Den of Darkness

Ignorance Causes Everything

A scream rang through the night air. A young woman sat up in her bed, panting in confusion. She burst out in tears, her face between her knees as she curled up in a fetal position. As she regained control of herself, she stared at her hands, horrified at her nightmare. She screamed once again, imagining her hands covered in blood. When she looked again, they were clean. Shaking her head in disbelief, she climbed out of bed and washed her face. Looking back at her bedside table, she sighed.

“4 A.M. again,” she mumbled.

For the past two weeks she had been waking up in the middle of the night in tears. She had suspected the murders of everyone around her to be the reason, frightened out of her mind that she was next. She walked down the stairs cautiously and looked around before reassuring herself that nothing was going on and she was being unreasonable. She hurriedly climbed back into bed and forced herself back to sleep.

The next morning she woke up with a horrible feeling inside her, as though she knew something bad had happened. A knock came from the front door. The young woman flung herself out of bed and rushed to the door. A policeman stood there with a stoic expression on his face.

“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but last night when your parents were going home from your sister’s home, they and your little brother were murdered. We’re currently unsure of whom and we have no suspects, but they were all badly bruised and cut,” the policeman announced.

Tears gathered in the young girls eyes. She whimpered, frightened for her life. “Can I have some time to process this?” she managed to breathe out.

The man nodded and followed her to the living room couch where she fell apart. Keeping a professional appearance, the man couldn’t help but feel sorry for the young girl. For the last two weeks, Officer Crane had woken her up many times to announce the death of her friends, and now, family.

When Isabella had finally come down to a few sobs coming out of her every thirty seconds, the officer spoke, “Due to the fact that you are not eighteen, you are being moved to the custody of your aunt in Virginia.”

Hatred ran through the young girl. “What?” she screamed in disbelief. “You’re going to make me leave my home and the only person I have left now?”

An image of her boyfriend, Chris, popped in her head. She couldn’t bear the idea of leaving him, now that everyone she knew was gone. Angry tears ran down her cheeks as she clenched her hands and bit her lip. Isabella fought a protest as she curtly replied, “Fine.”

The officer nodded his head at her, feeling pity, before leaving the house. Isabella sat on the floor, leaning on the couch for a few moments before jumping up and calling her boyfriend.

“Hello?” a man’s voice came.

“Chris, can you come here?” she whispered, clutching the phone in her right hand.

A pause occurred before his voice replied, “Sure.”

Isabella was standing against the wall when a knock came. She rushed to the door and flung it open before jumping on Chris. Isabella was in tears, holding on to Chris while he guided her to the couch. He rubbed her back in a comforting motion, before asking, “What’s wrong?”

Isabella didn’t reply, still in her misery. “I have to go to Virginia to live with my aunt. My family is gone,” she managed with a few sniffles.

Chris held her. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”

“No,” she argued. “I think I’m next. What if my aunt dies? I could never live with myself if I caused her to die too.”

“You won’t,” Chris said, holding her face with his two hands.