The girl and the shadow

From the pits of darkness, a shadow crawled out. Red threads of light squirmed over his black body. He didn't know who he was, or even what he was.

At first, only his head came out. His black fingers clawed out ot the dirt, and he pulled himself out of that hole. He crawled with tar hanging between his teeth. They were grey and his hair: black snakes. He coughed and spat out and, looked at the world.

It was grey.

The skies were grey. The trees were grey. The ground was grey. The birds and the deers and the rabbits were grey. He even felt the chirping and cries as grey. He tried to speak out, yet no voice came.

He clutched his throat and tried to shout, to no avail. He was mute. He didn't know his name, he didn't know where he was and he couldn't even talk. He looked at his body and the red squirms of light, the only thing of color he could see.

He grabbed the trees and walked out of the forest, searching for answers.

On the outskirts of the forest, a girl lay on the dirt looking up at the white sun. She was a bony little thing, with short-cropped hair which was cut by herself. Black blemishes scattered her narrow grey face. Her dress was torn and black.

"Natalia," a voice called her.

She stood up and dusted her bottom. She looked at the place where she lived. "What a rubble," she thought.

Grey houses with bits of black walls and blacker roofs surrounded her. To her behind, stood trees in rows with canopies like black lightning.

She walked forward and saw men, women, and children in grey, black, and white. They were scrawny little things, with meager meat above their skins and with shabby clothes.

"Natalia," this time, the call came louder. She ran through the street, crossing skinny children that ran with grains in their hands. She saw a woman caring for a dying old man through the sides of her eyes. She saw a group of women fighting for water near a well. She saw flies flying over a dead rat.

"Natalia," she saw her standing in front of a tipsy gray house; her house. "Have you gone deaf or do you don't care for your mother?" her crooked teeth spat, and her gray hair swayed.

"Sorry Miss Rebecca, I went to get herbs for her," she said.

She looked at her hands. "And from the looks of it, I guess you a haven't found any," she frowned. "Doesn't matter. Your mother is calling you."

She looked away from Rebecca and walked inside. Rebecca was just a neighbor, one of the many that pried on her suffering but will not do anything to help. She hated to hear her advice.

Natalia could hear the raspy breath of her mother from inside. She slept under a coat of woolen blankets with a basin near her legs. "Ma?" she walked near her and sat on the floor.

Maria looked at her with watery eyes, her chest rising and falling as her breaths screeched. Her hair was long and broken, with it sticking over the grey pillow. "Norman?" she saw her smile.

Natalia felt like she would burst into tears. "Pa is dead Ma," she looked down, "it's me, Natalia."

Natalia couldn't remember her father's face, and the only time she hears his name was in moments like this. She hated that. She hated that even when she became delirious, she still yearns for him. She wished that her mother would care more for her instead.

"Oh," Maria looked away, tears falling from the sides of her eyes. "Norman is dead?"

Natalia faked a smile and stroked her mother's hand, it was cold; everything was cold in the Dark lands. "Do you need anything, ma?"

Maria's chest rose and fell, and Natalia could hear the phlegm filled in her lungs. She picked up the tumbler from the ground and made her spit into it.

"I would like to have a peach," she said as she laid her head.

She didn't know what a peach was. She could get some berries, but that was about it. She wanted to get away from that place. "Wait here, ma. I will go and get it."

It was near noon, and Natalia fed her the cold gruel that was left from yesterday. She saw Rebecca on her way outside. "Where do you think you're going?" she shouted. "Stay with your mother."

"Ma asked for a peach. Do you know where I can find one?"

"A peach?" she laughed hugging her stomach. "A peach – she says. Haven't seen one in years."

"Still, if I want to find one, where should I go?"

"Go to the woods then," she said mockingly.

She knew she was making fun of her, she knew that staying with her mother was the right thing, but she couldn't – not when she was like this . . . a memory of the past.

"Thanks," she said and ran.

"Hey, I don't want to look after your mother," Rebecca screamed. But Nat knew that she will go back to her place when the count falls to ten.

She ran back the way she came. Her feet were blistered but she didn't care, she liked the pain. It was one of the only things that made her feel alive in this place. She ran past the dusty roads and reached the woods. She ran over the black roots and the grey leaves and the dark worms. She looked for any fruit, any tree . . . anything to give to her mother.

She felt her throat parched. She ran around looking for a lake and finally found one. Muddy water ran through it, but she was thirsty. She took a handful and drank, it felt freezing and black. She drank again and again, trying to quench her thirst and her pain.

She leaned back to the ground. "I'm sorry, ma," she talked to the air.

She looked across the banks and saw a deer drinking water from it. Its skin sunk to its bones with black dots covering its white skin. It ran away seeing the girl–

–no, it didn't run away seeing her. She felt her heart tighten when she saw it. It walked from behind the trees, gripping over the trunks and limping. She scurried to her feet and then back to a tree. "Is that a... Blight man?" she covered her nose and mouth.

She had heard about the Blight men from Pacificia, the old lady above the meadows. She had seen her once or twice in the village. "Beware of the Blight men," she used to scream. "For when they come, all this will turn to ashes and your flesh will rot."

She peeked from behind the tree and looked at it. Lines wiggled and coiled around its body and she couldn't understand why they looked like that. "Don't worry ma," her lips turned to a smile yet her eyes watered. "I guess I will be the one to go first."

Natalia closed her eyes right and hoped that it wouldn't find her. She curled herself into a ball. "Please God, let it pass away and I promise that I won't leave my mother."

She felt the world had frozen and all air escaped from it. And then, suddenly, she felt something touch; warm and light.

She opened her eyes and saw it staring at her. Its eyes hollow abysses. It extended its hand. "Please, don't kill me," she crawled back.

But its hand was longer. She looked back and saw the lake behind her. It touched her hair and she felt her heart would stop, and yet – it suddenly felt lighter. Natalia felt as if she had gained a piece of her soul back. It raised its other hand and pointed to the lake, and she looked.

She had never liked her face. It was sunken, and her hair was dry and messy. But for the very first time in her life, she couldn't look away from it. Her strands moved to the wind as if they were red flames.