Seeing Silver

Chapter 1

It happened only three days ago. Three days ago Rachel Hollick's life became a living nightmare. She was once well-known in the town of Reinton, and there was hardly anything dreadful that could be said about her. She was beautiful, for one thing, which is what the town mostly noted. She kept high marks in school and always reached out to anyone who needed a hand. Three days ago you could ask anyone in town about her and they'd all reply the same way: "a perfect girl with not a single evil thought in her head" or "a bright, spunky, perfect girl who has big things in store for her" or even "a generous, kind and perfect girl who always puts others before herself". No matter who you asked, everyone in town would use the same word in all of their discriptions: perfect. And she was; or at least the closest thing to perfect anyone could possibly get.

Rachel was undeniably attractive; so attractive that nearly every boy in Reinton High School had been seduced by her, some more than once. Oftentimes, a boy would walk right up to her as if to tell her something, and then, as if abruptly awakening from a trance, he would run off, horrificably humiliated. Other boys, who were able to muster up the courage to at least speak, rarely got more than a "hi" out before running off humilated, too. But it was more than her face that they were seduced by, it was her skin as well. Rachel's skin was flawless. Not once in her life, save for when she had the chicken pox at age three, had a single blemish ever penetrated her skin. Nor had she any visible moles on her body, though not many people knew that there was one tiny one located just on the backside of her left ear. But it was not only her extraordinary looks and flawless skin that contributed to her powers of seduction, but her perfect figure as well. As this made her more popular with the boys, it put her on resentful terms with many girls who were jealous of her and showed it. She didn't mind much, though. She didn't care much for what her peers thought of her. To her, school was not a place for socializing. Rachel worked hard to keep up her grades, most of which were some of the highest in Reinton High School. She usually had the highest scores on all of her exams, coming in either first or second in the top five, just behind another bright boy.

Rachel's friends, those who weren't too frightened or too resentful to speak to her, could easily tell you that Rachel was one of the nicest people on Earth. Some of them called her an angel sent from Heaven. And she just as sure was. Rachel always volunteered to help anyone in need, no matter how much of a strain it placed on her. Her teachers could have said that they'd just as soon "see snow in ninety degree weather than see any rebellion out of her."

Rachel was perfect; or at least as close to perfect as anyone could get.

But that was just three days ago. Three days ago that word was ciculated around her. Now it was just the opposite. She was the furthest away from perfect anyone can possibly get. It happened so suddenly that nobody could have seen it coming, especially not Rachel. It was as if the entire fifteen years of her life meant nothing compared to what happened three days ago. The entire town now cringed when they thought of her. Where she was once revered she was now an outcast. What was worst about it is that Rachel hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't her fault--not technically. It could have happened to anyone in town. But it only happened to her.

Rachel woke up; rising slowly from an earthy ground. Dawn had reached her, leaving a orange glare on her face. Trees surrounded her from every side and only upon noticing them did she remember the reality of where she was. She was in a forest, less than a mile away from Reinton. Slowly, she got up and yawned, wondering what time it was. Not that time was much of an issue anymore. When she came back to her senses, she walked around searching for a small pool of water. She faintly heard the trickling of running water and followed the sound. It became louder with every step she took. A few feet away, was a running stream that ran for about a mile before leading into a drainage pipe. Rachel walked over to the stream and knelt down beside it. She wanted to check something, but first things first. She submerged her hands under the water and cupped them, collecting as much water as she could. Then she brought her hands to her mouth and drank all of the water that hadn't spilled over. She had to repeat this three times to finally drink enough to quench her thirst. Then she walked further down the stream looking for any place where the water clot and gathered into a small pool. She finally found a puddle near the end of the stream and hurried over to it. She knelt down again and slowly stared at her reflection. She gasped. For the past three days, Rachel had been waiting to wake up from this horrid nightmare. Her reflection told her that she still hadn't woken up.

For the most part, her reflection looked like any normal reflection. It was dark and clear like anyone elses would be. The only thing that would frighten you out of your wits about it were her eyes, which were not dark like the rest of her reflection, but instead radiated a bright silver color. Indeed it was because of these eyes that she now had to sleep in a forest. The silver eyes were a curse; a well-known curse that everyone on earth feared. It had first been introduced to humanity in the year 2019. It had been first contracted by a man named Michael Wervin, who had woken up one morning with silver eyes (as Rachel had). As hard as they tried, scientists could not discover the source of this "illness", which is what they called it at the time. Eventually, a few months after contracting it, Wervin lost all control over himself. In a rage, he killed his wife and one of his friends. Police questioned him about the deaths and Wervin confessed to having no recollection of killing anyone. Though he was clearly grieved by the losses, Wervin was placed in jail anyway. After his first night, Wervin killed his cell mate and escaped, though no one knew how he had escaped since there was absolutely no way out and his cell had been locked all night. Wervin was eventually found and surrounded by police. They were shocked when they saw him. He looked like a werewolf that hadn't transformed all the way. His white skin became grayish and pale and his shoulders were hunched. He appeared to be sprouting claws out of his fingernails. But most shocking of all is that his silver eyes were glowing piercingly bright. Having lost all control of himself, Wervin charged at the officers with intent to kill. The officers opened fire on him, and he was put down before he could attack. The news of this quickly spread and the "illness" was known as Wervin's Curse. That was thirty years ago, and twenty-two people since, including Rachel, had contracted the curse. Sixteen of them had been killed, five were missing, and Rachel was right there in the forest, unlucky enough to be one of them.

After gazing at her reflection, Rachel fell back and wept. She knew that in just a few months she'd be a monster as well. The town had exiled her for their own safety; even her parents were quick to throw her out. There was no cure for Wervin's Curse, and scientists weren't even looking for one. Whoever contracted it was automatically labeled "condemned" and either killed on the spot or exiled.

"I might as well have just died back there," Rachel said softly to herself, tears still running down her cheeks.
"There's no hope for me now." She sobbed at her own words.

She lay there, looking up at the trees for several minutes. She was thinking of the plans she had for her life. Her future dreams which would never come to pass. All the things she ever wanted to do, all the places she ever wanted to go. It was all gone. In a single moment, all of the plans she had for her future went up in flames.

Before long, she heard light footsteps creeping up from behind her. Rachel immediately scrambled to her feet and found herself looking at Terrence Burke, a resident of Reinton. Rachel had always known him to be a nice and generous man. In fact, he was the first resident that she and her family had ever met. When she was four, and her family had just moved to Reinton, Terrence Burke had driven by in his truck and offered to help them move in. Now when Rachel looked at him, it was as she was looking at a completely different person. His face was darkened and scowling and he appeared to be quivering nervously. He was holding a rifle in his left hand.

"There you are," he said gravelly.
Rachel tried to speak, but couldn't. She couldn't believe what was happening. Terrence lifted the rifle, clutched it with both hands and aimed it at her. He continued to speak.
"Don't move now. Don't resist. This has to be done."

But Rachel made no attempt to resist and she couldnt move if she tried. Her feet seemed to be glued to the ground. Terrence had the rifle aimed directly at her. He gritted his teeth
"This is for the good of humanity. There's no telling how many lives I will save by doing this now. Understand that I have no choice."

Rachel still didnt move or speak. This was it. She was just wishing that she had been killed on the spot and now she was going to have a second chance. Just let it happen, she thought. I'm going to die sooner or later so I might as well let it happen.

She waited to feel the bullet, but it wouldn't come. Terrence appeared to be hesitating, not wanting to kill her.

"I'm sorry," he said with great conflict in his voice.

And his finger gently pulled back on the trigger...