Arise

by Michael Dean

  Chapter 17

  HINDSIGHT

  Shimmer was right, I was alone with my thoughts—they were all I had now. The countdown to my end was on. There were no more options, no more second chances left to take. Death was coming for me…twice. Once, when I was a human being, and again now that I’m undead. I wasn’t sure how he planned to move me to display when it came time to dispose of me, but as elaborate as the way I was being detained, I was sure Shimmer had his bases covered.

  If things couldn’t get worse for me on the night, oddly enough for the very first time that I’d been held in Transylvania, I could hear the approach of a nearby thunderstorm. At first the sound of thunder that roared in the distance was faint, but after maybe an hour or so it had gotten close enough to vibrate the walls of my chamber and my feet in the pool. It wasn’t long before flashes of lightning coming through the hole lit up my cavern like brief flashes of daylight.

  This storm felt very much like an omen to me, like a bringer of doom. The closer it got, much like the nearing days of All Hallows’ Eve, the more I realized the downpour was inevitable. When the first drops of rain started to come through my ceiling opening, it felt like the falling of the sands in the hourglass of my existence; it wouldn’t be long now until the final grain fell.

  I lifted my head and watched the rain start out as a few, fat drops, change into a battering stream of a merciless deluge. It was raining so hard that I actually feared my room might flood. After all, I was already standing in a pool of water. Just as I was thinking that, I heard the doors hurriedly get opened and a shuffling Murgit came in and scampered behind my waterfall. I heard him pull a latch and watched as the floors outside of my pool angled so water could drain into some kind of drainage system running alongside the walls of the cavern. My area remained flat so the water was level where I knelt.

  Murgit never said a word or even acknowledged me. He just shuffled back out of the room, locked the doors, and that was that.

  I managed to raise my head up to view the ongoing storm. The rain was flowing through the hole. I could feel how hard the wind blew because it was coming through the opening, tossing the water drops around as it did, before whipping around my chamber. It made the freezing cold water running all over an already cold-skinned demon, that much more chilly. I got lost in watching the flashes of lightning combined with the most powerful thunder that followed it light up the parts of the outside world I could see. The wind above was blowing so hard that I got to see a tree occasionally bob and weave into my field of vision and it made me think about my tree at home.

  I thought about all those times I got to sit with Shade and my little buddy Shadow, staring down at the town of Mountainside. How beautiful it looked when it was all lit up at night, how safe I felt when I was there, whether alone, or with someone. I really missed my home. It was a place of solitude and sanctity, especially with Shade being there. It was the closest to what I could imagine inner peace felt like and I wanted more of that.

  The storm was directly overhead now. I was getting to see several flashes of lightning sprawl out and lick the clouds above me. It was amazing. Although the mood of the storm was somber, I didn’t want it to end. It kept me entertained by keeping my mind off my current circumstances. It felt as if nature was putting on a show just for me.

  It got to a point where lightning was flashing in such rapid succession that there was almost a constant roll of ear shattering thunder rumbling my cell. I stared up intently at the fierce storm, almost smiling at its wrath. Then suddenly, I saw the entire sky light up as if it was daytime.

  Huge strands of lightning ran inwards to a center point on a cloud directly above my hole and formed this giant rod of a lightning bolt that shot down at me through the cavern opening and into my pool. I started to tingle all over before feeling a huge surge of electricity burn through my body, starting at my feet and all the way up to my head in less than a second. The next thing I knew my insight had come back. But this time I wasn’t seeing the two girls, or Shade in my tree, I was seeing the town of Mountainside.

  I couldn’t control where the vision was taking me this time, either. I couldn’t slow it down or speed it up as I saw fit like I had recently learned to do, instead, I was along for the ride.

  I was darting from points in town that I was familiar with in mere seconds. First I was at my spot, then at Mountain View, then to BNB’s, Golf and Cart’s, Scruffy’s house, Shade’s house, Miller’s Hill, and so on. Finally I was brought to the park I where I met up with Scruffy and Sandra just before Sierra and Molina brought me here. It was like I was seeing an overview of our conversation from above.

  I watched as I walked away from them that day and headed out of the park. Then I saw what Scruffy and Sandra did after I left. I watched them get into her convertible, discuss something that I couldn’t quite hear, and begin to tail me. I guess my mind was on so many things at that time I didn’t notice them following as I walked home that day. Granted, they were at a pretty safe distance from me, but I hadn’t a clue they were watching. The two of them stayed on me the entire way, stopping about a half mile away from where I made the climb up the driveway to my home.

  Then, the vision broke, but only from that sequence of events. I was taken, in rapid succession, to another series of circumstances some days prior to that one that showed Scruffy tailing me home, before and after our argument at school. It was only during the times when he got in the relationship with Sandra, specifically after I shooed them off of Miller’s Hill that night, that it was apparent he was tracking me from time to time. Sometimes Sandra was with him, sometimes she wasn’t. It was obvious that Scruffy was even more suspicious of me that I had originally thought. But one thing he never did was get closer than a half mile or so from my driveway after tailing me, at least from what I was being shown. But then I was fired into another yet another scene where that behavior in him changed.

  I could see Scruffy sitting in Sandra’s car by his lonesome. It was daytime and he was parked in an area very near my home. I hadn’t a clue why he was there, but he looked troubled. All of a sudden he started to focus on something, he seemed confused. I watched as he fumbled around with the keys before starting the car. It was obvious that he’d seen something. Just as I was questioning myself as to what he may have seen, my field of view swung around, blurry at first, before focusing on a small, black animal in the middle of the road. It didn’t take me long to figure out it was Shadow and he was carrying something in his mouth.

