Dark Light

by Bernard, Bonnie; Ellery, Stefan; Hansen, John; Browning, Amanda R. ; Thomas, S. J. ; Barrett, Ruth; Sharpe, Dennis; Parker, Megan J. ; Purdy, Alexia

  The woman laughed guiltily and said, “Nonsense, I can see the blood seeping through your shirt. Please, at least let me buy your drink. It is the very least I can do after injuring you so.”

  Sabine didn’t feel that injured, but she did feel compelled to snatch at any excuse to spend more time with this mysterious woman. “Um, sure. That would be nice.” She told the woman what she wanted and excused herself to find a table for the two of them. Tria joined her a few moments later, bearing two steaming cups of frothy caffeinated goodness.

  Handing Sabine her cup, Tria said, “Again, I am so very sorry for tripping and stabbing you. Are you sure you don’t need a doctor?”

  The sincere concern on the stranger’s face made Sabine flush. “Really, it’s nothing, Miss….”

  “Oh! Please forgive my dreadful manners! My name is Tria Azanon.”

  “And I am Sabine Brise. It is a pleasure to meet you. Azanon, that is a unique name, where are you from?” Sabine asked.

  “You are correct, my homeland is far from here.” Tria said evasively. Looking at the book Sabine had set on the table, the demon changed the subject swiftly. “Is that a meteorology text? I’ve always found the field fascinating!”

  Sabine blushed again and replied, “Yes, it is. I’ve been obsessed with the sky since I was a little girl. I want to know how the weather works. Eventually I want to find a way to improve the early warning system. My aunt and uncle were killed by a tornado a few years ago. With a better warning, they may have stood a chance.” Sabine’s eyes shone with her passion for the subject, and the admiring stares increased as her inner beauty began to show.

  “Clearly you harbor hidden depths, Sabine. I have to be going now, but I’d love to meet you for coffee and conversation again, sans pencil next time, I swear.” Tria said with a disarming smile.

  Sabine eagerly accepted. She mostly kept to herself, and didn’t have many friends. This vibrant, glamorous woman wanted to be her friend. There was no way she was going to deny herself this chance to break out of her shell. They made plans to meet the next day. Sabine headed off to her dorm room and Tria made her way back to her apartment to revise her plan for the coming day.

  Tria spent the night in the tree outside Sabine’s window, utilizing one of her more useful powers. She was able to enter Sabine’s mind and view her memories. While she could not change what Sabine remembered, she could change how Sabine remembered it. Finding several memories of Sabine uneventfully walking home alone at night, Tria altered the memory so the girl would remember running home in terror from an unknown menace. Changing as many memories as she deemed safe at this stage in the plan, Tria planted the seeds for paranoia and fear in Sabine’s mind. Satisfied with her work for the night, Tria went back to her apartment and began to practice her ‘Sabine’ glamour.

  The next day, Sabine dressed carefully and headed off to class. She tried to focus on her lectures, but all day she felt as if she were being watched and couldn’t concentrate. Finally, the end of her last class arrived, and Sabine hurried to the coffee shop to meet Tria. Sabine was eager to see if the enigmatic woman was as fascinating today as she had been the day before.

  When Sabine arrived, Tria was already seated at the same table they’d had yesterday, with two steaming cups resting on the tabletop. The two women chatted and gossiped for two hours, then parted ways, planning to go shopping the next day. After Sabine left the coffee shop, she decided to walk for a while on the path next to the river. She was wandering aimlessly when she caught sight of a familiar woman ahead of her. Sabine was shocked, she could have been staring at her twin, and they were even wearing the same clothes. She blinked and the woman was still there, talking to a tall, handsome man. Sabine saw her look alike flirting with the man and she crept closer to see if the resemblance was as close as it seemed to be. Hiding behind a tree, she got near enough to see the woman’s face clearly, and it was like looking into a mirror. The woman had the same facial expressions Sabine knew crossed her own visage, her hand motions and body language were the same too.

