A warm glow; sunshine
on her face.
Arratay
laughs as the man throws her up in the air, the whoosh of air in her
ears. A woman holds Susurrus' hand tightly as he drags her ahead, and the scene
is perfect. The sweet nectar of summertime makes them heavy with happiness,
heavy with rightness. As she falls back down, she is sure that she has
never felt so complete in her life.
Her
smile dims. She cannot remember where she is, or why she is there. She's so
small, how old is she? She is lost in a whirl of confusion as she spins
around. The woman and the man stand together.
"Do
you remember what happens next, pet?" the woman asks. Her voice is wrong,
unsure, like a memory of something half-forgotten and imagined.
The
man speaks in his half-voice. "Remember, Arratay? Can't you remember what
happens next?"
Arratay's
heart drops. She knows where she is. She knows what happens next.
"No!" she screams. Too late. Again.
She
is running, running towards them, towards her parents, but the sky is
dark and they are already burning. Turning into dust and ashes. Falling apart.
Screaming. They burn to nothing in a flutter of lashes.
She
was always too late.
* * *
Arratay gasped. It was
one of those dreams that defied time, where everything happens in mere seconds.
Lives end and lives ruined in a blink of the eye. She opened her clenched fist,
half expecting the steel grey ash that she knew so well from her dreams, but her
hands only yielded her crumpled bed sheet.
It
was a dream, just a dream. How had it gotten in, after all this time? Always
waiting for her to fall asleep, for her to be vulnerable, before invading her
mind. Reliving the same thing over and over again.
She
waited for her rushing heart to be steady again, hating the hysterical skipping
of the beats, the way the dreams haunted her. She wasn't afraid - she had
driven away the fear long ago - and she had vowed that nothing would make her
feel afraid again.
Her
jaw clenched. There was no fear, only anger. To feel so right and then have it
taken away from her, to have her happiness replaced by a cold regret… the
dreams lied to her.
This
was her life. Waiting, haunted, for the chance to pay her debt. Her parents had
given her life, had brought her into this world. And she had been too late
to save them.
But
she had Susurrus. And for years, this is what they had been doing. Tracking the
killer, waiting for the perfect chance to strike and punish him.
Waiting
for the Unnamed.
* * *
Arratay's lids
fluttered. She became distinctly aware of her surroundings. Pillow. Blanket.
Her bed. She yawned and rolled over, frowning when she saw the time. 2:54 AM.
She lay quiet for a while, peering into the darkness that was only illuminated
by the digital clock, numbers blinking back at her in the silence. She tried to
shake off an uneasy feeling that sat at the bottom of her stomach, but it
lingered like a bad aftertaste.
A
creak came from kitchen and she stiffened. Another, this time from the dining
room, and she forced her mind to sharpen, brushing off her weariness like
cobwebs. She crept out of her bed and hesitated as she reached for the
doorknob. Her eyes narrowed and she gently pulled open the door.
A
fist of shadows hit her on the side of the head and she flew sideways, skidding
across the hallway. Her mind was a kaleidoscope of colours and explosions as
she groped for a weapon, too late as another wave of shadows caught her square
in the stomach, throwing her against the walls. She curled up into a ball in
the corner, trying to back away from the shadows. Her mind processed everything
slowly, from the fact that she was being
attacked to the realisation that the attacker wasn’t really an attacker at
all.
It
was still dark, but somehow she felt the shadows creeping in, suffocating her.
It didn’t make sense, it was impossible, but it was somehow true.
Nobody
was controlling the shadows.
A
tendril of shadow wrapped around her wrist.
Another
around her other hand.
A
last one around her neck.
She
choked and fought, kicking her legs. With every struggle, the tendrils wrapped
tighter and tighter. She was going to pass out soon, she knew, and still she
tried to push back, tried to free up some space between the shadow and her
neck. Her head was beating like a drum, her mouth gaping for air that wouldn’t
come. With her last ounce of strength, she hit her heel against the wall,
emitting a weak sound that was more comparable to a tap. Still, it was enough.
A
light flicked on as Susurrus teleported in, and then Arratay was released as
the shadows melted into the dark corners of the room. She collapsed and fell
sideways, Susurrus catching her just in time.
“What
the hell were those,” he began, “and
what the hell are they doing in our
home?”
Darkness
clouded her mind, and the room swallowed itself into nothingness.