The Dark Nightmare

I was sleeping quietly in my bed, when the cold air touched my skin. I shivered harshly, as I wrapped by blanket tighter around my cold body, desperately trying to get warmer. However no matter how hard I tried to stay warm, it grew more and more cold. My teeth started chattering, my shivering intensified and I covered the blanket over ever inch, of my body. I tired turning into wolf form, hoping that the fur would keep me warm, but for some reason it did not work.

It was then when I thought, that I might have forgotten to close the window. That in my rush to get to bed, I did not bother to check if, it was properly closed or not. I slowly opened my eyes, and uncovered the blanket from my face. Sure enough, the window was wide open. You could see several dark clouds; cover the pitch-black sky, as they floated above my quiet little home. There was not a single star out tonight, only darkness…and of course the moon. The crystal white moon, was at the exact center of my window, and glowed down through my room, as the dark clouds slowly but surely floated towards it.

But I had little time, to marvel at the beautiful night. I sighed quietly, as my breath became visible in the cold air, and slowly climbed out of bed. As I walked towards the window, my footsteps echoed through the room. Everything around me was so quiet, I could hear my footsteps clearly as I got closer to the window. I was almost there, but when I reached out to the window fame to close it, I heard a quiet and yet unnerving and dark voice behind me. I hesitated and was about to turn to the source, when the voice stopped. Thinking that it simply the wind, I went back to close the wind, when I heard the voice again. This time it was much louder, and I could hear quite clearly that it was a dark laughter, which echoed every corner of them room. I could feel every fiber of my being, shiver in fear of the dark voice.

"Who is there?!" I asked in an angry/annoyed and mostly scared tone, trying my best to hide fear, as I turned to the source. It was then the laughter stopped, as I saw…nothing. I scanned my eyes, to every corner of the room; try hard to find the source, but simply finding nothing. As I calmed down, I sighed in relief. However I could not help but think, what was the source of that dark laughter, which had haunted me so? Was it the wind playing tricks on me, or was the cruel and merciless cold making me hear voices in my head. I dismissed these ideas, as I turned back to still opened window.

What I saw made me scream in the purest of horror. The moon, while still white and glowing, was now covered in dark clouds. While that might not have sounded very frightening, the clouds were surrounding the moon in a very familiar pattern. An eight pointed star, at the center of it, with a large circle incasing it. It was the Eye of The Dark One. The Eye of Crom Cruach.

As I kept starring at it, I could feel my blood turning to ice, my heart freezing in place, as if time had stopped and my skin grow paler than I thought possible. I tried to look away, but I could not.

My body shivered and my teeth chattered, as Crom Crauchs dark laughter once again echoed. It was then when he finally spoke to me, his dark and haunting voice piercing my mind: "You look cold Aisling. Allow me, to give you…comfort."

The moment he had finished his sentence, the wind howled fiercely as Crom's shadow crawled from my window, and started slithering towards me. I shrieked in horror, as I ran towards the door. I tried to open it, but no matter how hard I pushed or pulled, it would not move. As the shadows drew closer, I could hear the cawing of several ravens and crows outside, echoing into my room. I began hammering at the door, hoping someone will hear me. "MOTHER! FATHER! ANYONE! HELP ME PLEASE!" I shouted as loud as possible, as I kept hammering at the door in vain. I froze in place, as I felt one of Crom shadows' grip my leg. As I struggled to break free, I could feel my life and strength being sucked out of me. It is not long, before the rest of the shadow reached my legs and slowly begin to climb up my body.

As the shadows consumed my being, I can hear Crom's dark laughter and the cawing of crows and ravens echo throughout my room. Right before I am completely sucked by the shadows, I tried one last time in vain, to cry for help: "MOTHER! FATHERRRRRRRR!

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed in fear, as I shoot up in fear. I breathed in and out, as I saw that I was in my bed. My room looked as normal as ever, and even my window was closed. I whipped the sweat from my forehead, and quickly realized that I just had a nightmare. It had been so long, since I last had a one. I had almost forgotten; just how real and terrifying they could appear.

As I recovered, there was a loud knock on the door, and my father asked me, in a concerned tone: "Aisling? Are you all right? I could hear you screaming, from our room." I leapt out of my bed, put on my robe, boots and tiara and opened the door for him.

"Oh, it was…it was nothing father. I just had a nightmare that is all," I answered quietly.

