Darkness encircled us with only small glimpses of light just waiting idly by to be extinguished in the dank vast empty halls. My body was motionless against my own accord; I could feel the wind kiss my face, the smell of decay filling my nostrils. My eyes repeatedly fought to remain open but as if with a force of their own they closed against my will, seeming to roll further back behind my lids.

I hated it when they drugged me.

The idea of having a complete and utter lack of control over my own body scared the hell out of me.

“Who do we have here?”

“Girl, age sixteen. The chart says her name is Anna Marie Cortez. Was just transferred here from Greenwich.”

My body felt as if it was rendered useless and yet my mind wide awake. It was unknown to me if many people once sedated were reduced to this physical vegetative state. All I knew was it made me feel weak, defenseless, vulnerable to my worst fear; the darkness. And what I hated most about my altered state was that it forced me to confront the one thing I couldn’t seem to escape….. my memories………

“Can you please state your name for the court?” the prosecutor asked although in a tone that was far from a question.

My heart beat an erratic rhythm inside my chest, my brown eyes wide with fear, swimming with tears waiting to fall down my wobbling chin. “An- Anna Marie Cortez”, I stumbled in a voice no louder than a whisper.

He smirked, no doubt seeing me as easy prey. “You shall have to speak louder than that to be heard across the court room.”

“Anna Marie Cortez.”

My eyes wandered over the crowded room searching frantically through the sea of faces for one person, for one person who had not already deemed me guilty. My eyes fell to my hands, hands knotted together inside my lap, trying to keep hidden the relentless shaking that had begun from within. Something made me look up, my black curls falling back to frame my heart shaped face, my gaze landing on identical brown eyes of my mothers.

She sat with my step father and older step sister directly behind the prosecutor’s chair, an action that alone spoke volumes on her conviction of my innocence, and that hurt far worse than the other hundreds who had already labeled me guilty.

Our eyes met and held. Mine full of tears unshed silently begging her to believe in me while hers held nothing but shame. Shame that I was her daughter, shame that she was in any way connected to the monster she assumed I was.

“Do you recall the events that happened on September 22, 2011?”

“Ye- yes.”

He paused for dramatic effect to glance around the court room. “That’s odd because you told the police you couldn’t remember everything that happened that night.”

My heart dropped inside me chest. Oh great he was going to twist around everything I said. “I don’t remember everything.”

“Oh, so once again your story has changed.”

“No, I-.”

“Please Miss Cortez tell us what it is you do remember then.”

“I – I was supposed to go with my sister Andrea and my dad o-out to dinner that night, but I failed my chemistry test and so my mom and step dad said I had to stay home and babysit Courtney while they went to a benefit dinner.”

“And were you angry with your parents for sticking you with your baby sister while everyone else got to go out?”

“No, I mean this wasn’t the first time I’ve had to babysit.”

“So, it was a building resentment then? You felt that they treated you unfairly?”

“No I-.”

“I object your honor, what is the relevance of how often she babysat?” my lawyer asked, his tone dripping with boredom.

He resented the fact that he had to represent someone he himself believed to be guilty, nor did he like the fact that I, the mayor’s stepdaughter was using a court appointed attorney when my family could clearly afford the best.

“I’m just trying to show the court how Miss Cortez clearly felt about the job she was entrusted to do, and if she felt any bitterness towards her little sister.”

“Please continue Counselor.”

“Thank you your honor. Anna did you think your parents treated you differently than your other siblings?”

Glancing at my mother, a tear trickled down because still she wouldn’t meet my eyes, “yes …. I mean my older sister and I have the same father who my mom divorced to marry Rick. And my mom and dad don’t get along so…. yes I felt she loved my little sister more.”

There was a collective gasp throughout the court room but soon the judge had them quiet down.

“So you admit you had motive to hate your sister?”

“No I-,”

“Let’s move on, shall we? Anna, can you tell us what happened that night?”

“It was the same as any other night. Rick and my mom left and Courtney screamed for about an hour over watching some lame episode on Disney channel.”

“I bet that made you mad, didn’t it?”

“No- I mean she normally gets her way-.”

“She’s your parent’s favorite. Go on.”

“So I cut it on for her, figured I could do some extra credit for my chemistry class, but every few minutes she’d start screaming again. She’d break things, throw stuff, and… I knew I’d get in trouble for them.”

“And that had to stop, right?”

“I- I told her it was bed time, and I told her to get ready for her bath. For once she didn’t argue or throw a tantrum at all.”

“And then what happened?”

Another tear rolled down my cheek, “I remember cutting the water on and the tub filling up. I added bubbles just the way she likes it, and then…”

“And then what?”

“And then...,” I stared down at my fingers as if the answers lied within them but as always I saw nothing.

“And then what, Miss Cortez?”

My eyes rose back to clash with his blue gaze, “And then nothing. I can’t remember anything.”

I felt the bed shift as if turning the corner, the speed of which they moved down the endless hall never decreasing.

I could hear voices speaking but as if from a great distance as I fought the impending darkness that was trying to capture me, forever trying to send me back into thoughts and dreams I’d rather not relive. I concentrated on my surroundings, anything to escape my past. I could feel the leather straps biting into my wrist, my head flopping sluggishly upon the rapidly moving bed I was confined too, but still always I could hear the voices.

“Cute girl. Don’t look like much to me. Can you tell me why we were ordered to have four people escort this little lady to her new room?” A man’s voice said, amusement laced in every word spoken as if the mere idea of me fighting back was laughable.

“Well, this little lady as you deemed to call her may look tiny but once riled up packs a mean punch. Trust me I’ve seen her in action.”

“She looks familiar. Should we know who she is?” A woman asked, her apprehension clearly heard in her voice.

