1 The Visitor

I race through the woods after her, running like the wind. "Where are you going?" I call to her.

She doesn't respond, she just keeps running.

I run slightly faster than her and I slowly catch up. "Wait!"

She turns and looks at me, her eyes, have gone black.

I catch up to her and tackle her to the ground. Once I get her pinned, I look her over. Her eyes look like they have been clawed out, and now they are just black holes. They ooze a black liquid and it makes her look like she's crying. "What happened to you?"

"Get off me! I don't want to die!" She screams at the top of her lungs.

I sigh, fighting the tears, I bring her hands to my face. "It's just me, Lily, I'm here."

She calms down a bit and she wraps her arms around me tightly.

"You, saw him again?"

She nods, burying her face into my shirt.

"Remember, you can always stay by my side," I hold her in my arms, we stay like this for a few minutes, at least until she calms down. "Are you ready to head home?"

She nods, and I lift her up. She clings to me tightly, as if she were a child, clinging to its mother.

I place her onto my back, and we start the trek back, to our small cabin by the lake.

Once we get home, I lay her on her bed, next to mine. I quickly grab the med kit that I always keep close by.

I look at her feet and they are pretty scraped, and have a few small cuts. "When did he appear this time?"

"Every single night, since you went on the hunting trip."

"And I recall, that you had your eyes then right? Did you claw them out?"

"He took them from me. He said, that I won't need them anymore."

I bandage up her feet. "I know I shouldn't have left you here by yourself. Dammit, why am I so foolish?"

"You had to go, we were running out of food. I didn't want you to stay because of me."

"I wish I brought you with me, that would've been the best choice."

She shakes her head and sits up. She then reaches out towards me and I grab her hands, and hold them in mine.

She hesitates, and then continues. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

I take in a deep breath. "I'm not leaving you here alone anymore, I am going to stay here by your side, like I promised at our wedding." I run my fingers through her long blonde hair. I hold her cheek, and stare into the holes that were once beautiful blue eyes. They reminded me of the ocean, where we first met. "I don't want to lose you Lily. He will never lay a hand on you again." I place her hand on my cheek.

"Why are you crying?" She asks.

I hesitate, how can she tell? "I don't want to see you suffering, it hurts to see you this way."

She crawls over to me, and places our foreheads together. "Everything will be fine, I just need your strength to get through this. I need you to protect me from him."

I hold her hand, gently squeezing it. "I will do whatever it takes to keep you from him." I look at her eyes, those holes, now just voids of blackness. "I have the means to protect you, I will." I run my fingers through her hair, and hold her close to my chest.

We are silent for a while, and she asks an important question. "Why don't we just get out? You know, leave this place."

I stroke her hair, trying to remain as calm as I can. "Where would we go? We don't even have the ability to survive in the real world. Besides, the closest town is miles away, we only have one horse." I think for a moment. I don't want to leave this paradise that we call home, but ever since Lily has been attacked, it's no longer paradise. I don't know what he plans to do with her, but I know that he isn't anything good. I don't even know if I should even call him a him, it's not human anymore.

"I think we can do it, let's try. I may not be of use for any jobs, but at least we can find a place to stay in the meantime."

I nod. "Yeah."

We lay here for hours, and I listen to her softly breathing. She's rather cute when she sleeps, I wish we could stay like this forever. I lay her down onto the bed, and look out the window. Staring at the treeline, I watch for any sign that he might be there, just watching us, like he usually does. I catch a glimpse of a black shadow, before it shrinks back into the shadows of the trees.

It appears to be average height, maybe six feet or more, from what I can see, he is dressed in all black. I couldn't see a face, so maybe he has a mask of some sort. I leave the window, knowing that he is out there, waiting for the perfect moment to take Lily from me. I decide to go through all the weapons we have, tonight, will be the last night that he visits her. I swear that she will be safe once again.

Tears poke at the back of my eyes, and I fight them off as best as I can. I can think about losing her, because that's not going to happen. I gather all my weapons and ammunition, putting them into an easily accessible pile. Once I load all my guns, I sit in a chair next to Lily, and wait for nightfall.

I snap up in my chair, not realizing that I fell asleep. I look around and notice that Lily is gone. I get up and look all over the cabin for her, I can't find her anywhere, and I am starting to get worried. I open the door and step out into the evening air. THere seems to have a fog that rolled in, making it harder to see what's around me. "Lily!" I call out. I wait for a response, but I don't get one. I head back inside and grab my .44 magnum, and head out the door to look for Lily.