"Do you want to talk about it? It sounded as if, it was something serious," Father asked. I could tell he was concerned.

I sighed quietly and answered: "No thank you father. It was not anything, really important anyway," I lied, in a reassuring tone. I did not really want to talk about it right now. I just wanted to forget, about it entirely. And besides, my parents told me never to speak, of the Dark One anyway.

"Very well, but you know that you can tell me and your mother, about anything that might bother you. If you ever change your mind, you know who to turn to," father calmly reminded me. With that he and I went to the kitchen.

A Few Minutes Later

When we were done with breakfast, I went outside to find my friends since I, did not have to train with mother today. As I went outside, I noticed how all of the leaves on our houses, had turned orange. I smiled at the sight. Autumn was quite a beautiful season. While the air was colder, during this season and some of the birds would migrate at this time, it was still very nice to see the orange and yellow leaves on the tress. I loved seeing their magnificent colors, being reflected by the sunlight, and the wind while cold, still had a very calm and nice feeling through my body.

"Hi Aisling!" Oisin's voice called out from behind me. I turned and saw him, along with Ronan and Nuala run towards me. "How is it going?"

"Oh it's going quite good, I was just watching the leaves on our homes," I told them, happy as always to see them. As they caught up to me, all of them except Nuala turned to leaves. I smiled peacefully, turned to them and asked: "The season of autumn, is quite beautiful is it not?"

"Yes, it most certainly is," Ronan, whispered quietly, with my same peaceful tone, as Oisin agreed.

"Well, I do not think I have seen anything, else that is as beautiful," Nuala snorted in a bit of an offended tone. I slapped my forearm on my face, as I had forgotten about, Nuala's blindness again. I was about to apologize, when she calmly interrupted me: "If you are going to apologize, it is not a big deal. I am used to it by now."

After a few moments of silence, I decided to break it by asking: "So…what do you want, to do today? We could go play, with the wolf pups again."

"Or, we could also pay a visit, to the Dark One's cave," Nuala teased, with a smirk. While it was meant as a joke, and I along with my friends could quite clearly tell, I paled and froze at the mention of the idea. Memories of my nightmare returned to me, as I shivered slightly and refused to say a word. I stood there for several minutes, until my friends started growing concerned about me.

"Um Aisling, are you alright?" Ronan asked nervously.

His voice, brought me back to reality as I shock my head, and recovered from my moment of silence. After that I quickly lied: "Oh, um yes. I'm perfectly fine. Thank you for asking. Though Nuala, could you please not mention…him?"

Nuala chuckled a little and shrugged me off: "Oh come on Aisling. You know, I was not being serious."

"I know but…just do not do it again, please," I asked her in a not amused and serious manner.

"All right, all right. Man, what has gotten into you?" Nuala asked a bit annoyed with my new tone.

I was thinking whether or not to tell them, but then I decided against it and simply answered: "I am not really in the mood, to talk about it right now."

Nuala rolled her eyes, in annoyance and roughly apologized: "We are sorry for bringing it up ok? And besides, I am afraid I will not be able to play today. I have to train with my father."

"And I promised mother I would help her, clean our house," Ronan quietly joined in, with a sorry look on his face.

"And I have to go, and help my brothers collect fruit in the forest," Oisin muttered, in a tone which clearly showed, that he did not want to.

I was a bit disappointed that they could not play, but I did not want to force them to do anything. So I sighed disappointingly and reassured them, in a kind tone: "I understand completely. I will find something else to do. Good luck with your jobs."

"Thank you for the words," Ronan thanked happily.

"I promise, we will be available next time," Oisin reassured me, now determined.

"I hope you have fun, on your own. See you!" Nuala said, before she and the rest left, to do their tasks leaving me alone for the day.

As they left my sight, I started thinking about what I should. I could go play with the pup, like I suggested earlier, but thinking about it more I realized that I already did that, the last time I went playing on my own. So I sat down, and started thinking of other things to do. I could go for a swim, and maybe use my salmon form some more. Or I could have a race, with the other deer in the forest. After giving the ideas some thought, I finally decided on one. I would go see how the humans, are doing in their new village. My father told me, that he had led them, to a peaceful little village not far from the forest. It had been two months since they had arrived, and I was curious to know how they were doing. Besides I had never been, to a human village before. The thought made me quite excited.

