Touched by Darkness
Chapter One
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Power Rangers, Dino Thunder, and I'm not making any money from this fic
Summary: A strange young woman arrives in town, and her arrival heralds a series of strange deaths. Is she somehow causing this, or is she too a victim?
Author's Note: I'm not as knowledgeable about Dino Thunder as I am about other Power Rangers series, so if I get something wrong, please don't hesitate to let me know
Tommy looked over the papers on his desk, checking the lecture notes he had made for the lesson. Mesagog had been ominously quiet lately. Tommy wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Let's see…" Tommy said softly, glancing down at a few notes he had made. He wasn't quite sure if he was going to take the class on a field trip or not. They had been on field trips the past couple of lessons, after all.
Tommy could hear the chattering of students walking past the classroom door. It wasn't quite time for the lesson to start, so he wasn't worried about his class being late, for the time being, at least.
Tommy raised his head, and looked towards the door to his classroom. He couldn't have said why he did that, it was just an automatic thing.
In any case, Tommy found himself looking at a young woman, possibly about his age, maybe a little younger. She was quite short, with blonde hair that spilled over her shoulders down to her waist. Her skin was startlingly pale, and she wore a long white dress that put Tommy in mind of a hospital nightgown.
Tommy blinked once, and the woman was suddenly gone, leaving Tommy unsure of whether or not he had actually seen her.
Tommy shook his head slightly, and returned his gaze to his notes. It wasn't anything to worry about.
The students began filing into the classroom. Kira, Connor, and Ethan came over to Tommy after glancing around to make sure that no one else was in earshot of them. The last thing that they needed was for others to find out their dual identities.
"Any sign from Mesagog or one of the others?" Kira asked in a low voice.
Tommy slowly shook his head. "It's very worrying," he answered. "It means that he's probably planning something big."
Connor gave a low growl, and looked like he wanted to slam his fist against the wall in frustration. "Can't we do anything?" he demanded in a low voice.
"We're doing the best we can," Tommy responded. "Without Mesagog making a move, though, we can't do much. And you three should go and sit down," he added. "The lesson's about to start."
"Ok," the others responded, almost simultaneously. They all walked over to their seats, and settled down, taking their things out.
Tommy found himself glancing towards the doorway for a brief moment. He gave himself a mental shake, and turned his attention back to his class.
She drifted out of the strange building that looked like almost like a school, but with things that she didn't recognise contained within. The whole world had changed so much. She couldn't recognise anything. The last thing she remembered was her own death, so how was she alive again?
There was no reason for it. She had to be dead, and she thought that she'd gone forward in time. What other reason could there be for everything being so different? Then again, it could easily be the afterlife. Not that it was anything like she would have imagined the afterlife to be. The strange metal contraptions that raced along the road kept making her jump.
She had become aware again to find herself in that strange school-type building. No one had really seemed to see her, or, if they had, they hadn't really paid any attention to her. There had been one exception, though.
The man inside the room had looked straight at her, she had been certain of it. There had been something rather… strange, about him. It almost made her think of a predator – maybe like a big cat. She had seen one once, in captivity. A leopard, if she remembered right. It had been a lovely animal, but she could remember feeling that it didn't belong in captivity.
Looking across the road, she could see a park with some people walking their dogs, and children playing. It looked peaceful, a place where she would be able to sit and think. First, however, she had to get across the road.
She glanced in the direction of a group of people crossing the road, and took notice of the fact that they looked both ways before and during their crossing. She didn't know if she could die a second time, but she didn't particularly want to put it to the test.
She came right to the edge of the pavement, and glanced from side to side. As soon as there was a break in the weird horseless carriages rushing along the road, she quickly dashed across. The gates to the park were open, and she drifted through the opening there.
She floated towards one of the benches that was there, and eased herself into a sitting position. A woman walking a small black poodle made her way past the seated woman. The animal paused to sniff the air, and then barked in her direction.
Its owner frowned, and glanced in the direction the poodle was looking in, pushing her red hair out of her eyes. She then scolded the poodle in a low voice, apparently not able to see the spirit on the bench. When the poodle continued to bark at what appeared to be nothing, the woman sighed and pulled it away.
