DISCLAIMER: Digimon isn't my property, it - and all characters contained therein - are legally bound to Toei, Saban and Bandai. However, this story is mine so no plagiarizing please. If I find any evidence of this then I will be severely disgruntled, and believe me, a disgruntled Scribbler is a very dangerous thing!
This is the continuation of the previous chapter, and for the random person who e-mailed me, imago is a real word, I didn't make it up (It means effigy) If you have time on your hands to send worthless nit-picking mail 2 me then U should get a life! I mean it; don't go bitching about something I worked so hard on unless you want me to come trounce you good and proper!
(See, I told you a disgruntled Scribbler wasn't very nice) ^_^;;
___________________
"The Darkness Within" By Scribbler
Chapter Eight ~ "Shattered Moments (Part Two)"
___________________
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." - F. Scott Fitzgerald.
___________________
Step.
Step.
Step.
Rain pounded on the tarmac, throwing up a fine spray as it made contact. Wet fronds of long grass bowed their saturated heads as if in subservience at the edges of the hard black river, bouncing slightly as drops of water battered them from above. Beyond the embankment were fields stretching as far as the eye could see, green and lush, yet drowned like everything else.
Along this deserted road a figure walked. His clothes were soaked through and his hair was plastered to his head, but he neither seemed to notice nor to care. His shoes left imprints in the springy turf of the bank, which quickly filled with water as soon as he'd passed by. Small pools of murky liquid showed the path he'd taken.
Step.
Step.
Step.
How long had it been now? Days? Weeks? Months? How long had he been on this endless journey? He didn't know. His watch had been pawned a while back when he needed money for food. He hadn't been sorry to see it go. A symbol of his old life, that was all it was. Best gone from his possession if he was ever to forget.
A car blew past, sending up a flurry of raindrops from a nearby puddle. As the machine roared by, the figure could see laughing faces through the streaked glass, pointing. They'd been aiming at him. He didn't even bother to shake off the excess water; what did it matter? What did anything matter any more?
Step.
Step.
Step.
If he could just keep one foot going in front of the other, that was all that mattered. He'd travelled so far already, but not far enough. Not nearly enough by his standards.
Lift one foot, swing it forward, place it down, and shift your weight. Lift the other, swing it past its brother, find a place for it, and shift your weight again. Step. Step. Step. Keep on stepping. Keep on walking forward. Never look back. To look back was to remember, and he couldn't let himself remember.
Step.
Step.
Step.
He concentrated on stepping. His head felt light, his muscles weak. He hadn't eaten for days. Hadn't had the money, or the inclination. Blinking away the fuzziness clouding his vision, he focused harder on placing each shoe in front of the other one. Stepping slowly and carefully along the top of the grassy ridge.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Suddenly his right foot skidded on the slick sward. His legs became tangled, tripping him up, and he tumbled ungraciously down the side of the bank towards the fields. The stranger's body slipped and slid, coming to rest eventually among the tufts of sodden weeds. Face smudged with soil and dirt, he tried to lever himself up, but failed. His sickly arms simply wouldn't support his weight. He lay there, face down, unable to move. Perhaps, even, not wanting to move.
This wasn't so bad. He could barely feel the rain anymore, and the biting cold had become no more than a dull ache. If he had to remain here and wait for death to come, then so be it. He'd attempted to reach death's embrace before, but always been stopped, or saved. Gad damn the people who'd chosen to help him, damn them all to hell! He didn't want to be helped; only to lose himself in the soft embraces of Hades and Persephone.
The mysterious figure lay prone in the mud. Maybe this time he would be allowed to die. Maybe.
Maybe....
___________________
A little girl was playing in the fields of her family's farm. It had rained during the night, and the small blonde child was taking great delight in splashing in every puddle she could find. Big ones, small ones, it didn't matter what size, she jumped in all of them, revelling in the feeling of water spraying up her clothes. The damp morning air was punctured by her light laughter, accompanied every now and then by the sound of a car rushing past on the road beyond the ridge which marked the end of the farmland. These noises were few and far between, however. This terrain was as far out in the middle of nowhere as many were likely to go, and few motor vehicles had the need to come way out here.
The little girl dashed about happily, her new red Wellingtons worn proudly upon her tiny feet. She'd received them as a present from her uncle for her birthday last week, and this was the first chance she'd had to use them. She'd just turned five, and considered herself to be very grown up now - but not adult enough to pass up puddle-splashing after last night's downpour.
The skinny child was just splashing in the biggest puddle she'd discovered yet, when she suddenly heard a strange noise. Her feet ceased their incessant paddling, and had she possessed ears like those of a dog, she would have pricked them up with interest. The noise was odd, like a cross between a groan and her father's snoring. The child gigged softly to herself at this thought. Her mother hated her husband's snoring, and every night could be found trying some new method for getting him to stop. None had worked so far, and the echoing rumbles of his slumber remained a nightly occurrence in their poky house.
The five-year-old followed the bizarre sound to its source, eager to see what caused it. Finally she traced it to a mound of clothing, discarded at the foot of the embankment. Her mother had warned her not to get this near to the road, but the little girl's curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she crept closer to the dirty bundle of fabrics, inquisitiveness shining in her rosy face.
The pile of clothes appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary. Just another heap of abandoned rubbish somebody had been too lazy to take to the dump. She'd seen hundreds like this, and was slightly disappointed that it wasn't something more interesting. The girl drew closer, whatever reservations she might have had rapidly evaporating into the dank morning air. She tapped the mound with her foot, and then sprang back in surprise when it suddenly moved. Another snoring-groan was issued from within, and the youngster was about to bolt in fright when it raised its head. Her jaw dropped open as she realized that what she had initially thought of as a bundle of mouldy clothing was in fact a person!
Two bleary, hazel eyes met hers, and the blonde girl stopped in her tracks. Something in those eyes held her fast, and despite her mother's warnings of 'stranger-danger' she found herself studying this strange individual lying in the mud.
He was young, not much older than her cousin, Billy. The foreigner's mien spoke of living rough, of cold days and even colder nights spent out in the open, with only the stars for company. Spikes of dusty brown hair shot from his scalp, and a blue headband adorned his skull, pushing a substantial fringe from his hazel eyes. Tanned skin was pulled taunt across hollow cheeks, evidence of severe malnourishment, and in several places on his face festering sores were visible. In all he was a sorry specimen, looking as though he could do with a good meal and a warm bed.
Sympathy flared inside the little girl - such innocent sympathy as has never known the harsh reality of life - and she stepped forward, hands clasped behind her slender back, rocking self-consciously on the heels of her red boots.
"Hi. Who are you?"
The stranger seemed confused at being addressed by this small child, and only blinked at her in a puzzled manner. She greeted him again, voice gentle and welcoming.
"Hi. What are you doing there? What's your name?"
This time the boy replied. He was softly spoken, his tone bewildered and weak.
"My...my name? I...I..." He seemed to search for appropriate words for a second, as if he couldn't remember, then; "I...I fell....in the rain. Slipped...down the bank..."
"Did you hurt yourself?" The little girl asked. "That ridge is pretty steep. I'm not allowed to play on there because of the road." The stranger only gazed at her. She sighed in that exasperated way that five-year-olds do, placing her hands on her hips as she'd seen her mother do countless time before. "What's your name?"
The teenage boy looked at this elfin child stood before him. Tai Kamiya was still groggy from his night spent in the rain; surprised somewhat that he was still alive. Once again, he'd survived where others would have died. That was the only reason he'd lasted as long as this without perishing - though not for want of trying. No matter how bad the situation seemed he always seemed to survive to see another sunrise. It was as if he weren't human. Certainly, he didn't seem to be as limited in abilities as most boys his age...
No! He was thinking too much. Keep your mind clear, Tai. Don't think about what's happening to you, you'll only make it happen faster. Tai shook away the thoughts permeating his unwilling brain, focusing instead on the girl in front of him.
"My....name?" He couldn't tell her his real one, that was too dangerous. If word got around that a 'Tai Kamiya' had been here then people could start asking awkward questions he wouldn't be able to answer. He gulped, stalling for time. "I....I don't remember."
"You don't know your own name?" The little girl was incredulous.
"Hit....hit my head." Tai offered obscurely, rubbing at his skull with one hand. Her mouth formed a little 'o' of understanding.
"Oh. I saw this once before in a cartoon show. You must have am...am....neez...yaa!" Her young tongue struggled slightly with the word.
"Amnesia?" Tai suggested. She nodded, wisps of golden hair bouncing on her shoulders. Just go with it, a voice at the back of Tai's mind ordered, it'll be easier then answering questions later on. How can you explain a past you can't remember? "Yes. I suppose I must have."
"Well, my name's Terri." The child stated matter-of-factly. "My real name's Terri-Lee Pashuda, but that's too much of a mouthful, my Mom says, so everyone just calls me Terri. You can call me Terri, too, if you like." She gazed at him expectantly through soft grey eyes.
"Yes." Tai replied. "I'd like that."
"So why are you here?" The girl demanded, hopping from foot to foot impatiently.
"I don't know." Tai responded. "I can't remember."
"Well that's not very good!" A hint of disgust was evident in the youngster's voice. "We must give you a name, stranger. You need a name." She paused for a moment, thinking. A breeze blew past, ruffling a few strands of her blonde tresses. Finally she snapped from her contemplations. "Adam. Do you like that name?"
Adam. Tai turned the name over in his mind. Wasn't that the name of the first man in the Bible? It wasn't his religion, but they'd studied Christianity last year at school, and he remembered reading about some guy named Adam who lived in the Garden of Eden when the world was first made. The first man. It seemed fitting somehow. He was beginning a new life, trying to forget who he was, who he used to be. What better way to start than with a new name? And a name that meant 'new beginning', no less.
"Yes. Yes, I like that name. Adam."
"Fine, you're called Adam, then." The blonde child spoke as if that closed the matter entirely, folding her arms, a dare to defy her clear in her stance. Tai didn't have the energy to argue. He'd wanted a new identity, and it seemed she was giving one to him.
Suddenly, the arm he was propped up on began to tremble, and with a jerk, it collapsed under him. He gave a faint squeak as his nose ploughed once again into the dirt, soil and grass stems clogging his nostrils. The tiny figure before him looked on, concern in her grey eyes.
"You need help, Adam-stranger. I'll go fetch my Dad; he'll know what to do. You wait here, I'll be right back." With that, she took off across the green belt of fields, red boots sending up a spray of murky water in her wake.
Where does she expect me to go? Tai thought idly. I'm weak as a newborn kitten. Probably couldn't fight off a flea if it tried to bite me.
As he watched her go, half of his mind screamed out to stop the little girl before she reached her destination; to keep himself a secret as he'd done for so long. But the other, stronger, half, called out for her to run faster, to fetch help for his sores, food for his belly, and a bed for his slumber. Faster, faster little girl. Run for me, please. Run for me.
And on that cold, wet morning, the being known only as 'Adam' entered into the world, and a new life began in the dew.
___________________
The sun sat huge in the reddening sky. Yellow and bulbous, it beat down the last of its warm rays before retiring behind the horizon for the night. Despite being evening, the air was balmy, and a faint aroma of flowers loitered in the slightly stuffy atmosphere. In all, the scene spoke of peace and tranquillity - the undisturbed beauty of Mother Nature.
A lone figure sat on a clump of large rocks, not far from the Pashuda farmhouse. He was balanced easily on the largest of these massive stones, its wide flat surface providing a comfortable perch as well as a vantage point over the surrounding landscape. One leg draped lazily over the edge, the other drawn up to his chin in quiet contemplation.
