The Hereafter
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A/n: As a note to all reading this, I will do my utmost best to try to keep all of the characters in, well, character... so, bear with me, and if I start to change the characters, review and mention it. Like, if you can't see Jenny doing this or that, please mention it to me. And if you find any grammatical errors whatsoever, it is because, though I have put forth my best efforts, grammatical errors always seem to fritter into the story. :-) So, bear with me, and if you find any grammatical errors, please alert me right away! If you have any critical suggestions, go on right ahead and send them my way. Anyways, on to the story, the one about a dark, chilling land that drifted alongside the human world. The place where the malevolent, ancient inhabitants were always watching...
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Chapter One: Darkness Gathers
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Dark and cold, the Shadow World reflected the hearts of its inhabitants. Chilling mist swirled around its dark, empty hallows and icy winds whipped the dark crevices, touching and leaving a sheet of ice. Icicles hung from the dead trees nearby. It was so cold... breathing the air would have been like breathing in glassy ice shards. Then, ancient eyes with a malevolent, hungry shine appeared, glaring through the darkness and mist.
Slowly, hideous misshapen forms rose from the inky, chilling darkness. Moving forward, they gathered in a gruesome assembly of shadows. In the darkest hallow, the shades waited in the empty, claustrophobic silence. And, in the blackest watches of the eleventh hour, a tall Shadow Man slowly rose from the darkest part of the shadows, and the other shades parted to let the spirit pass. The shadow padded silently into the center, and spoke in a melodious voice that sounded like distant, lonely wind chimes on an icy mountainside, "Our numbers are too few. Let us carve into the rune stave."
A quick, harsh murmuring rippled through the darkness, but silenced as a sudden unbearable cold settled upon the group. Incensed whispers dotted the darkness and the Shadow Man sneered, his crocodile eyes flashing angrily. The shade moved back and forth through the assembly, and said harshly, "Have any of you the nerve to speak out against it? You all know that I have the power to unmake." His voice took on a fearful pitch as he said the last sentence, and with these words, a glowing rune stave appeared in his hand. The shadows pressed back in mortal fear as the Shadow Man glided from shade to shade, at a slow and taunting pace. He padded slowly back to the center of the assembly, and closed his eyes…hiding the cold, golden stare. The shade continued on, and his voice seemed to lose some of its enchanting flow as he whispered fiercely, "But, we must remake, for the shades of the hollow have faded...lost to the nightmares and realms of thought after the arrival of the outsiders. We have lost and we feel the loss of..." All of the melodious quality in the Shadow Man's voice had disappeared as he harshly hissed the name, "Julian."
The darkness that had gathered in the hallow seemed to tremble as the Shadow Men planned the Game... though they had no claim. Yet.
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"Jenny..."
Where was that voice coming from? Why did it sound so familiar?
"Whatever else I did, I loved you...maybe you'll dream about me sometime, and that will help me get there." That voice...it was imprinted in her mind forever but whose was it? She had enough sense to realize that it sounded...ethereal, otherworldly and that reminded her of -
Jenny suddenly felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She almost hysterically yelled out in that unending darkness as she realized who it was. "Yes, I do dream about you. I'm sitting in the darkness hearing your last words, dreaming for you, and I feel so empty. Julian, I never found you... I'm so sorry that I couldn't dream you free. Why am I so alone now?"
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Jenny woke up to the sound of a ringing phone and blindly felt for it in the darkness of her apartment. Tired from moving furniture and unpacking, she had gotten caught up in a phone conversation with Audrey, who asked for the hundredth time whether Jenny was okay spending the first night alone. Busy chatting about Michael, the move, and the hectic business of it all, Jenny had only gotten halfway through her packing. Now, she had been caught completely unprepared for her first night in the new apartment. Sure, she had gotten some of the furniture set up, the food into the refrigerator, and the telephones plugged in, but she had unpacked only about half of all her belongings and had forgotten, of all things, to plug in the lamp next to her bed. Mentally kicking herself for not remembering the lamp, she fumbled for the phone wondering who would call at such a late hour. Of course, Jenny realized with a small sigh, that she had also forgotten to plug in her bedside clock. Relieved, that she finally felt the smooth plastic of the portable telephone, she picked it up, and groggily murmured a hello.
