Preternatural (Worlds & Secrets)

by Lloyd Harry-Davis

  “So, you’re saying all this madness is only happening because we’re not from England? Unbelievable!” I overreacted.

  “I…just – answer the question, Aden.” I crossed my arms and sighed helplessly.

  “Okay, let’s say sure for saying’s sake.”

  Mum looked somehow worried. Her voice was cracking as if she was choking on water.

  “Now, what would you say if I told you that we weren’t from Europe?”

  “Mum, where are we going with this?” asked Jade.

  “Now, this is going to sound a tad cliché but what would you do if I told you we weren’t from…Earth?” I chuckled sarcastically.

  “Mum, I’m confused. First of all I don’t even know what to believe,” I muttered underneath my hands as I rubbed my eyes. Jaden and Jade were simply silent with their arms folded, engaged in a serious ponder.

  “I’d say I believed you, no matter how…” Jaden paused, trying to find the appropriate word “fictional it would seem.”

  “What?” I asked, making sure I heard correctly.

  “Think about it: one, all that crazy talk about us being in year ten and all of a sudden being in 2014 –”

  “– Jaden –” Jade attempted to speak.

  “Two: this completely weird dream I had and three – well, look at us! Now, wouldn’t that make you curious? Because I’ll tell you what, A.J., sonorous bells the size of Big Ben are going off in my head practically screaming that something isn’t right,” Jaden answered calmly, still rubbing his neck from the strenuous pain he had endured earlier on.

  “You know what, he’s got a point,” Jade concurred.

  “Wait, what dream?” I asked curiously.

  “What?”

  “You said you had a weird dream, what dream?”

  “Oh, that. No, it’s nothing. It was just about this guy and this girl and they were in this cool, posh room…and had powers and stuff,” Jaden said, mumbling the latter part of his sentence to himself. I was looking at the floor as I tried to run Jaden’s sentence through my mind because it sounded all too familiar.

  “Was some sort of attack involved? Like fists being dented into a steel door?”

  “Yeah, how did –” Jaden started curiously.

  “And was the girl called Tammy and the boy Robbie?” added Jade.

  “Yes, but how do you guys know all this?”

  “Because I had the same dream,” Jade and I replied simultaneously undertone.

  “Well, at least someone’s done her homework,” mum muttered under her breath. We turned our heads and looked at her murderously.

  “Mum, what’s going on?” Jade asked savagely.

  But I started to flinch. A prickling, burning sensation was being needled into my hands and I non-hesitantly raised them to my eyes. To my horror, three holes were being burnt inside my palms. It was almost as if a cigarette were singeing itself into my hands. Finally the burning sensation had ceased, leaving an ongoing sting in its place. What further astounded me was that the marks were hollow. All I saw from them were three pitch black holes, as if they were burnt into something else and not into my hands.

  I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed my questions answered. I was scared. And I was extremely eager to receive all the explanations I demanded. “Mum,” I called out cautiously, unable to tear my eyes from the terrifying holes in my palm.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly.

  I turned my hands to show her the six holes; three on each hand, burnt into my flesh, but she did not seem surprised at all.

  “Did they burn their way in?” she asked.

  “Yes, but –”

  “Right, all of you, pack your bags. We’re not staying anymore,” she all of a sudden voiced out, about to turn to march off to her bedroom.

  “What? Why?” Jaden inquired intriguingly. It’s strange how each and every one of us has that little scared child concealed within our minds that comes out once in a while when we need to feel safe and protected. I saw that little child in Jaden when he asked.

  “Mum, where are we going?” I demanded after Jaden, and this time, more stern and disrespectfully. My eyes were fiercely fixed on mum as she spoke. I was tired of being treated like a rag doll whose sole job was to sit down on its rear and watch the world go by. Niceness wasn’t going to get me anywhere at this point.

  “Please don’t argue. I’m too frustrated to argue. Just – do it…please. There’s no time.”

  Mum said that with a look of unpleasantness on her face. There was no excitement or friendliness in the way she said it. Then, she strode off into her room.

