Silent As The Moon

Chapter One

Lyrik Thorn's eyes shot open. Where am I? The last thing she remembered... How did I survive the fire? The crackle of flames still roared in her ears, the screams of pain, the terror...

She looked down, stretching her neck, and screamed. Her skin was stark white. What... She turned, looking at her surroundings. She was on the edge of a cliff by the sea, with a full moon partly covered by wisps of clouds. The waves rhythmically splashing made the memory of fire settle down, and she breathed out shakily. 

"I have to find someone," she murmured to herself. It looked as though she had been lying down on the grass, judging by its flattened blades, but now she was sitting. She got to her feet, and her head turned slightly to stare at the luminous moon, which was shining brightly overhead. Her toes were over the verge of the cliff.

She turned around to see a long, paved road with a sidewalk. It looked not new- cracked and crumbling slightly. She looked at the finished date, which was on one of the blocks- it was odd that she could see it so well during the night- and gasped. The year etched into it was 3030. But that's this year, she thought. Just a few months ago! Panic rose in her stomach. I need to find someone. Right now.

She looked around; there was no one there. Stop, she thought, faking steadiness. The night of the fire. What happened? She sat on the footpath, thinking quietly.

I had just eaten dinner, and Nevaeh hadn't come home yet, yes, that was how it all started. She closed her eyes. Nevaeh. Her beautiful, kind sister. She would always help Lyrik when she needed it, no matter what she was doing. Her hair was long and brown.

So I looked outside, and there she was, right there on the stairs. And I opened the door, and she came in and smiled, and said that she had dropped by the store to get some apples, because she wanted to make a pie. And she did, and suddenly there was fire. Mom and Dad took me and Neveah and told us to go, and if we had seen our little sister, and we hadn't.

Ruby. 

We thought that she was at the store. That's why we hadn't worried. But Neveah hadn't seen her. We didn't have time to worry, though. I figured she was at a friend's house. Lyrik squeezed her eyes shut, a sense of terror awaking inside her.

And we got out of the house. But Mom and Dad went back to see if Ruby was in the fire. Neveah went after them. I... I was too afraid to go in. It burst into flames right in front of me, and then I blacked out, and I woke up here.

If I'm alive, could they be, too?

Lyrik ran down the path. The sun came up about an hour later. 

People? She waved and yelled to a passing car with an open window. The people didn't move their heads. Lyrik bit her lip. 

What happened? Why don't they respond?

She caught sight of a young man and an older woman, presumably his mother, walking in her direction. They hadn't noticed her.

"Hello? Hello, excuse me, can you tell me what year it is, and where I am?" she asked. The man looked up and screamed, while the woman stumbled back, terror etched on her aging face.

"Hello?" Lyrik repeated. "What's the matter?"

"A work of the devil!" the man yelled, grabbing the woman's hand and running. 

"What? I'm not- I'm-" Lyrik looked down at herself. She used to be beautiful, with oak-brown hair, light brown skin, warm brown eyes, and normal, a smidge fancy clothes. But now she could see that her hair was grey, not like an elderly person's, but really like iron, and she was wearing a pale, ripped dress with roses. She had already noticed her milk-white skin, and now she was wondering what colour her eyes were.

"I must look like a monster, a witch," she realized aloud. But all I have to do is tell them who I really am!

"Excuse me?" she called to a dark-haired man. He shielded his eyes from the rising sun. "Excuse me? Sir?" She frowned and waved a hand in front of his face. The man looked up, finally, and fell back on the grass. "No, don't be scared! I was just in a fire, I escaped, I guess, and I need to know the year and where I am!" Lyrik explained. "Can you-" He turned and tripped. Lyrik took his hand in hers to lift him, but her skin shimmered and went through. They both screamed.

The man ran, just like the two others Lyrik had seen. 

What just happened?

She slowly pressed her hand against a tree. It didn't shimmer and go through, but the tree turned rotten and pale. 

Lyrik gasped. When she took her hand off, the tree returned to its normal state. A loud clicking noise made her turn. A short man was taking a video of her stunt.

She froze, horrified. I need to find a way out of this before someone mistakes me as dangerous! she thought after freezing for a moment.

"Hello, I'm Lyrik!" she shouted suddenly, realizing what she could do. If the man posted this, someone had to find her and tell her something. "I'm not a threat, I know I look like a ghost, but I'm not! I just need to know the year and where I am!" She waved and smiled, trying to look friendly.

The man stopped the video, took one last picture of her standing by the trees and tall grass, then speedily made his way past her. 

Wait.

I look like a ghost.

She shivered.

"I didn't survive the fire," she whispered. "I died, and something must have kept me from going to heaven. 

"I am a ghost."

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