by T. Wyse
Two buzzed her face, one grazed her nose, rising to her forehead. Kokopelli, still by her side but half forgotten, leapt up catching one of the two, killing it neatly. The body exploded into a pool of white mercury. She limped forward, trying to hasten her way to the man, he was almost there. Her reason, rationality was gone, she only wanted to get closer to him, where it would be safe...somehow.
Another flew by, she caught it in her peripheral vision. It buzzed by her, catching her arm, ripping the fabric of the borrowed shirt. There were more, many more, they were all coming now.
She met them with a scream. It was not, however, a scream of fear. Her fear had been used up, her fear lay behind her, and these black creatures were in her way, preventing her further escape from it. The scream that emitted from her was one of primal, animal fury. Barely even controlling her hands, they snatched up two of them in midair, she tore into them, rending them asunder. She didn't even look away from the gate, she needed to get to the gate.
More came, Kokopelli caught two, rending them into the ground, the liquid splashed across her and her clothes. More caught her, cutting her with their beaks, and she fell to her knees. She ripped without seeing them, clawing in the air, her hands slick with that which made their Aspect bodies. They cut her and tore her, and she began to descend into that world again, that dark place.
“That light…” Her mind remembered with an odd clarity as her eyes closed.
Two hands grabbed her firmly, and she was wrenched out of the darkness. She screamed, now fueled with exhaustion and fury, fighting the grip of the thing as it dragged her towards the house.
'It's me, it's ME!" Screamed M'grevor, he had her tucked under his arm, and the little cat creature snagged by the scruff in the other.
"Not the house, not the house!" She screamed in protest, too exhausted to fight him. She slumped limply in his arm.
With a fantastically quick and smooth motion, the man dropped Kokopelli, opened the door, burst through it somehow dragging the creature along with the two of them, then landed in a reverse position on his backside, kicking the door closed.
The sound of hundreds of bodies hitting the door, the thud of the crows landing against its wood and deflecting off echoed in the relative darkness of the front hallway.
"What on earth possessed you to-"
"Not upstairs! Not upstairs!" She shrieked, clawing at the floor, trying to escape his grip. She desperately shot her gaze around the area, she couldn't see it. It seemed to lurk there, in every place beyond her vision, in every shadow not crisscrossed with light.
"Here. Here then." The man carried her into the living room, with a mighty swoop of his arm he displaced enough of the machinery for her to sit. He deposited her down, the softness beneath her only compounded her insecurity.
She looked around the room frantically. Where was it, where was it hiding?
"Lord girl. Your eyes are red, and you've been cut." The man produced a cloth, mopping up her face.
"This is a bad house...this is a bad house...we need to leave, leave before it gets dark, before the sun is gone...before there's no light!" She screamed, her throat burning.
M'grevor hugged her tight. The embrace was one of strength, of rock solid support. He was so strong, yet the rational mind beyond the animal pondered why then did she heard him weeping softly.
The franticness faded slowly, easing itself only as far as allowing her a slightly clearer mind. She was still tightly clenched, her eyes still shooting out against any movement in periphery. There was exhaustion now from the sheer strain that it had all encompassed. She was bloodied too now, though the man had cleared much of it away with a wet cloth.
He had taken to simply sitting apart from her, leaning forward and watching her with a terrified concern. She would begin to nod off, only to realize what was going on and immediately force herself awake once more.
“At least lie down.” M’grevor said softly. “Lilim should be back soon, and then…” He reached out a hand towards her.
“No! I can’t sleep, I can’t go upstairs!” She screamed, her strength reignited by the thought of losing her awareness, of being helpless before the dark. “Don’t go upstairs, nobody go upstairs…” She began shaking again.
“It’s alright, we’ve been in this house for days.” He pleaded for her sanity. “There’s nothing up there, or it would have come after us before, right?” He smiled gently, now kneeling close. “If you want I can check for you, but you’ll have to tell me what it is that you saw.”