Once I reach the treeline, it seems to get darker a lot faster than normal. Gun in hand, I head into the woods.

I walk for only a few minutes, when I hear a scream. It sounds like Lily, so I run to investigate "Lily! Lily if you can hear me, run to my voice!" I run as fast as I possibly can towards the scream. When I think I get to the source, I stop and listen for a moment.

"Edward, please help me!" I hear her cry.

I continue running towards the direction of her cries. I eventually find her, attempting to crawl away from something. I look up and there he is, standing there, just watching her struggle to get away.

He has a slender frame, and he has a black hoodie on, and black pants as well. The hood covers a majority of his head, and when he looks at me, I almost froze in terror. He wears a pale blue mask, with no nose, or mouth to speak of, just holes for the eyes. And his eyes are black, just like Lily's, oozing that same black shit.

I don't know why, but I feel anger build up inside me, just waiting to get out.

"I have come to claim what is mine." He says, it was barely a whisper, but I could hear it clear as day.

This is the end of the line, it's time to end this, before it gets worse. "Well, you can't have her, she and I are married." I raise my magnum and fire a shot at him, before the bullet can reach him, he disappears into the trees.

"Edward? Is that you?"

I find Lily at the base of a tree, and hold her close to me. "I'm here, I told you that I would never leave."

She clings to me once again, this time her nails are digging into my skin.

I quietly wince at the pain. "This battle isn't over just yet, climb onto my back."

It takes her a minute to get onto my back, but when she does, I try to go as fast as I can. I keep an eye out in the trees, knowing that he wouldn't give up so easily. If you desperately want something, you don't stop until you get it.

I stop and catch my breath after a while, keeping my wits about me.

"He's here." Lily whispers. I take a quick glance at her and she seems like she's in a different world, distant from me.

I raise my weapon again, ready to fire. With the way that these woods are, it makes me paranoid. Knowing that he can be anywhere, and since he is dressed in all black, it makes it harder to see him.

"I can make you better." A voice says from the distance, it sounds like it's coming from all directions. "You don't have to feel any pain."

"Shut up and leave her alone!" I take off and run even faster, the adrenaline kicking in.

"All you have to do, is get rid of that pain."

She clings to me tighter, slightly squeezing my throat.

I breathe harder and it seems like we are almost to the treeline, almost home.

As I get closer to the end of the trees, I notice that he is standing there, blocking our way.

I use the rest of my magazine and fire the bullets into his body. I don't stop running, the only thing that is in my mind, is to get out.

I eventually run into him, and all three of us tumble to the ground.

Somehow he manages to cut my leg, I didn't realize that he had a knife on him. I lay on the ground, out of breath. I attempt to stand up, but I can't put much weight on my leg. I look around and see him staring at me.

He walks towards me, the knife glinting in the small amount of moonlight that pokes through the clouds.

I manage to stand on my good leg, and I raise my fists, ready to fight.

He stays out of arm's reach of me, then he turns and looks at Lily.

She stands up and looks at me, she seems different somehow, like, it's not her anymore.

"Lily? What's wrong?" I ask hesitantly.

She cocks her to the side a bit, and then walks towards me. I don't know how she can walk without seeing, she doesn't put her hands in front of her. She's not the Lily that I know.

"You know, it's different, not having eyes. But you get used to it after a while." She smiles and stops right next to him.

In one quick motion, his arm comes up, and he stabs me in the chest.

I was stupid enough to let my guard down. To my surprise it doesn't hurt that much, maybe because my heart is already broken.

I collapse onto the ground, my blood looking around me. I can't help but watch as he holds out his hand to her, and she takes it.

"Shall we go?" He asks.

"Of course Jack, everyone else is waiting for us at home."

"Don't, go." I manage to get out.

She looks at me, and it's no longer the girl I knew, she's gone.

She takes the knife from Jack and stabs me again. "I'm bored, let's find something to do."

They walk off into the woods, and at the treeline, I see a glimpse of a yellow smile, piercing through the darkness.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine."

I look up at the sky, and watch as a shooting star goes across the sky. I make a quick wish, and drift off to an eternal sleep.