"Jenny?"
"Yes, this is Jenny. Dee?"
"The one and only... so, I have just gotten about 156 miles onto my World Perks Traveler's Card."
Jenny managed a small smile despite her grogginess. Dee, as outspoken and reckless as usual. They had only been one month out of school, and were heading to college. Despite graduating high school, it seemed like they hadn't changed a bit. Oh, God, the apartment was in no shape for Audrey or Dee. "Are you still in the air?"
"Yes, and using one of those airplane phones. I'm enjoying these fruitcups because the plane is about forty minutes from landing, did you know that they had a choice between pork chops and lamb roast for the airplane dinner? That's going to take forever to work off..."
Jenny suddenly remembered how she had promised to pick Dee up. Quickly interrupting Dee before she forgot, Jenny asked, "Do you need me to pick you up, still?"
"I've heard taxi rates are killer in this city."
She could just see Dee with a wild smile on her face. Jenny remembered mentioning that to Dee in a conversation they'd had weeks ago, and smiled, amazed that Dee still remembered. They continued chatting, and Jenny hurriedly shuffled out of her bed, and stifling a small cry of pain as she stubbed her toe against the box, she managed to hold the phone between her ear and her shoulder. Fumbling around in the dark, Jenny felt her way into the living room and switched on the small lamp, the only unpacked lamp in the apartment.
"They really are, Dee...so, I'll be picking you up then." Looking down at the many labels that lined the stack of many, many unpacked boxes, Jenny finally found the one labeled Clothes and tried to pull it out from the stack without taking down the rest of the tower. Still talking to Dee, they found themselves on the topic of Tom.
"How is he?"
Still rummaging through the box for something, anything to wear, Jenny mumbled, "All right."
"How is he settling into his new dorm?"
Jenny found a black trench coat in one hand, and a sequined pink tank top in the other. She was tired, and resigned herself to the fact that she was going to end up wearing a very odd-looking outfit. Then again, it was New Haven after all. Most of the population consisted of college kids, and Jenny had seen people wear the strangest things here. Next, desperately trying to find a pair of pants or something to wear, it wasn't surprising that she was a bit distracted, but she managed to reply, "Good. I think he got his first microwave oven yesterday. Plus..." A strand of honey colored hair fell onto Jenny's face and she hurriedly blew it out of the way with an irritated breath.
"...he hasn't mentioned Julian. And, I don't know, he..." Suddenly feeling slightly frustrated, Jenny said, "...oh, Dee, can't we just talk about this later?"
Dee suddenly sounded alarmed. "Sunshine, is everything okay?"
Finally, pulling out a pair of dark blue jeans, and leaving the box of clothes a total mess, Jenny had something to wear to the airport.
"Yes. I'm totally fine! I have to go get ready to pick you up."
"Alright Sunshine, but call my cell if you need anything."
"Thanks Dee... I'll see you soon."
Jenny quickly hung up and tossed the phone absentmindedly aside. There was a brief silence as Jenny tried to figure out exactly why Tom had been a bit distanced lately. Was it because she hadn't invited him over yet? The apartment was far far from being in shape for visitors. For crying out loud, if people needed to sit down in the living room, it was a choice between one leather armchair and about fifteen different cardboard boxes!
At least she had Dee coming over soon. It would be so much easier, Jenny thought, unpacking with four hands instead of two.
And Tom probably would understand, considering that he'd just moved into his dorm about a week ago. Jenny, hurriedly got out of her pajamas and into the clothes she had haphazardly picked during her conversation with Dee. She had just gotten her arms through the sleeves of her trench coat about five minutes later. Rushing around, she grabbed a Brush-Up from her bathroom and her purse from where it was sitting on the leather armchair, and was about to leave, but decided to bring an apple and a granola bar just in case she got hungry at the airport. Airport food certainly didn't come cheap anymore. Pausing on the way out to lock the door, Jenny smiled a little at the sight of the flowers she had put on the little apartment window ledge. Their bright colors did wonders to the apartment décor.
With that, Jenny left to find her red Camry and drove off to the airport.
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