Chapter One – Age Four
I first met Skadi when I was four years old. At the time I was home most of the time due to an epidemic going around, some type of airborne crap. During that time my mother and I had moved to the country side of the city, so there wasn't much to do anyways. I'd sit in my room and read, go feed the horses, or just go exploring while my mother went to work and my babysitter tied herself up with her boyfriend. One day, my mom had to work overtime so she called my babysitter, who shall remain anonymous, over to care for me. She didn't show and I couldn't care less. All I needed to survive was water, chips, and Lunchables.
As the day turned to night, thick storm clouds rolled into the sky. Having read a book about tornados being common, unwanted visitors during storms, I went out to go find the storm cellar. I hadn't gotten far enough to know where the cellar would be located. I walked around outside until I was fighting the wind, literally. I threw punches but it was nothing to it. It kept pushing me back until I fell backwards, hitting my head on the ground. Everything suddenly looked different. It was as if I was experiencing a slow death from a concussion that didn't fully knock me out like it should have.
I laid there, in a daze, until I saw a person in the distance. They staggered a bit and then, in no time, they were right beside me. He breathed heavily and reeked of blood. Blood made me queasy and want to puke, but I would never actually do that. I would suck it up. "Are you okay?" My voice was shaky and barely noticeable as the storm siren sounded. "You shouldn't be out here." His voice boomed loudly, even through the bashee like scream of the siren. He tried to get up, shaking. I stood up with difficulty as the wind grew stronger and the sky greener. "Let's get you inside." He picked me up in one swoop and carried me off inside the two story brick house with wrap around porch and garage.
Inside we could hear the wind and sirens but we also couldn't hear them. We had tuned them out. Upstairs in my bathroom he was cleaning himself off, letting the water run – wasteful. I sat on my daybed hoping that my mother was safe. As I prayed, I had failed to notice that he was looking at me in a way that I had only seen from my mother. She called it her 'awww' look. I snapped my head back, feeling a presence in the room with me and there he was. He noticed that I was looking at him with intent, "Ah, sorry." "It's okay," I smiled brightly, "my mom gives me that same look." "Oh." He sounded sad, kinda depressed too, "What's your name?" "Skadi." I tried to smother a laugh but I failed to do so. "What's so funny?" I told the truth, "Your accent and your name. Skadi is the name of a Norse Goddess." "You're pretty smart for a little kid." "I know." I wasn't trying to gloat and he understood. "What's your name?" "Elisabeth, after my great grandmother (A/N – that's my real great grandmother's name)." He smiled, showing blindingly white teeth and…fangs? "Are you a monster?" My eyes showed fear and it wasn't what he wanted out of me. He got down on bended knee and held me with his cold hands, "No, I'm not a monster, far from it actually, but my people are considered monsters because of what the most notorious have done. One day you will understand and when you do I'll let you be the judge of whether the definition is befitting of my character or not." I nodded my head silently, only understanding him partially, "Can we go hide in the cellar now?" He smiled, this time not showing his teeth and fangs, "Of course."
We sat in the dingy cellar, which we accessed from the kitchen, holding each other…more like Skadi holding me. Up above we heard the sound of a train rolling by and I knew something was wrong. "That's what a tornado sounds like." Skadi answered my question before I could ask it. "I can read your mind." "Amazing." I finally got a word in. "You're pretty smart kid." "Thank you." "And polite!" We talked and talked and talked until we realized that there wasn't a sound coming from the ground floor. "Stay here, I'll go check." When he said that my heart sunk, I had grown attached to him in such a short amount of time.
Time went on, maybe thirty minutes, and before I knew it I was climbing the rickety wooden staircase back upstairs. When I got there Skadi was nowhere in sight, the house was nowhere…it was destroyed to bits. I climbed over pieces of debris, calling out his name. "Skadi! Skadi! Please! Skadi!" I kept calling his name until I found him, standing infront of a car. "Skadi!" I ran up to him from behind but he didn't move, he was frozen, "Skadi?" I came around to face him, his emotionless face. Puzzled, I turn to see a car with a woman inside…my mom. "Mommie?" Skadi holds onto my arm, holding me back, "Mommy!" "Elisabeth!" Skadi tried his best to contain me, to hold me back from the car smashed by a tree and covered in electrical wires.
In the stables, which somehow escaped being destroyed, Skadi attempted to soothe me by rocking. "It'll be okay." He repeated it over and over again. "It won't be, my mom's dead." My eyes stung badly as I tried to stop myself from crying. "It will be." "How do you know?" "Because I'll come back for you. I promise that I won't forget about you, that I'll come back." I sniffled. "You promise." "I promise." "I'll be waiting."