Smiling happily with my decision, I ran into the forest and headed towards the humans new town. It was not a completely long walk; it only took a couple minutes before I got there. When I got close enough, I could see, that a fairly tall wooded wall mostly covered the village. This made it rather difficult, for me to see anything. So I climbed up the nearest tree, and hid behind the leaves. From there I could get a good luck, at the human town. Having never been this close to one of them before, it was quite an interesting sight to behold. A circular lake seemed to surround the village and block most of it. Luckily though, there was a long bridge that led the entrance of the village, so entering was not that much of a problem. The few humans I could recognized from last night, were being treated and cared for, by other ones. Some of them were being treated and feed, while others were helping them with various deeds. Most of houses were rather small, made from wood or stone it would seem, and had grass on the roofs. But there were also, some fairly large homes as well.

Just then I saw to human men, start to leave the village. They seemed to be talking about something, though I unable to hear them, this far from hearing distance. While they were focusing on each other, I quietly climbed down the tree and turned into my wolf form. I quietly walked towards them as quietly as possible, and then hid behind a large bush which was close enough to hear what they were saying, but still not close enough to stand out for the crowd. As they walked closer, I could see that one of them was Garret, the man my parents and I met those few months ago. The other man he was talking to, looked a lot older than him. He had short white hair, ocean blue eyes and was wearing short grey ropes. As they kept talking, I kept quiet as I listen in on their conversation.

"…They are no doubt living in luxury, while we have to struggle in this place! We should be treated, better than this!" The old man exclaimed in anger, as he shot narrowed glances at Garret.

Garret sighed softly: "You should be grateful, for what we do have Julian. Our new friends have been more than kind enough, to help us in this new chance to start over. We should not, take any more than we already need." As I listened, I realized, that the two of them most have been talking, about the town and my family. Since both subjects were interesting to me, I decided to keep of listening.

The old man, or Julian as he was called, growled in response: "Garret, if they wanted to help us, they would have let us into their town. Instead we are confined, to this mere speck of land! Why should they have their precious town to themselves? We should have every right, to be allowed into their town!"

So apparently not all of them are satisfied. This was rather, unpleasant news. I did not know, how I was going to deliver it to father. I simply hope he does not take any aggressive actions, because of this. I decided to push those thoughts aside, and kept listening.

"What we and everyone else have, should be more than enough Julian. We have to make the best of thing. And besides I am sure, that if we ever need anything, the other villages would be generous enough to help us out. And I sure, that Lug would be sure to help us, if we ever need him."

"And how to expect, to find him? He never once told us, the location of his town. The moment he led us to this place, he simply vanished without a trace. We have not seen a glimmer of him or anyone else of his people." Garret was about to say something, when Julian cut him off: "In fact, did you even look at him and his people? They were larger than any humans, I have ever seen. And their skin and hair, were ash-white!"

Garret shot Julian a frown, and suggested: "Maybe, they were simply albinos."

"That is impossible Garret. Their skin and hair were much whiter. Almost like they were…faerie."

That gripped my attention. Like I said due to the possible consequences, that could happen if they knew of our true nature, father and the other council members believed it would be best, not to tell them of it. If this man knew about our true nature, than it might start uproar with both the Tuatha Dé Dannan and the humans. I stood as still as I could, and kept listening, hoping that Garret would not react hostilely.

Garret rolled his eyes, at Julian's statement and annoyingly muttered: "Julian, do not be ridiculous. There is no such thing."

"Oh come on Garret, what else could they be? There is no human being on earth that can have that white skin. The old folklore said, that there existed a race of faeries that could control nature itself. They were said to have white skin and hair. The Tuatha Dé Dannan, that was what they were call-"

"I do not want, to hear anymore of this nonsense Julian," Garret interrupted, both angry and annoyed: "There is no such thing, as faeries, and I do not want to any talk about them or discrimination of Lug's people. Have I made, myself clear?"

Julian was about to say something, when he stopped. He narrowed his eyes, dangerously low, and defeating muttered: "As you wish Garret. But I warn you, if we end up dying because of your refusal to stand idly by and do nothing, you will have no one to blame but yourself." With that, Julian turned and started walking back to the village Garret simply sighed in frustration, and followed soon after.

I sighed in relief, as I turned to leave the bush. Thank the lord Garret did not believe-

"What was that? I know I heard something!" Julian exclaimed in surprise, as he turned to try and find the source. Oh lords, he must have heard my sigh. He is probably going to find me now.