Tai gazed across the breath-taking panorama. This was his favourite spot at sunset, and he could often be found sat atop this broad precipice, waiting. It had been nearly two months since he came to Pashuda Farm, yet still the vista amazed him. Every time he saw it, sky aflame with the colours of a dying day, he drank it in as if it were life itself, a tangible sustenance set in visual form.
A soft breeze, no more than a butterfly's whisper really, ruffled his brown hair. One fawn strand tugged loose to go flying, dancing on the thermals until it was lost from sight. Tai sighed. If he could have created a paradise, then he knew he couldn't have bettered this.
Something caught his eye in the distance. A bobbing yellow blob, no more than a speck to anyone else, but Tai could clearly make out the form of a person running through the fallow field. Terri. She waved, not being able to see him from so far away, but knowing that he'd be there. Tai didn't bother to return the gesture. With her average abilities he knew she wouldn't be able to see it anyway. She was quite late today. The bus should have dropped her off a good half hour ago, and he'd been starting to worry. He felt rather protective of the little girl who'd befriended him before she even knew his name, and sat watching for her to return from school every day. She never arrived until after six - since the education facility was in the village far west of the farm - so typically he'd finished his chores and was able to linger on his rock for her homecoming.
He waited for her to reach him, cheeks rosy, breathing coming in short gasps from her run. She reached the rocky outcrop and paused for a moment to catch her breath, before climbing up to join him. Tai shifted his position slightly so that she could sit by his side without falling off, and she flopped down gratefully.
"Hi, Adam."
Tai nodded in greeting. He'd grown used to answering to his new name. He'd had to. Nobody called him 'Tai' around here, and more often than not he was termed only as 'boy' or 'you there'. Not that people were overly unfriendly, just wary of him. With good reason too, he reminded himself. After all, he must seem quite strange to them. There had been a slight outcry among the farm workers upon the Pashuda's decision to take him in, but the kindly family had stood firm on their resolution to house the starving teenager their daughter had found. He was thankful to them for their benevolence, but still the labourers didn't quite trust him yet.
Terri stared off into the distance, not really taking in the beautiful sight she'd been witness to since her birth, and began to relate the happenings of her day to the quiescent youth next to her. Each day they acted out the same pattern. Tai would wait for the little girl on his chosen perch; she would arrive and proceed to tell him of her day. Then the two of them would watch the sundown together before going inside and washing up for dinner. The routine suited them both, but today Terri's lateness had thrown it out a little, and Tai only half-listened to her speak whilst simultaneously gazing at the sunset stretched out before him.
Eventually, Terri became aware that she didn't possess his undivided attention, and fell silent. She knew how Adam liked to look at the vibrant hues adorning the skyline at nightfall, and was sorry for her tardiness interrupting him. But it hadn't been her fault the school bus got a flat tyre. She'd enjoyed the miniature drama as much as all her classmates, but it hadn't been her fault it had happened.
Comfortable silence extended between them as the glowing orb of the sun played out its daily ballet of colour. Scarlet mixed with blue to become burgundy, then violet, then a deep, rich purple mankind had never been able to capture on fabric. Yellow coursed among its darker cousins, permeating their dim calm with its vivacious strands. Mixed with this came a luxurious red, the colour of winterberries and ladybirds' wings, twining with its golden counterpart to form a delicious orange that covered the skyline like burnished bronze. All these added their individual efforts to become part of the dazzling picture crossing the heavens.
Tai enjoyed sunsets as he'd never enjoyed anything else. Somehow they'd never been his spectacular in the city. Too much pollution, he reasoned. You couldn't see the sky for smog in Tokyo, but here.... here it felt like you could see into Jupiter's garden from your own doorstep. He took a deep breath, inhaling the clement air and savouring the thousands of pleasant scents that filled his nose.
Terri shot a sideways glance at her companion. He sat contentedly with his eyes closed, giving the false impression that he was asleep. She knew, though, that if she were to make even the slightest sound he would hear her and his eyes would snap open once more. It was strange how good his senses were. The little girl was aware of how these odd traits scared the labourers, she'd heard them talking about Adam more than once. They believed he should be sent away, but she was fond of the brown haired youth who'd dropped so unexpectedly into their lives. He was an enigma, wrapped in a mystery. At times he seemed so serious, but then there were many incidents when he would smile that winning smile of his, laugh, and treat her like his little sister. Like the brother she'd never had.
She stared at him for a moment longer, and then broke the silence.
"What are you doing?"
The boy's eyes opened, but he didn't look at her. Instead he simply stared out once more at the attractive sunset, now reaching its end as the night drew in.
"I was just.... listening to the quiet."
"Do you like the quiet?"
A pause. "I've learned to like it." He said eventually.
Terri cocked her head and narrowed her grey eyes at this cryptic answer, not sure what to make of it. Perhaps it was some subconscious inclination to his former life. He often did this - make an enigmatic statement or comment, and then appear unaware as to why he said it. A puzzle indeed. But he was a nice puzzle.
Tai rose languidly from his position. He was leaner now than when he'd first arrived at Pashuda Farm. What was once wasted flesh was now hard muscle and cords of sinew. He moved with an easy fluidity, like that of a cat, coiled muscles rippling with each movement beneath his tanned skin. Yet he didn't share the bulky build of the farm workers. Rather, his was a hidden strength, buried inside his slim adolescent body.
"We'd better be getting back, or else you're mother will be worried."
"She never stops worrying." Terri replied cheekily, but joined him in descending the rock to the ground below. As always, she jumped the last part, and he caught her, swinging her around in a circle, clasped tightly in his newly muscled arms. Terri giggled dizzily when he set her down, and grabbed playfully for his hand to lead her back to the house so that she wouldn't fall over. Tai chuckled; he'd missed the sound of laughter on his long trek, especially that of a young child.
Together, Terri and her surrogate sibling strolled back to their home, having no need to hurry and taking pleasure in each other's company. Behind them, the engorged sun finally took to its bed, and night fell upon the quiet community.
___________________
Tai struggled against the bonds that held him, biting at the rope around his wrists in a desperate attempt to free himself. In front of him, a grisly scene played out. Screams of agony rang in his ears, mingled with his own cries for the terror to stop. Frantically, he writhed against his fetters, rubbing his skin raw until red blood flowed. He yelled at the top of his lungs, but felt something choking him. Something black and insubstantial forcing its way down his throat, spreading through his veins like acid and burning him from within. He tried to scream, but the thing blocked his airway, and he could only gargle helplessly within his manacles.
Suddenly a voice cut through the searing pain and excruciating shrieks. A gentle voice, incongruous in this hellish place.
"Adam! Adam, wake up! Wake up, Adam!"
Tai sat up with a jolt, sweat pouring down his back and forehead. He blinked blearily as his eyes became accustomed to the darkness around him. Gradually his breathing slowed, and his heart slid down from where it had leaped to his throat, back into his heaving chest once more. A stifling quiet surrounded him, contrasting sharply to the all-too-loud cries he'd heard only moments before.
A pair of soft grey eyes abruptly appeared in front of his own. Terri knelt on the end of his futon, gazing worriedly at him.
"Adam, are you OK?" Tai swallowed - his gullet seemed to have acquired a sizable stone whilst he was asleep - but nodded weakly. Terri's eyes squinted scutinizingly, and it was obvious she didn't believe him. "You had another nightmare, didn't you?" It was a statement, more than a question, but Tai nodded dumbly again.
A nightmare. It had seemed so real, but that was all it had been. Just a nightmare. Yet Tai still had to look down at his hands, to make sure no dark stains adorned the creases as they had done seconds ago. He still felt the warm blood seeping through his fingers, but shook the image away as he returned fully to reality, and the curious child crouched several feet away, staring at him.
"Adam, you really should tell Mom and Dad about this. They can fix things for you."
Fix things? Oh, if only it were that simple. But if he told Terri's parents of his nightly visions he would be forced to tell them what he'd seen, and he wasn't ready to reveal that information to the world just yet. It was simply too lucid, too real, too....familiar to let anyone know.
Tai shook his head. "No, Terri. I'm fine, really. Probably just something I ate."
Terri pursed her lips the way she'd seen her mother do when her father was blatantly lying about something. "You've been having bad dreams for months now! I think you should change your diet, Adam!"
Tai gave a half chuckle. "I think you should go back to bed. You've got school in the morning, and you'll fall asleep on your desk if you don't get some shut-eye." As if to support his point, the small child opened her tiny mouth in a wide yawn. "See what I mean."
"I guess." Terri conceded. She rose and padded over to her bed in the corner. Clambering aboard, she shot back a sleepy comment before burrowing deep under the covers in search of elusive warmth. "Don't worry, Adam. Mom always told me that everything will seem a lot less scary in the morning."
"Sage advice." Tai whispered inaudibly, laying back down himself. The pillow was damp with perspiration, as were the sheets, and Tai tossed uncomfortably. Finally, he kicked off the dank coverlets and lay only in the green pyjama's Mrs. Pashuda had bought him several days ago on a rare shopping trip to the village. Usually all groceries and suchlike were delivered to their door, but the kindly woman had made a special excursion whilst he was out working in the fields. He'd been surprised when he came home to find four neat piles of new garments on the dining-room tabletop, and hadn't been able to thank her enough, nor her husband, for the incredible compassion they'd shown him since they took him in.
Strange, he referred to this place as his home now. He supposed it was. Memories of his old home were fading, helped along by the fact that he never willingly brought them to mind. Yet, as he lay there, the image of a face scurried across his mind's eye. A face that stared at him with gentle hazel eyes, framed by a mop of chestnut hair....
Tai turned over, chasing the effigy from his head with physical movement. He tried to settle himself in this new position, but found he was equally uncomfortable this way. He sighed. Not that he totally regretted his inaptitude to return to slumber. Visions of his dream still haunted him, and he had no wish to see such things again any time soon.
A faint throbbing in his arm caught his attention. He'd been ignoring it all day, but now his bored mind latched onto it as a source of possible interest. He studied the inside of his left arm critically, tracing the slightly raised line of a cut across his wrist. He'd received it today when repairing a damaged fence in the north field. A metal wire had come loose and slashed his arm when he pulled down the old netting, leaving a nasty gash in its wake. Mr. Pashuda had wanted him to go to the hospital to have stitches, but curiously the wound hadn't bled as much as it should have done, considering it was so deep, and hadn't impeded Tai's ability to work in the slightest. In fact, he'd hardly even noticed it was there half the time, remembering only when he heard snatches of conversations between the labourers when they thought he wasn't listening. His injury was the hottest topic on the grapevine, it seemed, and several rumours had already started circulating before he even realised he was the object of so much attention.
Now, Tai himself contemplated the strangeness of his cut, having little else to do in the quiet of the stuffy night. Studying it, he too found it hard to believe how little blood had exited his body this way. It joined as the latest edition to a lengthy list of singularities he'd discovered about himself since coming to live here. It wasn't hard to understand why people were wary of him when he really thought about it. His great strength for one was enough to make you wonder. On a few occasions he'd been able to lift with ease things it usually took three burly men to move, and once he'd even removed a tractor stuck in deep mud single-handed. No wonder the labourers talked.
Tai was also aware of a number of other things about his abilities nobody else knew. He discerned that as well as his strength, both his speed and agility had also improved to near super-human levels. Not that he ever used these talents, but he was conscious of their existence nonetheless. However, coupled with these traits also came many recollections he'd rather have forgotten concerning suspicions as to how he'd acquired them. Tai wasn't a fool. He knew that things like this didn't happen for no reason. But somehow, he believed that if he just didn't explore his talents, then those memories would stay buried and never resurface again in his mind. At least, that was what he wanted to believe.
