A Mother's Love : Rewritten

The Mall

I was back in Ashley Waters but unlike before, there were no crowds of students, faculty or parents. The hallways were empty and the ominous silence made the hair on my arms stand on end, and my steps echo loudly as I walked through the school. I felt eyes watching my every move, but whenever I turned to look, there was no one in sight.

I have no idea how long I wandered through the empty  halls and peeking into classrooms, feeling the constant stare of whoever was watching me, but as I entered the large gymnasium I finally spotted someone. The large figure was standing under the basketball hoop seeming to be hunched over, shadows seem to cling to it making it difficult to see who it was. As I walked closer the shadows slowly faded and I was able to see that it wasn't a large hunched figure as I had first thought, but instead it was two. The taller one stood directly behind the shorter, holding him or her close. With each step their features became easier to see, my heart leaped into my throat and my breathing became faster, at the three point line I froze.

The larger figure was still mostly hidden by shadows the only thing I was able to make out was blood red eyes. The second figure I could see clearly, standing in front of the shadowed man was Liza. He had one arm wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly, in his other hand a knife glinted in the faint light, standing out in horrible contrast against my guardian and best friend's pale skin as he pressed it to her throat.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she looked over at me and whispered one word.

"Run."

I shot straight up in my bed gasping and sobbing Liza's name. It took several minutes before I was able to clear my eyes to begin my normal routine of listing everything in my room. I trembled as I familiarized myself with my room once more.

"It was a dream Sang, just a dream." This became my mantra as I slowly calmed down enough to climb out of bed and shakily make my way to the bathroom where I splashed cold water on my face trying to erase the dream from my mind. There was no way that I was going to add that one to my journal, the quicker I forgot this one the better. Turning to the shower, I turned it on before shedding my clothes and stepping inside.

As I washed, I tried to console myself with the fact that since Liza was a spirit a knife wouldn't have hurt her anyways. I purposely ignored the little voice that pointed out a Darkling had been the one holding the knife. I firmly shoved that voice into a box, taped it shut then shoved it into another box, this time made of steel, and mentally welded it shut. I was not going to think like that. Liza was perfectly safe and would return once she had all the information she needed.

After rinsing off and getting dressed into a pair of jeans and a dark blue t-shirt, I walked downstairs to cook breakfast. Once it was ready Marie stumbled downstairs, still half asleep, she made her plate and disappeared back up to her room without a word. Mother was still resting so I made her a plate and put it in the microwave for her to heat up later.

I kept myself distracted by cleaning up the kitchen and doing the last of the laundry that I hadn't finished yesterday. Folding some of Mother's shirts, I thought about the previous day of swimming with the guys, I only had a couple more hours until I was supposed to go with them to the mall. The mall would be crowded with people and where there are people there would be spirits. I wouldn't have Liza there to keep the spirits away like she usually did and this made me extremely nervous. I just hoped that I don't make a fool of myself in front of the guys.

I spend the next couple of hours tidying up the house and when there was nothing left for me to do, I curled up on my window seat and read. I think I must of read the same page a dozen times as I tried to not let myself worry about my guardian. When it was finally time to leave, I pulled my hair into a clip and slipped on my shoes then I was sneaking out of the house and across the street to the house I had seen Nathan and Kota at the other day.