It was dark.
She could feel the coats brushing like soft fingers against her hair and bare shoulders as they shook.
The closet door put a strange muffle on the frantic shouting from the other side of it. There was her sister's voice, low, hard, bitten and indecipherable.
Then, a sudden flash of something like light but all wrong and cold and a simultaneous heavy, bone-crunching thud as something hit the paneling. Then there was screaming, high and pained and familiar in a sick was. Tru couldn't say why until she remembered an unabashed laugh, shrill and loud. The screaming drowned out Trubella's own cry of "Chas!" as she pressed her palms against the closet door. If only she could reach her, if she could touch her, everything would be alright, everything would—the screaming stopped and Tru froze.
Something warm and sticky oozed by the soles of her feet. Tru looked down. It was blood. It was like an electric shock down her spine. She snatched her hand away from the door and staggered back into the soft enfolds of the coats, as the blood continued to seep under the door.
In the shocking stillness she could hear someone rustling about the room. A shadow fell across the doorframe and paused. Then—
Crack
It was gone. Try stood shaking. It was silent, but she felt the shouts continue to echo about a hollow somewhere in her chest. Her mother's—instructions Hide, Ella!—then, screaming. Her father's—a shout, rage—nothing. Someone laughing. And—her sister… she looked down toward the dark pool, feeling sick, but saw only smoke, drifting upwards in soft whirls.
The hollow in her chest tightened. She drew in breath to scream and choked on it. She fumbled, panicking for the door—trapped, trapped—the floor was sticky, slippery beneath her feet. The doorknob, there—and then she did scream, the hot metal twisting and burning and melting into the palm of her hand. She fell back, her lungs now burning as fiercely as her hand. Down, down, into the thick, warm puddle—and—
It was dark.
Something. A throbbing. Tru opened her eyes and the thick whirl of stars spun agonizingly into place. There: Orion. There: Ursa minor.
The pain in her hand increased tenfold, a sharp excruciating ache that flared with every beat of her heart.
She could smell smoke. She tried not to think, and felt something soft brush by her legs, and a gentle touch to her hand. She jerked up, the scream faltering in her throat as her damaged lungs protested the sudden abuse.
By her side was an inky creature, seemingly formed out of the dark, lurking shapes in trees that only move in the corner of the eye. But something about it reminded her, too, of that dark fluid, creeping under the door, the cloying stickiness that now dried on the soles of her feet and hem of her nightgown. It was licking her hand, sharp fox like ears forward, and the warm length of its body nestled against her side. With each gentle touch a numb coolness caressed the burned skin soothingly. But it did nothing for the aching of her chest, for the sudden itch behind her eyes.
Suddenly, the creature's head jerked up, and sharp, slanted eyes were peering into her own. Tru's stomach twisted. The eyes… those golden eyes… they were…
"Chas?" she whispered. "Chastity?"
A/N: OK, sorry for all the gross stuff in the first chapter, but trust me! it's important to the plot. you'll see later. Leave a review if you think I should keep the story going!!!