Terri turned over, a snort escaping as she repositioned herself beneath the covers. Tai's concentration was broken, and he looked away from his damaged wrist, across the small room to where the five-year-old lay. Her chest rose and fell as she slept peacefully, unaware that her roommate was still awake. Tai wished he could have her innocence. To be able to wake up, and face each new day with a smile was something he'd lost the ability to do a long time ago. The hazel-eyed boy nuzzled his face into his pillow in a futile attempt to pacify his discomfort, but his mind remained active and buzzing. He lay in the dark, staring at nothing in particular.
As Tai rested this way, something hideous was awakening. Slowly, a dark presence probed its cage, and - unknown to the boy - a new spark began to feed and burn.
___________________
"Come on, Adam!" Terri called merrily, swinging the wicker picnic basket in front of her.
"I'm coming!" Tai called back. "Wait up!"
"Slow poke, slow poke, nothing but some bad jokes!" The little girl ran on ahead despite his pleas, laughing. Tai smiled, he could catch her if he tried, but he let her think that she was too fast for him. Slowly he clambered up the hill in her wake, carrying the old tablecloth Mrs. Pashuda had lent them for their picnic under one arm.
Eventually he reached the designated spot. A grassy knoll embedded into the hillside served as a favourite picnic area during the summer, and it was the first time Terri had brought him here. Upon seeing it, he could understand why if was so popular. It provided a view of the surrounding countryside like that of no other, outstripping even his rock outside the farmhouse. Strips of green fields stretched away into the distance, until it seemed they touched the very sky.
Terri stood watching his approach, tapping her foot in mock impatience.
"You took your time!" She wagged her finger at him.
"You're getting very cheeky." Tai replied. She grinned mischievously.
"But you love me anyway. Come on, let's set out all the stuff."
With an easy banter, they proceeded to spread out the tablecloth and retrieve the host of edibles Terri's mother had packed for them that morning. Mr. And Mrs. Pashuda would have accompanied the two youngsters on their outing, but the older woman's sister had suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, been taken ill during the night, and her husband had been forced to drive her to visit in a town fifty miles away. As if to compensate, Mrs. Pashuda had provided Tai and Terri with enough food to feed a small army.
Pasties, rolls, pies, and assortments of other pastries exited the basket, followed by dozens of cakes and sweets. Tai's hazel eyes widened at the veritable feast, saliva already beginning to run inside his mouth.
"Whoa." Was all he could say. Terri extricated a large bottle of carbonated drink from the apparently bottomless basket, looking at him through curious grey eyes.
"What?"
"I've never seen so much food." Tai breathed. "Is this all for us?"
"Of course." Terri seemed surprised he would ask such a question. "Who else would it be for?"
Bees lazily buzzed past as they began their banquet. Tai discovered he had quite a penchant for Mrs. Pashuda's Chocolate cake, and had eaten three pieces before Terri finished the massive pasty she was struggling with. They ate in silence, until Tai sat back patting his stomach.
"Phew, I'm stuffed. I couldn't eat another bite."
"You mean I have to carry all this home again?" Terri groaned through a mouthful of Swiss roll. Tai laughed good-naturedly.
"No, it's my turn to carry the basket now. You don't have to, Terri."
"So you'll be even slower than before, with all that added weight." She giggled. "It'll be dark before we get home with you around."
Tai chuckled, letting her comment slide. He lay back on the comfortable hummock, closing his hazel eyes and bathing in the warm sunlight. Terri's voice caused him to look up again, though, and he opened his eyes to see her gambolling down the hill like a Spring lamb. Her blonde hair streamed out behind her, and several grass stains were already gracing her denim dungarees.
"Adam, look! Look at me!"
"You watch yourself!" He called indolently. "Don't fall!"
"I won't." She yelled back. "See, I'm a plane. Neeeee-yow!" The little girl spread her arms wide and ran around, shrieking wildly in her impression of a jet engine.
"You'll throw-up with all you've eaten." He warned her. Terri just tossed her head at such a suggestion.
"Nah. Stomach of steel. That's what Dad calls me anyway."
"I thought it was 'Human Dustbin'." Tai returned, but she didn't appear to have heard him.
He lay back again, savouring the quiet, which was interposed intermittently only by Terri's happy laughter. He sighed, revelling in the contented feeling spreading inside him. He doubted whether he'd ever felt happier in his life. An insect crawled across his hands, which were crossed behind his head in a makeshift pillow, but even this minor irritation didn't alleviate the intense feeling of contentment filling the day. He felt rather drowsy. Sleep had evaded him completely for several nights now, and when his psyche did reside into slumber he was plagued by countless nightmares that made him wake up breathless, skin slick with sweat. Now though, he was sure that nothing could ruin this perfect moment, not even the horrific visions that haunted his unconscious mind.
Tai listened to the natural lullaby assaulting his willing ears. The faint shush of the breeze rustling the long grass stems around him. Terri's joyous laughter as she attempted a cartwheel she'd been practising at school this week. His own breathing, steady and rhythmic. Far away, a bell-tower chimed the changing of the hour. One chime. Two. Three. Four. Four chimes. Four o' clock in the afternoon, he surmised. Mr. And Mrs. Pashuda should be at her sister's by now. They wouldn't be coming home until tomorrow, but true to form, the motherly woman had left a stack of food for their supper back at the farmhouse. Not that he could eat anything else after that feast in the picnic basket. The teenager's mind wandered as he slowly fell back into happy sleep.
He became aware of a sharp tugging on the fringes of his mind. A niggling sensation, like when you've forgotten to do something, but can't remember what it was. Except, this tugging didn't go away when he tried to ignore it, instead becoming slightly stronger as he did so. Tai's eyebrows furrowed, what had he forgotten? But nothing came to him, and he tried once more to push the odd feeling away. Stubbornly it remained, gnawing at his brain like a flea on a dog's hide.
A sudden shooting pain lanced through Tai's chest. He gasped at the abrupt intensity of it. His body endeavoured to sit up, but another sharp pain stabbed through him, causing him to fall back inadvertently. What was going on? Tai's hazel eyes opened worriedly and he stared at the sky. Something at the back of his mind told him this was more than simple heartburn, but something else was suffocating this sensible voice. He felt woozy, as if he'd just got off a fairground ride and hadn't quite regained his balance yet.
A cold knot of fear was forming in the pit of his stomach, and he hastily rolled over onto his hands and knees in an effort to rise. However, this only served to make him feel worse as a wave of nausea swept through him. His muscles trembled, but he pushed himself up into a kneeling position. Another shooting pain pierced his heart, and he clutched helplessly at his chest. This was all too familiar, and the brown-haired youth struggled to beat down what he suspected was coming.
A ring of darkness surrounded his field of vision, and a second tide of queasiness bubbled inside Tai's gut. He clapped a hand over his mouth, squeezing his hazel eyes shut as he fought the darkness threatening to consume his sight. There was no doubt about it now. It was just the same as before, in Tokyo. Tai groaned as a stinging sensation clamped around his brain, preventing him from fighting the blackness he now sensed appearing inside his head.
The entity within Tai had been clever. It had known its power was spent in that alley all those months ago, and had gone into hiding as it were, concealing itself inside its host whilst exerting its influence in secret. It had lulled the boy into a false sense of security, leaving him to ponder over his new inexplicable physical abilities, whilst it attacked the barriers around his psyche. As Tai strengthened his body, his mind's defences had become weak, until all the entity needed was a single opening to rush in and exert its newly restored power over him. One moment of weakness, when he let his guard down. A moment of true emotion.
That moment had come.
Tai gagged, bile rising in the back of his throat. He felt his senses slipping away from him. First smell, then voice, then touch. The grass no longer seemed springy and soft beneath him, because he couldn't feel it. The air wasn't sweet and fragrant. The ring around his vision closed in, filling his sight with numbing blackness.
Tai's body turned, rising as the entity took control of it. Tai sensed the elongation of his canines into iniquitous fangs, and a red haze covered what was left of his sight. He knew his irises were darkening, becoming blood red as they cast about him. Talons shot out of his fingertips, dripping red fluid as they burst from his yielding flesh. Mentally, Tai screamed, but could do nothing. He was powerless to stop what was happening, and slipped more and more from his grip with every passing second.
Suddenly, a sound came to his ears. Even as his hearing was stripped away from him, Tai recognised that noise, and it chilled what was left of him to the bone.
"Adam? Adam, are you OK?" Terri asked. Tai's eyes rested on her small form, making her way back up the hill towards him.
No, Terri! Don't come near me! Stay away! Tai screamed inside, but she couldn't hear him, and came gamely on. The entity curled Tai's lips into a cruel smile, raising one of his clawed hands in a gesture of welcome. Terri appeared heartened by this, unable to see the talons from where she was, and began to jog. No! Terri! Tai yelled impotently from within. Terri raised her hand to take his, her face smiling. The entity smiled too. A knowing, malicious smile.
The little girl didn't stand a chance. The bolt of darkness struck her when she was still several feet away, running her through completely. Her grey eyes widened in shock, before she fell forward onto the grass. With the last of his sight, Tai saw a red mark spreading around her, emanating from her chest.
TERRI! NOOOOOOOOO!
And then there was only blackness.
___________________
When Tai awoke he was lying face down on something soft. Strands of something ticklish brushed against his cheek and nose, causing him to sneeze violently. With this inadvertent exhalation, the realization that his body was once more his own came to him, and he jerked himself upright.
Before him lay his grisly pillow. A rabbit, its head torn off and lying a few feet away. The blood encrusting its ripped neck was crystalline. Old. He wondered how long he'd been lying there. Tipping his head, he looked up at the sky. It was dark. Sunset had already passed into night.
Sunset....
Terri!
Tai struggled to his feet, swaying unsteadily. A crowd of random images filled his confused mind, but one name resonated through them all like a knell. Terri. He glanced around uncertainly, not recognising this place. Small clumps of sparse trees shot out of the ground at odd angles around him. Several had braches hanging off them at crazy angles; others wore the blackened marks of burning like war scars. Tai gazed at them.
Did I do this?
A few metres away, a corpse of some unidentifiable animal lay. Its back was twisted at an impossible angle, flesh charred so badly that it was impossible to truly tell what it used to be. The stench of burning meat hung in the air like a sickening fog, hours old but no less repellent.
The desolate copse gave no indication as to his location. He could have been miles from the picnic area, and would be none the wiser. Tai jerked his head around in all directions, searching desperately for some hint as to where he was.
Suddenly a scent came to him. His near-superhuman senses picked up on the faint aroma where others couldn't, and his brain recognized it instantly (although how was a mystery.) Blood. Human blood. The youth's head snapped around to catch a second whiff of the telling odour. It was riding on a small breeze to his left, and before he knew what he was doing, he took off in that direction in mad flight.
The night was deathly quiet around him, not even the usual scufflings of nocturnal animals breaking the intense silence. Tai's feet, thudding against the turf, was the only sound abroad that night, everything else having the sense to remain out of sight. He ran on, trusting to luck and his improved senses to guide him. Like a wolf, his loping stride ate up the ground at an astronomical rate, and in virtually no time at all he'd reached his destination.
