"I never got to tell you... but I guess its too late now. I was too much of a coward to say it and now its too late. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry....

"I love you."