3.

It is not until after Nancy Ellis turns twelve years of age that a road to the darkest day in the Ellis household is stepped upon, at the end of this road a day will come where a certain someone or something will see the culmination of what he has been building towards for the previous nine or ten years in regards of officially being in Nancy's life. In fact, it will be a first of many days which have been building towards for more like the previous thirteen years or so.

Indeed, a man in shadows has had an ear of his daughter as he has at least tried to have with all his children, all of his daughters and at least one or two others who are not necessarily his or of his creation. There is a reason why Nancy Ellis has not seriously harmed another, apart from a deer that is, in all the time of her life up until now.

Satan, the man who stands in darkness and shadow, has been holding her back, building her for a future yet to come. Now that Nancy has turned twelve, her first test of darkness is about to come. He may have always had an ear with Nancy though to her prior to now it has never been more than an inner voice, thoughts that could easily be interpreted as being her own though with a test date closing in, he has been slowly revealing himself all the more.

A time with taking things slowly, or at least with this part of a transition, has come to an end for Darkness is about to come out of the shadows and instruct Nancy with what plans he has for her more immediate future. Yeah, when such a day of darkness comes, Nancy is twelve years and ten months old.

Nancy is traveling, sitting on the back seat of her father's car and dad is at the wheel. Neither father nor daughter have any idea of what is about to come. Ben Ellis has picked his daughter up from school. It is closing in on four in the afternoon and this day is as bright a day as any day can be. Darkness would rather not venture out into brightness such as this if he does not have to. He feels it makes him vulnerable, he feels it gives away his location and so much more besides.

If anything, Darkness would so much want to be everywhere all at once just as his counterpart is, as it is the shadows will do. If or when he wins the war, a when more than an if as far as he is concerned, then the shadows will reach places they never did before allowing him to reach a level on par with or better than his main rival, something he is sure is not all so far away.

In the moment, which is about to come, Darkness is to focus on being in one place more so than being in many places at once. Nancy can feel it. She can feel to some degree of what is to be expected of her. She can feel that there is someone else in the car other than herself and her dad. She can also feel that her dad is unaware of what she is aware of. When the Ellis family car passes into a tunnel Darkness reveals himself only to her and indeed, he is sitting on the back seat right next to Nancy. Odd it is that he allows tunnel lighting to briefly illuminate his presence.

'Without speaking an answer out loud ... tell me, do you know who I am?' Darkness asks of Nancy.

Nancy watches him as he asks his question then turns towards her dad who, as she indeed knows, is oblivious to what is happening. To some degree she does know who Darkness is, so she turns her view back towards him she simply nods.

'Good' continues Darkness. 'In a few moments time, your father, your other father will come to a wooded area and for reasons he does not know, he will exit this vehicle. He will make his way on foot up into that wooded area. I want you to go with him then I want you to hold his hand. Do you understand?'

A couple seconds pass and Nancy nods for a second time. The end of the tunnel the vehicle had entered has been reached and the vehicle is back out in broad daylight. The visitor to the car has vanished. Nancy looks to her father once more. She can see his head and one of his arms maneuver as he continues driving on. She knows what she is required to do, and she feels somewhat indifferent towards having to do it.

She doesn't want her father to die though her nature, the reason why she exists, compels her to do what she knows she must do, and she will do it without any sense of dread. Fifteen minutes quietly pass, and the family car pulls over at the side of an out of the way, side road. Dad says nothing and simply exits the car half unaware of what he is doing or why. This is the moment which has been instructed to Nancy.

Nancy gets out of the car and moves around to where her father is. He more than seems to be in some sort of a trance like state and he also appears to be waiting for his daughter to come to him. He smiles when she comes close then he begins to walk and so does she. A couple of minutes of walking pass then daughter takes a hold of dad's hand, a few more feet is walked then dad moves towards the closest tree to him. It is a large tree with a large trunk of which if there were someone on the far side of that tree they would not be able to see him. Ben Ellis sits down ensuring his back is pressed against that tree trunk and then proceeds to fall asleep.

Close to seven in the evening of this brightly darkened day Nancy Ellis arrives home by herself. Not particularly wanting to converse with Nancy, Aunt Sharon asks as to where Ben is. Knowing exactly where her father is Nancy tells Sharon that she has no idea as to where Ben Ellis may be. She hadn't called him dad or father but had used his actual name.

Late the following evening Ben Ellis is found unconscious in a seated position by a tree in an out of the way forest area, the same tree he had gone to the day previously. Ten weeks pass, ten weeks within which Ben Ellis has not woken, he is never to wake again. Nancy attends her father's funeral and dislikes every second of the service and burial.

In fact, it much more than a dislike ... with what Nancy Ellis is, hallowed ground makes her extremely uncomfortable. She soldiers on like the soldier of Darkness she is. Despite it all and the fact she won't be round much longer, she at least has to in a way see her father off ...

Yeah, she is responsible, under instruction, for his death and she did not want to lose him, but a church service and attending a cemetery certainly is what has her feeling more than a little uncomfortable. Hallowed ground is no place for a child of Darkness to be and such places with let that fact be known. Remorse in all this, is non-existent.

And yeah, she doesn't hang around either for as soon as dear auld dad is six feet under, she heads back to the house she had been raised in and grabs a number of items to be packed and taken with her. Having turned thirteen a couple of weeks prior to this day, Nancy will not be seen again or recognized by anyone she knows for at least five years.

What occurs during those five years goes a very long way in shaping the future, her future and possibly a future of many who go further afield than she may have ever thought possible. The future may be bright then again it may be dark, one way or the other Nancy Ellis may just get to have herself a choice. And what would that choice be? Even she may not know until it actually happens.