The picnic area was almost completely destroyed. Huge chunks of earth had been gouged out of the hillock, craters where there shouldn't be craters peppering the charred landscape. Everything was burned, and the vague smell of smoke filled the atmosphere. Tai coughed at the pungent attack, his sensitive nose smelling the faint aroma like it was new. He ran on, into the wreckage itself, calling.
"Terri? Terri?"
No answer.
"Terri, where are you? Come on, this isn't the time to be playing games!" Tai shouted. He knew she was here, he could smell her. His cloudy mind refused to tell him what had happened when the entity took over, but his nose clearly informed him of her presence nearby. Yet, there was something odd about her fragrance. Something he couldn't quite place....
The brown haired boy went on, calling intermittently the name of his adopted sibling. Even though it was dark he could see by the pallid light of the moon above him, and quested onwards beneath her apathetic gaze.
"Terri! Terri?" His voice floated among the mountains of debris like a lost soul, searching for a home. "Terri. Come out, this isn't funny anymore."
As he crested a particularly high pile of soil and rock Tai finally saw her; lying where she'd fallen, a red mark dying what was left of the grass around her small form. Her face was hidden by masses of blonde hair which had fanned out over her tiny skull like a mutated halo, also tainted by the same dark blotches staining her clothes.
"TERRI!" Tai yelled anguishedly, stumbling down the unstable mass of rubble towards her. She didn't move at the sound of his voice, and he rushed to her side, calling her name at the top of his lungs.
The dirt-encrusted teenager knelt at the little girl's side and gently picked her up in his arms. The sensible voice in his head warned him he shouldn't move her, that he may be doing more harm then good, but as he gazed upon her pale and blood streaked visage he knew in his heart that she was dead. Tears began to leak from his hazel eyes, dripping off the end of his nose and splashing harmlessly into the muck.
Why?
Why? Why? Why?
She hadn't done anything. Why did this have to happen to her? All she'd done was offer him warmth and friendship when he needed it most. All she'd done was welcome him into her home - into her heart.
All he'd done was kill her.
The veil lifted from his memory, and Tai suddenly saw with perfect, ghastly clarity what he'd seen with his last sight when the entity stole his body from him. He saw Terri's happy, grinning face as she ran to take his hand. Then the bolt of darkness streaking towards and through her. He saw her fall, blood seeping from the wound he'd inflicted.
Tai tilted his bronzed face to the sky and howled. Not the roaring battle cry he'd released as the monster controlled by the dark entity, but a raw, agonized screech, which ripped from his lungs like the worst scream in hell. Wetness coursed down his cheeks as he mourned for the little girl whose life he'd taken. The child who'd shown him such innocent compassion, only to be brutally murdered by his hands.
Still with salty tears sliding down his face, Tai looked down at Terri. At the delicate features which had always exuded such love, such happiness, such.... life. Her grey eyes were open and staring, a driblet of dried blood tracing a line between them from a cut on her forehead. A cut that was oddly shaped, yet partially hidden by the dried blood caked around it. If Tai had looked more closely, he would have seen his crest carved into her flesh as if with a blade. Gently, Tai reached out one hand and closed her eyelids, rendering her to all intents asleep. He half expected her to suddenly awaken, to throw her arms around him, hug him and tell him it had all been a dream. Just some terrible nightmare created by his feverish brain.
But Tai knew that this was no nightmare. This was real. Much more real then he was willing to accept. Terri's body felt cold and stiff in his arms, and a soft breeze blew strands of golden hair across her face.
She looks like an angel, his delirious brain thought. So innocent and peaceful.
Except for the blood.
Suddenly, Tai's fragile mind broke. Shattered by grief and guilt so intense it burned his soul; he rose, clutching the cold corpse to his chest. He couldn't bear it, out here on this desolate hilltop. He needed to get her to help. His splintered mind seemed to disregard the blatant fact that Terri was beyond medical assistance; such was its tattered mental state.
He ran. Ran at such a speed as has never been reached by any human before. Ran with strength given him by his dark parasite. Ran with sorrow for his surrogate sister. Ran on and on into the night, never stopping, never stalling. Tai's powerful legs leaped tens of metres in a single bound, and in but a few minutes he'd covered the immense distance between the destroyed knoll and Pashuda Farm.
He passed the watching rock - an indistinct shape in the darkness - not even acknowledging its presence. Get her inside. Call the doctor. Do something useful. These mantras echoed inside his head like a demonic choir, urging him onward with their nightmarish voices. Repair the damage you've done, Tai. Adam. Monster.
Thunder rumbled overhead from a huge storm cloud rolling across the sky. Spots of rain appeared on the ground, splattering harshly against the grass stems. One hit Tai in the corner of his eye, and he blinked, momentarily blinded. Deprived of his eyes, his feet stumbled, tripping over themselves in their haste and sending him sprawling. The youth struck the ground hard, precious cargo flying from his arms on impact. He grunted as the pocket of air was crushed from his body, immediately struggling to right himself. As his head rose, his vision once more rested on Terri's body.
She'd landed on the patio, a trail of blood from a reopened wound signalling where she'd rolled across the slabs. Her body was twisted, one arm at a gruesome angle above her head. Her eyes had opened a sliver, and they stared at him blankly, devoid of their usual spark. Steely instead of soft grey. Cold. Accusing.
Dead.
Tai gazed at her, realization permeating his fuddled brain once more. She was dead. No doctor on earth could save her now. The dark entity had killed her. He'd killed her.
The rain began to fall more heavily, and the sky growled its pent up fury like a caged animal. Tai rose, water trickling down his face, but making no effort to wipe it away. Slowly he crossed the concrete and gathered Terri up in his strong arms. Kicking the door to the farmhouse open, he carried her inside, ignoring the high squeal of the frame as it splintered beneath his foot. Dripping water, he walked soberly through the house he'd come to call home.
He'd intended to take the small child to her bedroom. To lay her on her bed and cover her red streaked face with a sheet like he'd seen paramedics do on television. However, to reach the bedrooms in the single story house, he first had to pass through the kitchen. His feet made a wet slapping as they travelled across the tiles of the kitchen floor, and the rain beat relentlessly against the window. Tai's attention was fleetingly caught by the storm, which had so abruptly sprung up as if from nowhere, and his eyes fell upon the kitchen knives Mrs. Pashuda kept in a block on the counter. His grief stricken mind then acted out the only coherent thought it could find.
Placing Terri's delicate form lovingly on her bed, Tai reverently pulled up the sheet to enshroud her completely. But before he did so, the brown haired boy leaned down and planted a brotherly kiss upon her cold forehead.
"I love you, Little Angel." He whispered; using the nickname he'd created for her the day she found him. His only answer was the sound of raindrops battering the bedroom window, and he swiftly pulled the white sheet over her visage, tucking it in and heading for the doorway. "I'll make things right."
Tai stalked determinedly back to the kitchen. Without hesitation, he pulled the largest of the knives from the block, turned it around, and plunged it deep into his chest.
He didn't cry out in pain. He wouldn't let himself. This was his punishment. It was right for him to die.
But he didn't die. He bled, he hurt, he fell to his knees, but he didn't die. The steel blade rubbed against his lungs as he breathed in and out, causing untold amounts of agony to course through his thin body. He could feel it, crushing and slicing at his internal organs, piercing his heart with its wicked tip. Yet he remained alive. The urge to scream filled every pore of his being, but he bit his lip until blood flowed to hold it in. He could sense the red juices leaking from his inner wounds, but curiously he remained conscious.
Tai's head spun, and he fell forward onto his hands and knees. The knife's black handle still protruded from his chest, and crimson fluid welled around it to drip liberally onto the floor. Desperately he pushed it further in with one trembling hand, but only served to make himself lose his balance and tumble into an ungainly heap on his side.
Cold insight slammed into him like a freight train, as months of suspicion were finally confirmed in a moment of agony. Fresh tears slid down Tai's dirty face.
He couldn't die.
It wouldn't let him die.
The entity was somehow keeping him alive where a normal human would have perished. Why else had he survived so long where others would not? How else had he made the terrible journey from Tokyo the way he did without unnatural assistance? Tai remembered the unbearable frosty nights. By rights he should have died from frostbite or exposure, or at least starvation. But no, because he wasn't human.
Wasn't human.
The phrase whirled inside of his head. He wasn't human. He was a monster.
Tai Kamiya had died the night he murdered his parents. In that same terrible moment, a demon had been created. A demon, which wore his face, but was ultimately evil. A monster in the truest sense of the word. For a while it had disguised itself as Adam, the amnesia stricken boy found by the roadside. Yet it was still the same beast lurking beneath the surface. Waiting to strike.
The brown haired boy reached up and yanked the long knife from his body. Scarlet blood splattered across the tiled floor as it slid out of the wound, producing a pool of vital fluid, which leaked into the dusty cracks. With a dogged persistence to right things, the youth heaved himself to his feet, tottering slightly from loss of blood. The knife clattered to the ground when he fell against the counter for support, leaving dark smears across the marbled surface as he stumbled towards the open door.
He couldn't stay. Not after what he'd done. Adam was dead, just like the one known as Tai. Both had murdered those closest to them. Neither could ever be allowed to return, lest the same thing happened again.
The boy tumbled out of the aperture, and not allowing himself to be halted by this, crawled away as fast as he could on his bloodied hands and knees into the all-consuming blackness. As the rain slashed his face like a curtain of needles, the tanned figure disappeared once more into the comforting darkness of night. Just as he'd done before. Just as he would do again.
Cleansing rainwater unsympathetically washed away the red trail left by his bleeding body, effectively removing all trace of his departure. Nobody would be able to tell where he'd gone, which was just as he wanted. If he was to remain alive, then he wished never again to touch the lives of others. A shadow forever. A watching spirit.
___________________
There are tales among the countrymen. Sad tales. Bad tales. Tales of woe and murder. Crouched over the fires of cold nights, with naught to do but tell stories, these tales have woven themselves into their very culture and folklore.
A favourite rumour of the moment is one of the boy with no name. He comes with no past, and leaves with no future, riding on the back of a great, dark spirit - or so the tale goes. There are some men who know of the core of truth beneath the stories. Of the poor youth found in the open by caring people, who shelters with families and individuals alike when they let him in. Some claim to have seen him, and to have looked into his sorrowful hazel eyes themselves. But these men are few and far between. Most don't believe the tales of the boy with no name, using it only as a bedtime threat for small children. "Go to bed, quickly, or the boy with no name will get you, and set his spirit to burn the sun into your hide."
Yet one thing remains constant. Through all the false stories, it is an unwritten rule among the country folk, that you should never shelter a boy with brown hair if you find him half-dead in a field. Shut your doors, bolt your windows, or he'll come creeping out of the shadows to peer into your house at your children, longing etched into his bronzed face. He may seem sad and pitiful, but he's still a monster. Don't let him in, whatever the cost. Drive him away with sticks if you must, but don't let him into your home.
There are tales among the countrymen. Sad tales. Bad tales. Tales of woe and murder.
___________________
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yes, I know this didn't progress the story much, but it was created as an explanatory chapter. The two parts of "Shattered Moments" were meant to be set out like human memory i.e. not giving up memories in a chronological fashion, and I originally wrote them as such in one large chunk. However, I thought it would be easier to understand the passage of time if I split it up in this way. Obviously I was wrong if one e-mail I received from an unknown source is to be believed. If that person is reading this then I won't stoop to your level of insults, but I want you to know that some of the things you said really hurt me. I've worked my ass off on this fic, and - no kidding - it's drained me both physically and emotionally. If you want to say anything else like that then I suggest you write it all down, roll it up into a ball and shove it up your.... but I digress. Sorry, but I really needed to get that off my chest. If anyone else has any problems with me continuing this fic then please write them in a review and I'll stop posting right away.
