Humanity

It’s dark. Ever since the invasion it’s been dark, but in here, in this dungeon, everything seems like it’s a shade darker. Perhaps it is just my situation but it feels

too dark and I don’t think my eyes will ever adjust. I don’t think there is an ever for

me, for humanity, for life as we all know it.

Now we face the unknown, now we face the faceless. Death is coming, this I

know. It prowls like a creature of the night, never showing itself, yet, but always

there.

I am impatient for it to come. Maybe in death, life will be unknown to me. Maybe I’ll be ignorant to the end, or maybe it just won’t be able to hurt me anymore. This hurt, it’s just too painful.

It’s more painful than a broken neck, more painful than a broken heart. Too much pain. How did it start hurting? When did the ending begin?

Chapter One: Wild.

The chilly wind rushed to meet me, breaking free of the many autumn leaves scattered along the forest floor. It blew my hair from my face as I stood shaking in front of the mass of dirty trees, all seeming to lean towards me.

I could hear sounds of life up in the branches, the branches that almost hid all of the sun’s rays. Shadows were the forest’s sole occupant, cast by the trees and the twittering birds.

The tears cool on my cheeks, dripped slowly past my chin as I struggled to contain the heavy sobs in my parched throat. My heart sped in my chest. My head spun in an endless circle. My knees shook beneath me.

I stepped into the shadowy forest and a chorus of amused laughter rang out behind my hesitant and barely concealed terror filled form. I forced my body to take another step and another, the yellow and brown leaves punctuating my movements.

“One hour.”prompted a deep voice out from the forest and I determinedly kept my tear filled gaze in front of me, not turning around to face the speaker. I feared once I turned around, I’d turn around and run.

“But Billy, in one hour the sun will go down, down onto another part of the world and the forest will be in complete darkness!” The girl’s voice was not mine but the words were. They were my words and they didn’t belong in the girl’s whiny voice dripping with sarcasm.

They were my words spoken in another universe, another time, a lighter place. We had been all standing outside the school’s brick walls, in a patch of shade, hidden from inquiring eyes, slowly passing round a lit cigarette. It was like a slow game of pass the parcel. The parcel hadn’t reached me yet, the parcel had never reached me, I’d never been apart of the game.

I'd never had a friend, sister or brother. I’d never had a cousin, father or mother. But since the blonde lady in the dark suit had pulled her shiny, black car over by my curb, life had been different. I didn’t steal, lie, cheat, swear. Then I went to school, had dinner and slept in a bed with a roof over my head.

When the parcel reached me, a faint red light glowing from its front. I shook my head, my curls glancing along my shoulders and down my heaving chest.

“Scared?”

“No.”

“Prove it.”

Now, I walked into the forest, tears falling. The forest was supposedly named Emilia because the man that created it loved a woman named Emilia. Emilia passed away from cancer so the man(they'd forgotten his name) created this forest so her spirit could grow on. The forest was also supposedly haunted.

In the forest the trees were so tall that shadows were cast everywhere and the only light to be seen was the bits of sunlight that fought through the leaves up ahead. Leaves crunched under my feet as I made my way through the silent forest.

The isolation of the forest calmed me and it seemed too simple to forget the words that kept echoing in my mind. A gentle breeze caressed the tips of my curls and I sighed peacefully, closing my eyes, just wanting to forget. Then my eyes snapped open as I heard a snort.

I t was not a snort from a human, it sounded like it belonged to an animal. I spun around, remembering the wildness of the forest. Then my eyes laid on a horse. The creature was beautiful, midnight black coat, silky hair and eyes dark that seemed too intelligent to belong to an animal.

I w ondered what a beautiful creature would be doing in the wild forest of Emilia. I approached slowly and quietly, not wanting to alarm the animal. When I got close enough to touch, the creature's tongue shot out and licked the side of my face. I laughed in amusement and disgust.

Then the horse's head dove for my shoulder bag and I backed away grinning, my misery instantly forgotten.

“I'm hungry,too! I looked around, still wondering. Then I made for the closest tree to hang my bag. I slung it on the smallest branch and smiled triumphantly at the horse.

That was when I heard the horse's alarmed grunt and I spun around. I felt a whoosh of air past my left ear and then a thud. I saw an arrow embedded in the tree's trunk where I had been a second before. A startled shriek escaped my lips as I realised how close to death I had been.

Then I heard a piercing scream as a young man hopped down from a tree directly across from me. Then I realised it was mine as he began to shoot another. Not sparing one look at him I dove to the forest floor, just missing the second arrow.

The horse's shriek reached my ears and I leapt up and ran. A frustrated and angry sigh sounded behind me and I snuck a look over my shoulder. The young man was attempting to board the horse who galloped stubbornly in circles. Thanking the horse silently with my eyes as it glanced over at me, I continued running deeper into the forest.