Fade Away

The day ended fast. The rich crisp feeling of the summer wind gave out a warm sensation of peace. Looking out at the sunset across de poppy field, Ada felt the strong sensation of the cold wind overpowering the heat and saw how the bold orange and bright yellow colored clouds were covering the blue sky. She wanted to go to her house, which was not far from there, but something stopped her, for right at that moment she started to remember her sister Sarah, who was kidnapped three years before. Ada never forgave herself for that, she always knew it was her fault and even though she would try to convince herself that she didn't do anything wrong, she knew it was her fault. After the incident, Ada hoped that Sarah would be alive, even after all these years. Later then, Ada fell asleep, with the thought of Sarah in her mind.

Suddenly, there was a wild scream of a woman and Ada woke up so abruptly, that her head started to hurt. Then another scream was heard, so Ada stood up and at that moment, she noticed it was almost completely dark with only the moonlight lighting up the field. "What the hell?" she whispered, not knowing whether to believe the screams were real or if she was just dreaming. But at that very minute, another scream was heard, but this time there was a wild cry with it and it came directly from the south, which was just to her right. She noticed something familiar about that scream, as if she had heard it before; yet, she put the thought aside and started to run towards the scream. After a while, she heard another scream, but this time it was of a little boy, crying out "Help me!" She didn't know what to do for she could not believe those screams were real or imaginary. Then another scream of the little boy was heard, then another of the woman, then multiple others coming from all corners of the field. "What's happening?" she asked herself, not knowing if she could answer her very own question. The screams became louder, more intense, and she tried to block them out and yet she couldn't. The screams were so loud her ears started ringing and she fell to the ground, trying to think of her sister and not of the multiple screams around her. "It's just a dream. It has to be" she kept saying to herself. "It's fake. It's not real!" After losing all hope, she started crying violently, and yet the screams couldn't stop. Crying and crying so much, but it still couldn't block out the screams. Then, she screamed "Stop!!!!", so wildly, so uncontrollably, she fainted. Everything went black.

Once she woke up, she couldn't stop thinking about the screams and the reality of them. But night had fallen, and she suddenly didn't know where she was, so she sat up on the ground trying to catch her breath. Ada couldn't stop thinking about them, and she started to tell herself how she should have helped them, the people who were screaming, but she didn't know if they were real. They had to be real! They were so loud, so vivid, that they couldn't have been imagined. At that point, she started to remember the familiarity of the first scream. Whose scream was it? Who could have screamed so loud at first? Who could it have been? Then, so suddenly, the familiarity of the scream finally became an answer. "Sarah!" she said. It couldn't have been Sarah! She tried to sustain the thought that it wasn't. Ada tried so hard, she didn't know whether to believe it or not. The possibility of Sarah being alive was impossible, but the thought of it being Sarah made her happy and terrified, for if it was Sarah, why would she be screaming? No! It can't be, and yet it could!

Right then, she heard something, but she couldn't make out what it was. Then another sound was heard, but this time, it sounded like footsteps. She felt scared, scared of what might be lurking around the mystic valley. Then a rustling noise was heard and she suddenly felt more scared. No! Not scared, terrified! She didn't know what to do. How to react. But, unconsciously, she said "Who's there?" No answer, just sounds. "Who's there?!" she commanded, for she did not know who was causing the noise, or what was causing it. Even under the moonlight, it was too dark to see anything, and that made her feel frightened.

"Ada?" a voice said, a familiar voice, but she sat still, not knowing whether to look back or run away.

"What?" Ada whispered. Feeling so terrified of who it might be, she stayed quiet for a few seconds until she could finally speak out of the horror. "How... How do you know my name? Who are you?" she said, still not looking back, for her fear was so intense it petrified her.

"You know who I am" said the familiar voice. After a long pause, the voice said "I know you don't want to look back, because you're afraid. But please, just try to look".

Ada felt unsure of the words, but she knew whose voice it was and yet, she didn't wanted to believe it. She didn't want to believe that the voice behind her might really be a person, a person who might really be who she claims to be. But even after a while of trying to analyze the voice and the words it said, Ada got the courage to stand up and look back.

Once she looked back, there was no one. She was all alone, never to know who or what was there.