The Revenant

Early Morning Visit

ESKARINA

I can't recall the exact time I heard a knock on my door. I was tired, and when I finally dragged myself out of bed to answer the door,I was shocked to see Nova standing right outside.

I froze. He stared at me with his eye's,the moonlight flickering off of his skin. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and his skin was far more pale than usual. His teeth were razors,a single eye pitch black.

I wanted to scream. To yell for someone to help, yet fear had taken hold of me. My body trembled,goosebumps tore at my flesh. He did nothing. Said nothing. Simply stood in front of me,staring at me in his true form.

"You going to let me in?" He asked.

I couldn't answer. I simply took a few steps back,nearly falling over in the process, and allowed him to come inside.

Nova stepped into my room and shut the door behind him. As he did, there was no longer any light in the room, and I couldn't see where he was. My eye's had yet to adjust to the darkness of my room.

Cautiously, I waved my hand round in the air to try and get a sense of my surroundings, or at least find out where he was.

"The bed, its two steps behind you." His voice came.

I took a deep gulp of saliva which I felt had been sitting in my throat for ages. Nerves had made it nearly impossible for me to swallow up till that point.

Instead of two,I ended up taking three steps back and tripped over the bed side. Instead of fall onto the bed however,I found myself suspended in the air,held up by a strong arm wrapped around my waist. I felt myself be lowered onto the bed gently as the arm soon left my waist.

Light flooded my vision as my lamp  switched on. A few blinks to get my eyesight to adjust, and once again I saw him. He hadn't changed. He still stood in front of me,with the face of a monster.

Nova looked more like a corpse now than human...around his neck was a deep purple ring, while several cuts traced the along of his wrists.

Nova sat down beside me,sighing heavily as if he were tired.

"Did you tell anyone?" He asked.

I didn't answer. Fear gripped me in a tight vice, and my words were trapped in my throat.

"Eskarina, answer me."

"I-I didn't tell a soul. Honest."

"Your heart rate is rising. You aren't lying,but you're scared. Don't be. I'm not here to hurt you."

"Then why are you...like that?"

"A corpse? I'm undead Eskarina, I'm supposed to look this way. Keeping up my human facade is not only physically exhausting its mentally straining as well. This is the only way I can relax."

Nova laid back against my bed,lacing his fingers together and resting them behind his head to make a makeshift pillow with his fingers.

"Why are you here Nova?"

"I came to make sure my secret is safe. I don't want it getting out there. Of what I am. Not only would that scare people off,but I'd most likely be executed for what I am. Hunted and butchered by paranoid humans."

Nova sat back up and I could practically feel his gaze.

"You won't tell a soul. Understood Eskarina?"

"I got the message Nova...now please leave."

"What if I want to stay?"

"Why would you want to stay here? To scare me? Intimidate me into not telling anyone?"

"Yes. I did. Better yet I think its working."

"The fuck it is."

"Really? Your heart rate says otherwise."

Every time he spoke he made my skin crawl. He knew when I was lying,he knew if I was afraid. He saw right through me.

He let out a sigh,scratching his head before he sat up. "A part of me thinks I should just kill you right here and now."

So why don't you?

"But...a bigger part of me believes I should put my trust in you. You seem like someone who can keep a secret. I'm trusting you to keep mine."

"What makes you think I'll-"

"Because if you don't,I'll kill you. You also seem like someone who has plenty of secrets of her own. So you know damn well how to keep one."

Nova stood up and began walking towards the door without another word. He only spoke once more once he had open the door to leave.

"I'm trusting you Eskarina...don't break my trust...else it'll be the last thing you do."