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Maynia -- Day Thirteen -- 1,963 words
Slipping into the mining area proved to be no harder than finding it, but surprisingly the place wasn’t all I expected it to be. You could say I was prepared to see a dark and dreary place, and maybe finally see the blasted portal. Not that I could seal it just yet, since I still had to find and kill its summoner, but already knowing the source of the demons could help me in containing the weaker ones.
Samheinrock’s mines may have been a dark place, but it was far from dreary, in fact I could almost call it whimsical as I passed through a group of fireflies, merrily flittering by as if they were playing with each other. No wonder Z still wanted to see this place even after a long time…
I stopped in my tracks when I heard light footsteps approaching, crouching behind some overgrowth and letting the shadows of the night hide my presence, I watched and waited… Imagine my surprise as I saw three young boys, not older than ten perhaps, come barging into the scene.
I first noticed the one with the blond hair, a huge toothy grin on his face as he seemed to referee the other two boys mud wrestling on the ground. Something about them looked familiar.. Suddenly, the blond-haired boy started counting to three before finally announcing the winner of the two. I now recognized the dark haired boy who stood up first as he held his hand out to his friend, that cocky smile on his face had a familiar smugness to it that I knew all too well..
“Man Z, you gotta train a lot more than that if you’re planning to join the army like your pops.”
“Yah well, at least I’ve got you in my team when that happens, right Jack?” I held my gasp of surprise, looking over the last boy as he took the proffered hand and stood up to his full gangly height. I wouldn’t have known it was Z in his younger days, the reddish tinge to his hair now obvious with his curls, as he grinned at the blond boy who I was guessing to be Luke.
“How ‘bout you, Luke? You comin’ with us to join the army?”
“Nah. I’m gonna stay here and be a doctor just like my dad and gramps. I’ll be the one to patch you guys up when you come home cryin’ like losers.”
The boy I now knew to be Jack then came over and had Luke in a headlock, “Make sure you keep that promise, bud! You know how Z can be a pain in the—”
“Hey!” Before Jack could finish what he was saying, Z—who had the advantage of being taller than the two—got them both in a headlock, “You better stop talking about me like that, losers!”
I sat back on my hunches as it dawned on me, Jack, Luke and Z—why would I have a dream about them this vividly? As if I was seeing into the past?
“Enjoying yourself, my little angel?” I turned swiftly at the sound of that voice, already removing my Colt from behind my back as I was faced with the sudden stillness of the mines. I knew of only one person who called me with that endearment.
I switched off the safety on my gun as I briefly glanced behind me only to see that the boys were gone, bleak darkness now surrounded me and it didn’t feel the slightest bit whimsical anymore. I turned my gaze at the sudden glow in front of me as I held up my gun, prepared to take aim. Only I hesitated as I saw the silhouette that formed against the glow.
“Your father protected you well, sweetie. I’m happy to see you’ve grown this.. beautifully.” The eerie giggle that followed didn’t really fit well with her compliment. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to make out the only features of her I could remember—kind green eyes the same shade as my own—before her eyes wide with terror flashed in my mind’s eye. I slightly flinched at that but kept my gun aimed at her head.
“Our blood is different from your father’s, Shiela. You shouldn’t have ran that day, you could have saved me… You could have saved me from this horror!!”
I only gave myself the briefest of seconds to see the space where her eyes should’ve been turn red, before I pulled the trigger.
I opened my eyes then and saw how I held the Colt above my head as I laid down in bed, as if I just pulled the trigger. Relaxing my arms as I briefly closed my eyes and took a deep calming breath, I then registered a faint burning smell.
Sitting up as I focused my senses, I then turned and glanced up my headboard where I had placed the gift Z gave me on the night we had dinner in my house. The dreamcatcher’s web was now singed, and in the middle of it was a bullet hole, stuck to the wall of my bedroom.
I stood on my bed and started examining the dreamcatcher, when Ms. Chip suddenly came into my room in a rush, “Shiela! I heard a shot rang out! Are you alright?!” She asked me as she glanced around my room in a panic.
I glanced at her just briefly before focusing back on the dreamcatcher, caressing the feathers that hang from it, “I dreamed something.. unsettling. I just woke up to find this singed—maybe my bullet had something to do with it..?” Did it react to my blood coating the bullet?