"*Sigh* It was just the wind, Julian. You have worried too, for one day. Now come on, let's get back inside." Garret told Julian, before going back to walking. Julian however kept search for a few more minutes, with a very uneasy look on his face. After that, he hesitatingly turned and slowly began to follow Garret.

I quietly watched them walk away, until they were far away from me. Once that happened, I ran out of my hiding place and headed straight into the forest. Once there, I went behind a tree and turned back into a Tuatha Dé Dannan. I then leaned against the tree, and sighed in relief. "That was a close one. I should probably tell father about this," I whispered to myself. I got back onto my feet, and was about to run. However since I still a bit bored and there was no real hurry to get there, so I decided that I might as well do something, fun as I get there. I placed my fingers on the bark, and climbed up the tree in only a few seconds. Once there, I started jumping from tree to tree, as I headed towards my town.

As I jumped/climbed through the tress to my home, I took the time to feel, the cold and yet refreshing autumn air, against my hair. It was actually nice enough, to make me forget all about my worries, for a few moments. I could soon see, my home only a few feet away I started jumping towards the nearest trees, as I got closer and closer. I was preoccupied with my destination that I had forgotten to see were I was going. However just as I was a few feet away, I jumped on a branch.

Snap!

For a brief moment, it felt as if time had stopped. However that moment stopped, as I fell incredibly roughly onto several large branches. Branch after branch hit me, until I grabbed the final one with both of hands, trying to hold on for dear life. But just when I was about to climb back up, the branch snapped and both it and I fell of a nearby cliff, and landed onto the stone ground HARD!

"AAARGGG!" I cried out in pain, as I both landed onto the ground, and the branch fell onto my right leg. The cry echoed throughout the forest, as I heard the cawing of several ravens & crows, before they flew away. I groaned in pain. Not only was there a heavy branch on my knee, but also every part of my body was in pain and I had a large headache. I tried my best to ignore the pain, as I gently lifted the branch of my leg. When I had done so, I turned to my leg to see how it was. What I saw shocked me a bit. Blood. Actual blood.

In all of my years, I have never actually bled before. I knew what blood was, I had seen a few animals bled before and my mother told me, but I never thought that for once I would actually bleed. It was even dripping onto my ropes, which were heavily ripped apart and stained with dirt. After a few seconds, I recovered from the shock and took a look at my surroundings. And as if things could not get bad enough, I immediately recognized where I was.

A dark and yet empty lair, made entirely out of stone. Not a single ray of the sun was near it. The air was a cold, as the coldest winter and blowing wind sounded like haunting whispers. There were many ravens & crows flying by it, their caws echoing throughout the lair. Several large sharp pillars, with strange symbols on them, stood at the center of the lair. They were all leading to a cave. There were two giant statues guarding it. Both of them, had the symbols on the lower part of their body, and their expressions were that of horror. And finally at the end of it all, was the cave itself. It was large and triangular in shape. Right in the middle was the open door, which was large enough for an army to walk into. And the very top of the cave and the floor beneath it, were what looked like some very familiar looking shadows. It was the cave of Crom Cruach.

"Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no," I whispered in panic, as I tried franticly to get up. However as I tried, to stand on my right leg, the pain hit me again, this time at full scale. I once again screamed out in pain, which echoed throughout the forest and sent several of the birds flying off.

Just as I began, to limp my way out of here a familiar voice called out to me: "Aisling." I ignored Crom Cruach's voice, as I limped away as fast as I could. His dark chuckle echoed through my mind: "You should see yourself Aisling. Whimpering in fear and pain, trying so desperately to escape your fate, when you know it is sealed. Pretending not to be afraid, when you know in your soul, that you wish this were nothing more, than another horrible nightmare. You truly are your daughter of your mother."

"Do not, talk about her!" I shouted at him in anger, knowing what he was talking about. I tried my best to hide my fear, but Crom's dark laughter; the whisper-like wind and the constant cawing were slowly fading it away. As I tried once again to limp away, I felt my life being sucked away into nothingness, my strength along with it.

"Oh but it is true," Crom Cruach continued in a mocking way. "I remember it, as if it were yesterday. That lovely little visit I had, with your dear mother Eriu and her elder brother and your uncle. Bernard, I believe his name was…yes. Bernard.

