Kayden Van Din
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Both Shadow and Eryn were gone and it all rang out between the leaves of the trees. Nothing moved, nothing breathed. Kayden was still. Frozen in time as if she were a broken watch, waiting for anything to happen. The horrible creature had returned to find her only to be flee again. Eryn was probably dead now, purple marking her neck as it had the other's who fell weak to It. Shadow was a merciless being that only followed what Kayden was thinking. So why were her brothers dead and the boy she didn't really know other than the last name. Garret Williams was a dead boy because of the unstable conscious of a girl who happened to be a nervous wreck. His life was tossed aside as an accident. She tried to feel guilty, but the feeling was no where in her head. She just couldn't feel bad for any of it.
At this point, Kayden had both accepted and acknowledged that it was her fault. She was responsible for the death of Brannon, Norman, Garret, and possibly even more than that. Her brother's had tried to convince her that she couldn't live with the guilt, but she found that she was still alive. While she was cold and lost, she was still alive. Now, she was faced with a decision: look for Eryn, get food, or go back to Logan. That last option was a risky one. She was unsure of which way she came and she doubted she could still see him anyway. That led to a feeling Kayden rarely felt. Pity.
She felt sorry almost for the lying scumbag that was squeezed into a tight situation called life that he'd tried to run from. Kayden thought about his story and what he'd done. How he lied to everyone that his parents who took him in, were nothing but abusive monsters. He'd convinced people that they were nothing more than the fake bruises patterning his skin. And even when the bruises were real, she still had a hard time feeling bad for him. He deserved it, didn't he?
A rustle in the leaves snapped her from her thoughts. Kayden remained still and focused in the middle of the thick forest as the late afternoon sun began to set. It send milky ripples through the pale blue sky, an array of colors beginning to spread through the clouds. Beads of sweat dotted her head and she couldn't help but close her eyes, the blaring of the sun getting to her. Again, there was silence. Her thoughts agreed that it was probably a small rodent going about its business. Kayden couldn't breathe she was so nervous. She kept thinking that out of no where, Shadow would wrap around her neck and rip the life from her.She was too afraid to move, too afraid to breathe. Shadow was her creation, and it was under her control, but at the same time she often found herself unable to stop it. So many questions pulsed in her mind. Did she want her brothers dead? Why were they suddenly appearing in front of her? What was going to happen to Eryn?
The idea that the girl was dead became closer and closer to being a reality. The silence of the forest was like a sheet draped over it all. Her nails were digging into her palms as her nervous fists were clenched. Kayden had seconds to make a decision before Shadow would return from Its mission. She had to escape. If she really controlled the creature, It would follow her. If she went back to Logan, she suspected it would put him in danger, not that his well-being really mattered at this point.
Kayden didn't know what to do. She was suspended over an unknown trench of her own demise. Every fiber of her being was draped over an endless span of time and she had to make a decision before she fell. Without thinking, she darted back the way she came towards where she suspected Logan would be. Running relentlessly through the wood with a rush of wind slapping her in the face. Something became embedded inside of her; a rugged fire poisoned with coils of fear that wrapped around it. A constricted fire kept low by her limitations. Kayden was afraid of a lot of things.
