Hunted By The Shadows
Chapter Seven
It was probably night. The darkness wasn't helping him see his way through the small room, or maybe it wasn't the darkness. His vision was blurry and distorted, like looking through frosted windows. The young boy brought his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes frantically. Just as he did every night, and every night the same the same result. His eyes still couldn't focus properly.
He made his way towards a wall where he could just make out a light switch. The room lit up as he pressed the switch. He looked up to the light in the centre of the ceiling, the brightness making him squint his eyes. Just like any child, he never really liked the dark. The light was something that, as it engulfed him, it gave a sense of comfort and eased his mind of his childish fears. Yet on this night however, it didn't seem to have the same effect. The light had done its purpose of chasing away most of the shadows, but as he gazed at the light through his frosted vision, he didn't feel the security it usually gave. The light almost seemed darker than usual, even though it still had the effect to pain the naked eye if looked at for long enough.
His young legs made there way anxiously towards where the wooden door stood. His legs came to a stop as he reached the door and pressed his head against the cool wooden frame, and waited in silence. Waited to hear anything from beyond the door. A few minutes passed before he dared to move. The silence bringing more fear than any noise could. He knew something was out there, or at least, had been out there once. Something had awoken him from his slumber, usually he wouldn't think anything of it, but tonight was different. Tonight the air felt thick, something was lurking around, making his mind overly active.
His mind thought back for a moment, something had awoken him. A sound had awoken him, then he remembered hearing a door open and footsteps. He knew who the footsteps belonged to; the soft footsteps on the wooden surface of the floor beyond his bedroom door seemed familiar to him. He had heard her presence out in the hallway, he wasn't really sure what she had been doing, but she had been there. It was the sudden silence that had made his mind more active. No more footsteps in the hallway to reassure him. Just silence.
He stopped his earlier thoughts as his fears were taking over his mind again. Slowly he reached for the door handle and he opened the door. The light from his room streamed into the dark hallway. The darkness seemed thick, yet it seemed as though it was inviting him into the hallway. The young boy took a few steps further into the deep black when he suddenly stopped in fear. His eyes locked onto something on the floor. Someone.
It was that moment it felt like time stopped. He was frozen, not able to breathe. Not even able to run away and cry from what he saw in front of him. It was this point that his vision started to clear. Now he was able to get a better picture of the body collapsed on the floor, her back facing him. A part of him was glad he couldn't see her face. Her white night gown soaked with the blood. The lifeless body lay in a pool of deep red crimson. The pool of blood ran out into streams, as if reaching out for help. It trickled down across the floor, reaching towards the young boy. He watched as the red liquid made its way towards his bare feet, the liquid felt warm.
His breathing became fast and panicked, and he felt the sour taste of bile rising to his throat. He turned away from the body and slowly made his way back towards his room, the wooden floor felt slippery under his crimson stained feet. His vision became blurred again, but this time it was because of the tears welling up in his eyes. Stinging as they made their way down his cheeks. He closed his eyes to try and stop the tears.
The next few moments became a blur as darkness clouded his mind. He felt his body move; yet not sure what actions he was making. He felt a pain across his forehead although he couldn't see anything. He felt a warm liquid run down his face, just like it had done on the floor, but this was his blood. The rusty taste filled his mouth as the blood made its way past his lips. His eyes shot open suddenly. Something was there, although he wasn't sure exactly what it was. It looked like some sort of symbol. An eye shape, inside was a small cross. Lurking behind the cross was what looked like a trail of smoke rising up. Just below the eye was a tear, as if it was crying. The symbol then disappeared as the darkness filled his mind once more.
Squall awoke and jolted upwards to find himself alone in his bed. His breathing was heavy and his body was dripping with sweat. It was dark. He looked over to the clock beside him to see it was four in the morning. With a sigh of relief he rose from the bed and switched on the light, watching as it illuminated the room. Although the childish fears of the dark had passed, he still felt the security in light.
He moved to the bathroom, flipping on the switch as he entered. More light, to chase away the shadows. He made his way towards the sink and held himself up weakly with his arms, studying himself in the mirror. Squall raised one hand and touched the scar that made its way down his forehead. How many more nights of his life must he be haunted by his past? He closed his eyes, still feeling the scar on his fingers. He could still feel the taste of blood in his mouth, feel the liquid on his feet as it dried and felt tight on his skin.