“It don’t matter who the hell she is. She’s in Glover Dale now and once here and under my watch none of that shit will happen,” that cocky voice replied again.

“You can say that now. She’s heavily sedated, should be out of it for hours.”

“Ha, don’t tell me this scrap of a girl intimidated a big man like you,” said the man’s voice again laughing at his own comment.

My bed suddenly ceased its relentless movement as if my guards had stopped to look directly at each other. “It’s not her size you should be frightened of. I can’t explain it… But my advice to you is, don’t let the doll like curls and big brown eyes fool you. Anna Marie may look as sweet and as innocent as any other girl… but things happen around her.”

“What do you mean things happen?” the woman questioned, her voice filling with even more fear.

“It doesn’t matter she’s your problem now!” A new voice cut in, “and we should keep moving if we want to make it back before the storm gets any worse.”

My bed continued its motion in silence; the only noises heard were footsteps. There were remote sounds of doors being opened, codes punched in and a distance hum of a television far off in the background.

“I believe we can take it from here,” that cocky voice informed my captors.

“We were ordered to make sure she was under lock and key before we left.”

He grunted in annoyance, “Well guess what? You ain’t in Greenwich now, and I say we can take it from here.”

My eyes twitched again, my pupils moving franticly behind closed lids. I felt an uncontrollable shudder like a sudden spasm pass through my right hand as if slowly recovering its ability to move on its own again.

“Hank, there really is no need to take that tone with them. Their only doing their jobs,” the woman said while trying to appease the situation.

“You should listen to her. There are things … Strange things you don’t understand about this girl.”

I moved my hand, straining against the straps that held me down listening as the other man now openly laughed.

“What I understand is that your chicken shit, and you’re now unloading another head case in this hell hole on us! So other than that I don’t really give a fuck what else you have to say!”

They continued to argue as if my existence was of little importance now as I felt the straps slowly unraveling, my hands suddenly free, my golden brown eyes springing ajar, my mouth falling open swiftly gasping for air like a drowning person finally free from the entrapment of the water. I felt my body slowly rising, my gaze taking in the sparsely furnished dimly lit hall, the thunder gathering force behind the cement walls, my four guards arguing amongst themselves, oblivious to my awakening.

Then I heard it, a slight scraping against tile like a nail scratching against a board causing my body to tremble in fear. Fear was a metallic taste at the back of my throat, eroding any relief that the sight of new surroundings had awarded me causing tears to trickle unchecked down my cheeks.

“Anna Marie…”, it whispered, a voice devoid of any human emotion, its call scaring me far more than anything in this lifetime ever had. “Anna Marie…”

It had followed me here.

I rose slowly, my bare feet touching the coldness of the hard floor, my eyes never leaving the direction its voice had come from. The screech continued as it moved closer, the lights began to flicker as they always did before each light seemed to lose its battle against the approaching darkness. I felt myself retreat further away from my captors knowing it was not them I feared.

I felt my shoulder smash brutally into an open doorway but not once did I pause to check for bruises, or remove my eyes from the growing darkness. I continued my slow path backwards into an empty lounge area barely noticing the four guards still fighting amongst themselves. All I saw was each lamp that hung above us systemically being smothered until dark shadows became claws and what was once nothing but empty air transform into deformed faces. Their eyes vacant of compassion, only seeming to contain within them a great black void of human suffering, blood dripped down tattered scorched skin. Their bodies bent in abnormal angles, the stench swarming from their bodies smelled of nothing but rot and decaying flesh of souls consumed. As they moved closer their forms seemed to blur as if too fast to be watched by human eyes.

“Oh my god,” I whispered, clutching desperately at the silver cross that rested around my neck as I tripped over a chair I had not seen, falling helplessly to the floor. Crawling as far back as I could until my back hit the wall my gaze rose frantically back towards the four people I had so recently left wondering why it was only I who could see these horrible creatures, why was it me they seemed to want most?

Tears ran unchecked from my brown gaze, my lips trembling, my vocal chords too paralyzed to even scream. Their descent was slow, their eyes never unwavering from their target. A claw reached out for me as if beckoning me closer but it was only as its darkness touched my skin that I finally belted out an agonizing scream.

“What the hell?”

“Where did she go?”

I watched from my huddled corner surrounded by masses of evil beings as my clueless guards rushed to where I now sat, but the sight of my clumped form, skin being ripped open from forces unseen froze them in mid descent. My hand reached out towards them as my body rose from the ground, my blood staining the floor from the multitude of cuts littering my skin. My breath coming out in choked gasps as I strained for air that could not seem to reach my lungs.

“Oh, dear lord in heaven,” the woman whispered, tears clouding her vision as if she could feel the very pain I endured. My blood soaked haze took in my terror mirrored on their faces while knowing inwardly that they could not see the creatures holding me, that all that was clearly apparent to them was my sudden descent above them obviously unaided by anything of this world.

My eyes turned to the crowd of ravenous fiends still snatching at my marred skin, quickly sucking at my open cuts as if draining me, feeding on my fear. My sight became blurred, darkness tarnishing its edges and then I saw and felt blissfully nothing…

……………………………………………………………………….

(Hey, this is my new story. I hope you liked the beginning. It’s not the same as the other one I started but I shall try my best to keep it entertaining. I wanted it to be kind of out there, and hopefully I will not quit half way through because I do seem to have that problem lol. If you don’t like the beginning still keep an open mind the story just might get better as we go along so give it a chance.

Oh and if you want to comment or have ways to make it better then go right ahead.

I think I’m kind of going to see what happens with this story. What I mean is I’ll keep writing if I feel people are reading it but if not I may wander off again lol…)

Until next time…