Alone in the Darkness

          Night, a time when most of the people of the world retreat into their homes, into places of artificial light and comfortable settings. All people fear the night whether they realize it or not.
          There was one girl who didn’t fear it at all, and she danced under the full moon every month. Her bare feet pounded the ground to the beat of drums that played in those secret groves hundreds of years ago. She can still hear them, when the wind is still and the forest will give up no other sounds.
          Her hair could have put a raven to shame as it swirled around her body, and her dance became more rapid. Her eyes were deep pools, which no mere mortal could understand. Even her name, Kali, meant Dark Goddess.
          Kali had a gift, given to her by the great gods of the night. The gift was sight. The ability to see within the deepest of darkness. She was their chosen one.
          She loved these night gods because of their gift, but she feared them much more. She paid them homage once a month on the full moon, by keeping up their dances of old. No one remembered the old gods, and they feared, with no one to believe in them, they would disappear.           So Kali danced, her body flowing from step to step. Though she knew it wasn’t she who guided this body, but the people who danced many and many a year ago. They also played the drums, which now pounded in her ears.
          The moon began to set and dawn was breaking in the distance. The girl collapsed on the ground, her body was given back to her. She breathed heavily as she watched the sun chase the darkness away. She was her own for another twenty-eight days and nights.
          The sun shined into her face and she smiled. They had no control over her now. The gods of night are powerless during the day.

* *

          “Where were you?” Jack asked, as Kali walked through the front door.
          Jack was Kali’s older brother. Since Jack was over eighteen, they were allowed to live alone. Kali might have been only fifteen, but she lived like an adult.
          “You know me, I’m a real party animal. I was out dancing.” It was a half-truth, so it didn’t bother her to lie. Every month her brother asked and every month she answered the same.
          She walked past Jack and reached into the refrigerator for some milk. She chugged it greedily straight from the carton.
          Jack scowled at her. “If your social worker finds out about all this partying, you could be put into a home.”
          “Lighten up, Jack. I only do it about once a month.”
“What worries me is what you’re doing while you’re dancing. What did you do to your feet?”
          Kali just then realized she had left her shoes in the grove and her feet were seeping blood all over the kitchen’s tiled floor. “I guess I cut them, don’t worry, they’ll heal.” She merely shrugged. Since she was dancing for them, the gods took the pain away.
          Her brother eyed her strangely for a second, but just shook his head. "I got a call from Mom last night, she's doing better. She said she might be out of rehab in a few months."
         "Couple more months?" Kali asked. "She was really messed up, I'm suprised she's getting better so quickly."
         "She's strong, like you Kali." He smiled at his baby sister. "Well, I got to get to work. I’ll see you later.” He gave her a quick hug and was out the door without another word.
          Kali watched him leave. She loved her older brother with all her heart, but knew their differences clearly. For one thing, Kali didn’t look a thing like him or the rest of the family. They were all blond, depictions of the sun, of light. Kali knew she was of darkness.
          She shook her head of such thoughts and went to clean the floor of her blood. It was a Saturday, so she didn’t have school. It was her free day and she was going to stay home and bum.
          Not likely, said the gods.
          “Get out of my head,” Kali said, annoyed. “I danced for you last night. Isn’t that enough? I’m tired.”
          The chosen get their rest when all is done, replied the gods.
          Kali just shook her head again and pretended she wasn’t hearing them. The mind connection wasn’t always permanent in the day, so she couldn’t always hear them.
          The blood came off the floor easily and Kali decided she was going to watch some movies. An American Werewolf in Paris was supposed to be on that morning. She popped herself some popcorn for breakfast. Hey, it sounded good to her.
          Just as she had sat down and turned on the television, the doorbell rang. “Don’t you dare say, ‘we told you so’,” Kali warned the night gods foolishly, as she got up to answer it.
          At the door was a boy about her age. He was dark, his hair was black and so were his eyes. His skin was an olive color and he was holding a small notebook. “I’m here for The Odd and Unusual, my online newspaper. Can I have an interview?”
          Kali raised her eyebrows at the name of his little newspaper. “About what?” She replied, leaning against the doorway.
          “Well,” he looked down for a moment. “There are rumors that you’re a werewolf. I’m here to see if it’s true.”
          Kali started to giggle uncontrollably and she couldn’t stop. How could people be so close yet so far away?
          “Well?” He asked. “I can tell that’s a fake laugh. I’ve seen much better.”
          Tell him. Show him. The gods whispered into Kali’s ear.
          “What!?” Kali exclaimed.
          “It’s easy to tell, really. Now, will you give me an interview?” The boy said, thinking she was talking to him.
          “Tell me your name and I’ll think about it.”
          “My name?” He said, almost surprised that she had asked. “I’m Austin. Now, will you answer my questions?”
          Kali glared at Austin for a second, then smiled. “Come back tonight, after dark.”
          He grinned back at her. “Are you planing to tear me apart?”
          Give him the forest. Show him your sight. The gods pushed.
          “Just for that,” Kali said, waving her finger at Austin playfully. “I’ll give you the interview at the edge of the forest tonight. Meet me there at nine o’clock.”
          Austin grinned innocently, nodded, and turned away.