She tilted her head slightly, and then gave a small shrug. I guess that animals have always been more open to spirits and things, she thought to herself. Where once the thought might have amused her rather than frightened her like it would most people, it now simply made her feel tired.
Can't I rest in peace? she wondered. Why have I been brought back? What possible reason could there be?
She smoothed down her long white dress, and glanced around at the people in the park. More things had changed than just the landscape and the way people got from one place to the other. Many of the women were wearing short skirts and trousers, and had their hair cut as short as a man's. She was rather confused by that – it seemed so different from things that went on in her own time.
She leaned back slightly against the bench, though she couldn't really feel it. She decided to try and think back to when she died – she remembered how, but couldn't really recall much else.
Well, I was strangled… she thought, frowning slightly. And… I remember that there was a red light… But had that been before or after she had been murdered? She honestly couldn't remember.
Also, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't call to mind the face of her killer. Every time she thought she had a focus on it, it slipped away again. It was altogether possible that she had blocked it out. After all, she supposed that one's own death was quite traumatic.
She then blinked, and glanced around as something suddenly occurred to her. Wait… I know this place…
She slowly stood up, and walked off.
A young man was walking quietly home from work. His name was Brian, and he had had quite a hard day at the office. He was hot and sweaty, and really just wanted to get home and have a shower.
Brian pushed his brown hair out of his face, and clutched his briefcase tighter in his hands. He glanced briefly up at the darkening sky. He had been working rather late, and the days were getting shorter. He couldn't use his car, as it was at the garage getting repaired.
Brian paused as he started to walk past the gates leading to the cemetery. He usually gave it a wide berth, even though it was a shortcut to his home. Cemeteries disturbed him greatly. He really didn't like looking at the names of all of the people who had died. Death wasn't something he really liked thinking about.
However, Brian was seriously considering going through the cemetery this time. He was late enough, and surely the cemetery couldn't be that bad?
Before he could change his mind, Brian pushed open the gates of the cemetery, and quietly entered.
The interior of the cemetery was silent, almost as though no noise could reach it. Even Brian's footfalls were soft as he made his way across the pebbled path.
The moonlight fell on the graves, giving them an almost unearthly glow. Shadows made patterns on the grass and the path. It looked almost like there were creatures moving around in the darkness.
Brian shivered, and fought the urge to turn back. If he did, then that would just make him look like a coward. It didn't matter if no one saw him running away – he would know that he'd just run away. Besides, he was only scared of the dark and shadows. What possible danger could there be?
Brian suddenly became aware of the fact that he could see a soft pale light a short distance ahead of him. He was pretty sure that the light came from a flashlight, which meant that he wasn't the only person in the cemetery.
"Excuse me!" Brian shouted, starting to run towards the light.
There was no response that Brian could hear. However, he continued to run towards the light, relieved about the fact that he wasn't the only one in the cemetery. Even if it was a homeless person, at least he wouldn't be alone.
Brian slowly realised that the light was coming from a young, blonde-haired woman who was kneeling in front of a grave. She wore a long, white, old-fashioned gown. Brian couldn't see where her light was coming from. Impossible as it was, he somehow thought that the light seemed to be coming from the woman herself.
Brian hesitated for a moment, and then reached out tentatively to touch the woman's shoulder. He was relieved to find that she was more or less solid – he had been half-worried that his hand would go through her.
The woman glanced up at Brian with grey eyes set wide in a pale face. Brian was about to ask her why she was there, but then saw the look in her eyes, and asked instead, "Are you all right?"
The woman looked down at the grave, and slowly shook her head. She didn't say anything, though.
Brian frowned slightly, and glanced at the grave as well. The writing was too worn to make out many details, but he was able to read the name 'CASSANDRA'. The grave itself was crumbling – apparently, no one had taken care of it in a long time. This Cassandra, whoever she was, probably didn't have many living relatives left.
"Is she related to you?" Brian questioned.
The woman looked up at him once more, and seemed about to say something. However, her gaze then went past him, and her eyes widened slightly.
Brian blinked, and turned round to find himself face-to-face with a monster.
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