A Hollow Night
I had just gotten into the fandom of Rise of the Guardians ever since my nephew insisted we watch that while I was babysitting him. It was an awesome movie with even more awesome and beautiful animations. I have yet that chance to read the books, but maybe I will someday.
I do not own Rise Of The Guardians, it belongs to Dreamworks
The first thing I remembered seeing when waking up was the darkness and the first I remembered feeling was the cold chill of wind. Why was I cold? I have no idea, and then suddenly everything started to brightened up. I was confused and curious, so I opened my eyes and what I saw was something that I won't forget for a long, long time.
The moon was shining so bright in the sky above me, it was so big and I couldn't look away.
Its light felt so gentle that I couldn't help but want to just lie there and bask in it. The wind blew a cold breeze against my face that it snapped me out of my daze. That was when I noticed where I was for the first time. I was lying on the ground covered with autumn's drying leaves, the leaves covered everywhere that I could hardly find any patch of dirt underneath but that wasn't what caught my attention the most. It was the nondescript headstone beside me that got me shooting up to my feet; I was lying on a grave.
Surprised and shocked, I scrambled to get up but in my haste I end up toppling backwards and fell back to the ground in a heap.
"Ow…that hurts…" I grumbled.
I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked at the grave before me. The leaves had covered every inch of earth that only the headstone was left standing over it. I looked around to see if anyone saw me earlier but then I realized that I was in a forest, alone. Tall trees surrounded the area, steadily losing their leaves as autumn marches on towards winter. There were no signs of any other living beings, I was alone.
"Great… just great. Alone in a forest and woke up on a grave, perfect." I muttered sarcastically to myself, using one hand to rub at my face tiredly and raked through my messy dark red hair.
Wait. Red hair?
I pulled a few strands on my bangs for a closer look, it was hard to make it out in the moonlight but something tells me that my hair had the wrong color. How do I know that? No idea.
Sighing, I got back up, brushing off the dirt and leaves that got stuck on me before I went to the grave to get a better look. The stone marker was plain and it had no names written on it, only the word R.I.P and something that looked like letters, carved on the stone not with a chisel but perhaps something sharp and narrow, like a knife? I tried reading the words but then I heard noises coming from beyond the sea of trees around me.
It sounded like heavy falls of horse hooves and a wagon.
People!
Filled with hope and burning curiosities, I left the clearing and rushed past the trees. Letting only my sense of hearing and the moonlight guiding me through, my feet got caught over tree roots a few times but that didn't stop me from running until I reached the edge of the forest. I saw lights burning between the trees and heard voices coming from that direction. Excitedly, I ran towards that direction and came out to an open dirt road. A little further down from me was a horse wagon and two men holding lanterns crouching next to it. A large brown horse was at the front of the wagon where another person was sitting in the driver seat.
Immediately I went over to them.
"Hello! Excuse me, sirs!"
"…damnit! Of all the times to get stranded." One man grumbles a he inspects a rather beat up wagon wheel, its frame cracking.
"How long is the village from here? If we go slow we might just make it before it gives out completely." Another pipes in, holding a lantern over the other man for better lighting.
"Uhm…sirs? Excuse me? Hello?" I waved a hand in front of the man crouching on the ground, yet he didn't seem to notice me.
'Are they ignoring me?' That's rather rude.
"We don't have much choice, either leave the wagon behind or walk on foot, we can't stay here." The man on the driver seat said, looking around cautiously.
Okay, I'm getting a bit pissed here.
"Hello?! I'm standing right in front of you people! Are you blind?! Are you deaf?!" I reached forward to grab the nearest man by his shoulder but then the worst thing happened…
…my hand went right through him.
"Whoa! Wh-what the-?" I choked back a scream when a hand went through my chest and I stumbled to the side. "Wha-what's going on?!" I searched myself for any injuries but there was none; I was still whole and intact.
So…what the hell was that?!
I looked up to see the men began unloading their cargo from the wagon.
"We'll leave on foot, it's faster that way." They strapped some of their packs to the back of the horse as they unhooked its harness from the wagon. Fear and panic gripped at me as they turn to leave.
"No…wait…don't leave me here!" I tried to touch them again and like before I went through them.
'No…this can't be happening…'
My breathing began to grow labored as my heart pounded against my chest, threatening to burst into pieces. My chest tightened painfully and my stomach began to churn, a sense of deep emptiness began to spread inside me and I felt a cold like I've never felt before.
I needed to get away from there. So I ran. I ran back into the forest, not bothering to look where I was going, I just ran and ran until a root snagged at my foot and sent me flying to the ground. I laid there sprawled and unmoving, my heart still beats like it wanted to jump out of my chest and my whole body suddenly felt heavy, as if chained down by something.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Calm down. Calm down. I chanted the words in my head like a mantra until I finally forced my limbs to work. I pushed myself up to all fours, panting as if my strength was being drained by something. My fists balled tightly till the knuckles turned white, my head bowed low as I gritted my teeth. I pounded the ground with one fist and pushed myself to stand, staggering my way back towards the clearing in the forest where I first woke up.
The grave.
It didn't take long for me to reach it and the moment I stepped into the clearing, the rest of my strength vanished and I crumpled down, right on top of the nameless grave.
My mind was in turmoil, even as I lay as still as the corpse that was possibly beneath me in the ground.
'What happened to me? Why…why didn't they see me? Am I…am I a ghost?'
Wait…ghost?
'…a grave in the forest…there was no name…no one sees or hears me…I couldn't touch them…'
Instantly I was up and sitting in front of the headstone, my eyes carefully taking its entire features in. With trembling hands, I hesitantly touched the cold slab of stone and I gasped when my fingers brushed against the carvings I found earlier…it was a name. The grave did have a name.
Tracing the sloppily carved letters, I began forming a full sentence in my head.
H.A.R.L.E.Y.O.W.E.N
Harley Owen
"Th-this is…"
-That was your name no longer-
I snapped my head around to see who said that, but to my confusion there was no one there. Did I imagine it?
"Well this is really swell! On top of being a ghost, I am now insane!" I groaned, thumping my head against the stone.
-You're not-
'Huh?'
-Above you-
I looked up and saw the moon again as it grew brighter in the night sky.
"The moon?"
That voice…it came from the moon? It was…talking to me?
-Yes-
I sucked in a deep breath and then let it out…the moon was talking to me. Maybe…maybe it can give me answers.
"Please…please tell me what's going on! Why-why am I here?! Why didn't those people see me?!"
-Not yet-
"What do you mean 'not yet'? Not yet to what?! Are you saying that I can't know that now?!"
-In time, you will learn everything-
"No! I want to know now! Please! Please…please just tell me." A sob threatened to escape me but I choked it back, looking at the moon pleadingly.
-In time…-
Hope bled out of me, replaced by the simmering rage beneath my skin. I howled at the moon, I screamed in rage, in frustration and above all, I cried in grief. The wind whirled around me, as if responding to my anguish, causing the leaves to fly everywhere around me. I punched the ground repeatedly with my fists, unaware that with each time I hit the ground all the trees around began to lose their leaves faster, they began to wither and by the time I realized it…
…the forest around me was dead.
Dead…everything was dead.
I…I did this…I killed the forest.
'How…why did-?'
I looked back to the moon and took another deep breath…earlier, it told me something. Something about my name.
"Before…you said that Harley Owen was my name no longer…what-what is my name now?"
-Watcher of the night gate, shepherd of Autumn-
-Welcome, Hal Lowen-
And then the moon said nothing more to me.
And that was a long, long time ago.
A/N: Hopefully it's not too bad, been a while since I last wrote something. Am getting a bit rusty here.