Those That Slither | ON HOLD

Three

Through a dense fence of fog, a face finally came into view. The man with the gray hair lining his oil slick ponytail smiled at her. But it was no ordinary smile. It was a sadisttic, bone chilling sneer in which he wore. His dark eyes twinkled as his lips parted, "Pretty little native girl. Bleed for me."

The voice.

Leah's eyes opened and she blinked through sweaty eyelids. The voice that had invaded Alice's mouth was so unfamiliar because she had only heard it once. It belonged to the man at the library, she was sure.

She looked around her dark room, listening for any slithering home invaders. The sound of Beo snoring away and the wind howling outside her window was all she could hear. She sat up rubbing her eyes.

That man hadn't seemed like a threat when she saw him, although he gave her chills. But the aftermath of their seemingly harmless encounter was really putting her in a tense place. Never did she think she would be so restless in her own home. She leaned over to her cherry oak nightstand and opened a small drawer.

From the shuffle of odds and ends, she retrieved a necklace with a stone hanging from it. The white stome, with swirls of silver in it seemed to shine in her dark room as if it were catching the moonlight.

Leah had woken up multiple times throughout the night and now she'd had enough. She held the stome between her palms and whispered an old prayer into it. Her words, the words of a Tamanaka prayer, were smooth and sounded exotic in the night silence.

Sighing and dropping the necklace over her head, she held tight to it as it dangled from around her neck. The stone was from her tribe, and made for protection and to soothe a restless soul- just the thing she needed. From growing up with a pure native family, she'd learned a few things that she'd always carry with her.

The Tamanaka tribe she'd come from were very in tune with energy and the world around them, always seeming to have a remedy for whatever they endured. Along with their crafty souls, they did have a lot of emotional problems, of which Leah blamed her highs and lows. But deep inside she wouldn't trade it for gold.

As she flicked on her table lamp, she squint her eyes and peered around before sliding out of bed and wandering to her bay window.  The curtains weren't closed and she got a perfect view of the night sky. Stars glistened and the moon shone like a silver dollar in the onyx backdrop. Sitting on a small bench in front of the window,  she stared out watching the trees blow in the wind.

Leaves spiraled in the gusts and odd branches and twigs flew by. Fall was her favorite season of the year. Leah leaned her arms on the window pane, resting her head in her hands. As pretty as the moonlit scene was beyond her glass window, all she wanted to do was sleep. She felt her eyes getting heavy as the wind howled once more. I just want to sleep. Sleep without another nightmare.

-----

"Leah! Leah, wake up!"

The sound of Alice hollering woke her up with a startle. Falling backwards off the bench, she hit the floor with a thud. A grunt escaped her lips before Leah looked up to see Alice standing in the doorway with a mask of worry on her face. Immediately, she straightened up and rushed before her, "What's wrong?"

"It's Beo, he's going mad at the back door!"

"What?" She moved around Alice nearly knocking her over and began running towards the sound of her companion's angry bark. It was full of aggression and hearing the animalistic growl reverberating from his chest was unnerving. Beo rarely was angry, it took a good threat to get him going. Leah ran up behind him, calling out his name.