Dead Midnight

Prologue

-Prologue-

I steadied my breathing and sprinted down the narrow lane, a dirty silver knife in hand. An unsteady beat sounded from deep within my chest, and crisp, cold air burned in my lungs with every single breath I took. House after house passed by me, but they were just a blur in the background to me, inconsequential. There was only one thing left, one goal I needed to concentrate on. Everything else was gone.

My heart felt like it would explode, as it flittered and fluttered lazily, and I knew that I had to slow down. Yet, I needed to keep going, to make it out of this small town. There was no way that I could stop. Giving up was not an option. They would be after me, and even though my head start was an advantage, once they realized what was going on and catch up with me, I was toast. Blackened and burnt toast that nobody wanted. The walls of the nearby buildings sidelining the narrow lane seemed to be closing in around me, and I began to grow dizzy. Weak. My mind created illusions, shadows passing before me, creeping up behind me. More than once I looked over my shoulder to make sure that there was no haunted spirt following me. Hallucinating was not an option at the moment. The third time that I shook my head around, my long, blond braid whacked me in the back, and taken by surprise, I jumped. Shuddering, I reminded myself to just keep going, that I couldn't stop or slow down.

Rumors of this town had not stopped me from entering it, from seeking out what I wanted. Why couldn't I have listened? The aurora the place gave off was unsettling, especially concentrated where I currently was. Shadows from a large stone church covered the ground before me, it's two uneven towers towers creating spirals in the darkness. Stained glass windows of reds, blues, greens, almost all the colors of the rainbow had images etched upon them of regular people. There was no time though to appreciate them.

Darkness swallowed me as the bells stroke six o'clock, and a faint orange glow emitted from the street lamps along my path. A cold, bitter wind stung in my eyes, and clawed knots into my hair. Distracted, I stepped into a small crevice between two stones, and my right foot became stuck. I had a split second to get my foot out before I fell, and I couldn't manage to ease it out. Slowly, I descended into the black space in front of me. A cracking sound echoed in my head, and it throbbed as I cried out in pain. My loud disturbance echoed through the darkness, slicing through the silent night. A thick stream of blood was freely flowing down the side of my head, splattering on the ground beside me. Tears of disbelief and pure terror streamed down my face.

Holding my breath for a moment, I hoped desperately for people to come flooding out the doors of the old deserted homes surrounding me. But not a single faded door hinge shrieked out in protest, not a single thing stirred. And I knew why. Suddenly, my mind went blank, leaving no trace of my horrid identity behind.

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Author's Note: Naturally, as a prologue, this section is short, (but not exactly sweet) and I would like to give a huge shoutout to DaughterofZeus, as she is not only one of my best friends, but this book was originally a short story that we wrote together for english class, that I decided to dive into a few months later alone to explore, expand the plot line, create more relatable characters, and basically turn the story into a novel. Check out the original version over at her account! Don't forget to comment and vote, it would fill my day with sunshine, rainbows and unicorns! ;)