Thanx.
Scribbler :-
This is the continuation of the previous chapter, and for the random person who e-mailed me, imago is a real word, I didn't make it up (It means effigy) If you have time on your hands to send worthless nit-picking mail 2 me then U should get a life! I mean it; don't go bitching about something I worked so hard on unless you want me to come trounce you good and proper!
(See, I told you a disgruntled Scribbler wasn't very nice) ^_^;;
___________________
"The Darkness Within" By Scribbler
Chapter Eight ~ "Shattered Moments (Part Two)"
___________________
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." - F. Scott Fitzgerald.
___________________
Step.
Step.
Step.
Rain pounded on the tarmac, throwing up a fine spray as it made contact. Wet fronds of long grass bowed their saturated heads as if in subservience at the edges of the hard black river, bouncing slightly as drops of water battered them from above. Beyond the embankment were fields stretching as far as the eye could see, green and lush, yet drowned like everything else.
Along this deserted road a figure walked. His clothes were soaked through and his hair was plastered to his head, but he neither seemed to notice nor to care. His shoes left imprints in the springy turf of the bank, which quickly filled with water as soon as he'd passed by. Small pools of murky liquid showed the path he'd taken.
Step.
Step.
Step.
How long had it been now? Days? Weeks? Months? How long had he been on this endless journey? He didn't know. His watch had been pawned a while back when he needed money for food. He hadn't been sorry to see it go. A symbol of his old life, that was all it was. Best gone from his possession if he was ever to forget.
A car blew past, sending up a flurry of raindrops from a nearby puddle. As the machine roared by, the figure could see laughing faces through the streaked glass, pointing. They'd been aiming at him. He didn't even bother to shake off the excess water; what did it matter? What did anything matter any more?
Step.
Step.
Step.
If he could just keep one foot going in front of the other, that was all that mattered. He'd travelled so far already, but not far enough. Not nearly enough by his standards.
Lift one foot, swing it forward, place it down, and shift your weight. Lift the other, swing it past its brother, find a place for it, and shift your weight again. Step. Step. Step. Keep on stepping. Keep on walking forward. Never look back. To look back was to remember, and he couldn't let himself remember.
Step.
Step.
Step.
He concentrated on stepping. His head felt light, his muscles weak. He hadn't eaten for days. Hadn't had the money, or the inclination. Blinking away the fuzziness clouding his vision, he focused harder on placing each shoe in front of the other one. Stepping slowly and carefully along the top of the grassy ridge.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Suddenly his right foot skidded on the slick sward. His legs became tangled, tripping him up, and he tumbled ungraciously down the side of the bank towards the fields. The stranger's body slipped and slid, coming to rest eventually among the tufts of sodden weeds. Face smudged with soil and dirt, he tried to lever himself up, but failed. His sickly arms simply wouldn't support his weight. He lay there, face down, unable to move. Perhaps, even, not wanting to move.
This wasn't so bad. He could barely feel the rain anymore, and the biting cold had become no more than a dull ache. If he had to remain here and wait for death to come, then so be it. He'd attempted to reach death's embrace before, but always been stopped, or saved. Gad damn the people who'd chosen to help him, damn them all to hell! He didn't want to be helped; only to lose himself in the soft embraces of Hades and Persephone.
The mysterious figure lay prone in the mud. Maybe this time he would be allowed to die. Maybe.
Maybe....
___________________
A little girl was playing in the fields of her family's farm. It had rained during the night, and the small blonde child was taking great delight in splashing in every puddle she could find. Big ones, small ones, it didn't matter what size, she jumped in all of them, revelling in the feeling of water spraying up her clothes. The damp morning air was punctured by her light laughter, accompanied every now and then by the sound of a car rushing past on the road beyond the ridge which marked the end of the farmland. These noises were few and far between, however. This terrain was as far out in the middle of nowhere as many were likely to go, and few motor vehicles had the need to come way out here.
The little girl dashed about happily, her new red Wellingtons worn proudly upon her tiny feet. She'd received them as a present from her uncle for her birthday last week, and this was the first chance she'd had to use them. She'd just turned five, and considered herself to be very grown up now - but not adult enough to pass up puddle-splashing after last night's downpour.
The skinny child was just splashing in the biggest puddle she'd discovered yet, when she suddenly heard a strange noise. Her feet ceased their incessant paddling, and had she possessed ears like those of a dog, she would have pricked them up with interest. The noise was odd, like a cross between a groan and her father's snoring. The child gigged softly to herself at this thought. Her mother hated her husband's snoring, and every night could be found trying some new method for getting him to stop. None had worked so far, and the echoing rumbles of his slumber remained a nightly occurrence in their poky house.
The five-year-old followed the bizarre sound to its source, eager to see what caused it. Finally she traced it to a mound of clothing, discarded at the foot of the embankment. Her mother had warned her not to get this near to the road, but the little girl's curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she crept closer to the dirty bundle of fabrics, inquisitiveness shining in her rosy face.
The pile of clothes appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary. Just another heap of abandoned rubbish somebody had been too lazy to take to the dump. She'd seen hundreds like this, and was slightly disappointed that it wasn't something more interesting. The girl drew closer, whatever reservations she might have had rapidly evaporating into the dank morning air. She tapped the mound with her foot, and then sprang back in surprise when it suddenly moved. Another snoring-groan was issued from within, and the youngster was about to bolt in fright when it raised its head. Her jaw dropped open as she realized that what she had initially thought of as a bundle of mouldy clothing was in fact a person!
Two bleary, hazel eyes met hers, and the blonde girl stopped in her tracks. Something in those eyes held her fast, and despite her mother's warnings of 'stranger-danger' she found herself studying this strange individual lying in the mud.
He was young, not much older than her cousin, Billy. The foreigner's mien spoke of living rough, of cold days and even colder nights spent out in the open, with only the stars for company. Spikes of dusty brown hair shot from his scalp, and a blue headband adorned his skull, pushing a substantial fringe from his hazel eyes. Tanned skin was pulled taunt across hollow cheeks, evidence of severe malnourishment, and in several places on his face festering sores were visible. In all he was a sorry specimen, looking as though he could do with a good meal and a warm bed.
Sympathy flared inside the little girl - such innocent sympathy as has never known the harsh reality of life - and she stepped forward, hands clasped behind her slender back, rocking self-consciously on the heels of her red boots.
"Hi. Who are you?"
The stranger seemed confused at being addressed by this small child, and only blinked at her in a puzzled manner. She greeted him again, voice gentle and welcoming.
"Hi. What are you doing there? What's your name?"
This time the boy replied. He was softly spoken, his tone bewildered and weak.
"My...my name? I...I..." He seemed to search for appropriate words for a second, as if he couldn't remember, then; "I...I fell....in the rain. Slipped...down the bank..."
"Did you hurt yourself?" The little girl asked. "That ridge is pretty steep. I'm not allowed to play on there because of the road." The stranger only gazed at her. She sighed in that exasperated way that five-year-olds do, placing her hands on her hips as she'd seen her mother do countless time before. "What's your name?"
The teenage boy looked at this elfin child stood before him. Tai Kamiya was still groggy from his night spent in the rain; surprised somewhat that he was still alive. Once again, he'd survived where others would have died. That was the only reason he'd lasted as long as this without perishing - though not for want of trying. No matter how bad the situation seemed he always seemed to survive to see another sunrise. It was as if he weren't human. Certainly, he didn't seem to be as limited in abilities as most boys his age...
No! He was thinking too much. Keep your mind clear, Tai. Don't think about what's happening to you, you'll only make it happen faster. Tai shook away the thoughts permeating his unwilling brain, focusing instead on the girl in front of him.
"My....name?" He couldn't tell her his real one, that was too dangerous. If word got around that a 'Tai Kamiya' had been here then people could start asking awkward questions he wouldn't be able to answer. He gulped, stalling for time. "I....I don't remember."
"You don't know your own name?" The little girl was incredulous.
"Hit....hit my head." Tai offered obscurely, rubbing at his skull with one hand. Her mouth formed a little 'o' of understanding.
"Oh. I saw this once before in a cartoon show. You must have am...am....neez...yaa!" Her young tongue struggled slightly with the word.
"Amnesia?" Tai suggested. She nodded, wisps of golden hair bouncing on her shoulders. Just go with it, a voice at the back of Tai's mind ordered, it'll be easier then answering questions later on. How can you explain a past you can't remember? "Yes. I suppose I must have."
"Well, my name's Terri." The child stated matter-of-factly. "My real name's Terri-Lee Pashuda, but that's too much of a mouthful, my Mom says, so everyone just calls me Terri. You can call me Terri, too, if you like." She gazed at him expectantly through soft grey eyes.
"Yes." Tai replied. "I'd like that."
"So why are you here?" The girl demanded, hopping from foot to foot impatiently.
"I don't know." Tai responded. "I can't remember."
"Well that's not very good!" A hint of disgust was evident in the youngster's voice. "We must give you a name, stranger. You need a name." She paused for a moment, thinking. A breeze blew past, ruffling a few strands of her blonde tresses. Finally she snapped from her contemplations. "Adam. Do you like that name?"
Adam. Tai turned the name over in his mind. Wasn't that the name of the first man in the Bible? It wasn't his religion, but they'd studied Christianity last year at school, and he remembered reading about some guy named Adam who lived in the Garden of Eden when the world was first made. The first man. It seemed fitting somehow. He was beginning a new life, trying to forget who he was, who he used to be. What better way to start than with a new name? And a name that meant 'new beginning', no less.
"Yes. Yes, I like that name. Adam."
"Fine, you're called Adam, then." The blonde child spoke as if that closed the matter entirely, folding her arms, a dare to defy her clear in her stance. Tai didn't have the energy to argue. He'd wanted a new identity, and it seemed she was giving one to him.
Suddenly, the arm he was propped up on began to tremble, and with a jerk, it collapsed under him. He gave a faint squeak as his nose ploughed once again into the dirt, soil and grass stems clogging his nostrils. The tiny figure before him looked on, concern in her grey eyes.
"You need help, Adam-stranger. I'll go fetch my Dad; he'll know what to do. You wait here, I'll be right back." With that, she took off across the green belt of fields, red boots sending up a spray of murky water in her wake.
Where does she expect me to go? Tai thought idly. I'm weak as a newborn kitten. Probably couldn't fight off a flea if it tried to bite me.
As he watched her go, half of his mind screamed out to stop the little girl before she reached her destination; to keep himself a secret as he'd done for so long. But the other, stronger, half, called out for her to run faster, to fetch help for his sores, food for his belly, and a bed for his slumber. Faster, faster little girl. Run for me, please. Run for me.
And on that cold, wet morning, the being known only as 'Adam' entered into the world, and a new life began in the dew.
___________________
The sun sat huge in the reddening sky. Yellow and bulbous, it beat down the last of its warm rays before retiring behind the horizon for the night. Despite being evening, the air was balmy, and a faint aroma of flowers loitered in the slightly stuffy atmosphere. In all, the scene spoke of peace and tranquillity - the undisturbed beauty of Mother Nature.
A lone figure sat on a clump of large rocks, not far from the Pashuda farmhouse. He was balanced easily on the largest of these massive stones, its wide flat surface providing a comfortable perch as well as a vantage point over the surrounding landscape. One leg draped lazily over the edge, the other drawn up to his chin in quiet contemplation.
