Author's note: Woo! Next chapter up! I have some REALLY good plans for this story... ooohhhh do I have some good plans... heh, heh... This chapter isn't as suspenseful as the last, but it's focusing more on building the plot... well, enjoy!
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Chapter 2: Bitterness
"Link?" A sweet voice gently called out to him.
Link turned his head toward Zelda, who was walking toward him very gracefully, her hands gently placed on her sides and feet gently brushing against the grass. She sat down beside him as Link looked away and down toward the grass again and began fiddling with the individual green blades.
"Link, listen to me..." Zelda said placing her hand on the side of his cheek and attempting to move his head toward her.
However, Link had sharply moved his head to the side, rejecting her. He now fiddled with the grass more quickly and more nervously. Zelda was in the frozen state of shock for a while, but eventually she had turned her head downward in a sorrowful manner and clenched her hand, the one she had touched Link with, on her chest while placing the other over it. Tears began trickling down her cheeks as she shut her eyes once more.
Link could see in the corner of his eye that she was weeping, but he did nothing of it. The worry in him nearly strangled his heart now, and he had lost all emotion he had had for Zelda. Link had forgotten nearly everything of what he had shared with her, and it was because of this deepening shadow. All he could say to only slightly ease her sorrow was to say,
"I'm sorry, Zelda..."
Not a moment afterward did Zelda resume crying. She had removed both of her hands from her chest and placed them gracefully on her lap. She felt cold not being in his embrace, she felt so lonely and sorrowful now and the bitterness of broken love began to grow. Zelda couldn't help but get angry, even though the best he could do was apologize, she wished that he would instead take her into his arms, like he use to before. Back then, he would caress his lips against hers and warm her body with his own, but that was not the case now. Link isolated himself from her now, even though he was near to her physically, the distance was far with his heart and mind.
"What happened to you, Link?" Zelda said, her voice shaking, "Why must you constantly pain yourself... have you forgotten...?"
"Zelda... I..."
He couldn't say what he meant to say, Link's tongue was bound from saying how he truly felt about her, but something would always hold it back. His body began to shake before he had gotten up without another thought crossing his mind. It wasn't until he had actually began walking for a while when he realized he was leaving her. There he left Zelda and went into the castle, and it wasn't long before she had left his mind.
He had once again gone into his room and kept himself from the world outside. The feeling of lonesomeness went through his stomach again and he began to shake. Link's head began to feel dizzy as the air once again closed in around him. Tears were now falling down his cheeks when he fell to the ground, but still remained conscious. Link rested there for a while, suffering greatly in emotion.
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Meanwhile, little Zared played in his room, with a small puppet he had. He bounced it around, holding onto the wooden handle with the puppet dangling side to side. He quietly hummed to himself to keep himself happy despite the horrible overcast outside. Suddenly a cold feeling swept across his skin, making him shiver.
Zared froze for a while, stunned than slowly began resuming his playing time. He began to hum louder and louder to try to keep himself from being afraid. His tiny voice was now shaking and he could barely hold the wooden handle now. The air closed in around him as he huddled up even tighter and a chill began to run down his spine. Sweat began to break on his forehead, but that did not stop him from humming.
Suddenly, pounding on the door was heard and Zared jumped with fear, but he still kept humming and dangling his little puppet. The doorknob began to jiggle as a dizzy sensation went through Zared's head and he heard the door slowly opening. It was then when the clouds covered the sun and it became slightly darker, forming shadows in the room. Cold air leaked into the room when the squeaking of the door ceased and he began to tremble.
He waited for the moment of shock as he still played with his puppet. He was no longer humming, but letting out incessant "ah's" in singing trying to send all the bad feelings away. Zared suddenly felt something moving behind him. He shut his eyes so tightly, the skin on his eyelids wrinkled and he clenched his teeth but never ceased to sing. A cold hand touched his shoulder before he threw the puppet to the ground and ran out of his room, now screaming with fear.
Zared could hear the creature hoarsely breathing, even though he did not bother look at it. Zared stopped running in after a while and leaned his hand against the wall of the hallway breathing very heavily. He could hardly breath, due to an illness he had had. Each breath was scarce until Zared had placed his hand on his chest and felt his chest moving slowly up and down... up and down... before he at last relaxed. Zared at last opened his eyes and looked down the hallway to see if the shadow had followed him, his heart still pounding. To his deepest relief, he hadn't.
