Murder of Crows: Soul for A Soul

Chapter 8

"Ghost of the Past"

The darkness envelops her surroundings and there was a voice. Lumiere ran and ran and ran but nothing happened. Her bruises slowed her movements but she fights the pain. Lumiere doesn't know how many hours it has been but she's tired—and scared. 

She's trapped with her fate chasing after her. 

Lumiere continues to run.

The girl tripped against the air. The voice with the ghostly appearance of a child caught up and appeared above her head, gently stroking her hair attempting to calm her down. It only made Lumiere cry more.

"I'm here. I'm always here. I'm with you." It whispered in Lumiere's ears. An attempt to console the girl.

Lumiere shook her head violently to lose the ghostly voice but it kept repeating the same thing.

Her body trembled, she screamed. "No! You're no longer here. Stop. Please, I don't want you. Go away. " Warm tears ran down her cheeks.

The ghost was shocked. Its voice stopped for a minute. Its white form froze. Lumiere took it as a sign that the entity would vanish at any minute.

She tried to get up as everything ended but blue flames quickly devoured her surroundings. Everything.

The bright flames blinded Lumiere for a second and when she recovered, the darkness was replaced with a burning ruin. The moon was shining in the sky and Lumiere's bruises had faded. The fallen rubble surrounded her in a circle.

There's no way out. 

Something from the burning ruin moved closer to her. A corpse.

Its burned body was covered in ash and black rubbish. The flesh has turned to dust and its appearance couldn't be called a living entity. The ruin silently burns while a corpse crawled its way to Lumiere, its exposed bones harshly clanging against each other.

She wanted to escape the situation but found herself unable to move.

The voice returned and said,  "Are you sure you want me gone? Don't you love me?".

The ghost began to cry. Its high-pitched wailing scratched Lumiere's ear so harshly, that she swears it would fall off at any minute.

She covered her ears in desperation and fear. "Stop, stop, stop. It's hurting me. Please, stop."

"I miss you, Quin." The corpse said in between wails.

"I want to go home, please," Lumiere begged on her knees. 

The corpse stopped crying and went still in front of Lumiere. Its head tilted and a grin grew on its lips. "But you don't have a home, Quin." The corpse laughed.  "You belong nowhere."

Its laugh was the last thing Lumiere could remember as she woke up drenched in cold buds of sweat. The bright moon hung among the stars but Lumiere felt no air in the room. She remembered having the windows open before falling asleep but someone closed them.

Someone entered her room. Her private space.

Lumiere quickly conjured a blade out of thin space and examined the room. She quickly fell into a defensive stance and uttered a chant under her breath to check the room but there was no one. Nothing.

She was about to take a deep sigh but remembered the bathroom. Shivers quickly ran through her system, she almost lose her balance.

Lumiere took light steps and approached the door.  She quickly threw a fireball that could light up the room and attack anyone but then again, nothing.