The Split Princess: Dai

Odd Feelings

I remember that it was cold; I remember how loudly the wind howled. The rain made a steady beat on my window.  I sat up and looked out the window. The trees outside were violently thrown around by the wind. I saw a wolf outside, which howled loudly. 

After a while, though, the air began to feel different. The wolf seemed to look frightened by something, and then ran off into the night. After that, the trees stopped moving so violently, and instead were swaying gently. The wind had died down, and the rain stopped coming down so hard. Then, everything would become quiet for second. I don't know what woke me up. It could have possibly been thunder, but I quickly came to realise that that was impossible, for there was no thunder outside. Just wind and rain. I looked at my sister, my other half. She was awake as well. She sat up, looking around for a minute or two, then she looked at me. I could see her deep blue eyes and pale skin because of the slit of moonlight coming through our bedroom window. I could also see her almost-white pink hair. Mine was an almost-white blue, and my eyes were a light blue, as hers were darker.

  "Sister, doesn't it feel weird?" she asked, looking at the door now. "Yes, it does. It's too quiet," I answered. We were nineteen at the time, young for what we were. My older look-alike threw the blankets off of her, making her nightgown visible. "I'm going to check it out..." she sounded uneasy. Scared almost. I was too. I had never been in any danger before, since my mom had always kept me and my sister inside. Well, tried to, at least. Skylar, my other half, always snuck out at night. I remember her always being tired, hurt, drunk, or high when she came back. I always asked where she went, and she always told me that she was just out with some friends. Sometimes she took a day or two. I don't know how mom didn't notice.

  "I'll come with you," I said, standing up. She nodded and stood, going towards a candle. She lit it by making a flame form on the end of her finger and then touching it to the wick. I watched as the orange flame flickered, and then as Skylar picked up the candle. I walked in front of her and opened the door. "If we see something, I want you to run, Dai," Sky whispered, looking at me and beginning to walk down the stairs. "I won't leave you. You're going to come with me," I whispered to her.

I began wondering if we would have to run. The house was quiet, so why were we even having to check things out? If things were wrong and I had to fight, how would I? I couldn't use my powers.  My older sister, on the hand, was skilled, and knew how to do many things. 

The stairs made a creaking noise under my feet, which only added to the mood. The candle light disappeared as Sky turned the corner, which meant that we were halfway down the stairs. I went faster until I was next to Sky and then matched my pace with hers. Then that's when it happened. We heard my mom struggling and then glass break. Sky started to run towards the noise to see what was going on, but a man grabbed her arm and pulled her aside, also putting a hand over her mouth. I watched as she struggled and kicked, trying to get out of his arms. I could hear her muffled screaming. Her eyes were wide and she looked both angry and terrified. I was pretty scared, too.

The man was wearing a black cloak, and I couldn't see his hands or arms because he was wearing black gloves and a black shirt as well. What he was wearing made me think of the stories that Sky would tell me, about men in all black, who looked like they were from an army with how their jackets or shirts looked, with golden going all the way down. I couldn't see his face, but his eyes glowed a bright white underneath them. He had four eyes. I could sort of see his mouth as well. His teeth were sharp and white, as far as I could tell. They also seemed to have blood on them, which made me think that they were going to feed on us. I've heard of the monsters that do that, feed on magical beings.

"Skylar!" I yelled, running towards her so that I could help. But before I could reach her, I was grabbed from behind. I saw that a man was holding my mother as well. He looked the same as the man who grabbed my sister. I squirmed and tried to get away, and then stopped when my sister collapsed because that was also when I suddenly started to feel extremely tired.  

Everything went black.

I wish that I knew that that would be the last time I saw mom. I miss her every day. If I'd have known, I would have stayed around her more. She was a shapeshifter, I don't know why she didn't turn into anything else. I don't know why I didn't. Now that I think about it, it was probably fear.  I miss her.

What happened that night plays in my head on repeat. I think about it a lot. Not much now, but I used to think about it every night. When I think about it, I have nightmares. I miss my dreams.

I miss the way it was before.