Lonely World

[prologue]

“How did this world go so bad?” A young girl asked, looking away from the blazing bonfire.

“That was a very long time ago, sweetie,” her mother responded.

“IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT!” The girl’s uncle jumped into the edge of the fire, propelling a few logs onto it, making it burst with sparks. The young girl leaped off the wooden bench with a yelp.

“VES! Don’t scare her!”

“Well, sOrRy Meila. She’s fine…” he waved it off, “right Harlen?” He walked around the fire and held out his hand to the terrified girl hiding behind her mother.

Harlen reluctantly took his hand and he led her closer to the fire, kneeling down so he was in eyeline with her.

“You know, fire wasn’t always white.”

“It wasn’t?”

Reaching up to the sky, yelling in a deep narrating like voice, he beckoned, “TWAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT-”

“Vesper!” The mother interrupted, “Since when was the last day you got beat up by Mark a dark and stormy night. It was the end of a school day,” she rolled her eyes.

Harlen looked back and forth between the siblings, patiently waiting for them to stop their bantering.

“Can you guys just start from the beginning?”

Vesper and Meila exchanged worried glances, mouthing a silent conversation with each other.

“She’s only, what, eight now? Do you think she’s old enough for the… um…”

“Harlen is 13, idiot. She can handle your swearing problem.”

“TWAS A-”

“VESPER! PLEASE SHUT UP!” Meila shouted, while Vesper mocked her and waved his hands around, making Harlen laugh.

“Really?” Meila tried to sound angry, but could not stifle her laugh, sending a contagious giggle through all three of them.

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell the story, from the beginning, beginning, not our beginning. Well technically it is our beginning, because we’re related to them…” he paused, looking at Meila who was raising her eyebrows, “A very, very long time ago, the earth was covered with people that respected nature and animals; but, times changed, life went on. The people were destructive and nature started dying from the machines and stuff they made.”

Meila cut in, “These things, terrifying shadow creatures, came and turned most of the humans into what we call Drisiris. They’re basically protectors of nature that keep humans from being destructive,” Meila and Vesper exchanged a glance, then Vesper continued the story.

“Most of the humans were… removed and the ones who were turned into Drisiris stayed. Somehow, there was a girl who was able to hide from the shadows. What was her name again?”

“Rebecca Mills.”

“So, Rebecca probably lived underground for months or years or something, but eventually, one of the shadows found her. When he approached her, she was playing a ukulele. He was going to attack her, but the music startled him. The shadow soon got lulled into a quiet, soothing trance,” Vesper looked down to see a sleepy Harlen, slowly wavering back and forth, eyes slowly shutting.

“Should we finish the story in the morning?” Meila stifles a chuckle.

“Yeah,” Vesper pulled Harlen down into his lap and combed his fingers through her hair, putting her into a deep sleep.