  “Mum, I’m utterly confused as to why we’re leaving London,” my sister asked, trotting after our mother.

  “Well, we’re not leaving London per-se. Okay, yes we are, but you can come back anytime you want,” replied mum, stuffing clothes into her suitcase.

  “You don’t mean that, do you?”

  “Yes, I do! Now go and pack I’m not going to tell you again.” Jade walked back to the hallway, tousled and left with uncomfortable knots in her stomach.

  “Aden, can you believe this?” Jade said, chewing on her lip stud out of frustration.

  “Actually, after all this, I can.”

  Jade and I heard the loud zipping of something. We turned our heads to see Jaden zipping up his black suitcase.

  “You’re actually doing it?” asked Jade.

  “Why not? Anyway, I’m pretty sure some good sense will come out of this afterwards,” he replied to Jade calmly. “Besides, you’re the one who said you believed all this and trust me, I am ready to leave and go anywhere in order to leave all this madness behind, I am too scared. You weren’t mentally attacked just now, I was.”

  I stood silent in the doorway and sighed. Maybe Jaden did have a point. Maybe this would make sense after. All of a sudden I heard crackling, as if someone were stepping on… broken glass.

  “Psst…Jaden,” I called.

  “What?”

  “Come with.”

  “Come with, where?”

  “Just come. I think something’s up.”

  Jaden took one last look at Jade and sighed before departing his room. I walked out of Jade’s doorway and went to have a look in the bathroom – it was a total mess. There was scattered glass all over the floor and shattered mirror pieces in the sink. The bathtub was overflowing with cold water and the window had a huge crack scraped across it. Jaden quickly went to the bathtub, turned off its tap and retreated to stand by my side.

  “What’s that?” I pointed.

  “What’s what?”

  “That,” I said pointing to the window.

  An envelope was hanging from a piece of rough twine attached to the top frame of the shattered glass window. I slowly walked to it, being careful not to step on any sharp shards of glass. I stopped and looked behind to see if Jaden was still there. I looked at the letter again as I drew closer to it. Gently, I stretched my hand out as slowly as I could and quickly grabbed it. A red seal with a black C was printed onto it, keeping the letter closed. Jaden and I looked at each other in curiosity.

  “Should we call mum?” he asked me.

  “Probably. But if we do she might take it and dispose of it.”

  “How do you know that?”

  I looked at Jaden the same way Jade did to me when she wanted to make something obvious.

  “Okay, fine, whatever. Open it,” he suggested, giving in to the obvious truth. We both wanted to know what was in that envelope. It was an itch begging to be scratched.

  “Okay. Here we go,” I said to myself with Jaden standing firmly next to me. I took in a deep breath.

  “I can’t do it. You do it. It’s too awkward,” I said out of slight cowardice.

  “Oh, so you want me to take the fall if anything happens? I already almost died.”

  “Fine, we’ll both do it –” I stated.

  “– on the count of three; one…two…three,” Jaden and I tore the top of
the envelope open. The letter had a few words in the same handwritten font as earlier; monstrous.

  “Your path will be that of misapprehension,

  Just know when we kill you it’s for good intention…”

  Jaden and I looked at each other gravely.

  “Kill…us?” Jaden gulped.

  “Precisely,” a deep voice hissed behind us on our left. Jaden and I both jumped, startled and dropping the letter automatically. We backed off towards the bathtub. A man….a man stood there simply. It wasn’t so much that he was intimidating – it was that he was bloodcurdling. Furthermore, what couldn’t seem to get past me, was how he had gotten in without anybody noticing. Could he have possibly broken the window?

  He was tall, had broad shoulders and a long neck. The man’s rich black hair (which seemed as wavy as water) was slicked back in gel. His eyes were large and were a darker purple than Jade’s. He wore a crimson waistcoat over a long-sleeved midnight-black shirt, a tie tucked underneath his vest (matching his trousers) and as footwear a pair of classy, pointed-tip snakeskin shoes. His nose was long and his face was thin and smoothly shaven. However, his Caucasian skin seemed close to a pale grey.

