Darkness, Light, Shadow…
Hickory, dickory, dock…
Which one, which one…
A mouse went up the clock…
The light is too bright,
The clock struck one…
But the dark is too dark…
The mouse ran down!
The Shadow is like the roll of the dice…
Hickory, dickory, dock…
Ariela gasped in precious air as she sat straight up in her bed, sweat pouring down her face and neck. Her bangs stuck to her face while her hands gripped at the sheets; a nightmare. A horrible nightmare, fortunately one that she could not remember, but her nightmares nowadays had that same chilling nursery rhyme,
"Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse went up the clock,
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down!
Hickory, dickory, dock!"
The reason why always is just out of her grasp-
A shadow shifted in her peripheral vision, sliding against the wall and behind her dresser. Ariela's hand slowly crept towards her nightstand as the shadow moved around by her dresser, acting like a child would; it began to give off sounds of child-like merriment but they were diluted and morphed into bone-chilling, hollow reminders; her hand grasped the flashlight and she quickly turned it onto the shadow, and turned it on.
A little tri-colored tuff of hair tipped in amethyst was all that could be seen as little arms covered a cherubic face. Ariela breathed a sigh of relief when she seen that it was only her son that was playing around her dresser; his hamster probably got out again.
"Hey there little man, what are you doing up so late?" Ariela asked, she flipped her flashlight off as she turned away to turn on her lamp, the room flooded with a golden glow,
"Shadow got out and came in here so I came in here and he went under your dresser, so I started to chase him around your dresser…" Ariela chuckled as she turned back to her son as he held his pet hamster in his chubby hands.
"Yugi, what have I told you about locking Shadow's cage up?"
"To tug on it to make sure it's locked; but I did mama! I did!" Ariela gave her son a look,
"Hmm… well, let's go ahead and put him back in his cage and go back to bed, Ok?" Yugi nodded and followed his mother out of her room…
Ariela closed her door quietly as she returned from her son's room; after much coaxing Yugi admitted that he had removed the hamster from the cage and had been playing with him when he accidentally dropped him which had sent his furry friend scurrying towards her room where a game of cat and mouse ensued. Ariela climbed into her bed and turned off her lamp; darkness fell over her room again and her eyes closed as sleep began to take over.
A shadow peaked out from behind her dresser as it sensed that its target was sound asleep and that no one else was up and about this time. It crept over the carpet, barely making a sound; hands reached up and gently lifted up a hood, showing a mass of tri-colored hair tipped in crimson, angular features, and bloody-red eyes. The man smirked as his eyes raked over Ariela's form on the bed; she thought that she could escape him and take his only son with her, such a preposterous idea that he would take care to eliminate from his dear lover's thoughts.
Ariela's bed creaked only a little when the man climbed onto the bed, she only shifted slightly and twitched a little before going still again, the man chuckled mentally; this was just too easy. He slowly peeled back the covers from Ariela's form stopping only when she started to twitch some more before going still again, he threw away the covers when they had been completely removed from her body. The man turned Ariela onto her back and straddled her thighs as his hands gently moved up her chest, neck, and finally rested on her face, dark tendrils oozed from his fingers and into the girl's head; Ariela's features began to twist as the dream of his choosing take form….
Ariela moaned as she rubbed her head, a dull throb settled in her frontal lobes again for the second time that day and the sunlight wasn't making it any better. A deep chuckle erupted behind her causing her to jump,
"Dammit Yami! What are you trying to do, scare me to death?" Ariela glared at her lover as a smirk broke out on his face,
"Sorry, I wasn't but I couldn't help but find it funny that you seem to reaffirm my thoughts on you being allergic to the sun, it would explain why you're so pale…" Ariela glared at Yami,
"I'm glad that you find my pain hilarious…"she deadpanned,
Ariela remembered this, this was the day that her headaches had struck her hard during the first days of her pregnancy with her son, though at the time she didn't know that she was pregnant… Why was she dreaming about this? Yami was across the ocean and well away from her and her son, why was she…
Ariela gasped as the baby kicked a little harder than usual, her hand flying to her engorged stomach as it kicked again, this time harder. 'Where are you, Yami?' she wondered as she looked at the clock on the wall as the little hands indicated that it was 11:30pm, way later than he should be… The door downstairs in the game shop slammed shut, curses wafted from the staircase as her lover made his way up the stars, stopping to turn on a light and froze as he spotted Ariela sitting in a chair facing directly towards where he was and what Ariela had seen made her heart freeze;
Yami was covered in blood with not a single scratch.
