SHATTER

1.

If any parents of the daughters of darkness escaped unnatural pregnancy and or birth issues then that initially appeared to be Darren and Kay Mitchell, of course when the pregnancy and birth comes about it is Kay who does the heavy lifting though between the other daughters indeed born elsewhere only some of the fathers remained unscathed and few mothers were to keep their own life intact, an arrival however ...

The newborn, Anna, when she came along, showed no signs of an association to any kind of paranormal ability, not that either Darren or Kay knew they needed to keep an eye out for such a thing or even what to look for if they did. A newborn is just a newborn, if anything extraordinary exists within her then it may not manifest for some time, at that too it may not manifest in a way it could be attributed to that newborn. And to add to such possibilities, if mum experienced any shadow like activity prior to or during pregnancy then she was not aware of any kind of meaning it may have.

The pregnancy was as normal and regular as any pregnancy can be. There were no complications, no unnatural feelings or emotions, nothing projected on dear auld dad to be. No unnecessary pre-existing worry came about prior to birth other than anything any two parents to be may naturally feel and there certainly was no unexpected tiredness or illness.

The birth itself too was as normal and regular as any birth can be except for one thing. Just as baby was about arrive, the main lighting in the room ... exploded. This of course stunned everyone present within the room and caused no more than a few seconds of pause. Baby was coming and no one was hurt by any debris dispersed by the explosion, so it had been on with the job at hand and arriving Baby Anna was immediately withdrawn from the room as a precaution.

Mum would be moved too, as a precaution to a room which hopefully would be considered safe. Once everything was as calm as calm could be a presentation was made and a family would unite in peace for a first time, similar yet so different to when a certain Majella Smith would briefly unite with a father and a mother. Indeed, more was to come.

Out for a celebratory drink or three upon becoming a dad and at a bar not all so far from home, Darren Mitchell orders himself a pint of lager and a shot of whiskey with two pieces of ice. He lets his mind slip when his drinks arrive, wiping the condensation off of his pint glass as he savours the thought that he is now actually is a father. Baby is no longer on the way, she has arrived.

With his fingers on the upper half of the glass Darren lifts his beer though the glass shatters in his hand before he even had an opportunity to take a sip. Having soaked himself and with shards of glass on the bar and floor he stands and speaks a 'what the hell?' out loud.

'I'm so sorry sir' speaks the bartender courteously passing a cloth the customer's way before going out and on to begin a minor cleanup operation.

Darren dries himself off as best he can, determined not to let this moment get the better of him and when he gets an opportunity he sits right back down on his stool by the bar. As he waits for his drinks to be replaced, he stares at a mirror behind the bar almost directly across from him and close to the register.

A single large crack appears on that mirror as if it had been struck by something. Darren had not seen any particular object strike that mirror nor did he hear a collision, only the sound of a crack suddenly ... appearing. Two- or three-seconds pass and another crack appears upon that mirror and again Darren could not see what might have caused it.

Suddenly multiple cracks appear and the mirror as a whole soon shatters with the glass crashing down onto the counter and onto the floor. Before Darren can question this, the mirror is back where it belongs and fully intact as if it hadn't shattered at all. Darren's drinks are back in front of him too and he cannot recall the bartender returning with them. On top of this Darren's clothing is dry as if not a drop of beer had soaked anything he is wearing.

This is crazy, so very crazy, and in this moment of madness Darren Mitchell almost forgot about the fact that his wife had given birth to a daughter only hours prior. With all that has just occurred and the thoughts of his wife and daughter having returned to the forefront of his mind, he decides not to spend a moment longer here than what he needs to. He downs the beer and follows it with the whiskey and is done.

It is time to go home and get some rest, for when the following day comes, he will be going to get his family to bring them home. Home, once he gets there on a final night before a child graces the place with its cries, doesn't seem right and it doesn't seem right from the moment Darren reaches the street he lives upon. Little Anna is his and Kay's first and only child so clearly there is no one home or at least there shouldn't be anyone home at this time. The house is dark, darker even than what it should be for the time of night dad is arriving back.

The ominous feeling going through the new father intensifies simply by the placing of the key in the lock on the front door. He can't understand why any of this should be so. He has come home late before; he has come home late when Kay has not been home so there should be nothing new in this moment. Why he should feel the way he does right at this point in time is beyond him.

This is supposed to be a safe place, home is a safe place, and right now it feels anything but a safe place. It can't be the thoughts that he will soon be bringing a newborn here that might worry him for surely right here is where he wants his child and wife to be.

Could there possibly be an intruder here? Surely not, front door and lock have been found intact upon arrival. The back door, when he checks appears intact and locked; still, it does not feel right. As if he were watching a horror movie through the eyes of the main character, Darren begins to head upstairs while asking himself, what am I doing?

Having come into the house and having checked the back door Darren turns back to the hallway, kitchen and upstairs landing lights on, and as he indeed slowly climbs up the stairs all three lights go out, one after the other. They more than just go out, each light bulb shatters.

What the hell?

There is a loud cracking sound just like the sound of the mirror cracking back at the bar. There is a large mirror mounted on the hallway wall. Sure enough, when Darren checks, there is a rather large crack on this mirror, running right along it. It too soon shatters. That's it, whether things revert back to how they were, just like back at the bar, or not, Darren Mitchell is not staying in this house alone on this night. But where is there to go? It is quite late after all.

What is happening? Darren can't tell to if he is hallucinating or as to if all he has been seeing is real or not. It feels real.

Darren heads out and gets into his car. Is this such a good idea? What else can be done? He inserts and turns the key in the ignition. Nothing happens, the engine does not start. He does it again; still the engine does not start. The windscreen begins to crack and before long a crimson spray spreads itself through the vehicle.

The following afternoon Kay Mitchell is readying herself to go home. Two police detectives approach her ... her husband's death is deemed to be suicide.