Forsaken In The Shadows

Forsaken In The Shadows - Chapter 1

Chapter One

I sat staring at the full moon on a cool autumn night, wishing I wasn’t so alone.  I knew there were others out there just like me; I just couldn’t find them.  It had been years since I received my dark gift; learning to control my new powers from my mysterious teacher Kara.  As I grew stronger, Kara had left so suddenly with no explanation why.  That was 7 years ago, and I haven’t had any contact with my kind since then.  Some nights I didn’t mind being alone, it was easier to hunt that way; but the nights when I could feel the bone chilling loneliness, I wished for contact with another being, because those nights were the very worst for me.  Sorrow had settled in and taken hold on my heart and I feared losing the ability that I treasured most; my ability to love.  As far as I knew; I was the only one to keep my more human emotions; except for the ones my dark gift had intensified.  When Kara had left me, I didn’t think I could survive and wasn’t sure if I wanted to; but my love of life had kept me going.  I can hardly believe it has been 7 years since the events which gave me my dark gift.

Seven Years Ago on a Dark Moonless Night…

I always enjoyed the night much more than the day; I preferred moonlight to sunlight; everything was so quiet and peaceful.  I was walking in the woods that bordered my family’s estate in upstate New York.  I had the best night vision of anybody I knew, and I could be as quiet as a wolf creeping through the wooded under brush.  I knew where I was heading, because it was my favorite place during the day or night.  In a little clearing about a quarter of a mile straight back from my house; there was a little pool that always seemed to be as still as glass, with a fallen log next to it. I could go here when I needed to think or to be alone and relax after a crazy day.

My Aunt Titania had showed me this place and we called it Sadira’s Glen as a secret between us.  Aunt Titania had passed away ten years ago of a tragic major heart attack; which left me feeling depressed and alone in a very noisy, bright and busy world.  This was one of the reasons I loved the nighttime the best, it was quite, dark and cool; it helped me when I needed to think, meditate, or just relax.  When Aunt Titania had been alive we would walk together and sit in the glen without ever needing to talk.

I was born into a family that still followed the old religion; Druidism; which suited me just fine.  I enjoyed the night rituals and the varying ways to celebrate the sabbats and esbats.  Aunt Titania had been my mentor until the time my parents felt I was ready to dedicate myself to the God and Goddess; which would’ve been this very summer; but without Titania, my parents had me initiated into their coven on the very next sabbat, Samhain our pagan new year.   I had always pictured my initiation as a grand affair; being the eldest daughter of the high priest and priestess of the coven; I would have gone through the formal ceremony, then there would’ve been an amazing party with laughing, dancing, and love.  But I guess it was never meant to be; after my aunt’s funeral I had a formal ceremony as was the custom and my parents had incorporated it into the Samhain ceremony; after which the coven had all said farewell to Titania and left to go their separate ways.

I had finally come my glen, sitting down on the log, I meditated to help me do something that my parents never knew I could do; I concentrated on my favorite remembered image of Aunt Titania; slowed my breathing, I opened my eyes and there next to me on the log sat Aunt Titania.  My aunt’s smile was as bright as I remembered it, I only wished that the image could hug and hold me. This image was just a projection but it helped me a little to see my aunt again.   I talked to the image as if it was really my dear aunt which was almost better than a journal; of course the image never answered; it just sat there and smiled brightly at me as if nothing was wrong.  “Happy Anniversary, Aunt Titania, it’s been ten years and I miss you terribly.  Why did you leave me I need you so much still, I feel so alone, I have no one to talk to or help me when I have problems.  Mom and Dad still haven’t recovered, and they barely talk to me, we were all so close when you were here with us.” I spoke to the image and I could feel the tears trail down my cheeks.