“Don’t go, don’t leave me.” Her voice began trailing off. Her eyes lingered on Kokopelli’s form a moment, “Don’t…go…” Her words faded off into nothing as she lost consciousness. “bad…house…” The flame of her adrenaline finally cooled to ashes.
In the darkness a pair of hollowed eyes affixed on hers, cold breath yawned forth from a grinless maw. No dream to dilute it, the creature knew.
Her eyes shot open, and she immediately knew she had been moved. It was dark, too dark. There was light, but it was the waning and pale blue of an oncoming night. She tried to leap up, with a near reflexive speed, and caught herself in the blankets she hadn’t yet perceived. She tumbled to the floor, rolled and tangled in the stupid blanket. Freeing an arm, an aching arm that screamed with protest, she clawed the floor, sliding underneath the bed.
Her dress was there, beside her face. It smelled of old, stained blood, and earth. She grabbed it, and held it close under the blankets with her. She wrapped herself into a protective cocoon, her eyes uncovered and shooting across the room. Every shadow seemed to make that stuttered movement, every single pocket of darkness seemed to carry that malevolence.
Kokopelli's feet trotted up to the bed, apparently having been thrown well across the room in her desperate motions. He joined her under the bed, and curled up.
"Don't sit there!" She scolded the cat with a hoarse desperation. "I can't see out, I can't watch for it again."
"It's safe, at least for the time being." Kokopelli purred soothingly. "It's not close, not in the room, not in the hallway. I have made sure of that."
“But you didn’t see it before!” Her voice gurgled, catching in her throat.
“I wasn’t expecting it before, nor was it even there until you sensed it.” He purred. “I know it now, know its scent and purpose, and I can perhaps fight it if necessary.”
"Is it an Aspect? Is it still here?" She hissed, her throat sore and aching.
"Both, yes." He replied. Amelie's heart raced faster. "It won't come for us though, at least while the people here aren't afraid. I've seen something like it as an Aspect before, as long as the people here aren't afraid—-"
"I'm pretty...pretty damned afraid!" She wanted to scream at him in fury, but a weak throaty whisper was all that emitted. Amelie's voice had left her.
"Yes, but luckily there are others here. You came to some sort of conclusion of the lines, an uncertainty and destruction of your bliss. The creature was enticed by that, feeling your desperation and fear at the unknown.”
“While you slept you were not truly afraid, and the man stayed at your side. Others have come now, and they will balance out your fear with their ignorance. They don't know it as you do, and as such are not afraid." The little cat made a heaving sigh, then curled up in a ball beside her. "It overplayed itself, came out of hiding. Being so brazen was something that has condemned it. It will not be so careless again. We are safe here, as we ever were child."
“If it helps, I have found you a hand mirror.” He lazily swatted it towards Amelie.
“What do I do with it?” She merely stared.
“Simply swing it. It will cut through their bodies without effort, and given light, it will repel them to a degree.”
Amelie hugged her dress closely. If only she could smell it, that distinct herbed scent of the cloth, it would give her strength and spirit enough to banish the fear. The dress still smelled only of death and dirt. A quick and curious touch confirmed the hair
ornament’s place still resting on her head though it offered little comfort for the moment’s fears.
Footsteps approached the door softly. It opened with a stealthy motion. Amelie winced, trying to assure herself that it was a human, that it wasn't that shadowed monstrosity again even though she could feel the figure on the winds. The feet were human, certainly as monsters did not wear dirty socks.
Lilim's face appeared below the bed. "There you are child." Lilim sighed. "You have the old man in a such a state."
Amelie regarded the woman, then whispered: "Leave me alone, just leave me be for now."
"Come, let me get a look at you. Please child." Lilim reached out under the bed, more than a little impatience showing through. Amelie wanted to snarl, to bite the hand that cornered her.
Lilim stared at Amelie for a moment then sighed and conceded: "It's alright, we...we've plans to move you again. Timothy, he said he thinks he understands how you feel, and—"
"How I feel?" Amelie screamed at the woman inside her mind.
