True Colours

1.1 Dawn

On a bright April afternoon, a school's bell rang out across a momentarily empty school yard. A swarm of children, spilled out the doors of the school, filling the the space with the ambience of play and laughter. The school teacher, who was on playground duty, had her hands full as two factions of rival kids immediately began fighting over who were the kings of the jungle gym tower.

Justin stood away from the action, and watched his teacher desperately trying to diffuse the situation. He was an elusive child who would rather the peacefulness of his own uncomplicated, company rather than get tangled up in playground politics. As the peacekeeping continued, something in peripheral vision caught Jason's eye.

His gaze turned to a girl from his class, who had wandered away, past the green grass area of the playground where fringes of a dark pine forest encapsulated the school property. She was walking carelessly it seemed towards a narrow clearing in the tall wall of the bristled trees.

In the shadows of the tree line, a shifting silhouette of a tall man stirred. He could make out the sharpened whites of this man's eyes and how they were fixed on the girl. His mouth spoke inaudible words that seemed to beckon the girl in a trance towards him.

As her small, stumbling footsteps closed distance, the man partly emerged into the contrasting bright sunlight. Jason then witnessed clouds of deep, blood-red slowly tendril out from behind the man's head and slither towards the encroaching child. Terrified at what he saw, Jason immediately raised his finger to the girl and started shouting.

"Bad man! Bad man!" he yelled over and over, until the back of his throat began to sting.

The playground noise slowly diminished to an eerie quiet, until Jason's screams was the only sound. The teacher's attention eventually focused on Jason's cries and to where his little finger was pointing.

The man noticed the silenced playground of children looking in his direction. The red shroud, visible only to Jason, dissipated and vanished. In an instant the man turned and disappeared into the darkness of the forest. The teacher followed suit and ran towards the girl, gathering the toddler into her arms. Walking back into the school the teacher, who was visibly shaken by the event, looked to Jason and managed a smile.

"Good boy Jason," she said. "You did very good"