Prologue
A comforting hum intermingled with a faraway whisper lulled me back and forth from the dark. I shivered, an unwelcoming feeling of cold vibrating its way into the very core of my being. There was a moment of silence before another whisper prodded itself into my mind, begging for silent attention. It was soft and quiet, strong only when I gave it the ability to be. But even in its weakest moments, it continued calling out to me in ways I didn't understand. The whisper lured my body outwards, gently caressing the strange urge I felt to reach out and grab it, to grab the dim light within me I had never known existed. The whisper, however strange, was there, I knew it was, but it was direly out of reach. It was teasing me, luring me out into the clear, luring me out until-
My eyes blinked open, a different kind of light harshly filtering its way through my eyelashes. I squinted, my surroundings giving way to an alternate reality.
"How was your nap, sweety?" my mother's voice cooed somewhere in front of me.
A crude yawn escaped my lips, and I absentmindedly reached my arms out and arched my back into a deep, satisfying stretch. I nodded in her general direction, senselessly believing it somehow answered the question. Whatever I was dreaming about had already evaporated itself out of my mind, and my head felt fuzzy from the sudden, invigorating feeling of consciousness.
"Are we there yet?" I grumbly asked, realizing my parents and I were still, frustratingly enough, traveling in the car. A wave of dread flooded over me at the possibility of being here for yet another dull stretch of time. I desired nothing more than the relief that was to come when we arrived home, not simply because of what awaited us there, but also because my stomach was irritatingly empty to the point I felt sick.
Settled up at the front seat, my mother tore her gaze away from the winding road ahead of us to meet mine with her delicate, hazel-green eyes. "Hold on tight, princess. We have about another half hour left, but I know it'll be worth it when we get there. I promise," she assured me, giving me a tender, soft smile. She reached out and gently patted my knee before turning back to focus her eyes up ahead. I grinned for a moment, adoring her use of my nickname 'princess.' It always managed to uplift my dreary mood to listen… even if it meant boring my eyes out while doing so.
I dramatically sighed and threw my head back at the seat in impatience.
Today was Christmas, so it was incredibly difficult to ignore the fact that there were gifts sitting beneath that magical holiday tree of ours just waiting to be opened. Even more aggravating was wondering what the legendary Santa Claus had chosen to give me that year. It left me with the urge to climb out the window and run faster than the car if need be, despite the weight of my nap still clinging to my shoulders.
I diverted my attention away from my mother, blinking away any leftover trace of sleep, and observed the frost-bitten window that had fogged up entirely from the chilly air outside. I lifted my hand, momentarily letting my finger graze over the biting cold of the glass, before outlining the form of a present box. My heart skipped a beat at the idea that Santa had been at my house just that previous night, not to mention that of every other child across the world as well. It was inevitable noting the hard work he must have put in to prepare for his holiday, just as other worldly spirits did for theirs no matter the difficulty of the job. Only contemplating the variety of such tasks exhausted me. In many ways, I was thankful I didn't have to fulfill these pressured responsibilities myself… but then again, there was no doubt in my mind that doing anything of the kind seemed like one heap of an adventure.
My eyes hazily focused so as to survey the moving trees and gently falling snow outside. The serenity and beauty of it nearly took my breath away. It seemed so peaceful out there – so full of trees and creatures and life. The notion that there was an entire world out there seeking to be discovered left me with the overwhelming itch to explore it for my very o-
A humming crescendo, a deafening crack.
The front of the car blasted upwards, and I was uncontrollably hurled back against the cushion of the seat. I snapped my attention back up front, realizing the car had forcefully swirled itself off track, completely out of the highway. There were the horrid sounds of my father's screams as he desperately yanked the steering wheel left and right. It was evident that his feeble attempts of regaining control were useless the moment the car disobediently rolled onto its side and careened out of the highway, unavoidably carrying us with it.
I was slammed against the car door on impact. But before I could even process the turmoil, I was jolted back forwards, the sting of the seatbelt slicing into my skin leaving me utterly immobilized. The sound of dirt against metal screeched harshly against me ears, scaring away any leftover sensibility out of my mind. No longer was I keeping track of time nor direction. No longer was I scrambling to understand the predicament. Whether we were sailing in the air or hitting the ground, I didn't even know. Survival was unlikely, and that dreaded truth caused my throat to clench up in fear.
But the scream never came. I couldn't move. I couldn't cry. I couldn't even try to struggle.
I could only stare at the vivid image of my parents resisting at the inevitability, fighting until the very end. Despite of the flying glass that sought to slice us into nothing, despite of the plunging metal that dangerously claimed its way to devour us… they kept fighting.
And so I stared.
I stared until the car plummeted to a halt. I stared until the stinging cuts numbed against my skin. I stared until I witnessed the life dwindle from their eyes. I stared until my world shattered before me.
And I kept staring… until that very whisper had faded into a cold, deadly silence.