Nightmare-by KilalaKurosaki
I can only keep remembering you who disappeared. My unchanging feelings toward you. Deeply, deeply even now. Yes...I love you.
Kieta kimi o omoitsuzukeru koto shika dekinakute.
Boku no kawaru koto no nai kimi e no omoi wa.
Fukaku, fukaku ima mou. Sou…aishiteru.
~**~
I stand in the doorway of one of the many rooms in this empty, haunting house. This house is one that has escaped the arms of Time and stands forever on the beach of muted grey sand that lays before the supple pink sea of Dawn. Eternally, indefinitely, and forevermore embracing the silent time that reigns between the darkness of Night and the light of Day, this house is one of constant Twilight.
I can't remember how I got here, and I've been trapped in the unrelenting halls of this house for so long that I've forgotten what the world beyond looks like. I've forgotten what a caressing breeze feels like as it combs through my hair with loving fingers. I've forgotten what moist, nurtured earth smells like as the scent envelops me in a cashmere blanket of serenity. I've forgotten just how blue the sky can appear on a beautiful day, and how bright the stars can twinkle against its sable backdrop on a clear night. I've forgotten what chirping songbirds sound like and I've forgotten the pleasure of the simple things in life.
All of this has be replaced by an almost constant fear that gnaws at my belly. The fear of sinister whispers and writhing shadows and the pitch-black souls of the creatures that prowl the halls of this Timeless house, preying and feasting on the souls of the weak. I have no wish to ever encounter these creatures, so I never leave my room. I've seen glimpses of them before: wispy wraiths with festering holes for eyes and mouths forever frozen open in the manner of wails. They slither in and out of my vision as if slithering in and out of existence. They know that I can see them, and their desire to consume me is palpable. I refuse to give them the chance.
As these musing occupy my mind, a shiver is coming into existence along my spine. The shiver turns into a tingle and then into a jolt and every hair on my body stands on end. I am snatched from my thoughts and my eyes focus on the depths of the hallway stretching on before me. The whispers start and a thick fog seeps up from between the cracks in the old floorboards beneath my feet. I'm frozen in terror and my heart is pounding at my ribcage as if it wants to burst free. It takes an ridiculous amount of strength, but I manage to shift a foot back and grasp the edge of the door. My stomach has worked itself into an ice knot.
I can feel them. And then from the tendrils of mist, they form. Three of them. They cast their bottomless eyes on me and sickle like talons slide down from the tips of the wisps that mark where their arms should be. All I can do is stare. They turn to me…move closer.
Move! I command myself.
It takes everything within me to step back and slam the door closed. My hands are shaking as I twist the lock and stumble towards my bed. I stand at its edge for a very long time, trembling, before a crystal like tear slides down my cheek.
I thank God.
I've lived through another encounter.
~**~
I've mentioned that the fear that I feel living in the Timeless house is almost always constant.
There is a man who visits me every night when the wicks of the candles beside my bed begin to simmer with flickering flames. He's tall and pale and beautiful with hair the color of ravens' wings and eyes the color of rich wine. His gaze, darkened by the shadow of his lashes captivates me. I can feel a dark kind power radiating from him, but it doesn't frighten me for I can also feel warmth. He protects me. He loves me. And when he's with me, I can't feel those creatures.
His wings may be black, but he is still my Angel.
When he appears in my room, silently phasing from the shadows pooled in a corner, I'm in my bed, crying. I don't realize that he's with me until I can feel his weight depress the mattress as he joins me. I look up at him. There is no sympathy in his gaze. Only reassurance.
He's here. And I'm safe.
He gathers me into his arms and holds me to his chest with a murmur of comforting words. He smells of incense and amber; his scent is one I have come to associate with security. I bury my nose into the dark fabric of his shirt and wrap my arms around his torso. It's in moments like this, the nights that I spend with him, that I feel like I'm alive and stored away from the bleakest and most evil things in life. I am cherished. Loved.
He's never told me what drew him to me in the first place. And I don't care. His presence and the comfort that it brings is all the matters. The press of his smooth lips to my tear-stained cheeks and the steady beating of his heart beneath my fingers. The way my name leaves his lips. The way his hands feel pressing me to him until there is no space between us. His love for me seeping through my being and warming every inch of my body. That's all that matters.
~**~
When he comes, he feeds me. Fine cheeses and supple breads and spicy meats and rich wines that never seem to run out. He never eats with me, only watches with those red eyes of his. I've learned not to be self-conscious in this presence, but my face never fails of warm when his gazes becomes intense. This time is the same as always. I'm suddenly aware of every slow breath he takes; every line of his beautiful face. The sensual curve of his lips when he grins. His graces as he rises from his seat and approaches me.
I gulp down the wine I'd been sipping and set the fine crystal goblet aside. Before my fingers can leave the stem, his lips are on mine and he's forcing me into the pillows. His body is warm against mine and his weight settling onto my hips is almost as delicious as his mouth is. I lace my fingers into his silken hair as his hands come up to cradle my face and neck. His lips move deliberately and slowly against mine; there is an underlying hunger to his ministrations lingering behind every brush and stoke of his slender fingers.
We break for air, and he holds his self up above me. I'm speechless at the sight of him: the way the light of the candles seem to make his ivory skin glow, the soft shadows it casts over his face and how they make his already painfully beautiful lashes even darker. His hair curtains the sides of his face and I reach up to wrap a lock around my finger. A light chuckle escapes him before he kissing me again; it's deeper this time and that underlying hunger simmers to the surface.