  Deciding to talk to this strange woman, Sabine slipped from her hiding place and circled the tree. She only lost sight of the strange woman for a moment, but when she rounded the tree no one was there. Sabine spun around, but the woman was nowhere in sight. Confused and unsettled, Sabine decided to return to her room. She ran the incident over and over in her mind, but was unable to make any sense of it. Had it been real? If it was real, how had it been possible? Sabine grabbed a quick dinner from the supplies she kept in the dorm kitchen and returned to her room. She intended to go to bed early and face the next day well rested and with a sound mind.

  Changed into comfortable pajamas, Sabine curled up in her bed and almost instantly fell asleep. At first her dreams were random and disjointed, but that changed once she settled into a deeper level of sleep. Tria watched Sabine sleep from the tree outside the window. She was going to use another of her powers on Sabine. Tria had the power to control the dreams of her target. Unlike her friend, Lelia, who could control the dreams of any human. Tria had a very specific set of dreams that she planned to plant in Sabine’s subconscious mind. When she felt Sabine slip into a deep sleep, Tria focused on the girl’s mind, sending dark tendrils of thought to her, taking over the dream she was currently having.

  I woke with a start from a dream I could not remember. Glancing around the room, I saw it was 3 in the morning. I listened again for the sound that had awakened me and heard steps shuffling and a strange scraping sound in the hallway. Standing up, I saw that my dorm door was open, though I was certain I had shut and locked it. The lights in the hall seemed different, dimmer and flickering. I heard the shuffling steps and scraping get closer and I peeked my head out the door to see who was approaching. I couldn’t see very well, so I stepped into the hallway and came face to face with myself. The other me was standing there, wearing the same pajamas, but she was covered in blood and carried a wicked looking knife that she was trailing along the wall, making the scraping noise I’d heard. The other me raised her knife and turned it toward me. As she plunged the blade down, I screamed and-

  Sabine woke with a start, tangled in her sheets and covered in cold sweat. What a horrible dream. Sabine wanted to get a glass of cold water, to cool her parched throat and to help clear the disturbing dream from her mind. She got out of bed and stumbled tiredly in the direction of the sink. She kicked something with her left foot as she walked, and Sabine flipped on her desk lamp to see what it had been. The light reflected off the long, sharp blade of the knife on her dorm room floor. There were several drops of what Sabine sincerely hoped was not blood on both the blade and the floor. Sabine dropped the knife in shock and ran to the door. It was still locked. How had the knife gotten into her room? She didn’t remember going anywhere since crawling into bed. The dream tugged at her, as did the memory of the woman near the river today. Sabine didn’t know what it all meant, but she was too terrified to either leave the room or go back to sleep. She curled up on her bed with her meteorology text and read until it was time to get ready for class.

  Chapter 4

  Sabine drifted through all her classes in a distracted haze. When she met Tria to go shopping, she wasn’t able to hide the fact that she was bothered by something.

  “Sabine, what is wrong? You seem to be terribly upset.” Tria asked, showing such sweet concern.

  “It’s nothing, really. I had a nightmare last night and I can’t seem to shake the feeling of doom it left me with. I couldn’t go back to sleep and I’m kind of tired now as well.” Sabine answered, not mentioning the knife she’d found after she had awakened, the knife that had disappeared this morning.

  “Oh, you poor dear. That’s awful,” said Tria. “What you need is a nice cup of tea and a good nap. A good cup of tea can fix many problems, I’ve heard.”

  “That does sound nice. Ok, I think I will go home and try to get some rest. Thanks, Tria. You’ve been so wonderful and supportive, and we only just met
!”

  “The pleasure is all mine, Sabine. You are a delightful girl!” The smile Tria gave her seemed a little off to Sabine. She couldn’t pinpoint why, but it just wasn’t right. Chalking it up to her exhaustion, Sabine waved and headed back to her dorm.

  On the way, she glimpsed her twin again, this time talking to a group of college age girls outside a movie theatre across the street. The other woman again wore the same clothes and looked and acted exactly like Sabine. Losing sight of the woman as she struggled to cross the busy street, Sabine finally regained sight of the sidewalk in front of the theatre. It was deserted. There were no college girls and no Sabine look-alike. She shook her head and wondered if she was getting sick or having hallucinations. Surely seeing oneself walking around town doing things that one had absolutely no memory of was not normal.