Tai gazed across the breath-taking panorama. This was his favourite spot at sunset, and he could often be found sat atop this broad precipice, waiting. It had been nearly two months since he came to Pashuda Farm, yet still the vista amazed him. Every time he saw it, sky aflame with the colours of a dying day, he drank it in as if it were life itself, a tangible sustenance set in visual form.
A soft breeze, no more than a butterfly's whisper really, ruffled his brown hair. One fawn strand tugged loose to go flying, dancing on the thermals until it was lost from sight. Tai sighed. If he could have created a paradise, then he knew he couldn't have bettered this.
Something caught his eye in the distance. A bobbing yellow blob, no more than a speck to anyone else, but Tai could clearly make out the form of a person running through the fallow field. Terri. She waved, not being able to see him from so far away, but knowing that he'd be there. Tai didn't bother to return the gesture. With her average abilities he knew she wouldn't be able to see it anyway. She was quite late today. The bus should have dropped her off a good half hour ago, and he'd been starting to worry. He felt rather protective of the little girl who'd befriended him before she even knew his name, and sat watching for her to return from school every day. She never arrived until after six - since the education facility was in the village far west of the farm - so typically he'd finished his chores and was able to linger on his rock for her homecoming.
He waited for her to reach him, cheeks rosy, breathing coming in short gasps from her run. She reached the rocky outcrop and paused for a moment to catch her breath, before climbing up to join him. Tai shifted his position slightly so that she could sit by his side without falling off, and she flopped down gratefully.
"Hi, Adam."
Tai nodded in greeting. He'd grown used to answering to his new name. He'd had to. Nobody called him 'Tai' around here, and more often than not he was termed only as 'boy' or 'you there'. Not that people were overly unfriendly, just wary of him. With good reason too, he reminded himself. After all, he must seem quite strange to them. There had been a slight outcry among the farm workers upon the Pashuda's decision to take him in, but the kindly family had stood firm on their resolution to house the starving teenager their daughter had found. He was thankful to them for their benevolence, but still the labourers didn't quite trust him yet.
Terri stared off into the distance, not really taking in the beautiful sight she'd been witness to since her birth, and began to relate the happenings of her day to the quiescent youth next to her. Each day they acted out the same pattern. Tai would wait for the little girl on his chosen perch; she would arrive and proceed to tell him of her day. Then the two of them would watch the sundown together before going inside and washing up for dinner. The routine suited them both, but today Terri's lateness had thrown it out a little, and Tai only half-listened to her speak whilst simultaneously gazing at the sunset stretched out before him.
Eventually, Terri became aware that she didn't possess his undivided attention, and fell silent. She knew how Adam liked to look at the vibrant hues adorning the skyline at nightfall, and was sorry for her tardiness interrupting him. But it hadn't been her fault the school bus got a flat tyre. She'd enjoyed the miniature drama as much as all her classmates, but it hadn't been her fault it had happened.
Comfortable silence extended between them as the glowing orb of the sun played out its daily ballet of colour. Scarlet mixed with blue to become burgundy, then violet, then a deep, rich purple mankind had never been able to capture on fabric. Yellow coursed among its darker cousins, permeating their dim calm with its vivacious strands. Mixed with this came a luxurious red, the colour of winterberries and ladybirds' wings, twining with its golden counterpart to form a delicious orange that covered the skyline like burnished bronze. All these added their individual efforts to become part of the dazzling picture crossing the heavens.
Tai enjoyed sunsets as he'd never enjoyed anything else. Somehow they'd never been his spectacular in the city. Too much pollution, he reasoned. You couldn't see the sky for smog in Tokyo, but here.... here it felt like you could see into Jupiter's garden from your own doorstep. He took a deep breath, inhaling the clement air and savouring the thousands of pleasant scents that filled his nose.
Terri shot a sideways glance at her companion. He sat contentedly with his eyes closed, giving the false impression that he was asleep. She knew, though, that if she were to make even the slightest sound he would hear her and his eyes would snap open once more. It was strange how good his senses were. The little girl was aware of how these odd traits scared the labourers, she'd heard them talking about Adam more than once. They believed he should be sent away, but she was fond of the brown haired youth who'd dropped so unexpectedly into their lives. He was an enigma, wrapped in a mystery. At times he seemed so serious, but then there were many incidents when he would smile that winning smile of his, laugh, and treat her like his little sister. Like the brother she'd never had.
She stared at him for a moment longer, and then broke the silence.
"What are you doing?"
The boy's eyes opened, but he didn't look at her. Instead he simply stared out once more at the attractive sunset, now reaching its end as the night drew in.
"I was just.... listening to the quiet."
"Do you like the quiet?"
A pause. "I've learned to like it." He said eventually.
Terri cocked her head and narrowed her grey eyes at this cryptic answer, not sure what to make of it. Perhaps it was some subconscious inclination to his former life. He often did this - make an enigmatic statement or comment, and then appear unaware as to why he said it. A puzzle indeed. But he was a nice puzzle.
Tai rose languidly from his position. He was leaner now than when he'd first arrived at Pashuda Farm. What was once wasted flesh was now hard muscle and cords of sinew. He moved with an easy fluidity, like that of a cat, coiled muscles rippling with each movement beneath his tanned skin. Yet he didn't share the bulky build of the farm workers. Rather, his was a hidden strength, buried inside his slim adolescent body.
"We'd better be getting back, or else you're mother will be worried."
"She never stops worrying." Terri replied cheekily, but joined him in descending the rock to the ground below. As always, she jumped the last part, and he caught her, swinging her around in a circle, clasped tightly in his newly muscled arms. Terri giggled dizzily when he set her down, and grabbed playfully for his hand to lead her back to the house so that she wouldn't fall over. Tai chuckled; he'd missed the sound of laughter on his long trek, especially that of a young child.
Together, Terri and her surrogate sibling strolled back to their home, having no need to hurry and taking pleasure in each other's company. Behind them, the engorged sun finally took to its bed, and night fell upon the quiet community.
___________________
Tai struggled against the bonds that held him, biting at the rope around his wrists in a desperate attempt to free himself. In front of him, a grisly scene played out. Screams of agony rang in his ears, mingled with his own cries for the terror to stop. Frantically, he writhed against his fetters, rubbing his skin raw until red blood flowed. He yelled at the top of his lungs, but felt something choking him. Something black and insubstantial forcing its way down his throat, spreading through his veins like acid and burning him from within. He tried to scream, but the thing blocked his airway, and he could only gargle helplessly within his manacles.
Suddenly a voice cut through the searing pain and excruciating shrieks. A gentle voice, incongruous in this hellish place.
"Adam! Adam, wake up! Wake up, Adam!"
Tai sat up with a jolt, sweat pouring down his back and forehead. He blinked blearily as his eyes became accustomed to the darkness around him. Gradually his breathing slowed, and his heart slid down from where it had leaped to his throat, back into his heaving chest once more. A stifling quiet surrounded him, contrasting sharply to the all-too-loud cries he'd heard only moments before.
A pair of soft grey eyes abruptly appeared in front of his own. Terri knelt on the end of his futon, gazing worriedly at him.
"Adam, are you OK?" Tai swallowed - his gullet seemed to have acquired a sizable stone whilst he was asleep - but nodded weakly. Terri's eyes squinted scutinizingly, and it was obvious she didn't believe him. "You had another nightmare, didn't you?" It was a statement, more than a question, but Tai nodded dumbly again.
A nightmare. It had seemed so real, but that was all it had been. Just a nightmare. Yet Tai still had to look down at his hands, to make sure no dark stains adorned the creases as they had done seconds ago. He still felt the warm blood seeping through his fingers, but shook the image away as he returned fully to reality, and the curious child crouched several feet away, staring at him.
"Adam, you really should tell Mom and Dad about this. They can fix things for you."
Fix things? Oh, if only it were that simple. But if he told Terri's parents of his nightly visions he would be forced to tell them what he'd seen, and he wasn't ready to reveal that information to the world just yet. It was simply too lucid, too real, too....familiar to let anyone know.
Tai shook his head. "No, Terri. I'm fine, really. Probably just something I ate."
Terri pursed her lips the way she'd seen her mother do when her father was blatantly lying about something. "You've been having bad dreams for months now! I think you should change your diet, Adam!"
Tai gave a half chuckle. "I think you should go back to bed. You've got school in the morning, and you'll fall asleep on your desk if you don't get some shut-eye." As if to support his point, the small child opened her tiny mouth in a wide yawn. "See what I mean."
"I guess." Terri conceded. She rose and padded over to her bed in the corner. Clambering aboard, she shot back a sleepy comment before burrowing deep under the covers in search of elusive warmth. "Don't worry, Adam. Mom always told me that everything will seem a lot less scary in the morning."
"Sage advice." Tai whispered inaudibly, laying back down himself. The pillow was damp with perspiration, as were the sheets, and Tai tossed uncomfortably. Finally, he kicked off the dank coverlets and lay only in the green pyjama's Mrs. Pashuda had bought him several days ago on a rare shopping trip to the village. Usually all groceries and suchlike were delivered to their door, but the kindly woman had made a special excursion whilst he was out working in the fields. He'd been surprised when he came home to find four neat piles of new garments on the dining-room tabletop, and hadn't been able to thank her enough, nor her husband, for the incredible compassion they'd shown him since they took him in.
Strange, he referred to this place as his home now. He supposed it was. Memories of his old home were fading, helped along by the fact that he never willingly brought them to mind. Yet, as he lay there, the image of a face scurried across his mind's eye. A face that stared at him with gentle hazel eyes, framed by a mop of chestnut hair....
Tai turned over, chasing the effigy from his head with physical movement. He tried to settle himself in this new position, but found he was equally uncomfortable this way. He sighed. Not that he totally regretted his inaptitude to return to slumber. Visions of his dream still haunted him, and he had no wish to see such things again any time soon.
A faint throbbing in his arm caught his attention. He'd been ignoring it all day, but now his bored mind latched onto it as a source of possible interest. He studied the inside of his left arm critically, tracing the slightly raised line of a cut across his wrist. He'd received it today when repairing a damaged fence in the north field. A metal wire had come loose and slashed his arm when he pulled down the old netting, leaving a nasty gash in its wake. Mr. Pashuda had wanted him to go to the hospital to have stitches, but curiously the wound hadn't bled as much as it should have done, considering it was so deep, and hadn't impeded Tai's ability to work in the slightest. In fact, he'd hardly even noticed it was there half the time, remembering only when he heard snatches of conversations between the labourers when they thought he wasn't listening. His injury was the hottest topic on the grapevine, it seemed, and several rumours had already started circulating before he even realised he was the object of so much attention.
Now, Tai himself contemplated the strangeness of his cut, having little else to do in the quiet of the stuffy night. Studying it, he too found it hard to believe how little blood had exited his body this way. It joined as the latest edition to a lengthy list of singularities he'd discovered about himself since coming to live here. It wasn't hard to understand why people were wary of him when he really thought about it. His great strength for one was enough to make you wonder. On a few occasions he'd been able to lift with ease things it usually took three burly men to move, and once he'd even removed a tractor stuck in deep mud single-handed. No wonder the labourers talked.
Tai was also aware of a number of other things about his abilities nobody else knew. He discerned that as well as his strength, both his speed and agility had also improved to near super-human levels. Not that he ever used these talents, but he was conscious of their existence nonetheless. However, coupled with these traits also came many recollections he'd rather have forgotten concerning suspicions as to how he'd acquired them. Tai wasn't a fool. He knew that things like this didn't happen for no reason. But somehow, he believed that if he just didn't explore his talents, then those memories would stay buried and never resurface again in his mind. At least, that was what he wanted to believe.