I tried to limp as fast as I could, when suddenly my left leg felt weak as well. With a panicked cry, I fell to the ground. I had to get out of here; this place was going to kill me, the longer I stayed here. I weakly pulled myself up, and began crawling away, my rope gathering up dirt. I cried out as loud as I could: "MOTHER! FATHER! SOMEONE! SOMEONE PLEASE, HELP ME!"

Crom ignored me, as he began his tale: "It was many years ago, during a day in the spring. Your mother and uncle were playing in the forest. She was your age and your uncle several years older. I believe they were playing, hide and go seek. Your uncle Bernard was seeking and your mother Eriu were hiding. However as she ran through the forest, the poor little child ended up lost and accidently fell down into my lair. Her left arm was slightly wounded, but otherwise she was fine. But she was so scared and worried, that the poor thing started to cry. Even from my deepest depths I could hear and see her, and went to greet the poor little thing. I told her from my cave, not to worry. That if she but came into my cave, I would help her and give her comfort, until her dear brother. But of course, she said that her mother had told her, never to talk to strangers. How cute."

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" I exclaimed in anger, as I crawled as far away from his cave as possible. The wind below stronger and the birds cawed louder as if to mock me. "I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR, ANYMORE OF THIS STORY!" I cried, as I felt more of myself being drained, and noticed that my voice started cracking, as my anger was being replaced with fear.

Crom Cruach ignored me once more, and kept on: "I told the foolish little child, that I would never think about harming her, and that I merely wanted to comfort her. It was then when she noticed, that my dark course upon this place was draining her. I told her that there was dark magic here, and that my cave was the only safe of her to hide and be unaffected. The confused and scared Eriu was just about, to enter my cave…when that accursed Bernard told her to run. But it was too late. I sent my venom shadows out, so that I could consume the child. But, just as I was about to take your precious mother, her uncle pushed her out of the way in the last second. The last she ever saw of him was his withering body, crying to her to run away as fast as she could, as my venom consumed the poor Bernard leaving nothing but bone. She had a beautiful look of horror, sadness, fear and despair. I shall never forget it, for as long as I breathe."

"Please. Please stop," I whimpered in fear, as I was now struggling to even raise my arms. I was not even bothering to try and act brave. I knew I was about to die. Crom Cruach simply laughed at my pain, as the crows and ravens and wind joined him.

"What a sad pity. Not just for your mother, but for you Aisling. You never got to meet, your dear uncle. But do not worry, you will. In DEATH!" He roared, as the wind turned into a screaming tempest, blowing me towards the cave. The birds started flying away while crowing darkly. And Crom's venom-like shadows began crawling towards me. This is it. I am going to die. I am sorry mother, father, Oisin, Ronan, Nuala. I am sorry I never got to say goodbye.

I felt as one of Crom shadows touched my foot…when an arrow came flying through the air, and hit the shadow dead center. There was a loud shriek of agony, as the shadows started disintegrating as arrow after arrow hit them. I turned to the source, and saw my mother jump onto the ground carrying a bow and arrow in hand. "Aisling!" She cried in panic, as she ran towards me. The shadows started falling back, as mother placed the bow and arrow away, lifted me up with her arms and ran back towards her home with me. "Do not worry Aisling, everything will be fine. I promise," She whispered to me, though it sounded as if she was trying to convince herself rather than me. I was about to say something, when all the pain, stress and draining caught up to me, and I started to pass out. As my vision faded, I could barley see Julian looking at us from a distance, before finally blacking out.

Later

My eyes shot open. I looked around, and saw that I was in my bed. I turned toward the closed window, and saw that it was nighttime. How long had I been passed out? I pulled off the blanket, and saw that my right leg was completely healed. I was only wearing my little grey dress. As I was examining myself, I suddenly began to shiver, because of the cold air. The Blanket did little to make me hot, and I decided to go and get some new blankets on my own. I got up from my bed, my footsteps echoing throughout the room, as I put my ropes & boots on and got out of my room, just before hearing the caw of a raven.

As I walked towards the room, where we keep the blankets, I could not help but think that something was…wrong. I decided to brush off these thoughts, as I continued down the hallway. When I was but a few feet away from the room, I saw a guard standing nearby. His back was turned from me, and he stood completely still like a statue. I was a bit curious to know, what he was doing here. We did not normally have a guard at his area. I approached the guard and kindly asked: "Uh, excuse me sir, but would you mind telling me what you are guarding?" I waited a few minutes for his answer, but it never came. I was getting impatient, so I tapped him in the back a few times and this time asked: "I am sorry, but are you going to answer my question or not?" The moment I had tapped him, his large sword feel to the ground with a Clang, and shortly afterwards, the guard fell down too. "Gah!" I exclaimed, as I jumped back in fright. However my fright was quickly replaced, with extreme worry for the guard. Was he sick? Did he not get much sleep? I got closer to the guard, to see what was wrong with him. And that was when I saw something that mad my heart stop in place.

