Three Nights of Fear

Prologue: Jayden

"I've cried, I've raged, hell I've even prayed but this perpetual nightmare of my reality sneaks back around every dark alley way. I've tried exterminating it at every corner but it crawls back into my life, burying itself deeper into my spine, like a parasite. All that's left is to give up. What other option do I have?"

Jayden Hunt

Looking through the window of my classroom I watch as an endless supply of orange colored leaves rocked back and forth amidst the droplets of rain, reflecting off the ever so perfectly circular shaped, elegantly blinding sun. It's beautiful and eerily relaxing, one can easily be lost in all of eternity trying to appreciate the secrets of this world. Many have tried and all have failed. I often wonder why people even bother, after all it's not an eternity that we have but a mere forty to fifty-year life span. That's, if you're lucky.

In my peripherals, I see a bird gracefully fly onto a nest, carrying a worm, which wiggles about in its beak, trying to break free. The hairs on my body fully erect as I watch the slimy worm, violently, squirm for its life.

That's gross as hell.

My face wrinkles in disgust.

Three other birds on the nest, baby birds, open their mouths wide, chirping and fighting for the worm to be shoved into their mouth. However, only one bird would receive the worm. The bird shoves the worm into one of the three-baby bird's mouth then it proceeds to briskly fly away as the two unfed birds chirp in hunger. Seconds later, another bird, this one is slightly more colorful, lands onto the nest. It was carrying an insect. Like the previous bird, it feeds one of the baby birds then flies away, just as fast as the other bird. Although, I'm watching the birds through a glass window I can hear them chirping away, awaiting the return of their loving, caring parents.

This sight alone makes me smile but, at the same time, it makes me want to curl up into a ball and cry. The smile on my face quickly dissipates and is replaced with my usual grim, monotone expression. The bird nest outside is no longer filled with chirping birds, they fade away and the nest is empty. It looks decrepit, like it's been abandoned for many years. The falling leaves are no longer smoothly rocking back and forth but they are instead swirling violently in the wind. And the small droplets of rain have instead transformed into a more rapid and fear inducing down pour. Lastly, the sun has been hidden by large, intimidating, clouds that threaten to take down the beauty I once saw in this world.

And it has succeeded, not today but long ago.

The true colors of my harsh reality, disguised in what I once saw as a beautiful world, reveals itself to me. It's dreadful and shows no mercy whatsoever.

I too have parents...

scratch that.

I had parents, and it's been a long time since I saw them.

A really long time.

Eleven years, to be precise. If for someone reason you haven't guessed it, they're dead. Both my parents, they're no longer here to care for me, to love me, like those birds being fed. Memories flash into my head, with every flash I feel as though I've been struck by a bolt of lightning, specifically designed to rip apart bits of my soul.

To be honest, I'm not sure I have one anymore. I'll let you be the judge of that.

"We'll never let anything happen to you," they said.

"We'll always be here for you," they said.

However, now they're gone, leaving not only me but my sister, who was but a baby at the time, abandoned. I was young at the time but unfortunately I have a really good memory.