“Ah.. It was a good thing then that Mr. Clancy thought to bring such a mindful gift. I wonder if he knew it would protect you?” Ms. Chip asked mostly to herself as she came closer and glanced up at the said object.
Curious as to what she meant, I stepped down from my bed as I looked at her and asked. Ms. Chip only kept looking at the dreamcatcher with an unreadable expression on her face as she replied, “The web is said to protect you from bad dreams, while the feathers are there to help ‘drip down’ the good ones on the sleeping person.” She then looked at me with a meaningful expression as she suggested, “Maybe you should look it up?”
And I knew just where to start.
On my 15th birthday—after almost a decade of weapons training since mom’s death—dad had given me a book. “I want you to familiarize yourself with everything in those pages. You have to know each and everyone of their strengths and weaknesses.” I remembered him saying as I turned the first page and found out it wasn’t exactly a book, but dad’s journal of the demons he had encountered so far.
At that point in my life, I’ve only ever encountered the low-level ones (as I labelled them in my head)—the ones that would pull your hair and blow cold air at you, or the ones who just hid your stuff that you were so sure about leaving in one particular place but finding it in another—I’d usually just throw salt at them or if I was feeling a bit testy, maybe flick some of my blood on them. But dad didn’t like it when I did that, waste my blood I mean.
“There’s a reason why we mix your blood with any metallic element, Shiela. Not only do the steel components of our towers disorient them, but silver and iron have been proven to be very deadly to them when combined with your blood. They act as conductors. Don’t ever let them get a chance to have a taste from you, they’ll be able to track you then, wherever you are! Remember that, Shiela.”
I remember alright, and part of me slightly feels like it was my fault why they found my mom and I—an image of my bleeding knee as I cried near my bike flashed before my mind’s eye, before I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
I leaned my head back on the huge chair in my study, closing my eyes a bit as I recollected all my dad’s notes. I still haven’t found it yet..
Just then, I felt a warm furry body rubbing itself on my legs and I peeked an eye open to see Jaden cozying up to me. I sat up slightly and let him jump on my lap, but it seemed Jaden had other plans as he then jumped on the table, causing dad’s journal to get knocked forward off the surface. So much for looking it up..
I sighed as I stood up then, leaving Jaden on the desk as I rounded to the front to scoop up the journal, but then I saw a folded piece of paper that seemed to have been dislodged from the pages. I picked it up and proceeded to unfold it before scheming its contents.
I only had time to absorb the information on the writing before a knock sounded on the door. I then just pocketed the piece of paper for later as I scooped up the fallen journal before calling out that the door was open.
Ms. Chip peeked into the room with an excited look on her face. I let her talk while I placed the journal back in its proper place, “I didn’t really want to bother you dearie, so I signed on your behalf instead. Here, this came from the Sheriff.”
That tickled my curiosity as I turned around and glanced at the couple of boxes Ms. Chip laid on the table, picking Jaden up instead when he started sniffing at the containers. “Did he say what this is for? I’m hoping he didn’t plan what I’ll be wearing for tonight, that’ll be pretty presumptuous of him.”
“I’m afraid so dear.. Here, he even left a card.” Ms. Chip handed it to me and I briefly read the words, For tonight. I’ll pick you up at 6 -Yours, Jack before I started to lift the lid from the larger box. I couldn’t help but raise my brow at his choice of clothes as I heard Ms. Chip almost let out a girly squeal.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?” I said as I couldn’t help but look over at Shiela again; it was one thing to have seen her tonight as she opened the door to her house, it was another to have her seating right next to me in the privacy of my car.
“Yes you already did, and I guess it helps that you picked my clothes for me now, eyes on the road Sheriff, we don’t want to find ourselves leaping off the edge of this mountainside.”
The way she said it off-handedly had me shaking my head as I continued driving. This woman really is something.. and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face for the rest of the drive. Too bad it fell off though the moment we set foot on my father’s property and found him and my mom waiting for our arrival by the steps. My old man shouldn’t keep smiling like that lest he didn’t mind having his false teeth drop off..
I was pulled from my inner commentary when I felt Shiela gently take ahold of my arm and I turned to see her smiling playfully up at me, “Ready to greet your folks, Jack?” I couldn’t help but clasp her hand closer to me as she said that.
This woman could very well be the death of me.
to be continued...
Image from Pixabay, by Phan Minh Cuong An: https://pixabay.com/users/minanfotos-9565064/ (edited with dreamscopeapp)