Secrets Within the Resounding Sound

Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

About three hours later, Juni finally fell asleep, she was curled up in her bed, her hands clasped and a faint frown on her face. I left her alone knowing that sleep is what she needed. She still hadn't told me what exactly she had seen. It frightened me, knowing that she had been scared so badly. I sat on my bed holding the stuffed panther in my hands, thinking.

When the sun finally went down, I tried to get sleep of my own. But I could find no solace in closing my eyes against what I did not know. Like Juni, I was becoming afraid. even if I knew it would happen in the future, there might never be a possibility of changing it.

My world had changed in a matter of days. The change has been for good and now I wanted to do something for Juni, but what was I able to do? I could not think of anything that would be able to help her. As I sat there, I became more lost in my thoughts, thinking that the only thing I could do was stay by her side.

It took me awhile to notice that the room had become darker than it should have been. My eyes could not adjust because the darkness seemed abnormal. Instantly, I became worried for Juni and looked over to make sure she was alright. When I looked over, there was no one on the bed. Now completely wary, I squeezed the panther toy in my hands. It felt reassuring but at the same time it reminded me of my dream so many weeks ago.

I expected the monster bugs from my dream to appear, but luckily they never did. Instead, from the shadows against where the door should have been, a form of a man begin to pull itself away. His entire being was pitch black, his hair, his eyes, even all the way to his skin. It was not a normal black, it was the black of looking into a wormhole, fathomless, and more frightening than most everything the human race knew. When the man finally stepped away from the shadows, he turned toward me, taking a slight step.

"Get away from me," I told the man, he did not appear to listen to me, just took another step. I scurried back against my bed, the small panther still within my hands. I could not tell what made the man stop but he paused, still almost blending in with the darkness behind him.

"Do not be afraid of me." The man's voice was deep, rich and vaguely familiar. As the man took another step, all of the shadows seemed to fall off of him. It was like he had stepped through fog and that fog had erased all evidence of the shadows. Where shadows had once stood, the man from my dreams with the tattoos appeared, staring at me from the end of my bed. I realized then that the tattoos that I had seen before we're actually the pinpoints where the shadows came from. Even the one beneath his eye, it had yet returned, probably still enveloped in the darkness behind him. I could not move from where I sat, my mind blank.

"Echo," my name was whispered so softly, I almost didn't even hear it. "They're trying to find you, I cannot do anything, I am still weak, lost in between worlds. All I can do is hope my powers are still within you like they were so long ago."

"What do you mean?"

"You are a part of me, you are my son." He reached my side, this entity, and reached out a hand towards my face. I flinched back, but had nowhere to go. His hand touched my face, but his hand was warm; it was unexpected.

Those luminous blue eyes that I had been afraid of my first few days at the academy, stared into mine, my reflection casting away all darkness. My eyes were his. The exact shade.

He blinked once, and smiled. "You look so like your mother, I wish I could see her." He sighed, it was sorrowful, and lonely. "I'm sorry this is all I can do." With the final smile on his face, I felt his Tama flow into my skull. It was a fierce power. It felt like everything was beginning and ending at the same time.