The pool of blood, why did it have to reach out to him like that? It was too late, he couldn't do anything to save her. He quickly turned around and vomited in the toilet beside him. The sour taste in his mouth almost bringing a comfort, at least then he couldn't taste the blood. He rose back towards the sink and filled a glass with water, the cold liquid seemed to sooth him as it made its way down his throat.
Feeling a little better, he made his way back into his room. He frowned as he noticed how untidy it looked, with newspaper cuttings and books scattered messily around the room. He went to his desk and pulled out a small velvet box, he reached his hand inside and brought out a folded piece of paper. Squall opened up the piece of paper to reveal several drawings. He looked at them closely, one was of a hooded person with a short sword held in his hand. There were five figures in total drawn, but only one had a weapon. Next to the picture was a drawing of an eye. It was the symbol he dreamt of. He let out a tired sigh as he held the aged piece of paper in his hands. "Why had you drawn the same symbol that Rinoa drew?" he said to no one but the empty air around him, for he knew that she would never be able to answer.
Rinoa walked down the road, noticing how it was a pleasant day as she saw the sun shining down, warming the city. Her mood was content, although she had still been haunted in her sleep, just the thought of knowing she wasn't going through this alone gave her some comfort. However, at the same time it scared her of how this unexplained event could happen. She remembered him saying that he had had the dreams since he was eight years old. She thought perhaps, that he could explain a bit more to her about what was happening, although she wasn't entirely sure if he knew himself.
She turned the corner, feeling slightly nervous as she saw the library. She remembered Amy saying that Squall was at the library almost all the time researching, so today she needed to see him, to maybe get some questions answered. She sucked in a deep breath as she neared the building to calm herself, and then made her way into the library.
At the desk Amy smiled as she saw her friend enter "Hey Rinoa, have fun last night?" she said putting her head in her hands.
"Yeah" Rinoa replied with a smile, now wasn't the time to talk, she really needed to find Squall. She turned to her friend "I've just got to do something, I'll be back soon," she said looking around the library and leaving Amy. Walking towards the back of the library she noticed a lone man dressed in black sat down at a table, with a pile of books in front of him.
A small smile crept on her face as she realised it was Squall, and took a seat at the table to sit directly in front of him. She watched as he turned his attention from the book in his hands to her. "Hi" she said slowly, unsure how to start the conversation.
"Hi." he said quietly before returning his attention back to his book and began reading again. A part of him wished that last night he hadn't confronted her about the symbol, so he decided to ignore her for the time being.
Rinoa placed her hands down on the table still looking at Squall "You reading anything interesting?" she said, trying to sound calm although her heart was pumping hard in her chest. Why did she feel so nervous about this?
She saw his eyes lift from his book once more then return down to the page. He realised that she probably wasn't going to go away so with a sigh he closed his book and looked at her. "Can I help?"
She felt satisfied now that she had his attention and leaned forward nearer to Squall lowering her voice slightly "It's about what we were talking about last night." As soon as the words left her lips she saw a slight change in his eyes, they seemed to look angry. Ignoring his look she turned her attention to her hands "I just want to know what's happening," she said slowly.
"You don't know?" Squall said almost shocked, then he realised that obviously she wouldn't. Not many people did know, he contemplated that maybe it was better that way. At least then they wouldn't know what their fate was. Rinoa had asked him; maybe she had a right to know "I'm not sure you would want to know" He said still considering whether or not she should know.
Rinoa looked at him confused for a moment "Of course I want to know. Just tell me what's happening, please" she couldn't help the pleading tone in her voice becoming noticeable.
Squall looked her in the eyes "I'm not sure the exact moment they come for you, but I've been studying for a while and I'm thinking that maybe there is a small chance that you might be able to fight back. Most people are unaware when it happens, but maybe if you know, you can prepare and protect yourself"
"What are you saying?" Rinoa said, still unsure at what she was hearing.
"I know that's what I'm going to do when they come for me, maybe I'll live, maybe I won't" Squall said, his words sounding colder than meant he meant them to "You're going to die, Rinoa."Authors note: I thought I'd be cruel and have more of a cliffhanger at the end of this chapter, but it will continue next chapter. Note to readers: remember the symbol. It's something that developed during later chapters, which is why it wasn't mentioned at the beginning, but it's something that will come in more within the next few chapters. I actually went as far as designing and developing the symbol through sketches, so I'm hoping it'll fit in the story and won't be a waste of my time. Please review!