Awakening, Chapter 1

Chapter 1

As she stepped out into the arctic winter night, even her bones began to tremble as the numbing cold seeped through her first, and then second layers of clothing and permeated her skin. The brumal temperature haunted every single part of her like spirits dwell in a graveyard, and yet she had no desire to go back inside of the house, which now seemed like a greenhouse compared to the severe conditions outside.

She glanced around. It was a dismal night. A single dead leaf was carried away by a piercing icy wind, and there was not a soul in sight. A grave sense of tragedy in the wind silenced any and all life as a hush fell over the entire neighborhood. She carefully stepped through her dry and deceased front yard, mindful of every lifeless tree branch jutting out in front of her face, and every hardened leaf crunching beneath her feet. Otherwise, she made merely a sound exiting her yard, and continued up the road. She gazed around at her surroundings. She tried to look at the stars but they were obscured by clouds, so she lowered her gaze back down toward the earth and her eyes fell on the many one-story houses on her street, and few two-story houses. Some were better repaired than others but all were in pretty good condition, she noticed. She felt grateful that she lived in what she considered to be a nice neighborhood.

After wandering a few hundred yards, she found herself at the main cross-streets and turned right, choosing the street approaching the busy road. But, here, it was not so busy, not at this hour. The road was as vacant as her house, missing its owners, who were gone away on yet another "vacation," leaving their only daughter alone, yet again. They had promised that they would be back the next morning, so she thought that she could expect them. That really bothered her, her parents claimed to care about her, to want to be close to her and involved in her life, but she felt that she knew better. She used to feel close to them, but that was a long time ago... it was just over five years ago that she began to drift away from them. And now she felt quite distanced, like she was trapped in her own secret world that nobody knew about, nobody could save her from, and above all, nobody seemed to care about.

And just the same, the street lay desolate. Without even bothering to look both ways, she crossed, but heard a faint, yet very apparent noise. She whipped her head around, searching for the source of the commotion, yet found none. She just reassured herself of the possibility that it was just someone driving down the other street. This was the busiest area in town, after all.

Once past the street, she reached the large, grassy field encompassing the town, separating civilization from the forest. So many trees, some tall, some small, all late-autumn colors and yet bushy still, backed by the most picturesque landscape. The towering, widespread mountains, of which everyone could clearly observe the snow-capped peaks and perfect curves and cliffs. Just off in the distance, it was such a scenic view that many tourists stopped by there regularly, just to take pictures. And she couldn't help but wonder if it could possibly be as cold on the mountains as she was right now in the field. Rubbing her hands together for some warm friction, and redirecting her attention, there was still absolutely no sign of life, no movement, nothing. The night was completely sullen. She hadn't seen any sign of a vehicle for the last twenty minutes, which was quite rare this side of town. Her thoughts began to turn toward speculating any reason why things might be so dreary and empty. Surveying her dim surroundings, she continued on, trudging through the soggy dead grass and completely coating the bottom of her worn tennis shoes with mud. After a few feet, she noticed the ground hardening up and the grass was no longer damp or soggy. Again, she couldn't help but think to herself, "How strange...".

Determinedly wandering through the darkness, she further progressed through the field, and heard another noise, a faint sound now, maybe that of an animal in the trees. But her ears never lied. She couldn't trick herself, and she knew that, but glimpsed around, and, peering through the thick pitch night, of course couldn't see anything.  Evaluating her options, she still sustained her course as though she had heard nothing, and merely passed it off as an animal of some sort out in the distance. But deep down, she had her real suspicions.

She passed all the sights- the neighborhood market that she would accompany her mother to as a child and the brewery that her father loved so dearly. She passed the antique and repair shops, and even the butcher's place. Strange as it may sound, she actually felt she had good memories from there. Her father and the butcher were very good friends, and the butcher, Peter, was a really nice guy, she always thought. He had such a nice daughter, and she was so amazing and beautiful too, Alice, her name was... and her mind started to drift, then fixated on Alice. She had such soft, light, fair skin, and long, flowing dark brown hair that lay perfectly straight no matter what activities they had engaged in, no matter how fast they ran or where they went together. Alice's gentle, deep emerald eyes always fell into hers, as if to say "I'd follow you anywhere," They had gone to school together for as long as they could remember, and after school most days, they would go together and visit her father at the shop and play around either outside the building, or, a lot of the times, inside, helping customers and just trying to be of assistance. After all, the butcher's place was the nicest, cleanest, and busiest place in town. She and Alice quickly grew to be best friends, but now they both know that it's something a little more, as best friends could never be enough. Now, her own father happened to be the owner of the antique shop, just down the road from the butcher's, so she was always close to Alice. They would always play together all day, and return to their own fathers at night and go home with them, only to repeat the cycle the next day. But it was always a different adventure, always something new and exciting.