With each passing second, his boldness grows and we soon are tittering into territory we've never explored. He pushes the airy layers of my thin nightgown up around my hips and my legs snake around his waist. He grasps a thigh with his cold fingers, pushes it higher as he presses his hips to mine and I gasp. Goosebumps erupt into existence all over my tingling body and he nudges my chin up to gain better access to my yielding mouth.
Each moan, each sigh, each caress only serves to heighten the temperature in the room. I can sense his lust just as clearly as I can feel him moving atop me. He's protected me for so long; chased away all the darkest shadows. My love for him is deeper than the sea. I want to give myself to him.
His hand sliding under my nightgown and up my stomach tells me that he wants to take me.
His control over the kiss deteriorates until its sloppy and open-mouthed and we're breathing and sighing and moaning into each others mouths. I give a small noise of surprise when his fingers finally reach their target, and the night doesn't seem like it's going to last long enough.
Suddenly, there is pounding at the bedroom door and I start beneath him. We both cast our eyes to the door. My expression is stunned, his is sullen. He looks at me before wordlessly slipping from the bed. I push my gown down over my thighs and watch him make his way across the room. An unsettling feeling settles in the pit of my gut and is validated when he opens the door.
Fine coils of mist slither into the room. There in the doorway, sucking up all the light that reaches them, stands a group of black cloaked figures. The lead one is holding a golden scale in its pasty gnarled hand. It takes a rattling breath before speaking in a hushed and gravelly voice that saturated in power and authority.
"You," he rasps to my, for he has the voice of a male. "Have committed a grave crime. By falling in love with and partaking in carnal pleasures with a human. You shall be punished accordingly."
I'm too shocked for words, but when of the cloaks step forward, a heavy silver chain hanging between the two of them, I cry out.
"Wait! What's going on?"
I sit up to move and the leader holds out his hand. "This has nothing to do with you, child," he hisses as the others restrain my love's arms with the chains.
My stomach has worked its self into a sickening vice. My chest is tight and I can't breathe. His eyes meet mine and he holds my gaze for a painful second before he solemnly smiles.
His voice is calm; he's accepting his fate. "I'm sorry," he tells me.
And then he and the cloaks are gone. The mist that came with them vacuums through the door and slams it shuts.
For several moments that flow past like cooled molasses, I sit stunned in the bed. And then the weight of the occurrence I've just witnessed slams into my chest.
He's gone.
They took him.
He's gone.
My bare feet slap down onto the floor with a sting and carry me to the door. I throw it open and am met by the halls of the Twilight house.
"No!" I scream. "You can't take him! Please bring him back!"
My cries echo tauntingly. And as they fade away, unheard…the whispers rise.
He's left her….She's alone….Her soul…Her soul…We're so hungry….Her soul….Defenseless.
Fog bleeds from the walls in rolling waves. It pools on the floor and I move back to slam the door. Tears are stinging in my eyes.
"They have him….they have him. They took him."
So delicious…her soul….Defenseless.
My vision blurs for an instant before the hot tears spill over. I take another step back, and my heart sinks into a seething pool of despair…
Before I lock my gaze onto the depths of the corridor before me and take off running.
Something powerful stirs and turns its attention towards me. I shove its presence into the farthest recesses of my mind. Because only one thing matters:
Finding him.
The entity creeps along behind me, billowing and bubbling and murmuring with a hungry power. Every hair on my is at attention and common sense screams for me to go back. Leave the open space and tuck away to a safe place for the monster following me is the nastiest of them all. I can't return, though. Not yet. Not yet.
I reach a door and throw it open.
The room within is empty and my heart squeezes.
The entity isn't pleased with my exploration of its territory and releases a low growl.
I take off before it can catch up.
I reach another door. My heart is going wild in my chest and adrenaline is making my whole body tingle as I grasp the cool doorknob in my sweaty hand. I twist it slowly, praying that I find something. I open the door.
Nothing.
And more anger. It's closer now. So close that I can feel its rancid breath on my back.
Through my terror, I force my limbs to move and carry me away. As I'm pounding to the next door, I know that this time is my last. A coolness is snaking around my ankles and I know that it's the King reaching forward to grab me. This is my last chance. He's furious and so close. If this next door doesn't give me what I need, then I done for.
I throw myself into the door and rattle the doorknob several times before it gives and twists. My breath catches, and a wave of heat washes over me as I receive my last burst of adrenaline.
I push the door open.
And see that he's inside.
A sob is ripped from my throat nonetheless, for he lays in the bed, his empty eyes open and staring unseeingly at the ceiling. Dark blood seeps from the corner of his mouth and pools beneath his body onto the pristine white sheets he's on.
He's dead.
I scream. I cover my mouth but my hand doesn't stop the screams. Tears flood from my eyes and my legs give way. I fall, shaking and sobbing to the ground and press my forehead to the floor. My sobs choke me; steal the breathe I no longer want. They tear at my abdomen. Fill my head like an unending, gut-wrenching requiem.
The coolness of its embrace snakes up my torso and I don't try to get up and flee.
He's gone and with him, my purpose for surviving.
My sobs still ripping through my defeated body, I resign myself to my fate….And lay motionlessly on the cold floor.
FIN.
