FaDiNG

3: Fate of Blood

Running. Alys was running. Running through a pitch black tunnel towards the circle of light at the end, the wind billowing back and forwards. Every step she took closer, the light drew ever further. Step, step. Then she heard a familiar voice, but couldn’t identify it at all, but she knew the source wasn’t around her.

‘Run, Alys… Run!’

Suddenly, the ground gave way, and she was falling away from the light, now above her. Reaching out towards it, she felt an immediate sense of… disappointment? She couldn’t recognise the feeling, but it ripped out her heart.

‘Alys… Alys…’

Then the light disappeared, and she her turned body so that she was facing down, and saw that she was falling towards the light, its sharp rays engulfing her, as well as the relief and anxiety that came with it. As she drew nearer to the light, her body began to ache and burn, as if engulfed in invisible flames.

No, she didn’t want to go into the light anymore, it hurt too much. She began to call out to anyone to help her, but no one entered the void.

Falling, falling, falling, towards an inevitable fate, she kept her eyes open, staring into the light.

 Gasping, Alys suddenly sat up, her forehead bashing into someone else’s. Wincing, Alys looked up to see her best and only friend glaring back at her.

‘A… Al? What are you doing here,’ she asked him, confused. ‘What do you mean,’ he replied, rubbing his head, slightly annoyed, ‘this is my room shouldn’t I be asking you that?’

Surprised, Alys looked around her and found that he was right. She had been lying on the bed in his room, for god knows how long, asleep. Turning back towards Alasdair, she saw that he was sitting in a chair beside the bed. Looking at him in confusion, he briefly began to explain with a sigh.

‘Some guy brought you here, he was carrying you, as creepy as you are when you’re sleeping - your eyes half open - and asked if there was anywhere to put you down. My mum said that you could sleep in my room… damn you… then he talked to my parents… an acquaintance of theirs? I’m not sure, anyway, I was stuck making sure that you didn’t drool on my pillow. Don’t lie - it’s happened before.’

As rude as he sounded, she could tell that he was sincerely worried about her, but somehow all she could muster was a, ‘thanks’, though Al didn’t seem to mind, which was one of the things she loved about him.

They had met back in primary school, around the age of 8. At that time Alys was always bullied at school because of her looks, and she hated it, but she didn’t say or do anything. It didn’t make her sad at all, just angry, but she knew that if she started something, it would never end well, so she ignored it. However one day there was a new kid in class, a transfer student from far away, or so she had heard. Unknown to the teacher, he would also get picked on for being “weak” and having an odd name.

One day, during lunch time, everyone was outside, and the teacher had gone inside for a bit. Watching from afar, Alys saw two of the biggest bullies in the grade walk up to the boy pushing and shoving him away from sight. Silently following them, she saw that they started to hit him. Having enough of the bullies, all her anger began to rise until she couldn’t hold it back any longer.

‘Hey!’ she had shouted at the boys. Suddenly they turned their faces towards her, first surprised, but then wielding evil grins. Excited, she herself began to smile, as she kicked the first boy in the balls and then punched the second – hard. To be honest, she didn’t have the least clue how to fight, and had never really fought before, from what she remembered, but she just followed her gut. With one of the boys fallen to the ground, clutching his special area, she kicked the other boy down and sat on top of him, her knees pinning down his puny arms. Her face a mask of seriousness, she pointed at the other boy and asked him, ‘You wanna end up like that?’