Seraphina's Awakening

Chapter Twenty Three: Hostility

After what can only be described as a long day, Sera is finally heading home. She feels as though she could cry again. She always knew there was something different about her; she always knew she was waiting for something. Only, what she wasn't expecting was the fact that her presence alone could put the people she loves at risk. Risk for possession, risk for harm, and even risk for death. She doesn't even want to imagine her parents with red eyes; she shivers at the unwelcomed thought.

Finally pulling up to the little blue farmhouse, she steps out of the car. As soon as she closes the door behind her, she's hit with that gut feeling again. The bad one—the one that screams trouble. Her necklace is no longer pulsing at her throat, it's maintaining its solid glow. All the hairs on her neck are standing at full attention. She tosses her purse onto the hood of her car, and her body immediately taking a defensive stance. A cool breeze filters through her sweater as the naked branches of the trees surrounding her sway like creepy fingers against the dark night sky. Another cold breeze hits, and it carries with it that putrid smell of garbage... and something else. The smell is so strong, she can taste it in her mouth. Gagging, she scans the deserted street.

The houses that line the left side of the street have all gone dark, not a single light to be found. The night around her is silent. Not a cricket or owl in the trees, it's a haunting silence that envelopes everything around her. It's like the street is stuck in a bubble.

Sera finds herself squinting toward the dead end of her street, the shadows from the dense woods hiding all their secrets. Something is there.

Her instincts take over, closing her eyes; she attempts to clear her mind. Blacking out her feelings is what makes her take focus. There's something else in the smell. It smells like sulfur and rotting garbage. Almost like that time she burned her hand on her curling iron. Her entire room had this gross smell to it. It reeked of... burned flesh.

She gasps her eyes fluttering open. Her feet take a step toward the dead end. She stares at the shadows ahead of her, willing them to show her what they hide. Slowly, as she focuses, a dark figure appears in the wood. It appears to be getting... bigger. It's coming closer.

Get out of there.

The internal voice is screaming at her. Every fiber of her being is telling her to run, but the closer the figure gets the more it appears human. Human, only it's approaching on all fours like an animal. Sera's heart is racing inside her chest. Especially, when the smell only gets stronger, more agonizing. She also begins to pick up a clicking noise echoing from the approaching shadow.

Seraphina, get out of there!

No. She has spent her entire life in hiding. Whatever it is that is happening to her or coming for her, it's going to come to a head tonight. This is going to stop here, one way, or another. She'd rather die taking a stand than cowering in fear for the rest of her life.

The closer the figure gets, the more repulsed Sera begins to feel. It's not just about the smell any longer. The thing has set off some internal alarm in her brain. The night grows colder and colder, her heart increases, her palms grow sweaty from clamping them so hard. Her breath increases causing little puffs to appear in front of her. What is this thing?

Her feet feel like they are stuck in cement. Maybe, she should have run. That voice has never been wrong before. Even if she wanted to, her body doesn't seem to cooperate. This must be what shock feels like. The clicking is growing louder with each step. It isn't until the figure finally leaps over the guardrail and into a spotlight of moonlight on the street that she can finally see what it is. It is a she.