Intro
I raised my hand to cover my eyes, the light was blinding as I sat up. Muscles ached as if I hadn’t moved for days, head throbbing, and a shrill ringing echoed in my ears. I couldn’t gather any meaningful thoughts, only vague, incoherent ideas. Riding a bike, applying first aid, a starry night sky, the sound of laughter.
“Blake~”
I spun around, blinking quickly as my eyes adjusted. There were pebbles underneath my hands, I seemed to be on the road, the air was warm with a light breeze blowing through the leaves, and the sun sat high in the sky. Am I Blake? What was happening? Why am I here? Where is here? So many questions flooded my head, only making it harder to focus on anything.
“Blake~”
The hairs on my arms stood on end as I swore I heard a name being called out. I stood slowly, uneasy on my feet and nearly toppled right back over.
“Blake.”
The call was stern and clear this time, bringing a small relief to realise I must not be alone out here. I brushed the dirt from my arms as I peered around, not a soul in sight. A light breeze came over my shoulders, bringing an oddly familiar smell, almost sickeningly sweet. Had I been out drinking? Must have been one hell of a night. I chuckled to myself as I looked down the road. It was going to be a chance either way I chose, none of this seemed even the slightest bit recognizable.
Time passed as I walked on, every so often I’d stop to look behind me, only to be greeted with the same sight every time. Exactly the same. The road ahead looked identical to the road behind me, was I even moving? I shook the thought away, laughed it off to the unfamiliarity of the roads. After another few moments I saw something, an odd, dark shape on the side of the road. Curiosity instantly filled my consciousness, but then there was something telling me to turn tail and run the other way. A sudden chill swept over me as I tried to focus on the shape, slowing my pace the closer I came. Something clicked in me, and I was about to turn and run the other way...then it moved.
It was the smallest of movements, but I swore it stirred. My instincts kicked in and I ran towards whatever it was. As I drew closer my legs grew heavier, my heart began racing and my head was screaming. It was a little girl, I knelt next to her to check her for a pulse, faint. As I brushed her dark hair away from her face, my heart felt like it instantly turned to stone, I recognized that face. The green eyes that stared lifelessly, the freckles across her pale cheeks, even the small scar on the left side of her chin, I knew this face.
A thousand memories came flooding into my head at once, exploding like fireworks inside of my skull. A baby being held out. Her soft cries as she fussed in my arms. Tearful parents as I walked away. A tiny blue and green boat swaying in the water. Pulling up to the dock of a small island town in the dead of night. A little toddler with bouncing brunette curls playing on the floor. Small green eyes watching my hands work as I cleaned a gun. Teaching the same small girl to hold a weapon. The way she stood tall while I tended to her cuts and scrapes without a single tear. Running through trees after the ground as she glowed with pride. The way she seemed to shine when she unwrapped her first gun. Teaching her to track through the sun, snow, and rain. Watching her swing the door open and bring in a buck from her solo hunting. Another birthday sitting by a fire and telling her stories under the stars. Her bright green eyes fill up with tears as she watches me pack luggage. Uncovering the green and blue boat with tears of my own. Wrapping her in my arms as we approached the city I took her from all those years ago. The always comforting smile she gave me as she took the knife with the carved handle we made together. Sitting with a heavy heart behind the wheel of a truck as we began our journey through the streets to take her home. The sting I felt when an SUV came barreling into the truck from a small alleyway. Screaming as I watched her be pulled from the wreck and dragged away. Another wave of pain as I ran after them blindly. My legs burned as I followed the trail as far as I could. Angela. I remembered her.
Her parents had hired me to raise her in secret. They had become powerful influences to the world by the time they had Angela. Their first child was grown and capable of taking care of himself, but Angela would have been a bargaining chip if anyone knew about her. They proposed that she be raised almost 6,ooo miles away for 18 years. A place to safely learn the dangers of the world, but also how to skillfully defend herself. Master how to use a bow, sword, knife, gun, and other miscellaneous weapons of opportunity. On her 19th birthday she was set to return to the parents she never knew she had. We had been on our way to meet them, but something had gone wrong.