  He took one step towards us and the sound of his soles resonated throughout the room. It was made more eerie as they made a tiny splash against the puddle of water on the floor which made my skin crawl. Jaden and I stepped back. Our hearts had stopped as he adjusted his tie.

  “How did you get in here? Who are you? What do you want?” I asked, shyly backing away in my own timidity. The man tilted his head at us and looked at Jaden and me with his enormous, puzzling purple eyes.

  “Those are quite a lot of words for a pleasant hello. But I can understand if you want to get to the point,” he said, his voice transforming into a gritty, raspy, hollow tone towards the end of his sentence. Jaden and I were trapped, frozen at the spot in our own fear. We moved closer to each other in order to protect ourselves. Suddenly, mum walked in and stood timidly in the doorway. We turned our heads back to the man swiftly.

  Reality became a nightmare. He grew a long, wide grin that stretched from one ear to the other. His perfectly aligned teeth became rows and rows of jagged, long and serrated fangs. We noticed that his neck began to glow orange. Inside him, a flickering amber light like blazing fire shone and lit up his face. All of a sudden, parts of his face started to tear and burn, as his flesh singed open to reveal the glowing, hot, red fire from within him – and his eyes…

  His eyes were a completely filled void black of which I could see nothing beyond.

  Jaden and I slowly backed away to mum and the man stood there dauntingly; as he gently took paces towards us.

  “Don’t touch them,” mum snarled as she hurled herself in front of us. All of a sudden, I heard loud footsteps growing louder with each knock on our staircase. Jaden and I looked back only to see another man that looked similar to the one mum was protecting us from.

  Except he wore a crimson shirt and a black tie, waistcoat and trousers. He had the same basic physical structure as the first one. His black hair was shoulder-length and seemed wet; the tips skimming his lapel. Suddenly, after taking a good look at us, he began grinning; his eyes darkening and parts of his burning flesh letting off smoke from the hellfire residing in him.

  The man in the corridor flew over to me. Mum didn’t see what was happening as she was facing the other way, guarding us from the intruder in the bathroom. The man advanced his hand towards me. I moved my head backwards in a heartbeat. As I edged away, his hand lightly scraped my chest and he had gotten a hold of me. He was now standing an inch away from me as he rested his hand on my hard-beating heart. I gasped for air but I just couldn’t attain it. I felt glacial. My blood was a sub-zero liquid searing through my veins like burning lava yet numbing ice and bringing with it an unbearable cold. I felt my muscles and tissues contract as my chest collapsed on itself. I wasn’t respiring. As soon as he had physical contact with me, I turned pearl white and black veins started to rise to the surface of my skin.

  I could feel myself slipping away into eternal sleep; death. That was until my bedroom door burst open and flung towards the long haired man in front of me, hitting him away. With the quick hint of green I saw, I made out two figures emerging from it. A boy and a girl, both of which were quite tall

  “Jojo?!” Jaden exclaimed.

  “Hey, isn’t that –”

  “The guy from our dream,” finished Jaden.

  Mum was still guarding us from the man that was in the bathroom. The boy turned out to be Robbie Roxeth. Jojo disappeared, leaving behind her what looked like glowing green embers – somewhat resembling ashes. The man who attempted to kill me arose again from the distance.

  Jojo suddenly reappeared closer to me, emitting the same green ember-like sparks. We stared at the man, charging towards us hurriedly. Jojo stormed to him and released a fury I had never witnessed from her. She was as swift, strong and skilful as a martial arts student, but from everything I could see, it seemed he was stronger.

  “Jaden, Aden – duck!” she yelled.

  We didn’t see why, until what seemed like an enormous ball of black flames hurled towards us, obliterating an entire wall. Jaden and I swiftly crashed to the ground. Things were hectic; much too swift and complicated for us to be asking questions.

  “What’s going on?” Jade asked, stepping out of her room, completely unaware of world war three that was progressing in the corridor.

