Gentia

Chapter 1

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” Adelice yelled as the car rapidly approached the end of the cliff.  She could see the ocean below, and she could definitely see the jagged rocks below, wet with sea spray.

“Don’t worry; it will be fine. You’re safe with me.” The placid response only scared Adelice more.

“NO! WE ARE NOT! YOU ARE DRIVING OFF A CLIFF!” Adelice screamed. Meanwhile, her 3 year old brother, Xavier, was laughing and clapping in his car seat.

Adelice had never seen the driver of the car, a woman, maybe in her early forties or late thirties. She had brown hair and green eyes.  They were in an old car. She couldn’t recall the name but it was the type of car the police used and she knew that that car model wasn’t exactly popular. From what Adelice could tell, the driver was probably insane. Probably an escapee from an asylum or something.

They were currently nearing the edge of the cliff.  

Adelice had pestered the woman with questions ever since driving off. Every question had been answered with a very useless response.

They had driven up the street she grew up on. Soon, they started to drive up a hill at the far edge of town. Suddenly, the woman floored the gas and Adelice and Xavier screamed. The only difference was Adelice screamed in fear and her brother screamed in delight. That was when she saw the cliff.

“STOP!” But the car kept on going. Just to top it off, the driver’s expression was tired and almost annoyed. Shouldn’t it be an expression of mortal terror?

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! STOP THE CAR, YOU MAD WOMAN, BEFORE YOU KILL US ALL!” A stream what could only be described as of very naughty words came out next from Adelice’s mouth. Xavier turned to her with interest.

The woman also turned around and gave her a strange look. At that moment, the car plunged off of the cliff and Adelice felt her stomach rise to her throat.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHH”

Her scream died out as they hurtled towards the icy cold Pacific Ocean. She felt one last moment of terror as she grabbed onto Xavier.  Then everything went black.      

*                   *                   *

Thirty minutes earlier, Adelice was playing with her brother in their living room. They were playing a game called Hullabaloo. In the game, mats with objects on them were placed around the room. The mats had a color and shape. A circular device would tell you which mat to go on in a limited amount of time and you weren’t able to share a mat. At the moment, Xavier was standing on a green mat that was circular with a mushroom on it. Adelice was encouraging Xavier to go to the next mat, but he was getting distracted by the red firetruck on the carpet.

Then out of nowhere, the lights in the house started to flicker and they heard a crash. The sound echoed through the sudden silence that followed, out of place in their house usually full of laughter. Adelice froze and looked at the stairs. She felt something cold pierce her heart. Even Xavier had gone quiet. The happy music from the device was still playing as it waited for Xavier to go to the next mat. Then all of a sudden the music turned off. The silence pierced the air.

“I’m coming, okay, Xavy?”

“Adlee, what happen?” His voice wavered a bit as he looked up at her with confusion on his eyes. He was still too young to understand danger. Adelice started towards him.

But at that moment they heard their mother scream in terror. Without a thought, Adelice dashed up the stairs into her parents’ room. Her mother was cowering in the corner of the room clutching a lamp in her hands as if she was strangling it. The bedside table was on its side. Then she saw the monster.