Ariela remembered this night all too well; it was the night that she began to suspect what he had been doing on late nights like that one, her investigation led her to make a horrible discovery that her husband-to-be was a murdering sociopath, and what she had to do next was one of the hardest things that she had ever done in her lifetime…
Ariela's eyes leaked tears as she watched Yami being carted away by the police; she had hired a private investigator when she had asked Yami why he was covered in someone else's blood and he didn't give her a straight answer… she wanted to be sure… Blood-red eyes stared deep into her soul as emotions flared through their depths; shock, desperation, and betrayal.
Ariela cringed at the last memory, still feeling the effects of that stare….
Ariela stared at the police chief, "He… He what?"
"He escaped Amata-san."
"H-How? How did he,-"
"We're still trying to figure that out ourselves, but, the most important thing right now is that we have to get you to a safe place…"
"Wait, safe place? What- why?"
"Because you're the one who put him away and you're the one he's going to be coming after, Amata-san. I've contacted the U.S Embassy and they know the full situation; you will be going back to America until he is caught. This is for you and your unborn child's safety."
She ran to America five years ago and had given birth to her son at the Japanese airport a few weeks before she had returned to her homeland - causing a huge headache for her when it came down to whether her son had double citizenship or not but it was proven that he did - Yami still has not been caught and could be anywhere… Fear seeped into her heart as images of him came to her mind; Yami finding them and torturing her was a prominent one, another was him finding them and taking her son away from her as she bled to death on the kitchen floor…
Ariela's eyes popped open as her dream ended and her blood ran cold as she saw the very last thing that she ever wanted to see in her life time; Blood-Red eyes.
"Hi koi, missed me?"
Yugi rubbed his eyes as he awoke that morning, the sun had awakened him and sleep had evaded him much to his annoyance, but, he decided that he'd spent enough time in bed; Yugi decided to go wake his mama up so that they could eat those pancakes that she promised that she'd make him today…
Yugi opened his door slowly as he crept through the doorway, intent on jumping on the bed and waking his mama up with a morning hug and kiss, when he noticed that she wasn't in bed; actually the bed didn't even look slept in to be honest. Yugi cocked his head to the side as confusion settled in his brain; his mama was supposed to have been in bed because she didn't have work, so where was she? Yugi left her room and walked down the hall to the bathroom to check and see if she was there but the bathroom was just like they left it the night before. Just as he was about to turn the corner to go to the living room a delicious smell caressed his nose, it was the smell of his mother's famous Special pancakes! Yugi slowly crept into the kitchen as he spotted his mother cleaning the skillet she just used and spied the stack of pancakes on the counter. Smiling evilly, he slowly crept up to his mother and just as he was a foot behind he yelled,
"BOO!" Ariela screamed as she dropped the pan into the sink and swiveled around as she held a hand to her heart. Ariela looked down to see her son rolling on the floor laughing at his latest antic; Ariela smirked as she slowly crept onto her son,
"You know, that wasn't a very nice thing to do, Yugi… the tickle monster doesn't like it when you do mean things to your mother…" Yugi stopped rolling as he spotted his mother's wiggling fingers,
"No! Not the tickle monster!" Yugi cried as he got to his feet and ran off towards his room with his mother following close behind and grabbing him before he could reach the doorknob,
"Your mine now, Yugi!" Ariela said in a grovel voice, tickling him as she made exaggerated growling noises while her son couldn't stop laughing.
Yami looked up from his book as he lounged on the living room couch, hearing the peeling laughter coming from the hallway. Good, she was honoring her part of the deal that he had proposed last night. At last, it seemed like his family was back where it belonged but Yami knew it would be awhile before Ariela would accept his touches again, maybe she would never make love with him without thinking it was rape, but he was willing to make this family whole again,
Whether Ariela liked it or not.