Terri turned over, a snort escaping as she repositioned herself beneath the covers. Tai's concentration was broken, and he looked away from his damaged wrist, across the small room to where the five-year-old lay. Her chest rose and fell as she slept peacefully, unaware that her roommate was still awake. Tai wished he could have her innocence. To be able to wake up, and face each new day with a smile was something he'd lost the ability to do a long time ago. The hazel-eyed boy nuzzled his face into his pillow in a futile attempt to pacify his discomfort, but his mind remained active and buzzing. He lay in the dark, staring at nothing in particular.
As Tai rested this way, something hideous was awakening. Slowly, a dark presence probed its cage, and - unknown to the boy - a new spark began to feed and burn.
___________________
"Come on, Adam!" Terri called merrily, swinging the wicker picnic basket in front of her.
"I'm coming!" Tai called back. "Wait up!"
"Slow poke, slow poke, nothing but some bad jokes!" The little girl ran on ahead despite his pleas, laughing. Tai smiled, he could catch her if he tried, but he let her think that she was too fast for him. Slowly he clambered up the hill in her wake, carrying the old tablecloth Mrs. Pashuda had lent them for their picnic under one arm.
Eventually he reached the designated spot. A grassy knoll embedded into the hillside served as a favourite picnic area during the summer, and it was the first time Terri had brought him here. Upon seeing it, he could understand why if was so popular. It provided a view of the surrounding countryside like that of no other, outstripping even his rock outside the farmhouse. Strips of green fields stretched away into the distance, until it seemed they touched the very sky.
Terri stood watching his approach, tapping her foot in mock impatience.
"You took your time!" She wagged her finger at him.
"You're getting very cheeky." Tai replied. She grinned mischievously.
"But you love me anyway. Come on, let's set out all the stuff."
With an easy banter, they proceeded to spread out the tablecloth and retrieve the host of edibles Terri's mother had packed for them that morning. Mr. And Mrs. Pashuda would have accompanied the two youngsters on their outing, but the older woman's sister had suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, been taken ill during the night, and her husband had been forced to drive her to visit in a town fifty miles away. As if to compensate, Mrs. Pashuda had provided Tai and Terri with enough food to feed a small army.
Pasties, rolls, pies, and assortments of other pastries exited the basket, followed by dozens of cakes and sweets. Tai's hazel eyes widened at the veritable feast, saliva already beginning to run inside his mouth.
"Whoa." Was all he could say. Terri extricated a large bottle of carbonated drink from the apparently bottomless basket, looking at him through curious grey eyes.
"What?"
"I've never seen so much food." Tai breathed. "Is this all for us?"
"Of course." Terri seemed surprised he would ask such a question. "Who else would it be for?"
Bees lazily buzzed past as they began their banquet. Tai discovered he had quite a penchant for Mrs. Pashuda's Chocolate cake, and had eaten three pieces before Terri finished the massive pasty she was struggling with. They ate in silence, until Tai sat back patting his stomach.
"Phew, I'm stuffed. I couldn't eat another bite."
"You mean I have to carry all this home again?" Terri groaned through a mouthful of Swiss roll. Tai laughed good-naturedly.
"No, it's my turn to carry the basket now. You don't have to, Terri."
"So you'll be even slower than before, with all that added weight." She giggled. "It'll be dark before we get home with you around."
Tai chuckled, letting her comment slide. He lay back on the comfortable hummock, closing his hazel eyes and bathing in the warm sunlight. Terri's voice caused him to look up again, though, and he opened his eyes to see her gambolling down the hill like a Spring lamb. Her blonde hair streamed out behind her, and several grass stains were already gracing her denim dungarees.
"Adam, look! Look at me!"
"You watch yourself!" He called indolently. "Don't fall!"
"I won't." She yelled back. "See, I'm a plane. Neeeee-yow!" The little girl spread her arms wide and ran around, shrieking wildly in her impression of a jet engine.
"You'll throw-up with all you've eaten." He warned her. Terri just tossed her head at such a suggestion.
"Nah. Stomach of steel. That's what Dad calls me anyway."
"I thought it was 'Human Dustbin'." Tai returned, but she didn't appear to have heard him.
He lay back again, savouring the quiet, which was interposed intermittently only by Terri's happy laughter. He sighed, revelling in the contented feeling spreading inside him. He doubted whether he'd ever felt happier in his life. An insect crawled across his hands, which were crossed behind his head in a makeshift pillow, but even this minor irritation didn't alleviate the intense feeling of contentment filling the day. He felt rather drowsy. Sleep had evaded him completely for several nights now, and when his psyche did reside into slumber he was plagued by countless nightmares that made him wake up breathless, skin slick with sweat. Now though, he was sure that nothing could ruin this perfect moment, not even the horrific visions that haunted his unconscious mind.
Tai listened to the natural lullaby assaulting his willing ears. The faint shush of the breeze rustling the long grass stems around him. Terri's joyous laughter as she attempted a cartwheel she'd been practising at school this week. His own breathing, steady and rhythmic. Far away, a bell-tower chimed the changing of the hour. One chime. Two. Three. Four. Four chimes. Four o' clock in the afternoon, he surmised. Mr. And Mrs. Pashuda should be at her sister's by now. They wouldn't be coming home until tomorrow, but true to form, the motherly woman had left a stack of food for their supper back at the farmhouse. Not that he could eat anything else after that feast in the picnic basket. The teenager's mind wandered as he slowly fell back into happy sleep.
He became aware of a sharp tugging on the fringes of his mind. A niggling sensation, like when you've forgotten to do something, but can't remember what it was. Except, this tugging didn't go away when he tried to ignore it, instead becoming slightly stronger as he did so. Tai's eyebrows furrowed, what had he forgotten? But nothing came to him, and he tried once more to push the odd feeling away. Stubbornly it remained, gnawing at his brain like a flea on a dog's hide.
A sudden shooting pain lanced through Tai's chest. He gasped at the abrupt intensity of it. His body endeavoured to sit up, but another sharp pain stabbed through him, causing him to fall back inadvertently. What was going on? Tai's hazel eyes opened worriedly and he stared at the sky. Something at the back of his mind told him this was more than simple heartburn, but something else was suffocating this sensible voice. He felt woozy, as if he'd just got off a fairground ride and hadn't quite regained his balance yet.
A cold knot of fear was forming in the pit of his stomach, and he hastily rolled over onto his hands and knees in an effort to rise. However, this only served to make him feel worse as a wave of nausea swept through him. His muscles trembled, but he pushed himself up into a kneeling position. Another shooting pain pierced his heart, and he clutched helplessly at his chest. This was all too familiar, and the brown-haired youth struggled to beat down what he suspected was coming.
A ring of darkness surrounded his field of vision, and a second tide of queasiness bubbled inside Tai's gut. He clapped a hand over his mouth, squeezing his hazel eyes shut as he fought the darkness threatening to consume his sight. There was no doubt about it now. It was just the same as before, in Tokyo. Tai groaned as a stinging sensation clamped around his brain, preventing him from fighting the blackness he now sensed appearing inside his head.
The entity within Tai had been clever. It had known its power was spent in that alley all those months ago, and had gone into hiding as it were, concealing itself inside its host whilst exerting its influence in secret. It had lulled the boy into a false sense of security, leaving him to ponder over his new inexplicable physical abilities, whilst it attacked the barriers around his psyche. As Tai strengthened his body, his mind's defences had become weak, until all the entity needed was a single opening to rush in and exert its newly restored power over him. One moment of weakness, when he let his guard down. A moment of true emotion.
That moment had come.
Tai gagged, bile rising in the back of his throat. He felt his senses slipping away from him. First smell, then voice, then touch. The grass no longer seemed springy and soft beneath him, because he couldn't feel it. The air wasn't sweet and fragrant. The ring around his vision closed in, filling his sight with numbing blackness.
Tai's body turned, rising as the entity took control of it. Tai sensed the elongation of his canines into iniquitous fangs, and a red haze covered what was left of his sight. He knew his irises were darkening, becoming blood red as they cast about him. Talons shot out of his fingertips, dripping red fluid as they burst from his yielding flesh. Mentally, Tai screamed, but could do nothing. He was powerless to stop what was happening, and slipped more and more from his grip with every passing second.
Suddenly, a sound came to his ears. Even as his hearing was stripped away from him, Tai recognised that noise, and it chilled what was left of him to the bone.
"Adam? Adam, are you OK?" Terri asked. Tai's eyes rested on her small form, making her way back up the hill towards him.
No, Terri! Don't come near me! Stay away! Tai screamed inside, but she couldn't hear him, and came gamely on. The entity curled Tai's lips into a cruel smile, raising one of his clawed hands in a gesture of welcome. Terri appeared heartened by this, unable to see the talons from where she was, and began to jog. No! Terri! Tai yelled impotently from within. Terri raised her hand to take his, her face smiling. The entity smiled too. A knowing, malicious smile.
The little girl didn't stand a chance. The bolt of darkness struck her when she was still several feet away, running her through completely. Her grey eyes widened in shock, before she fell forward onto the grass. With the last of his sight, Tai saw a red mark spreading around her, emanating from her chest.
TERRI! NOOOOOOOOO!
And then there was only blackness.
___________________
When Tai awoke he was lying face down on something soft. Strands of something ticklish brushed against his cheek and nose, causing him to sneeze violently. With this inadvertent exhalation, the realization that his body was once more his own came to him, and he jerked himself upright.
Before him lay his grisly pillow. A rabbit, its head torn off and lying a few feet away. The blood encrusting its ripped neck was crystalline. Old. He wondered how long he'd been lying there. Tipping his head, he looked up at the sky. It was dark. Sunset had already passed into night.
Sunset....
Terri!
Tai struggled to his feet, swaying unsteadily. A crowd of random images filled his confused mind, but one name resonated through them all like a knell. Terri. He glanced around uncertainly, not recognising this place. Small clumps of sparse trees shot out of the ground at odd angles around him. Several had braches hanging off them at crazy angles; others wore the blackened marks of burning like war scars. Tai gazed at them.
Did I do this?
A few metres away, a corpse of some unidentifiable animal lay. Its back was twisted at an impossible angle, flesh charred so badly that it was impossible to truly tell what it used to be. The stench of burning meat hung in the air like a sickening fog, hours old but no less repellent.
The desolate copse gave no indication as to his location. He could have been miles from the picnic area, and would be none the wiser. Tai jerked his head around in all directions, searching desperately for some hint as to where he was.
Suddenly a scent came to him. His near-superhuman senses picked up on the faint aroma where others couldn't, and his brain recognized it instantly (although how was a mystery.) Blood. Human blood. The youth's head snapped around to catch a second whiff of the telling odour. It was riding on a small breeze to his left, and before he knew what he was doing, he took off in that direction in mad flight.
The night was deathly quiet around him, not even the usual scufflings of nocturnal animals breaking the intense silence. Tai's feet, thudding against the turf, was the only sound abroad that night, everything else having the sense to remain out of sight. He ran on, trusting to luck and his improved senses to guide him. Like a wolf, his loping stride ate up the ground at an astronomical rate, and in virtually no time at all he'd reached his destination.
The picnic area was almost completely destroyed. Huge chunks of earth had been gouged out of the hillock, craters where there shouldn't be craters peppering the charred landscape. Everything was burned, and the vague smell of smoke filled the atmosphere. Tai coughed at the pungent attack, his sensitive nose smelling the faint aroma like it was new. He ran on, into the wreckage itself, calling.