  Suddenly desperate to get to her room, Sabine ran blindly through the streets until she slammed her door behind her and decisively locked it. She threw herself down on her bed, dropping her shopping bags on the floor as she walked. Exhaustion and stress crept over her, drawing her into a deep sleep filled with strange flashes of memories that had her flinching in terror even in her dreams.

  She woke a few hours later, feeling even more exhausted than she had before. The world seemed different to her. The colors just slightly off, and things didn’t feel quite real. Sabine wondered if she was dreaming, but a quick pinch convinced her that she was indeed awake. It was just now early evening, so she went off to find something for dinner. Then she returned to her room to do her homework for the day.

  Exhaustion settled around her like a fog, making it difficult to concentrate on the report she was reading. Deciding to take a break and hopefully catch a dream free nap, Sabine lay down on her bed and pulled the covers up to her neck. Sleep overtook her almost immediately, at first gentle and relaxing, but quickly shifting to a more sinister scene.

  I heard my feet hit the pavement in time with the heartbeat that pounded through my veins. My only thought was sheer, gut wrenching terror; I had to get away from whatever was chasing me. I didn’t know what I was running from, but I knew if I were caught, I would lose something I desperately needed. Security, sanity, whatever, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was putting distance between myself and the thing chasing me. I ran as fast I could, my legs burning with the unusual effort. I stumbled on a lose rock and fell, only sparing a split second glance behind me as I threw myself from the ground and continued running full speed. I could hear footsteps quickly approaching behind me, but could spare no concentration to look back. My foot caught on some unseen item and I went down again, tangled with whatever had caught me. A wave a pure terror washed through me as I realized that I could not get up right away. I was losing any distance I had gained and that thing was going to get me. I struggled with the object wrapped around my foot and scanned the area around me for my pursuer. I felt a presence behind me, and though I desperately wanted not to, I turned and looked to see what I was so afraid of. I screamed in horror as I came face to face with myself. Only I had never looked quite like that! Where my eyes should have shown color, there was only in infinite, flat black. Thick ruby tears of blood cascaded from the bottomless pits of the eyes and dripped down onto the white dress my twin wore. She reached toward me, and as she placed a palm against my cheek, I released a blood-curdling scream.

  Sabine woke with a start, bolting out of bed and running for the mirror over the sink. The urgency to see her own brown eyes looking back at her was overwhelming. When Sabine glanced in the mirror, her breath released in a whoosh of relief, the face staring back at her was normal. She bent to splash cold water on her face and grabbed a towel to dry herself. She glanced back into the mirror and shrieked in shock and terror. The eyes reflected in the mirror were not the deep brown she had been expecting. They were twin inky vortexes and the pale skin underneath was streaked with bloody tears.

  Sabine closed her eyes tightly, cutting off the disturbing image. It’s not real, Sabine. Get a hold of yourself. It’s not real. It’s not real…. Tria smiled to herself as she watched Sabine mouth the mantra, trying to convince herself she hadn’t really seen what she’d seen. She felt the pitiful resistance Sabine’s mind put up against her powers and had to admire the human girl for trying. Deciding to let her think it was just imagination, Tria lifted the hallucination a moment before Sabine opened her eyes.

  When she cracked her eyelids open to peek at the mirror, Sabine was infinitely grateful to see her normal face reflected back at her. She couldn’t shake the feeling of terror, though. Something was happening to her, and she didn’t understand any of it. Needing something to distract her, Sabine turned her TV on and watched the news.

  “The bodies of two Evansville residents were found in their home today. The victims’ names have not been released yet, but the police did say that both were the victims of brutal homicide. The coroner places the time of death around midnight, two days ago. Both people were stabbed, but no murder weapon has been recovered. Police say—“

  Sabine was consumed by a vivid memory of the dream she’d had two nights ago: walking into the hall and seeing herself covered in blood and brandishing a wicked looking bloody knife. “Did I do that? Is it even possible? There was no blood on me the next morning, but I saw the knife lying bloody on my floor. But the knife was gone the next morning too. Nothing makes any sense. I am so confused and scared. Am I losing my mind? But crazy people don’t know they are crazy, do they?

  Satisfied with the night’s work, Tria descended the tree and made her way back to her apartment, leaving Sabine to doubt her sanity unobserved.