“Elizabeth came back today, saying that the Macca group would be more than glad to have you. They have lodgings much better than these.” She gave a frustrated and fake smile, and an ushering gesture for the girl to come outward. “Really child, just come out so I can see you, I need to see how terribly you’ve hurt yourself.” Lilim’s hand moved insistently closer.
Reluctantly Amelie surrendered, taking the hand, and was pulled out from under the bed still clutching the remnants of her dress close.
Lilim sat her on the bed, and slowly unwrapped the cocoon around her. The woman had the flashlight again, and once again inspected Amelie.
The woman swore angrily, and finally said with irritation: "Old man. Again. Your clothes are torn from your fall, but you are otherwise untouched."
"Grevor!" Lilim shouted with an anger coming from the end of someone's patience. "Get in here, show me exactly what you felt was so terrible!"
He emerged from the gloom beyond the door, and kneeled silently at eye level to Amelie. He gently touched her face, turning it to the side. He ran the light across her face, and along her arms, to the rips the crows had made in the arms of her shirt.
"The rips are bloodied, but there's nothing there now." He concluded. "I don't understand it, and if you choose to disbelieve me that's fine.”
"What are you going ON about old man!" Lilim scolded. "You come to me shouting and upset about this girl yet again and it is nothing, nothing at all! She makes you a fool!"
M'grevor was silent, a guilty look upon his face. "I'm sorry, I thought..."
"And you!" Lilim turned her face at Amelie with ferocity. "What are you so wild eyed about? You are here, you are safe! Compared to the world outside, you are whole. How can you be so selfish?" She glared at Amelie.
"It was worse earlier." M'grevor said with exhaustion in his voice. "Believe me Lilim, I don't know what else to say to convince you. Somehow I don't think knowing the wind is all there is to her. The world seems to have a strange interest in her, dark or otherwise." He placed his hand softly on Amelie's shoulder. "I'll be there for you, as long as I'm able."
Lilim walked out of the room with a stomping quickness. A long trail of unknown cursing emitted from her as she left, disappearing into the haze of the house.
"Amelie, she's gone now. You need to tell me, you need to tell me anything you know. I only want to know so I can help you." His sad gaze locked with hers.
"I don't...I don't think what I know would help you." She conceded finally. "I know...I know one thing though. Whomever you lost, the people you think are gone...they aren't. They're all still alive, you need to take care of yourself, keep yourself alive, so you can see them again." She averted her gaze, down to Kokopelli. She expected a scorned look from him, but instead she saw something else entirely.
He turned away from her, lungs trembling again, but then his breath caught. “What happened to the window?”
“No!” shrieked Kokopelli.
She snapped to the creature, his fur was ruffled, aggravated. Her heart raced, her hands clenched. It must be the darkness again, coming for them. She opened her mouth to warn M'grevor, but then remembered what she had done.
“No, look away, don’t-” Kokopelli begged in a hoarse whisper.
A shrieking caw broke the soft silence of the room. A single crow squirmed and struggled through the boarded window, through the absence of the meager board that had saved her earlier.
The man rose to his full height with a snarl and strode over to the window. He grabbed at the head of the bird, and tore it through the hole. He snapped the thing, and it exploded in a puff of sand.
"NO you fool!" shouted Kokopelli, at the man. Amelie gawked at the creature.
"W-What?" M'grevor turned to the bed, his mind trying to figure out where the voice had come from. Amelie gave a guilty point with her eyes to the little cat thing.
The room was filled with the sound of wings flapping. It was deafening, drowning out the words M'grevor spoke to her.
“You broke the circle! You dragged it in here!” shrieked the cat. The sound of hundreds of others slammed against the boards. With each hit of their bodies, a puff of blackened sand poured forth. With each hit the boards rattled looser.
A single crow managed to squirm through the boards, utterly intact. It darted past the man’s grip and towards Amelie. Kokopelli snatched the crow from the air, it erupted into the silvered liquid. Three more emerged from the window, one of the other boards having finally given way beneath the onslaught.
