Shadow Born

Chapter 1

"Light thinks that it can travel faster than anything, but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first and is waiting for it." ~ Terry Pratchett

Silence falls throughout the building as I walk through the hallway. A group of kids stand in front of me who were playing a game before I walked in. One small kid dropped a bouncy ball and the sound echoed down the hall. I'd love to pretend that they all loved me and all, but truth is they're completely terrified of me.

I drag my feet along the creaky wooden floor and the kids move away making an isle heading towards my door. Before I close the door, I hear the whispers starting. Well, who needs them anyways?

I look around at the rows of beds in the empty room. I've been in an orphanage for my entire life. Never even knew my parents and I'm still here seventeen years later. My head hits the pillow and I breath a sigh of relief. After relaxing for a second, I turn over and grab a piece of paper from underneath my pillow and unfold it, an escape plan. Of course most of the ideas I threw away due to problems like, I don't know where to get a space rocket or how I'm supposed to get my celebrity crush to show up and magically fall in love with me.

This place has caused me too much pain and I'm over it. There has to be some way for me to get out of here. I could wait one more year, but my patience has been worn thin. My eyes skim over the paper again before I decide that it's all rubbish. The door creaks and I crumple the paper in my hand, shoving it under my pillow and spinning to lie on my back staring at the ceiling,

"Lilly," a old weak voice calls.

"Yes, Sister Mary?" I say without even glancing her way.

"You've got a visitor," she whispers.

I sit up straight, my interest suddenly sparked. There was more whispering and then the clicking of heals. My head spins towards the door and there's a man. There's..a..visitor. My visitor? He is tall and looks in his mid thirties with jet black hair and eyes so dark they look black. The man is dressed in a suit and carries a brief case at his side.

I should be excited, but who would actually be interested in adopting a seventeen year old. I'm more suspicious than anything. The main thing that stuck out to me was that Sister Mary left us alone. Definitely didn't seem like something that she would do.

He walks like a soldier and stops in front of my bed. A smile spreads across his face and he utters a single word, "Lilly."

I don't trust him...at all. It's one of those strange things about me that everyone here seems to think is creepy. It's just a gut feeling, but it always tends to be correct. "Who are you?"

A horrible laugh escapes his lips and he tilts his head towards me. "Ah, Lilly. Don't worry I'm not here to adopt you. I'm merely here to inform you."

My body stays completely still. I don't blink or move, only breath. There is no possible way that he could be my uncle. Why would he just suddenly show up after seventeen years and also claim he wasn't going to adopt me? Besides he doesn't even look like me. I've got blonde hair and light blue eyes, almost grey.

I finally speak up, "And you are here to inform me of what exactly?"

His smile disappears. "So many questions and just that? Okay fine I won't explain why I haven't been here at all for you or anything like that."

"You aren't my uncle," I state, my voice slightly shaky.

"What?"

I look him dead in the eyes and say, "You're lying. Tell me the truth."

Shaking his head, he looks back at me and smirks. "Some talent you have now. Would you like me to explain why you're like this?"

A million things race through my mind at once. Memories surge forward reminding me of my many strange 'talents'. Knowing when someone is lying is one thing, but being able to see someone's soul is another. That's it isn't it? The nuns must have sent some therapist for me to see. They just wouldn't believe anything I said.