  The next morning, as Sabine made her way to the dining hall, she was jumpy and paranoid. Certain that someone was going to attack her, or that she would attack someone, she violently shied away from anyone who even tried to smile at her. Keeping her gaze riveted to the ground in front of her, Sabine continued walking, afraid to stop for any length of time. She made it to the dining hall and choked down a quick breakfast, knowing she would need her strength to figure out what was happening to her. She disposed of her trash and left the room, intending to go back to her dorm because she did not have class today.

  Sabine felt a little surer of herself after getting a meal and some energy. She allowed herself to look around, and was immediately sorry for her decision. Across the lawn, stood her doppelganger. This time she was alone and, though she couldn’t be sure, something looked different about her. As usual, she was wearing the same clothes Sabine wore, but it seemed as if her eyes were flickering. The distance made it difficult to be certain, but it looked like the woman’s eyes would be bright and normal, and then for a moment, they would go dark and empty. Sabine walked a few steps closer, intent on talking to her mysterious twin.

  When she was close enough to see clearly, but still far enough to run, Sabine stopped and opened her mouth to speak to the strange woman. At that moment, she turned to face Sabine directly and Sabine knew why she looked different today. Her eyes were indeed flashing. They were normal brown eyes one second, and they would be the flat black pits with the bloody tears the next, and then back again. “Who are you? Why are you doing this to me? What are you doing to me?” Sabine asked desperately.

  With a deep, guttural voice that Sabine was certain she had never uttered before, her crazy eyed clone said, “You. I am you.” The black eyes had stopped changing back to normal and the dark, endless stare bored into Sabine.

  “No, it’s not possible. I’m me! What the hell is going on?” She shouted. The doppelganger disappeared and Sabine was left standing alone on the campus lawn, with students giving her strange looks and trying to avoid her. She stumbled blindly in the direction of her dorm, flinching away from everyone she passed. Sabine saw students pass by her, staring and when she looked back, their faces changed, going bloody and corpselike. She was running in terror by the time she reached her dorm. She flew up the stairs and into her room, slamming and locking the door behind her. Then
she crumpled to floor and curled herself into a ball on the floor and wept desperately.

  Chapter 5

  Sabine cried herself into an exhausted sleep, right there on the floor of her room. She didn’t dream, and when she awoke stiffly a few hours later, she felt a little saner, but not much. The memories of the dream and this afternoon on the lawn were still with her, consuming her thoughts. Deciding to research mental illness, Sabine went to her laptop and opened Google.

  She searched for mental illness and was stunned by the number of results. She chose the link for a popular medical website and found the list of symptoms for schizophrenia. She had several of the symptoms, especially the hallucinations and feeling of paranoia. Sabine didn’t want to believe it. If she was actually going crazy, she couldn’t be aware of it. So she had to still be sane. But if she wasn’t going insane, what the hell was happening? The only explanation that made any sense at all was insanity! How’s that for irony? Sabine thought.

  Realizing that she would find no satisfying answers, Sabine got up and called her parents. She wanted to be reassured that she was not alone right now. That she still had something normal in her life. The phone rang four times and the machine clicked on.

  “Hi, you’ve reached the Brise residence! Sabine is off to college, and Byron and Nicolette are currently backpacking through Europe right now. Please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.”

  She waited for the beep and opened her mouth to speak, intending to say that she loved and missed them and hoped they had fun, but she actually said, “Backpacking through Europe!!!! How could you not tell me you were leaving the fucking country? How is that responsible parenting? What if I had died, Mom? Or if someone kidnapped me, Dad? How much fun would your spontaneous little trip be then?” Sabine screamed into the phone. As quickly as the rage fueling her tantrum had come, it was replaced with deep sorrow and fear. “I feel so alone right now. Something is happening and I don’t understand it. I don’t know how to stop it. I’m worried that I’m doing things I don’t remember, and I am seeing things that aren’t there. I’m so scared, please help me.” Sabine’s breath hitched and she began to sob uncontrollably. It took her a moment to remember to close the cell phone and end the message. She sobbed until she again fell asleep, her dreams restless and terrifying. She did not dream of the strange woman claiming to be her, and for that she would have willingly taken a thousand nightmares.