It's cold here. The night is dark and the air is damp. The glittering marble of the gravestone I'm perched on is icy beneath me. A vase of flowers, sunflowers, has been knocked over a small photograph of a smiling elderly couple. The couple lie together in death as they had been together in life. While sad there is no tragedy there. The tragedy lies before me. I cling on to the well-kept marker of a happy life to prevent myself from falling. I can smell fear and heartbreak and despair and sorrow in the air over the coppery scent of blood. Silence cloaks this place. A chill wind whispers over my body bringing the smells to me and if I could I'd gag on the choking odour. For the first time in years I wish I could cry. To find some way to relieve the pressure inside me. Instead I find a way to release my feelings in another way. I let out a shrill cry into the darkness for people that probably don't even know I'm here. People that I can neither comfort nor help. All I can do is be another witness to this night. I am one of the few people that know what happened here and to understand. I stay there till dawn. A silent watcher in the night.
Well, I guess to understand how I ended up mourning for people I don't even know, you need to know my full story. My name is Midnight. That's not my real name of course. I forgot that name a long time ago. This name was given to me by a stranger and since I didn't have anything else I just went with it. Not that it really matters since I don't really have any use for a name now but it gives me a sense of me I guess. Something that's mine.
When I first awoke alone in a field I didn't or couldn't remember anything that had happened before that point. I felt wrong. Or maybe not wrong, just different. Is there even a difference between the two? Either way I was no longer what I had been. I still can't express what I felt in those early days of confusion so I'll not try. I pushed myself up. Or at least I tried to. My balance was off and again that feeling of difference settled over me. My head felt heavy and I tipped forward landing on the soft ground once again. I lay still where I was, merely looking up at the sky. It was a scorching hot day with no sight of a cloud. Cows lazily munched on the grass, ignoring me. Trees loomed over the fence surrounding the field. My field as I came to think of it after a while. Everything seemed so big around me and for some reason I felt small. I tried to think back to a time before 'The Field' but there was nothing. Just a thick fog of darkness. I didn't question it at the time. There was a large white house over-looking the field and for some reason I felt attracted to it. It felt like safety. Again I didn't question it. As I started to move my body began to feel normal again and moving became easier and smoother and I stumbled less. I still didn't question it. I started to get hungry when I saw a dead rabbit in the grass, caught in a snare. I cocked my head to the side as I considered eating it. Now I started to question it but I soon forgot about it as I reached the white house. I saw something glinting in the sun and all of a sudden I found myself next to it. Although I didn't know how I reached it I stopped questioning it again. It just was.
I moved slowly in the open window. There was about a foot of distance between the window and the bed. I landed on a light brown bedspread with dark brown squares. I bounced up and down on the soft duvet cover as I looked around. Purple walls. Blue carpet. Framed graduation certificate. Mirror on the wall. Shelves covered in books. I studied the books. Of course I couldn't read the titles but some had pictures that I recognised. My mind was too busy to question it. Names sprung to mind. Dracula, The Horse Whisperer, Watership Down, Black Beauty, Interview With a Vampire, Tam O'Shanter, The Works of Shakespeare, A Christmas Carol, Magician, Carrie, Flesh market Close. A strange black box sat next to a lamp on a bedside table. For some reason I felt that it should be doing something. I stabbed at it and jumped slightly as music started. Shot Down in Flames by AC/DC. I hopped up onto the headboard. It was better there. Less squishy, more secure. Then I saw them. The patches of colour on the wall. Photographs, my brain provided the word. Many of the faces were recurring. An older guy (Dad), an older woman(Mum), a slightly older woman(sister-Diane), a short, skinny female(best friend-Anna), a tall, slim male(friend-Dave), another ginger male(friend-Alistair), another curly haired male(friend-Craig) collectively called 'the boys', a small infant(Nephew-Arran), a tiny baby in pink (niece-Isla), two teenage girls(step nieces - Lucy and Libby). Backgrounds and the number of people varied. Memories of the events started to return. Diane and Martins wedding, a Snow Patrol concert with Anna, a road trip with Anna and the boys, a new born Arran, another of Arran in a Tigger outfit, Diane's graduation, a Dr Who exhibition with Anna, Crazy Golf with Alistair, water bus in Paris with Craig Anna and the boys, a day spent fishing with my two nieces, Buckingham Palace in London, a picnic in the Scottish Highlands. More images sprang to mind and I remembered. Dances, school, trips to the Grand Canyon, a trip to Vegas, a horse named Nasa (he came with the name). I recognised the recurring brown haired, grey eyed, athletic person. It was me. I remembered my life. I had a different body then. I had been human once. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Now I had dark black, almost blue feathers instead of the brunette hair, wings instead of arms, claws instead of feet. I no longer had the round head, nose and mouth. I had a long powerful beak, a narrow head, a sleek aerodynamic body. The only thing that remained of me was my eyes. They were still a stormy grey which isn't exactly normal for a raven. I was now Midnight.
I had lost everything. My family, my friends, my life, my future. Even my body. All because I was a young cocky student and hadn't known what I was getting myself into when I started messing around with things I didn't understand. That was my first experience of the supernatural.