"Terri? Terri?"
No answer.
"Terri, where are you? Come on, this isn't the time to be playing games!" Tai shouted. He knew she was here, he could smell her. His cloudy mind refused to tell him what had happened when the entity took over, but his nose clearly informed him of her presence nearby. Yet, there was something odd about her fragrance. Something he couldn't quite place....
The brown haired boy went on, calling intermittently the name of his adopted sibling. Even though it was dark he could see by the pallid light of the moon above him, and quested onwards beneath her apathetic gaze.
"Terri! Terri?" His voice floated among the mountains of debris like a lost soul, searching for a home. "Terri. Come out, this isn't funny anymore."
As he crested a particularly high pile of soil and rock Tai finally saw her; lying where she'd fallen, a red mark dying what was left of the grass around her small form. Her face was hidden by masses of blonde hair which had fanned out over her tiny skull like a mutated halo, also tainted by the same dark blotches staining her clothes.
"TERRI!" Tai yelled anguishedly, stumbling down the unstable mass of rubble towards her. She didn't move at the sound of his voice, and he rushed to her side, calling her name at the top of his lungs.
The dirt-encrusted teenager knelt at the little girl's side and gently picked her up in his arms. The sensible voice in his head warned him he shouldn't move her, that he may be doing more harm then good, but as he gazed upon her pale and blood streaked visage he knew in his heart that she was dead. Tears began to leak from his hazel eyes, dripping off the end of his nose and splashing harmlessly into the muck.
Why?
Why? Why? Why?
She hadn't done anything. Why did this have to happen to her? All she'd done was offer him warmth and friendship when he needed it most. All she'd done was welcome him into her home - into her heart.
All he'd done was kill her.
The veil lifted from his memory, and Tai suddenly saw with perfect, ghastly clarity what he'd seen with his last sight when the entity stole his body from him. He saw Terri's happy, grinning face as she ran to take his hand. Then the bolt of darkness streaking towards and through her. He saw her fall, blood seeping from the wound he'd inflicted.
Tai tilted his bronzed face to the sky and howled. Not the roaring battle cry he'd released as the monster controlled by the dark entity, but a raw, agonized screech, which ripped from his lungs like the worst scream in hell. Wetness coursed down his cheeks as he mourned for the little girl whose life he'd taken. The child who'd shown him such innocent compassion, only to be brutally murdered by his hands.
Still with salty tears sliding down his face, Tai looked down at Terri. At the delicate features which had always exuded such love, such happiness, such.... life. Her grey eyes were open and staring, a driblet of dried blood tracing a line between them from a cut on her forehead. A cut that was oddly shaped, yet partially hidden by the dried blood caked around it. If Tai had looked more closely, he would have seen his crest carved into her flesh as if with a blade. Gently, Tai reached out one hand and closed her eyelids, rendering her to all intents asleep. He half expected her to suddenly awaken, to throw her arms around him, hug him and tell him it had all been a dream. Just some terrible nightmare created by his feverish brain.
But Tai knew that this was no nightmare. This was real. Much more real then he was willing to accept. Terri's body felt cold and stiff in his arms, and a soft breeze blew strands of golden hair across her face.
She looks like an angel, his delirious brain thought. So innocent and peaceful.
Except for the blood.
Suddenly, Tai's fragile mind broke. Shattered by grief and guilt so intense it burned his soul; he rose, clutching the cold corpse to his chest. He couldn't bear it, out here on this desolate hilltop. He needed to get her to help. His splintered mind seemed to disregard the blatant fact that Terri was beyond medical assistance; such was its tattered mental state.
He ran. Ran at such a speed as has never been reached by any human before. Ran with strength given him by his dark parasite. Ran with sorrow for his surrogate sister. Ran on and on into the night, never stopping, never stalling. Tai's powerful legs leaped tens of metres in a single bound, and in but a few minutes he'd covered the immense distance between the destroyed knoll and Pashuda Farm.
He passed the watching rock - an indistinct shape in the darkness - not even acknowledging its presence. Get her inside. Call the doctor. Do something useful. These mantras echoed inside his head like a demonic choir, urging him onward with their nightmarish voices. Repair the damage you've done, Tai. Adam. Monster.
Thunder rumbled overhead from a huge storm cloud rolling across the sky. Spots of rain appeared on the ground, splattering harshly against the grass stems. One hit Tai in the corner of his eye, and he blinked, momentarily blinded. Deprived of his eyes, his feet stumbled, tripping over themselves in their haste and sending him sprawling. The youth struck the ground hard, precious cargo flying from his arms on impact. He grunted as the pocket of air was crushed from his body, immediately struggling to right himself. As his head rose, his vision once more rested on Terri's body.
She'd landed on the patio, a trail of blood from a reopened wound signalling where she'd rolled across the slabs. Her body was twisted, one arm at a gruesome angle above her head. Her eyes had opened a sliver, and they stared at him blankly, devoid of their usual spark. Steely instead of soft grey. Cold. Accusing.
Dead.
Tai gazed at her, realization permeating his fuddled brain once more. She was dead. No doctor on earth could save her now. The dark entity had killed her. He'd killed her.
The rain began to fall more heavily, and the sky growled its pent up fury like a caged animal. Tai rose, water trickling down his face, but making no effort to wipe it away. Slowly he crossed the concrete and gathered Terri up in his strong arms. Kicking the door to the farmhouse open, he carried her inside, ignoring the high squeal of the frame as it splintered beneath his foot. Dripping water, he walked soberly through the house he'd come to call home.
He'd intended to take the small child to her bedroom. To lay her on her bed and cover her red streaked face with a sheet like he'd seen paramedics do on television. However, to reach the bedrooms in the single story house, he first had to pass through the kitchen. His feet made a wet slapping as they travelled across the tiles of the kitchen floor, and the rain beat relentlessly against the window. Tai's attention was fleetingly caught by the storm, which had so abruptly sprung up as if from nowhere, and his eyes fell upon the kitchen knives Mrs. Pashuda kept in a block on the counter. His grief stricken mind then acted out the only coherent thought it could find.
Placing Terri's delicate form lovingly on her bed, Tai reverently pulled up the sheet to enshroud her completely. But before he did so, the brown haired boy leaned down and planted a brotherly kiss upon her cold forehead.
"I love you, Little Angel." He whispered; using the nickname he'd created for her the day she found him. His only answer was the sound of raindrops battering the bedroom window, and he swiftly pulled the white sheet over her visage, tucking it in and heading for the doorway. "I'll make things right."
Tai stalked determinedly back to the kitchen. Without hesitation, he pulled the largest of the knives from the block, turned it around, and plunged it deep into his chest.
He didn't cry out in pain. He wouldn't let himself. This was his punishment. It was right for him to die.
But he didn't die. He bled, he hurt, he fell to his knees, but he didn't die. The steel blade rubbed against his lungs as he breathed in and out, causing untold amounts of agony to course through his thin body. He could feel it, crushing and slicing at his internal organs, piercing his heart with its wicked tip. Yet he remained alive. The urge to scream filled every pore of his being, but he bit his lip until blood flowed to hold it in. He could sense the red juices leaking from his inner wounds, but curiously he remained conscious.
Tai's head spun, and he fell forward onto his hands and knees. The knife's black handle still protruded from his chest, and crimson fluid welled around it to drip liberally onto the floor. Desperately he pushed it further in with one trembling hand, but only served to make himself lose his balance and tumble into an ungainly heap on his side.
Cold insight slammed into him like a freight train, as months of suspicion were finally confirmed in a moment of agony. Fresh tears slid down Tai's dirty face.
He couldn't die.
It wouldn't let him die.
The entity was somehow keeping him alive where a normal human would have perished. Why else had he survived so long where others would not? How else had he made the terrible journey from Tokyo the way he did without unnatural assistance? Tai remembered the unbearable frosty nights. By rights he should have died from frostbite or exposure, or at least starvation. But no, because he wasn't human.
Wasn't human.
The phrase whirled inside of his head. He wasn't human. He was a monster.
Tai Kamiya had died the night he murdered his parents. In that same terrible moment, a demon had been created. A demon, which wore his face, but was ultimately evil. A monster in the truest sense of the word. For a while it had disguised itself as Adam, the amnesia stricken boy found by the roadside. Yet it was still the same beast lurking beneath the surface. Waiting to strike.
The brown haired boy reached up and yanked the long knife from his body. Scarlet blood splattered across the tiled floor as it slid out of the wound, producing a pool of vital fluid, which leaked into the dusty cracks. With a dogged persistence to right things, the youth heaved himself to his feet, tottering slightly from loss of blood. The knife clattered to the ground when he fell against the counter for support, leaving dark smears across the marbled surface as he stumbled towards the open door.
He couldn't stay. Not after what he'd done. Adam was dead, just like the one known as Tai. Both had murdered those closest to them. Neither could ever be allowed to return, lest the same thing happened again.
The boy tumbled out of the aperture, and not allowing himself to be halted by this, crawled away as fast as he could on his bloodied hands and knees into the all-consuming blackness. As the rain slashed his face like a curtain of needles, the tanned figure disappeared once more into the comforting darkness of night. Just as he'd done before. Just as he would do again.
Cleansing rainwater unsympathetically washed away the red trail left by his bleeding body, effectively removing all trace of his departure. Nobody would be able to tell where he'd gone, which was just as he wanted. If he was to remain alive, then he wished never again to touch the lives of others. A shadow forever. A watching spirit.
___________________
There are tales among the countrymen. Sad tales. Bad tales. Tales of woe and murder. Crouched over the fires of cold nights, with naught to do but tell stories, these tales have woven themselves into their very culture and folklore.
A favourite rumour of the moment is one of the boy with no name. He comes with no past, and leaves with no future, riding on the back of a great, dark spirit - or so the tale goes. There are some men who know of the core of truth beneath the stories. Of the poor youth found in the open by caring people, who shelters with families and individuals alike when they let him in. Some claim to have seen him, and to have looked into his sorrowful hazel eyes themselves. But these men are few and far between. Most don't believe the tales of the boy with no name, using it only as a bedtime threat for small children. "Go to bed, quickly, or the boy with no name will get you, and set his spirit to burn the sun into your hide."
Yet one thing remains constant. Through all the false stories, it is an unwritten rule among the country folk, that you should never shelter a boy with brown hair if you find him half-dead in a field. Shut your doors, bolt your windows, or he'll come creeping out of the shadows to peer into your house at your children, longing etched into his bronzed face. He may seem sad and pitiful, but he's still a monster. Don't let him in, whatever the cost. Drive him away with sticks if you must, but don't let him into your home.
There are tales among the countrymen. Sad tales. Bad tales. Tales of woe and murder.
___________________
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yes, I know this didn't progress the story much, but it was created as an explanatory chapter. The two parts of "Shattered Moments" were meant to be set out like human memory i.e. not giving up memories in a chronological fashion, and I originally wrote them as such in one large chunk. However, I thought it would be easier to understand the passage of time if I split it up in this way. Obviously I was wrong if one e-mail I received from an unknown source is to be believed. If that person is reading this then I won't stoop to your level of insults, but I want you to know that some of the things you said really hurt me. I've worked my ass off on this fic, and - no kidding - it's drained me both physically and emotionally. If you want to say anything else like that then I suggest you write it all down, roll it up into a ball and shove it up your.... but I digress. Sorry, but I really needed to get that off my chest. If anyone else has any problems with me continuing this fic then please write them in a review and I'll stop posting right away.
Thanx.
Scribbler :-