  Suddenly all attention was on her. We all stared at her. The man Jojo fought quickly inhaled deeply and opened his wide grinning mouth. He suddenly breathed out blazes of strong black fire that sent an unbearable heat wave through the hallway. Concurrently, Jojo disappeared and reappeared to where Jade was, teleporting her away from the inferno.

  “Jojo, what’s all this? What did you just do?” she questioned in a terrible stutter of fear.

  “Jade, I can’t explain now. Go to your mum and your brothers,” Jojo hurried her. She was so casual about all this, as she dodged and evaded deadly strikes by the intruders whilst somersaulting, back-flipping over them.

  Jade rushed to mum, Jaden and me. We felt terrorised, like our childhood had been stolen and we were forced into a world of panic. Mum was still blocking the entrance though, protecting us from that man in the bathroom and keeping us in the corridor.

  “Guys, this way!” Robbie yelled to us whilst Jojo fought off our attackers.

  “Who are you? And how did you do that?” Jade asked.

  “Robbie, Robbie Roxeth. And how did I do what?” he answered.

  “It was as if you hacked into our dreams and I saw what happened to you and that girl,” I replied. He started panting and his eye contact wasn’t focused on us.

  “Um – I’ll answer that later, right now I need to go!”

  Robbie raced out of the door and threw himself into the battle Jojo was so immersed in.

  “Stay in there and whatever you do…DON’T…COME…OUT!” he yelled to us grimly.

  “Robbie!” Jojo called out. He jumped over to her as she stretched out her hands. Jojo caught him by both hands and swung him around, knocking the grinning man into the distance. I was spellbound at what I was witnessing.

  After minutes of staring at her awkwardly and being blocked by mum, the man made his move. Mum countered all of his physical attacks but everything was happening too fast to focus on. We heard a loud combustion coming from the bathroom and mum suddenly sprinted out to us.

  “Jojo, Robbie!” mum shouted.

  Jojo took Robbie’s arm and disappeared with a flash of green embers and suddenly reappeared next to us. The man Jojo and Robbie fought against stood in the back viciously with his endless grin, which then turned into a wide scowl spread across his face. The first man from the bathroom emerged and they both speedily jumped across the room to us.

  I flinched, turning my head away. I didn’t hear anything for a few seconds. I gently lifted my head and saw mum with her left ha
nd hovering in the air and a few inches from it, both the grinning men hung helplessly in mid-air. I watched as they retracted their wide demonic grins and as their faces slowly became normal again.

  I all of a sudden felt scared of my own mother. She pushed the two monstrous men away with her hand still pressed against the air. They all flew backwards and crashed into the walls down the hall (the force being so strong the face of the house was torn away with it).

  “What are you all?” Jade asked, so bewildered she looked as if she was about to faint. Mum stretched a hand out to Jade but she instantly avoided it with a terror-stricken look in her eyes as she stayed huddled next to Jaden and me.

  “Not now, sweetheart. Robbie, would you please?” asked mum. Robbie nodded and strode on over to the doorway. Holding both sides of the doorframe. I was mesmerised at how he pulled them together as if it was a sliding door. Then, as though there was never an entrance, the two frames merged into one another to form a plain wall.

  “Jojo, get your parents!” mum commanded. She disappeared out of the house immediately, leaving her usual green embers floating behind her and in time, they dissolved into the air. In an instance Tantrus appeared but Jojo wasn’t with him.

  “Tantrus,” mum said, a relieved look flooding her previous sombre expression. Anne suddenly appeared in a shower of green embers.

  “Are you okay? All of you?” she asked us.

  “We’re fine but we just need an explanation to all this…” Jade was fumbling and didn’t know what words to use.

  “Madness!” Jaden and I concurrently replied.

  “Exactly that,” Jade added. I was slowly becoming unhinged and I feared that I would fall apart if I didn’t get an answer to any of this lunacy and insanity. These people must have kidnapped all of our family and friends and replaced them. They could not do all these bizarre things.

  “Don’t worry, all in good time. Now, follow Robbie and Jojo,” answered Jojo’s mother.

  “Wait, where is Jojo?” asked Jaden. In an instance, with a rather loud display of bright green, Jojo reappeared.