Screaming Shadows, Silenced Souls 1

A chilly wind swayed the skeletal trees as a blood red moon shone down into the dark forest. A single howl sounded deep within the forest. A deathly still village was surrounded by darkened trees. In the middle of the village, a girl no more than six years old sat, playing with what seemed like a ball with hair. Upon a closer look, it was actually a severed head. With black locks, falling to the ground, the head of a woman wore a shocked expression, as if she saw something disgusting and terrifying. The girl was rolling the head around, singing happily to herself. A light wind lifted her black hair, twirling it around in the air. The once bright and happy village was now nothing but dead.

Suddenly, the sound of a snapping twig forced the girl to turn away from her toy into the dark forest. She leaped up into the air and landed in the forest. A flash of silver and a shrieking cry was heard. A few seconds later, the little girl emerged, covered in blood. She smiled, looking pleased with herself. After a few steps toward where the fallen hair lay, she suddenly stopped. She raised her head and let out an unearthly cry.


* * * * *


Fifteen-year-old Elena Salvador sat up in bed, panting for breath. Damn! That's the fourth time this week! she thought angrily to herself. For the past few weeks, she'd been having the same dream. The dark forest, the little girl, the screams, the dead village. It was starting to scare her, but she didn't know what it meant. The girl had seemed so familiar, yet Elena couldn't remember who it was.

She glanced at the clock. 4:37 a.m. Elena groaned to herself. School started in three hours and she had a huge history test today. She wouldn't be able to concentrate because of the lack of sleep, but she couldn't go back to sleep either. Elena was afraid the dream would come again. She yawned and got up, walking to the bathroom.

Elena quickly showered and dressed, brushing her teeth and combing her hair. She looked into the mirror. A slender girl with long black hair and violet eyes looked back at her. Wearing a silver shirt and black pants, Elena knew she looked good. Applying a bit of lip gloss, she turned and started walking back into her room. She was stopped halfway however, when her brother bumped into her. Jeremy wasn't her real brother. She was actually adopted. They looked different, too. While she had ebony black hair, he had golden yellow. She had sparkling violet eyes and he had emerald green eyes. She was slender and athletic and he was muscular and built. They were both tall and they were both good-looking. They also loved each other dearly, taking care and defending one another.

"You're up early." Jeremy greeted Elena.

"So are you." she replied.

Jeremy laughed. "Nice comeback. So, what's the problem?"

"What problem? There's no problem." she quickly said.

"Elena, you know I know you better than that." Jeremy scolded. He and Elena shared a special bond. They always knew if something was troubling the other. Elena appreciated it, but it got annoying sometimes. Just like it annoyed her now.

"Fine, I'll tell you. But please don't tell Mom." Elena told him.

"Deal, now spill." Jeremy ordered.

"Okay, well, I had the dream again. And this time, I saw the girl." Elena started. She then continued describing her dream, making sure she left out nothing. When she finished, Jeremy just stared at her, speechless.

"Wow. That's pretty creepy." he said.

"I know. All I know is that I have to find the girl." Elena informed him.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Based on your description of the girl, she kind of reminds me of you." Jeremy confessed.

"Yeah, but she doesn't look like me. I just know it isn't me. But I don't know how I know." Elena said.

"Okay, maybe we should check the news for anything." Jeremy suggested.

"Good idea." Elena agreed.

The siblings walked to the TV room, sitting down on the comfy, black couch. Jeremy reached for the remote and turned the TV on, flipping through the channels until he found the news.

Our top story tonight: The occupants of a village in South America were found mysteriously dead. We now go live to that village. Joseph?" the reporter was saying.

"Well, Maredeth, as you can see behind me, the people who live in this village are dead. Many seem to have died in gruesome ways. Like this woman over here. According to Detective Wilson, she's twenty-six years old and was a mother. Her son is laying over here. The deaths include slicing the body apart, hanging the body upside-down, and we even found some bodies with their organs torn out but their body still mostly in tact. A lot of these people seems to have a shocked expression on their face. And we're lucky to have discovered this at all. The village is surrounded by a dense forest, as you can see behind me. Some of the officers believe a wild animal, such as a rabid wolf, came through here and created this damage. Others disagree. The only thing we know is that no one knows for sure what happened here. This in Joseph at CNN, live at the village." he concluded.

"Thanks Joseph. Now we go to Tom who will give us our weather report..." the reporter continued.

"Okay, so you were right. There's no way you could be over there, kill an entire village, and come back in six hours. We live at least two thousand miles away from that village, maybe even farther. The questions now are, how do you know about these events and why do you keep having these dreams." Jeremy said.

"Okay. Meanwhile, I think we should get something to eat. I'm starving." Elena suggested.

"Excellent idea. I'm hungry too." he agreed.

Elena laughed. "You're always hungry."

"Being hungry is good because you eat more and you have more energy." Jeremy reasoned, following her into the hall.

"Yeah, but you'll start to look like a pig. Oops, I meant you're starting to look like a pig." Elena corrected herself.

"Ha ha. Very funny." Jeremy said sarcastically.

They were walking to the kitchen, passing the big mirror that stood in the hall. Elena glanced at it and stopped in shock, causing Jeremy to crash into her.

"Woah. What'd you stop for?" he asked.

Elena, still speechless, just pointed at the mirror. Jeremy looked at it and stared in shock as well. There, in the middle of the mirror, was the girl Eleba had so often dreamed of, holding a bloody knife and smiling, staring straight at her.