Post by Deleted on May 20, 2014 12:52:48 GMT -5
An unsettling presence drifted into Anna’s mind as she paced towards the Black Lake, as each measured step began to weigh heavier than the previous. The rising sun had barely tinted a magnificent citron in the sky.
She had chosen this day to gather up the courage and tread these very steps – as she predicted most students would be busying themselves in their dreams or simply resting – rather than observing a lone brown-haired girl taking a stroll around the school castle shortly after dawn.
Stranger than fear; where the werewolf had attacked her three years ago, flows now a brook that had never seemed to dry. She always thought it ironic, as her soul had since become more like a desert – forlorn and lifeless. Three years ago, upon hearing about the attack, the school had been terrified at first. Soon afterwards, however, horror began to dissipate into norm and opinions started to form.
“Unfortunate, is all. But at least she’s not turned,” some students had said, as if being turned was the worst thing that could happen to Anna.
“The rules are meant to protect the students. This is why,” murmured some of the professors with deep consternation, “the school strictly warns students off from lurking outside the castle after sunset.”
Some of her friends were kind enough to pass no judgments and even sent her their handmade get-well-soon cards – the kind that would sing in melodious tunes when opened. Anna had kept them all safely locked in her special box. Today, however, she needed their attention the least.
“You’re almost there, fight it just a little longer,” she willed herself to cross the distance; eyelids shut in inscrutable concentration, likewise repressing a frightful shudder slithering down her nerves. Anna wanted to flee, wanted to run for her escape – only to realise she had none. A fleeting solace she could find only in Raphael, yet after all, what is she to him but a past and a forgotten memory?
Memories gyrated and flashed in her thoughts. Horrible, unnerving images – venomous fangs that threaten to tear her insides; merciless claws that clamped her neck in a tight embrace – and snarling sounds which made her stomach lurch and her blood curdle. Anna swallowed hard. Thoughts of happiness bled out from her soul, ruthlessly replaced by unrelenting stabs of terror and silent screams. Sharp, shrill cries entrapped within her lungs; going nowhere, shattering her as surely as diamond piercing through cheap glass. But waking up with a heart full of haunting despair, bed sheet drenched by tears and cold sweat – is not the way Anna wants to live every day. And now is how she chose to expel it.
A week had crept by since the nightmare first ravaged her sleep, nearly two years after its blessed absence. Not knowing the exact cause of its resurgence, Anna resolved to confront her fear by admitting her past into being; reliving the tragedy once and bravely. The intensity of this determined fear would have crippled her to depression had she not thought to face it off, forthright. Unwilling to shrink beneath the hurting weight of the world and the disappointments she was facing; she began to seek liberation, to defeat the phantom terrors.
Anna stopped by the brook, stared at her own reflection on the water and attempted to conquer her folly.
“You are made for more than this, you are stronger than you look,” she spoke to the glumness of her reflection. Pacing herself, Anna focused her sight on the quiet lake and immediately caught sight of another student – tall and dapper, sitting by the edge of the water.
“You are made for more than this, you are stronger than you look,” she spoke to the glumness of her reflection. Pacing herself, Anna focused her sight on the quiet lake and immediately caught sight of another student – tall and dapper, sitting by the edge of the water.
“Bryce.. Lyn?” Anna had noticed her senior during several occasions, appearing with a degree of thoughtfulness which somehow seems to border on distraction. Alone and seemingly caught in thoughts unfathomable (as always), he might not pardon her for intruding his solitude. She observed carefully, considering her own situation that needed some form of salvation – and set to move onward. Compassion stirred Anna to grow in courage, walking more casually now, cautiously hoping to offer her company to the ruminating stranger. Peculiarly, she wanted to trust him. Maybe, at that instant, she too, needed company; or maybe it was for the fact that he seemed so troubled that compelled her to him; or maybe they could learn to face their own struggles together.
“Perhaps,” she smiled softly, “loneliness has a friend.”