Looking Through The Veil

Prologue: The Figure In The Corner

I, Terah White, was five years old when I first showed my mother the black figure in the corner of my pink bedroom. It had always been there, in the corner to the left of the closet and to the right of the first window you see when walking through the door; standing tall with white glowing eyes. It had been there for as long as I could remember; always watching, never doing. Sometimes when I was coloring it would tilt its head as if curious and I, being the sweet innocent child I was, would always move closer and attempt to let it draw alongside me. It still never moved, not even to grab the green crayon I had been trying to give it. I was ok with that; I would always hold-one sided conversations with it, taking comfort in its presence whenever the other children would mock me for my oddly colored eyes and fatherless home.

"Mathew pushed me off the swings today", I had once stated, showing the shadow of my scraped knee. It didn't respond, but I swore I saw its eyes flash.

When I learned to read, it became one of my favorite past times. I would always pick a book off the shelf, curl up in its corner, and read aloud. I would point out pictures of things I found interesting or stop for a second to talk about a character I enjoyed. Of course, nothing as strange as a friendship between a little girl and a shadowy figure could stay secret forever; one day while I was reading my mother was watching from the doorway. I hadn't known she was there, but it wouldn't have made a difference anyway; I was still very naive.

My mom had always kept me close; I was her little sunshine and I knew she loved me. She loved me enough to leave my jerk of a father to keep me. I had a very odd appearance from the second I was born. I had white-blond hair even when both my parents had black, and extremely pale skin leaving me to look slightly like a porcelain doll. The strangest thing about my appearance, however, was my heterochromatic eyes, the left an icy blue and the right a pale green; my eyes were what drove my father away. Evan was his name, and he was apparently extremely excited for my birth, that is until he held me. The minute the man saw my eyes he nearly dropped me. Monster was the only thing on his mind and had managed to hold himself together until they got home from the hospital. He went off on his wife, demanding she get rid of the "demon-spawn" as he had dubbed me, saying I was nothing but pure evil. My mother, bless her heart, was in shock at the demands, clutching me to her chest; was this truly the man she had married?

My mother, Mary, had spoken to him in a firm voice saying, "If you want your daughter gone then I'm leaving right along with her."

Evan pointed to the door, "Then you better start packing." Mom did, and that was that. She packed up her things and rented a small, two-bedroom apartment in a small town in Louisiana; far away from her husband. I remember the night she told me all this. I had come home from preschool asking why all the other children had a daddy and I didn't. I was teary-eyed by the end of her tale, blaming myself for ruining her perfect life with my father. She had quickly stopped me from apologizing and said that I stole her heart the minute I looked at her. She said that if he loved her enough he would have loved me too by default. I still feel bad about it. I was the one that made her give up her future with the man she defied her mother to marry. The last time she and grandma Ida talked was right after the whole problem had ensued, and they haven't spoken since.

But my mother loved me anyway and that was just a fact. I looked up from my book at the figure standing above me, who had its gaze fixed on the pages.

"What do you think?" I asked, pointing at an image on the page, "I like the rabbit, he's my favorite." I hadn't noticed my mother's brow furrow from the space in the door frame and continued to talk oblivious to her growing confusion. "The cat's cool too. I wish I could always land on my feet." Its eyes blinked slowly in response before its head snapped up, looking towards the door. My head tilted and I followed its gaze to see my mother had walked into the room. "Oh! Hi momma!" I giggled through two missing teeth.