  When Scruff started the car, Shadow turned away from him. He got out of the middle of the road and began jogging along the side of it. The sparkling object in his mouth swung from side to side as he marched. Shadow didn’t seem alarmed by the trailing stranger in the car behind him. I tried to focus in on the object in his mouth but I couldn’t make out what it was. The insight wasn’t taking me close enough to see and I couldn’t control it so I could get a closer look.

  Shadow strolled through woods, clearings, and roadways, never releasing whatever it was in his mouth and Scruffy never lost track of him. Before I knew it, Shadow was at the base of our driveway that led to our tree. Scruffy stopped down the road but he was closer to my home than he’d ever been. Shadow turned around and looked back at him, almost like he was inviting Scruffy to keep coming.

  Mark did just that and slowly rolled closer. Shadow started walking again, right smack up the middle of my driveway, making no attempt to hide. At the base of the hill, Scruff stopped before continuing on with his pursuit of my cat. Shadow got to the top of the driveway where it leveled off and picked up the pace. He started to run.

  Just when I thought the vision would stay on him, it changed back to Scruffy, who was still coming up the hill very slowly. When he reached the top where it leveled off, he stopped, almost reluctant to pull all the way forward. He sat in his car for a few minutes, just glancing around with an inquisitive look about him. Eventually he stepped out of the car, that he left running, and walked to the
front of it, placing his hands on his hips. He stared, from high to low and side to side, seemingly absorbing his surroundings.

  Then I saw him squint like he saw something, I assumed it was Shadow, but my line of sight was locked onto Scruffy, so I had no way of knowing what it was that caught his eye. With a sense of purpose, he started to go in the direction of what it was he was staring very hard at. The vision got even closer to his face and I couldn’t pull it out any further.

  After a short stroll, my view pulled back out from him and I watched as he glared at something at his feet. I could also see the base of my tree at his side so I knew he was standing where I called home. Scruffy looked down, then around, and down again. He seemed extremely confused, more than normal. Then, he bent over and picked something up. I thought at first that maybe he was petting Shadow, but then my vision shifted. I could see what he was looking at for the first time.

  Lying on the ground was Shade’s little black book. I could only conclude that she must have somehow dropped it that day in all the ruckus of the vampire invasion we were dealing with. On top of that book was her necklace. It too must have come off, or she purposely took it off to leave behind as a sign to me. I suddenly came to the conclusion that little Shadow was carrying her necklace in his mouth and Scruffy must have recognized it and followed my little buddy.

  I was shocked and a little dumbfounded. How in the world did this set of circumstances play out…and with my cat? What I was seeing was strange indeed and it didn’t stop there.

  Scruffy picked up the book and necklace, looking around some more as he did. He looked over the necklace before placing it in his pocket. Then he turned his attention to Shade’s diary. In his hands sat the chronicle of events as they pertained to my existence; who I was, and everything about Shade’s and my relationship. All he had to do now is open it up, read it, and he’d know everything about me.

  Well, it didn’t take long for him to do just that. He flipped open the book. Page after page he read as he patiently kept turning the pages. He only read a few pages when his eyes got as big as cantelopes and they shot up over the top of the book in front of his face. I knew right then, just by the look on his face, he’d discovered something he wasn’t expecting. Even as suspicious as he’d become of me, he looked floored by whatever it was that he read.

  But then something happened in the vision that I wasn’t expecting, a voice called out to Scruff from behind him that startled my bewildered friend. It was a male’s low, soothing voice, one I’d never heard before.

  “Mark…hello.”

  Scruffy swung around to see who it was that knew him by name. Unfortunately for me, the vision didn’t take me over to see who or what it was that called out to him.

  “Wh-who…are you?” Scruffy stuffed the diary into his back pocket as he hesitantly answered the person calling to him.

  “A friend, Mark…a friend.”

  Just as soon as these words were spoken, the vision broke and I was alone in my cavern again, listening to the distant sounds of the passing storm.

  I struggled for hours to make sense of the vision. It wasn’t like the vision of the two young girls, but a much more recent history of events. Was I starting to become aware of events that strictly involved me? Even if I am nowhere near said events?

  With those thoughts, a glimmer of hope rang through my body. I was very confused, but maybe this vision meant there was the potential for a rescue of some kind? From Scruffy? At this point, I’d take any help I could get. But I have to admit, I don’t have the utmost faith in my rescuer. I guess I’d just have to wait and see.

  All chips might be riding on Scruffy. Oh boy.

  ~Acknowledgements~

  "Thank you to everyone who has supported this series. From fans to friends. Without you, this story couldn't have come to life".

  ~About the Author~

  Michael Dean was born in Mountain View California in 1976, raised in Tucson Arizona, and now resides just outside of Dallas Texas.

  Michael’s adventurous style has led him to start and run a successful small business for the past ten years, as well as writing YA novels and playing music. His passion for music and the pen collided when he was younger, causing him to pick up a guitar and write his own music. That drive led him to starting his own band, getting it played on regional radio stations, even competing in Ozzy Osbourne’s battle for Ozzfest in New York City.

  Still just as driven, now he prefers quieter days to himself, thus giving him time to improve on his main passion, writing. Drift, a YA paranormal fantasy, is a bi-product of that alone time. He hopes that when a reader picks up his works, he or she will love it just as much as he did writing it.

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