It was then when Zared turned his head to look up to where the stairs had led. Once again the feeling of fear overpowered him when he saw servants hung at the top of the stairs. They dangled back and forth as Zared had trouble breathing again. He then made his way to his big sister's room to where he know for sure he would be safe.
When he made it to Zelda's room, he found her there sitting on her bed weeping, until she had turned her gaze toward him. Her look of sorrow turned to a look of concern as her misty eyes dried up as Zared stumbled toward her. He fell onto her bed and breathed harshly in and out.
"Zared, what's wrong...?!" She said worriedly as she turned him over.
Zelda laid Zared's head on her lap as she attempted to calm him down. She did as he had done in the hallway and placed her hand on his chest and quietly shushed him.
"Shh... Zared... take slow and deep breaths..." She said calmly, taking deep breaths of her own.
Eventually, Zared was at last still and no longer clenched his hand tightly on his clothes. He then buried his face into Zelda's lap and began crying. She rubbed the back of his head, smoothing his strawberry blonde hair. Zelda lifted Zared from her was sure to look at Zared with the gentlest gaze possible. His eyes were still puffy red when she saw him.
"Tell me what happened."
"There were dead things... hanging over the stairs... and he... he came to me again... I was too scared to talk to him, I ran..." Zared said his voice shaking and his bottom lip trembling.
Zelda began to feel fear as well. She knew her brother would never lie about something such as that. This brought up a big concern within her as well as conflict. There was something wrong in the castle, but who was causing it?
Zared once again leaned his head onto Zelda once more. She caressed him as she rubbed his head once again and leaned her own head on his. Quietly she shushed him, trying to comfort him the best way she could.
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Author's note: Okay, I lied... maybe there was a lot of suspense in that chapter. Oohh... I had fun writing that short little incident. Well, I have very good plans for the upcoming chapters... they're going to be really good... well, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review!
Special thanks (LONG responses...):
Brownblade: Actually, I'm not to familiar with the horror genre, after being inspired from watching one of M. Night Shyamalan's thriller movies... I got really hyper... really hyper... so hyper... okay, I'll stop about the hyperness. But I've been researching a little bit, for example, how the audience reacts to certain things, like suddenness, I love suddenness. Also suspense, a good way to build up suspense is to describe like crazy, then BOOM! Hit them. Anyway, thanks for the review! I'm glad you like it so far!
lozfan: Geez... I thought mine started late compared to some schools, but you're LUCKY in my eyes!!! In Arizona... August is PAINFUL. I started August 9th, so by the end of the first day, I was sweating like crazy, and add in missing the bus... wow... what torture... But don't worry about the first day, everything will be fine about classes and such. Just have a map of the campus and a watch and you will be perfectly fine. Anyway, thanks for the review! And yes, I've already read your story... I think you asked me to read it when you reviewed Funny-Looking... I think... Well, hope you liked this chapter! (By the way, don't worry on being picked on... so far, no one's picked on me... surprisingly... and this is coming from a kid who was picked on ALL the time in elementary school. High school's actually a lot better, and I've only been in high school for about a week.)
LadyofDemons45: I haven't really read any other horror Zelda fics, surprisingly. The horror/suspense genre I was a little interested in at first, but I guess I'm a LOT better with romance and humor, but I guess that is a matter of one's opinion. (I'm an authoress of many genres I guess.) Thanks for the good luck! High school's going great! The only thing that bugs me is Intermediate Algebra... I don't like the quantity of homework, but I get it at the least. Anyway, thanks for the review!
Fortuna: I actually enjoy Edgar Allen Poe, one of my favorites is, "Deep into that darkness peering... long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting..." but even so, I haven't read much of his works, but I still enjoy of what I've read. I don't really do a severe editing procedure when it comes to fan fictions, that's for my novels, THEN I go through the extreme editing. (pokes fingers together) I'm only a wee wittle freshman... Thanks for the review! Oh yeah, I love description... especially when it comes to suspense... heh, heh...