A Fire In The Dark

Chapter One

Chapter 1

I am a girl falling
in a deep dark well-stuck
between the echoing darkness
and cold, whispering voices.

My cries reverberated
through this narrow pit;
voice hoarse from
screaming.

Soon, I heard a thud
followed by a groan
and a whimper and
felt a sweltering coldness
of a chain on my skin.

I tried to reach out
a hand, hoping someone
would grab it and
free me.

But-

-There comes the
voices again and
this time, they were
talking so close to my
ears.

Wake up. They seem to say.

and so I did.

-Amalyn Atencia, Nightmares.

Sunila woke up at the feeling of someone's eyes on her.

She opened her eyes and saw the large stature of her father standing near the open windows, gazing at her gravely. She sat upright, still feeling a little groggy with sleep.

"Did you leave the house last night?" Her father asked sternly, His rough, cold voice making her flinched.

She shook her head immediately. "No, Father. I did not." She said, feeling like a child under her father's scrutinizing stare.

Her father-Enrique, Stared at her intently, trying to see right through her lies.

"A body was found early this morning. Near the old well" Was all he said before walking out of the room.

Sunila felt herself stiffened. Someone was found dead near the well-inside the forest. She looked passed the thick green foliage, but half of the mansion was obscured by the dense fog and mist. She sighed, Her memories of last night were all blurry. All she could remember was the image of a single burning candle, and the feeling of dread.

She got up and pulled some clothes from her cabinet, washed her face and combed her long, curly black hair before putting the obstinate locks into a ponytail.

Sunila got out of her room to find her father in the kitchen, already seated in the small mahogany table with two porcelain plates, two forks, spoons and a simple breakfast of fried rice, beans and eggs all laid out before him on the table.

Her father gestured for her to sit and, naturally, she obliged.

They eat their breakfast in silence. None of them dared to break the thick silence surrounding the house, only the scrapping of utensils and the faint thud of glass on the table could be heard while they took their meal.

Sunila watched her father wearily as he gulped the last drop of water in his glass and took her time to assess the hard lines of his visage. He was getting older, she thought, and it's getting more prominent everyday, especially when his angry or being serious, but more so when he got home from work.

Her father sets his glass down and stared at her with those stern honey-brown eyes, though she never inherit them, she surely got his warm skintone and black hair. The only thing that really offsets her inheritance were the pair of bright silver eyes that she got from her mother.

"I'll be coming home late tonight," Her father started.

She put down her cutlery. "Late, Father?" She said, echoing her father's word.