Bone. The guard had been stripped of his skin and muscle leaving nothing, but a cold pale white skeleton, cover in the guards armor. I shrieked in horror, which echoed through the entire hallway. I was about to run, when I noticed that next to the skeleton were a whole group of fallen guards that were now nothing more than bones. Either this was some kind of cruel prank, which given the usual seriousness of the guards and what had just happened to me recently seemed most unlikely, or…No. No they could not be! There is no chance what I was seeing was true! They could not be dead!

As soon as I realized what happen, everything went wrong. The winds outside started roaring, forcing all of the windows to open, the sound of bird cawing echoed the castle and the air turned ice cold. The sight of so much death was far too much to me and I fell to my knees and puked out my breakfast. As I tried to keep my sanity from all the dead guards, I quickly realized something. My mother and father! Were they all right? Without even giving it a seconds thought, I turned and ran towards like parents room. I tried to turn into my wolf from, in order to hopefully run faster, but it would not work. So instead I decided, to simply run on all fours. I ran as fast as I possibly could, begging with every fiber of my being that they alive. As I got closer to my parents room, I noticed that the once empty hallways were littered, with dead bodies of guards. I just did my best to ignore them, until I finally came to the room of my parents.

I hammered at the doors and shouted as loud as I could: "MOTHER? FATHER? ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?" When no one answered, I kicked the door open and stormed into the room. "MOTHER? FATH-"

The room was empty, with not a single sign of my parents or skeletons. However before I could take any closer looks, wind started howling as a group of familiar venom shadows crawled out from the window, and started heading towards me. With no other choice, I ran out the room and towards the front door, ignoring all of the dead guards scattered around me. I kicked the front door open…

…And saw my worst nightmare come to live. The entire town was covered with the dead. The peaceful citizens had been replaced with lifeless skeleton covered in their clothes. Among them were Caoilainn, Janet, Keiran, Deaglan, Eirnin, Fergal, Sorcha and probably the worst so far, three children skeletons which were no debut Oisin, Ronan and Nuala. My stomach twisted, as clutched it tightly and once again threw up.

As I tried to recover from seeing all of my friends and fellow Tuatha Dé Dannan dead, a familiar dark laughter echoed through the town. "Oh it does not stop there, little Aisling. I have saved the best for last. Just look right and see for yourself." I refused to do that, out of fear that it might be them. But the merciless wind blowing towards the right, all the raven & crows cowing right next to me and Crom Cruach's haunting laughter was too much to bare, and I reluctantly gave in. And lying there, right next to me was possibly the worst sight I had ever seen.

Lying there were two tall skeletons, both wearing royal armor and wielding swords, with royal crowns upon their heads. My parents. I feel to my knees, as I grasped in horror at what I had just seen. My parents were dead. The two people, who had feed me, bathed me, raised me, taught me, loved me…dead. I crouched down, as I let the tears fall from my eyes. I made no effort to stop them, as I loudly wept for all my lost friends. As I did, I could barely see Crom Cruah's venom shadows, moving towards. But at this point, I did not care. I simply wanted to die, so I could be together with everyone again. Just before they grip me, I sadly whisper: "I am sorry mother, I did not mean to enter Crom's cave. I am so, so sorry."

"Aisling!"

Wait? What was that?

"Aisling!"

No it could not be…mother?

"AISLING!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed in horror, which echoed through the room. As I recovered, I took several heavy breaths in and out, as I saw I was in my room, with my parents right next to me.

"Oh Aisling, thank the lords you are all right. I was so worried that you were-" Mother did not get to finish, as I wrapped my arms around both of them, while crying tears of both relief and pain.

"Thank the lords you are alive! I thought you were…I thought he…I thought…I thought," I whispered weakly, my voice cracking as I did, while my tears simply kept flowing. Soon my parents returned my hug, and held tight as my crying continued.

"It is okay Aisling, we are here for you now. Just let it go dear. We will always be here for you," Father whispered gently into my ear.