Untitled from 2006

It began with a new day, or at least what I thought was a new day.  How was I to know that this particular day would harbor the familiarity of one of my most terrifying nightmares? 

            I awoke to a scream as always.  Anything other than that would have alarmed me.  I rolled out of bed and stood firmly on the hard wooden floor.  I felt the uneven planks beneath my feet and it comforted me, preparing me for the day ahead.  I dressed quickly, knowing breakfast would be served soon.  Every meal was something of a competition; first come, first serve.  I was never the last to a meal.  Our house was very spacious.  The living and dining rooms were the largest while our bedrooms were almost too small, but then, we were never in them for very long.  I sat down at the long table, smiling, as I was the first to arrive.  The others would come soon, so I folded my hands and waited.  The ceiling was high but I could see every detail in it’s workings.  A fly, oddly enough, was buzzing along the top, desperately in search of a way out.  No visitor ever stayed long, even bugs.  Having no watch, I couldn’t very well know how long I had been sitting, waiting for the others, but I knew it had been too long.  I listened, honing in on the sounds around me.  Nothing.  The only thing I could hear was the fly that had finally found a crack in a window.  I stood quickly, still concentrating on my surroundings.  I heard a snap and my head whipped towards the double doors that led into the living room. 

            In a breath I was outside.  The sun had fallen behind the trees and left the sky an eerie glow where it had been.  No one was in sight.  This troubled me.  How often had anyone left just before nightfall?  The rule was to wait until the earth had succumbed to darkness before we headed out.  A sudden thought struck me.  If I was alone, then where had the scream come from that woke me?  Could they have made it, or someone else?

            I darted towards the iron gates that enclosed the grounds, stepping lightly over the overgrown roots that pierced through the dirt.  The gates swung open for me to pass through and closed quietly behind me.  They knew their masters.

            I had to find the others.  My concern was not in that they would be harmed, but that they would be found.  Secrecy had kept us safe for many years.  The wind picked up, whistling past my ears.  My eyes narrowed on the path that led to town.  Surely they would not have taken that route?  I closed my eyes for a brief moment, remembering the stories that accompanied this path.  I was always told to never go alone, even more so, to wait for night to truly fall, when darkness would be our ally.  This was no time to be safe.  If I waited, I might lose all the time it could take to help the others.  With this resolve, I took off down the beaten path.  I stayed close to the trees, using them for cover.  My ears still heard nothing, for my feet made no sound as they raced over the earth.

            Time passed quickly and I found myself in the woods just outside town.  Something was different.   The moon had risen and cast a beam over the townspeople who were in an uproar.  Their cries and shouts were only mirroring the fury in their actions.  Most carried guns, shovels, and pitchforks.  The leaders were holding lanterns high into the air.

            I stayed out of sight, hidden in the dark of the trees, but I could see everything very clearly.  In the town square, where the mass had gathered, were the remnants of clothes I knew only too well, scattered on the ground.  The cloak that had once covered my head from suspicious eyes was now torn.  A cape that had spared me from the rain, covered in mud.  Glasses that had been used to disguise my face, broken.  Many more articles lay tattered in the heap, their owners no where to be seen.

            My only thoughts to explain this were almost too terrible to speak aloud.  Our cover had been revealed, we were no longer safe.  I, at least, could escape.  The others, it seemed, had had another fate in store for them.  The mob would certainly find their way to our home.  They would use the very path I was hiding in.

            A smell wafted into my nose and I knew I had very little time.  The townspeople would not stop.  My eyes quickly scoped my surroundings and found a bunch of bushes that would make for decent escape until the crowd had dispersed.  I wanted to wait and see if there were any details I could obtain while they were passing.  I needed to know how I could find the others or at least how they met their demise.

            I sunk lower in the brush and froze in my position.  They would never find me.  It seemed like hours had passed before the last person had made their way through the woods leaving the town a silent tomb.  When my ears heard no sound I broke free and almost ran to the town square.  I gasped, rather fruitless, but the gesture meant the same.  I was standing in the middle of the heap of clothes, but my attention was focused on the seared mound just ahead of me.  Smoke was still rising with the ash that danced through the air, almost teasing me of my loss.

            I felt a stab of anger but fought to control my screams.  Simple people with simple minds, so afraid of what they don’t understand.  What had we ever done to them to deserve this?  We had always been careful of our tracks.  We never harmed them, the ones that didn’t deserve it.  Our hunger was for the vile ones alone.  For that the townspeople should be thankful for us ridding them of such filth.

            I whipped around, surveying the damage.  But how was this done?  How did they know of our existence?  Even more, how did the others let this happen?  Surely this could have been avoided?

            A branch cracked in the distance.  I vanished from sight.  Once again I must restart my life.  At least, what I called life.