There was a heavy heat. Fire. Screaming. Her pleading for help. Glass. Metal. A car accident. We had been struck in the side as we drove the back-roads to her parents estate. Only small fragments of the incident were flashing through my head.
“Blak-” I snapped back into the moment as her green eyes fluttered weakly, “I wasn’t strong...enough.” I cradled her in my arms, she coughed and blood trickled from her lip. Her breathing was shaky and fading quickly.
“No, no. You are very strong Ang-” I stopped short as her breathing ceased. Just like that, she was gone. Moments passed by as we sat there, tears rolled over my cheeks and fell onto her cold skin. This isn’t real. This can’t be real. I laid her down with the greatest of care, taking notice of the blood that covered her jacket. Her shirt had clean, straight slashes, had she been in a brawl with someone? My eyes scanned our surroundings quickly, hoping to spot some sort of trail or tracks while my heart began to fill with a sorrowful hatred. I had only looked away for a moment, nothing more than a few seconds, but when I looked back, she was gone. A small bush was just starting to bloom with little white roses in the exact spot where she had just been. “Angela?”
“She’s gone Blake.”
I looked up to see a woman kneeling on the other side of the small rosebush. I stared at her, she couldn’t be the murderer, but she gave off an unwelcome feeling. The woman barely moved as she eyed over the roses, checking the little flower buds. Her skin was deathly pale, especially in the black dress and cape that draped over her slender frame, hair as white as the roses, and her eyes were grey and colourless. She looked saddened but almost cheerful at the same time. Her expression was soft on her face, just as I was about to ask who she was, her eyes snapped to mine. They seemed to be black voids as she stared at me, not grey as before, my skin turned to ice as a small smile spread over her lips.
“I am here to help you, Mr. Blake”
I recognized her voice instantly, she’s the one I’ve been hearing on the wind, her head tilted to one side ever so slightly as I eyed her, “What’s going on? What did you do to Angela?!” She shook her head and made a Tsk. Tsk. as she stood and plucked a rose from the bush.
“She’s been dead for almost three years now Mr. Page, but I didn’t expect you to remember something you never knew”
I shook my head, Impossible, she was just here! A queasy feeling crept over me as the woman walked around the bush and behind me. Standing up to watch for a moment as she started down the road, I had the urge to follow her, to ask what’s happening and demand full answers. Without looking over her shoulder she beckoned me to follow, and the second I shook my head no she stopped in her place. “Tell me what’s going on!” My voice wavered as I started feeling dizzy, lightheaded, and thoroughly confused. The woman turned slowly, twirling the rose in her hands delicately, her eyes were dark voids as our gaze met once more, and her voice was comfortingly sweet but also harsh and demanding. She spoke as if I had never said a thing.
“Can’t you feel it. Really feel it? Life slipping away from you.” That voice calmed my core like a mother cooing her child to sleep, so gentle to hear but her words left a sting in my head. I watched her twirling the rose in her hands with ease, one by one the petals drifting from her fingers and to the ground as if the bud was dying in her grasp, what am I watching? What’s happening to me? This has to be a dream. “Everything knows when it’s life is over, but to accept the fact is a whole different matter.”
“What?” the world started fading, darkness crept into my vision. What is she talking about? Am I dying? Is this my ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’? I fell onto the dirt, unable to sit up any longer. As the woman walked back, her smile seemed sinister, was she happy I was in pain? “No, I’m not dead.”
“Oh my dear Blake. Do you feel like Death has come for you?” She knelt besides me, her hand was ice cold as she brushed hair from my forehead, but a warmth came from her that drew me in at the same time. The world started spinning again, all I could focus on was her eyes, those dark pools threatening to consume me. I swore I saw stars faintly sparkling as I stared up at her face while the world faded away around us “Because I have.”