Then again, that was a long time ago. Almost eight years ago, to be exact. They had to be at least seven years old back then, she thought, so naive to everything happening in the world around them. Though, no matter how much they grew, they were always friends. Even after The Accident. She shuddered. Five years ago, while driving back home late at night, Alice's mother was involved in a car accident. A huge crash, that included her and two other drivers. That night, her mother was driving home from work late and the heavy rain was pouring down, the road was slippery, and most of her vision through the window was obscured due to the incessantly falling rain, crashing against the top of her vehicle, and fighting against the windshield wipers of her small car. Meanwhile, another driver was trying to speed through the intersection directly ahead, in an effort to beat the red light and get home as soon as possible to be out of that dreadful rain. Unfortunately, he carelessly cut off her path, and Alice's mother slammed on the brakes as soon as she saw him, but the wheels would get no traction. She collided into the side of his truck head-on and was killed on impact. With two vehicles sprawled out in the middle of the intersection, the only other driver out on the road at that time of night had no choice but to jerk the steering wheel the opposite way, guiding him straight into a streetlight, totaling his SUV. Both other drivers survived, only sustained some broken bones and other minor injuries, but were not injured too severely. The story was much more tragic for the innocent mother of one. Still, the memory of Angela remains in everyone's hearts. She was a good mother, never cruel, but never spoiled Alice either, and she grew up just fine. Even after her mother was gone, she still had her father, though his mind was slowly deteriorating due to the crushing loss of his wife. He began to grow more and more distant every day. Despite that, she still had her best friend. And through those trials, their bond only grew stronger. That event, as well, was a long time ago, yet it still haunts both of them to this day. But that still wasn't even close to the worst event...

Now, she heard another noise, louder this time, and strained her eyes in a desperate attempt to see anything. But she definitely heard something--no--someone-- moving around behind her, in the trees, no doubt, but...where? Fear engulfed her entire being, and she frantically looked around. She saw a shadow moving. A sinister human silhouette. Her tired eyes couldn't keep track of it. Within moments they were hidden again.

"Who else could possibly be out at this time of night...?" she wondered, and finally gulped, her fears realized.

Someone had been following her. She had been walking for just over an hour, she thought, they must have been following her for miles. Her mind raced as she tried to speculate why. Her pulse shot up to dangerous levels and pure adrenaline began coursing through her as she took off stride after stride the opposite way. Back to where she came from. Luckily, her nighteye was just as good as anyone's, so if she couldn't see someone, then they couldn't see her either. Stealth was definitely her friend. Ever since she could remember, she had always been the sneakiest and most quiet person anyone knew, and she could elude or sneak up on just about anyone, which was her secret to how she got out of these types of situations so many times before. And that was exactly what she planned to do now. She knew this town like the back of her hand, better than anyone else, she thought, so she had no trouble maneuvering through the weeds, rocks, bushes, and other obstacles in the dark, while remaining cloaked in the shadows. Her athletic body allowed her to move quickly, and with strong strides. She began weaving through the trees skillfully and without error, and, within minutes, she felt she had lost them.

But that didn't slow her down. She still heard rustling, and though it was already far behind her, she was determined not to allow them to catch up. She pressed on, desperate to clear out of the forest as quickly as possible. She never took dumb chances, not anymore, she had done that one too many times and finally learned her lesson. She sped through the thick darkness back out to the field and returned to the busy road, which now had a few cars driving along it. Without hesitation, she took the first chance she faced to hurry across, before a large cluster of cars was about to pass. She ran as fast as her strained legs would carry her, and the painfully bright headlights of all the vehicles completely blinded her night-weary eyes; it was a miracle that she got across safely. She had just barely beaten the morning traffic. When she had regained vision in her eyes moments after yet another brush with death, she found her path again and was grateful for all the cars. Not only could whoever was following her no longer see past the chain of vehicles, but they couldn't cross the road either, leaving her free for a few minutes. Still, she didn't want to make a mistake and never slackened her pace. Determined, she dashed all the way back down through and uneven dirt road, and did everything in her power not to fall.

"What a painful horror movie cliché. That would be just utterly ridiculous," she shook her head. Luckily, she kept her balance, and, feeling the security of looking back and seeing absolutely no sign of anyone, turned left back down onto her street. She silently raced by every sleeping house, until she finally escaped into the safety of her own home and proceeded to lock every bolt on the door, just to be safe.

Her heart pounding, adrenaline draining, she looked toward the clock, which read 5:04am. She had been out longer than she'd thought. She couldn't help but wonder what might have happened if she had she stayed out even a minute later... But abandoning that train of thought, she turned her attention to the house that felt warm and inviting, for the first time in a long while, actually. Finding a bit of peace in such a pleasant surprise, she glanced over at the indoor thermostat, which, to her curiosity, revealed the chilling temperature of 52 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now, her first motive was to build a fire; her face was completely numb and her eyes were watering from the piercing cold of the outside world. She approached the fireplace and struck a match to lay against the thick logs. The lumber caught the flame and filled the whole room with relieving heat and revealing light. She took off her soaking wet shoes to relax and warm her frozen toes, and that's when she noticed--the coating on the bottom of her shoes wasn't mud, the substance was red, still along the side of the bottom half of her shoes. She couldn't breathe. Her shoes were covered in blood. The horror once again undulated back into her, and she troubled herself analyzing where the blood could possibly have come from. Then it hit her, like cement after a hard fall. It was in the field, she recalled, next to the forest when she first arrived there and heard the muffled commotion... then she moved onto the most unnerving realization- The person stalking her had to have been the cause. But then, she implored who they could have been, and why they were following her. She feared that since they committed the first act, then what had they planned to do to her? But just the mere thought made her want to gag, and she moved her shoes far away from where she was sitting. After focusing on all that was around her, she was suddenly enveloped by an almost paralyzing fear, one that shot through her entire body and made her feel completely uneasy. Her muscles tensed up and her stomach turned. She was going to be sick.