Fear

The Return of a Living Nightmare.

Chapter 4- The Return of a Living Nightmare.

Clary POV

My heart stops. I feel my pulse beating in my ears. Time seems to freeze. The white haired monster watches me, his black soulless eyes gleaming with possession. His waxwork face never looked so ghostly in a room, yet his presence has never felt so solid and real.

"Sebastian," I manage to croak before standing up and sprinting out the classroom, ignoring the protests of Mrs Ainsley.

I rest my hand against the wall, leaning on it for support, breathing heavily. I only manage a few seconds of disbelief before the memories come crashing down on me, a tsunami of fear.

The luscious green grass, the dancing trees, the golden sun. Simon and I were about eleven, playing in a field. As Simon was doing imitations of our ignorant class members, I was climbing to the highest branches of a magnificent oak tree, laughing after each character he does. When a terrifying snap came from high in the branches, Simon shouted up to me.

"Clary! Get down, you're going to hurt yourself," he warned knocking on the bark.

"Simon, don't worry. I know what I'm doing," I protested, waving off the worried glances that he was throwing in my direction.

"If you don't come down, Clary, I'll come up!" I laughed at this; Simon couldn't climb a tree to save his life.

"I would listen to him if I were you, little sister," an ice-cold voice said from below me.

"Clary? Please come down now...Clary!" Simon's voice was rising with fear, obviously from fear of the owner of the bitter voice. I jumped out of the tree, landing in an elegant crouch, and then snapped my head up as the stranger began to speak.

"Ah, my dearest Clarissa, you look just as beautiful as he said," he whispered moving closer to me as I stood my ground, staring into his cold, solid black eyes. He flicked his silvery white hair out of his eyes.

"How do you-" Simon began, his first instinct to protect me, but I couldn't stop myself from interrupting.

"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" I demanded, not moving away from the stranger, but instead inspecting him. He was dressed in all black, except for his feet which were pale and bare. He had a strong jaw-line and his skin was a milky-white, possibly paler than mine.

"Sister, I cannot believe that you do not remember me," he sighed, tilting his head to the side, looking at me with pity.

"Am I supposed to know you? And why do you call me 'sister'?" I questioned, moving ever so slightly towards the stranger. Simon began to walk towards me and tried to grab my wrist, but I yanked it out of his reach.

"Clarissa, I am your brother. I am here to protect and watch over you," he stretched out his arm and began to fiddle with my hair, taking advantage of the fact that I was too stunned to move.

"But I...I don't...Protect me from what?" There were too many questions swimming around my head to focus on only one.

"Yourself, Clarissa. I'm here to protect you from yourself," he stated, as if I was the most dangerous thing in the world, a bomb that if handled incorrectly could blow up in an instant and obliterate everything.

"How am I putting myself in danger?" I muttered to myself. The gears were turning quickly in my head, trying to understand everything that had happened since this boy, who called himself my brother, turned up. Then, I recalled one of the first things he said; 'you look just as beautiful as he said.'

I jumped just out of reach of this stranger so that he could no longer touch me, and reach out my hand for Simon to hold, which thankfully he did. "Earlier, you told me that I was beautiful like 'he' said. Who's 'he'?"

"All in good time, my little Clarissa. All in good time," he smirked as if hiding a great secret that I was soon to find out. "Now though, I must leave you to play with your... friend" he said, eyeing Simon with disgust.

"What is your name?" I needed to know my brother's name, didn't I? After all, he knew mine.

"Sebastian, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't share this meeting with anybody else. Not even our mother," he added, noticing me opening my mouth, about to ask him a question. "And if you are about to do so, remember that I'm watching; I'm always watching you Clarissa."

With that, he twisted a ring on his finger, and disappeared into thin air, leaving Simon with an open mouth, eyes widened in shock.

Simon and I never spoke of Sebastian to anyone, not even each other unless necessary; it was our little unspoken secret. I had had many more visits from Sebastian since that time five years ago, but each time got a little less pleasant- both mentally and physically, giving me painful emotional issues. I hadn't seen him in about six months, and I was beginning to hope that he had finally left me alone. But I should have realised that he will always follow through with his first threat; he truly is always watching me.

A/N

Thank you so much for the reads- just please comment any gramaticals errors.
Anyway, i'm signing out.