Silence Tells the Cruelest of Lies

Two months passed quickly, and by some form of a miracle, I managed to stay clear of Matt. I kept Ryder by my side on a constant basis, simply for his safety. I would not allow Matt to poison, maim, cut, or touch my son in any way ever again. I even went so far as to have several female servants fix up a spare bedroom for myself and the children. Matt hadn't show much interest in Aileen, given that she was born of his seed, but I wasn't going to risk it.

I was six months along in my pregnancy, and I had been debating on a name for my little girl. With Ryder and Aileen, the names bad just burst into my brain with no warning or reason. But this child…this child's name was not coming easily.

"Name da baby Fifi, Mommy!" Ryder said with a giggle. "Dat's a girwy name."

Yes, but Fifi's a silly name, don't you think?, I asked just as happily, tickling his nose. He pushed my hands and away, and so I next turned to my daughter, sitting next to me on the bed. What do you think we should name the new baby, Aileen?, I asked.

"Ry-er!" she squealed, reached for her brother. 

Let's look through the name book a little more, shall we?, I suggested. Ryder nodded and snuggled beneath my left arm. Aileen, being the follower she was, mimicked his actions on my right arm. The three of us flipped the pages of the baby name book for a bit, and soon both of my young children were asleep. I smiled at the sight of their sleeping forms. Children it seemed were at their cutest when they were sleeping. I marked my page in the name book and carefully set it aside. I laid my head gently atop Ryder's and fell quickly to sleep, thinking baby names as I went.

Lexi…

Adelyn…

Rory…

Naomi…

Nadia…

Entire cities were on fire. I could people screaming for their loved ones, others pleading for their lives. Corpses littered the street, tossed aside to rot. My stomach lurched at the sight and the smell. Who would do such awful things? Suddenly a deep, evil laugh filled the air. It seemed to have no source, yet it seemed to come from everywhere. 

"Soon the time will come for the human race to bow down," the voice warned ominously. "All will pay for how they have treated my kind. No longer will the monsters be forced to linger in the shadows. The dawning of a new age is here."

You are a monster, I spat at him. How could you do such things to innocent people?

"You may think I am evil," he replied cooly. "But there is blood on your hands as well, Calyx."

Not believing him, I looked down at my hands and saw that they were in fact covered in blood, black as ink. I let out a shriek that made no sound, and he cackled. I fell to the ground, pawing at the grass to rid my hands of the the blood with which they were stained, but it was all in vain. The blood on my hands was proof of what I didn't want to believe.

I was a monster, too.

I shot awake, breathing hard. I raised my shaking hands to my face, and released a sigh of relief when I realized that the blood had been a part of my nightmare. Meanwhile, as I recovered from the horrors of my nightmare, both of my children were blinking awake, having been upset from their sleeping positions by my jolting awake. Aileen, still being as young as she was, began to whine loudly, and I pulled her into my arms.

Ryder, however, chose to voice his annoyance at having been woken up in a different manner. "Mommy," he grouched. "Why you wake me up? I sweepy!"

I'm sorry, Ryder, I crooned to him as I rocked Aileen in my arms. Mommy didn't mean to wake you and Aileen up.

"Mommy have bad dream?" Ryder asked curiously, his grogginess and irritation beginning to fade. Reluctantly, I nodded. I wasn't comfortable with my son knowing my troubles, especially with him being so young. "Here, you have Mr. Froggy," he said, handing me a stuffed frog Jimmy had given him. "He top bad dreams."

Thank you, Ryder, I replied with a smile. Now let's all try and go back to sleep.

Needless to say, Ryder was out like a light almost immediately. It took a little soothing on my part to coax Aileen to sleep, but it didn't take long. Soon enough, both of my children were asleep and I was left alone to stare at the dark. 

I decided to take this time to ponder my dream, or rather my nightmare. I knew it wasn't just a run-of-the-mill nightmare. This nightmare meant something. To me, it seemed like a warning, an omen, of what was to come. But then that would mean that Matt's war with the humans would escalate into what I'd seen in my nightmare. Entire cities burnt to the ground, people left for dead on the side of the road. And I couldn't let that happen! 

But how could I stop it?