HAUNTED BY MAGIC -Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Boxset Sampler

DAWN OF APOCALYPSE - PAMITA RAO

CHAPTER 1

Branches ruffled and shed dry leaves which fluttered and danced as they fell gently onto the soft grass below. Birds sang and chirped as the sun rose from the eastern corner of the Golden Gate Bridge. Pink and orange hues lit up the sky as tiny little stars faded into the light.

A hustle of early morning joggers rushed past a street, breathing in the fresh morning air before the heavy flow of morning traffic filled the air with smoke. The sounds that filled the peaceful serenity was the crunch of gravel beneath the jogger's shoes, the mild chattering of friends and the swish of wind.

As the joggers turned at a small bend in the road, a girl trudged up the hill past a throng of people walking in the opposite direction. Her knees shook with each step as she wobbled to the side, brushing her arm against a man. Disoriented, she held up her hand in apology and rubbed her eyes to clear her pupils. When she lifted her head, her vision was still hazy. Everything was a blur -- faces unclear and the path, unrecognizable.

She stopped abruptly on the hill. "Where the hell am I?" she asked herself. She still wore the jeans and white t-shirt from yesterday night, her hair still dishevelled from sleep. All she remembered was going to a party after school and dancing with her friends. Then why was the rest of the night blank in her mind? She didn't know how she reached there or where she was. The only thing she knew was the dull ache in her abdomen and the voices in her head. Voices that felt like thousands of flies buzzing in her ears. She flung her hand in the direction of the invisible flies, swatting them in air. Some of the joggers frowned, confused by her action but chose to ignore her.

She tried to stop moving, to observe where she was going, but it seemed like her legs were moving on their own. They kept moving ahead. She glanced back in nervousness. What was happening to her?

Suddenly she felt a thrust to her back, pushing her forward. Her eyes widened as she observed a dark shadow rising from beneath her feet. She screamed as wisps of black smoke surrounded her body and the shadow engulfed her, blurring her vision once again. Unable to see ahead, she stumbled over a stone barely avoiding a fall. Noises in her head had now become a sharp throbbing unbearable pain, but her legs kept pacing forward. Her hand hit a railing on the roadside, which she grabbed with all her strength to stop moving but her legs wouldn't give in.

"Stop! Please stop!" she screamed to the presence that only she felt that was pushing her forward. "Where are you taking me?"

Her outburst caught the attention of a few children and their mothers passing who spun their heads to look at her and then hurriedly pushed their prams away in the opposite direction, as far away as possible from her.

"Who are you?" she asked, fear gripping her from within, the shadow darkening, wisps of black smoke now encircling her. All she could see were red eyes that stared at her and invisible hands that pushed her forward.

The skid of prams and gentle laughter caught her attention as she entered a park. The elderly sat on some chairs and stretched their arms as they involved themselves in conversations. A few more walks ahead, a few women put their hands on their knees and heaved after a heavy jog. However, one after the other, they all turned towards the girl who shrieked and screamed as she wobbled through the park, dragging her feet.

"What a psycho!" huffed a woman unplugging her earphones and turning off her iPhone, angry that her peaceful meditation was disturbed by a screaming maniac.

But the girl continued to scream, unaware of the growing unease among people, blinded by the darkness around her, forcing her forward.

She couldn't hear the man who called out to give him way, nor could she hear the baby crying in the pram. She couldn't hear the blasting music from nearby cell stereos. All she heard were those whispers, all she saw were the shapes forming above her, near her, in front of her. She screeched and begged to be released but her feet dragged itself in the direction the shadows forced. Where was she being taken?