* * *

          Kali spent the day pacing in her room. In her mind the gods pushed her this way and that. Telling her what to say and how to show him. Why they wanted him, she had no clue. When Kali asked, they made elusive comments.
          She didn’t understand, the gods came to her in her youth. As soon as she was able to go out alone they came to her in dreams. That’s where her dancing started; in her mind. Wasn’t Austin a bit old? She asked the gods, but they didn’t answer. Kali guessed that it wasn’t the weak connection.
          Around five Kali wanted her brother to get home, she was restless. She made two grilled cheese sandwiches for her and Jack. He wasn’t home yet, but she went ahead and ate hers. She placed sliced pickles on the top of the sandwich as she ate it.
          Jack came home while she was eating. He winced as she took a bite. When she offered him the sandwich she made for him. He readily declined.
          “Jack, I’m going out tonight. I’ll be back late.”
          He raised his eyebrows. “You are actually telling me? Why?”
          Kali shrugged, going back to her sandwich. “I don’t know, didn’t want you too worried, I guess.” She could see his shoulders shaking in silent laughter as he opened the refrigerator.

* *

          She had been waiting for him for over an hour when he finally showed up. He had a camera-bag slung over his shoulder and a large notebook in his hand.
          “Now what?” Austin asked.
          “We’re going to the woods.” She walked pasted him and continued down the street. He scrambled to catch up with her.
          He asked her several questions, but she was silent. Kali finally told him that she would reveal all when they got to the forest.
          “Do you have a flashlight?” He asked.
          “I don’t need one.” She quietly responded. Austin began to scribble something in his notebook.
          Soon they reached the edge of the forest. In the darkness Kali felt the gods give her new strength. We will help you They told her.
          Kali felt her body move without her own accord. She took off her shoes and her socks, leaving her feet bare, like when she danced. Then her arm reached up and took the cap she had been wearing off her head. Her long black hair cascaded down her back.
          “What are you doing?” Austin asked, he could barely see in the darkness.
          “I am preparing for what I must do. I must walk barefoot on this sacred land,” She said, but it was not she who spoke. Her voice sounded too deep and she talked in almost a singsong manner. “Take your shoes off.”
          “I don’t see wh...AHHH!” Austin closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again, blinking like an owl with a light shined in its face. “I...I can see...it’s clear as day.”
          “Then you are a chosen of the gods of darkness. I was their first.” Kali had control over her body again.
          “Who?” He asked, but as he spoke he sat down and took his shoes off. Austin set his camera bag and notebook and the ground. He looked at them longing.
          Kali knew that it wasn’t he who had set them down for him.
          “Come with me...” Kali said, only a little above a whisper. She offered her hand and he took it. Kali lead him through the forest to the spot where she had danced the night before.
          Her shoes were there, where she had placed them last. Her blood darkened the grass in the grove.
         "Where did they come from?" Austin asked. His voice was barely audible.
         "The gods have always been so. They were here when our ancestors first came from the north, or they have told me such," Kali said just as softly, "but I have always wondered. If they were able to survive without humans before, why can't they now?"
          Kali could hear the drums in the distance, but there was something else this time. A flute joined the beat of her drums and as she look at Austin the flute began louder. You each are important to our survival. We need to know we exist. Humans first let us know that we did. You all are a note in the song that was written many a millennia ago.
          Kali began her dance and Austin joined her. For the first time, she wasn’t alone in the darkness.