Cloak as Red as Blood

Chapter 1:The Slums

Its been the same nightmare my entire life. I'm fleeing for my life, the shadows that follow are

 monsters in the darkness right on my tail. There's a bright light in front of me guiding my way,

 but to what and where; I never find out. That's the scariest part of the dream, the uncertainty of 

where I was going, and what waited for me when I got to that unknown. Faster and faster I run 

following the light that I know I will never catch, yet still for some reason I persist. I can see it, the

 edge of the woods in which I'm running. Then like always I'm interrupted by the loud chittering 

sounds from the trees above. I look up to see a large creature falling from the sky and just like 

that I wake up.

My heart beat wild in my chest. I looked in the mirror on my bedside table and saw my skin was 

damp with sweat. My long black hair was in a tousled mess, and my eyes were red, like I had not 

gotten any sleep at all. This was my morning routine for as long as I can remember. For years I've

 asked my mother about the nightmares, but she would always just right them off as recurring 

bad dreams. I wish that's all they were, but I can't shake the feeling that there's something more

 to them. "Well that's the end of that," I said to myself as I got out of bed to prepare for the day.

Grabbing my bucket, I left my tiny apartment and headed quickly downstairs. The water pump 

was outside in the middle of the courtyard, and if I wanted water for my bath or anything for 

that matter, that's where I'd have to go. I just hoped that no one else was up this early. "The 

early bird gets the worm", my mother would say. Mother, it had been over a year since I moved 

out of her bakery and into the loud cramped slums of Thorne. I was sixteen at the time and she 

pleaded with me not to go, but I was determined to get out on my own. The other kids had 

moved out of their parent's homes after they finished their schooling at The Warren. I was one 

of the few among them who hadn't moved out, due to the fact that I was just fourteen. Mother 

thought me too young to be out on my own, she still did. It was one of the things we argued 

about every time I visited. If she had her way, I'd still be back at the bakery. "Skylar, you're just 

like your grandmother, "she would say. "A free spirit who doesn't let anyone or anything hold 

her down." I could never tell if it was a compliment or a warning of some kind.

I hurried as quickly as I could to the pump before anyone would notice. I was after all in nothing 

but my white nightdress and undergarments. I didn't want the children to see me like this as I 

taught many of them. I ran a sort of underground school here in the slums. I was lucky I got to go

 to The Warren for my lessons. It was the only official school in town, and only the wealthy and 

middle-class children could attend. Because my mother ran the town bakery, she could afford to