Amelie attempted to run for the door, but tripped, her legs still wrapped up in the sheets of the bed. She clutched her dress close to her, and closed her eyes.
She felt herself lift into the air, and the slamming of a door.
“Go! Go! Go!” screamed M’grevor, pounding on the central door hard enough that the floor shook.
The others appeared, and he pushed them along the hall. “Down!” he bellowed. He screamed more words, but they were lost against the orchestra of bodies hitting the closed door. Two crows had slipped through, and now pestered the man's face, dive-bombing him and being swatted away by his free arm.
They made it to the landing, the two crows were slower to react to the change in direction, and swooped back into the front hall, then back towards them.
They were running for the basement. Timothy was there at the door, holding it open. M'grevor burst through, and Timothy slammed it, severing one of the two crows in half, scattering dust at the top of the stairs.
They tumbled down, and she was dropped softly onto the bare earth. There were two light sources in the basement, miniscule electric light pierced the pitch black. They were utterly enveloped by the mixing, dancing, unknown shadows.
"Where's Kokopelli?!" Amelie asked, not seeing or feeling him by her side. The air was so stagnant and still down here that she was almost utterly blind to it.
"He's here." Timothy shone a light on the aggravated little creature. He was covered in silvered liquid, his glowing eyes darting around the darkness with a marked paranoia.
"His eyes...glow?" M'grevor asked, as if noticing this for the first time.
The sound of the flapping wings met the door.
"I don't think it's going to hold them." Timothy said, the light cast from his hand trembling upon the wall above.
"What do we do now?" Elizabeth's voice, her franticness returned.
"We can get out, the back way, the cellar door." Timothy's voice was beginning to be drowned out by the ambient sound.
They were all afraid...all in the dark. Amelie saw it then.
"How many of them are there?!" Louren asked, the light shining on her face. She saw its muzzle, the dancing darkness, that not-sound. Her brain tingled with the fear of what was about to happen.
"More, more than before." Nicholas answered, the light darting to his face. Amelie saw a skeletal, clawed hand reaching above his head. That numb buzzing rose from the silence
"There
were thousands of them out there, when we came back!" Louren screamed. The door was beginning to crack, the stairs were now coated with blackened dust. Amelie saw the things face, its maw gaping, tasting the fear, the uncertainty and savoring it all.
"Burn it. Just burn it down with them inside. We’ve all seen what the fire does now, there’s no way they could survive it,” Timothy's voice emitted from the darkness. The thing was all around them, that buzzing nothingness intermixed with the sound of the door cracking, the sound of wings legion.
She slipped out of the pajamas, the mold nipping at her skin, and silently slipped into her dress. It was ragged, reeking of blood and earth, but it banished the fear, it squashed the uncertainty. She even donned the remaining slipper.
"Lilim, you still have your lighter, right?" Tim chirped.
“You told me to get rid of it,” she hissed.
“Yes, so you still have it then?”
A few sparks bit against the darkness in response.
She slipped through the darkness, still unseen. She could feel its chill breath on her back, through the tears in the cloth. That bony hand hovered just beyond her shoulder, but she was not afraid. She didn’t wince, didn’t give in to its fear.
“Okay, we won’t have much time. The fire should go quickly…”
She found the stairs in the wind, ancient and skeletal, but she stumbled on the dirty sole of her shoe halfway up. One of the lights shot over to her, and Lilim paused, kneeling beside a beam.
“Wait, we need to go together!” M’grevor’s feet pounded the sleeping earth, but not close enough. She rose and burst through the door with her shoulder, and in that moment the dam restraining her pursuers burst too.
She tore into the starless evening, a cloud of dirt coughing behind her. There was almost nothing to see, almost no light to guide her, but she could feel the house the fence and beyond on the wind.
Amelie closed her eyes, clearing her mind as she ran. She felt the wind, feeling it moving around objects, obstacles. She felt it move against the snaking ribbon of the crows, pouring into the house. There must have been millions of them, they were almost a solid black snake, or something equally malevolent.
