Skin and Bones
Prologue
Prologue
Some kind of electricity crackles along my skin. I don’t understand it, but I know there’s something dark about it. Something bad - and yet enticing.
And then there’s the something inside of me, fighting against this darkness, struggling to fend it off.
Both energies are just as powerful as the other, both evenly matched. No matter how they try to overthrow one another, they fail.
I wake gasping for breath, my legs twisted in my bed-sheets and sweat making strangles of hair stick to my face and neck.
I stand uneasily, almost tripping over in the process, my mind whirling. Already I can feel the dream beginning to fade away, beginning to get forgotten.
I stumble into the bathroom and stare at myself in the mirror reflection.
My face glistens with sweat. My pink lips are parted as I gasp for breath and my dark eyes are wide. My dark hair which usually falls in loose curls; is limp and unkempt, sticking to my skin. My skin has always had a olive tone to it – but right now it’s a chalky white.
I try to remember the dream. I try to focus on it but I can’t, every time it skips away.
Still looking at my reflection, I force myself to laugh, to watch the way my mouth stretches open and my eyes crinkle. Even to myself it sounds slightly hysterical.
I shake my head with a small sigh as I walk back to my bedroom. My eyes flicker to my alarm. 5:47AM. Fantastic – I have to get up in an hour or so. What’s the point in going back to sleep?
Instead I find myself moving towards my wardrobe and getting dressed. I pick out black skinnies and my baggy green jump – the thickness of it has kept me warm through many winter days.
It’s still pitch black when I enter the kitchen, flicking the light on. Fixing myself a bowl of chocolate shreddies, I feel almost on autopilot, sluggish and tired – my eyes still sticking together.
A strange noise from the living room snaps me out of this state of being. I find myself wide awake suddenly as I make my way towards the room. A loud clicking and whirring fills the room as I step into it.
The door slams shut behind me and I’m enveloped into darkness. I stand with my heart hammering, feeling sick to my stomach as the noises only get loud, echoing around me.
The television set switches on suddenly, the fuzzy screen my only light. It cackles and jerks, small grey dots covering every inch of the screen.
And then a laugh moves around the room like velvet, swirling around me, followed by a whisper.
“Glacies, Glaciei, Ignis, Aqua, Terra, Ventus... Bestia.”
The voice is distuishable – I can’t tell whether it’s male or female. And I can’t tell what the words mean either – what language are they? French? Japanese? Greek? I have no idea. I never really picked up on other languages, just my own.
The voice repeats the words twice more in the same order in a very soothing, tantalising manner.
Then, before I can try to work out what exactly is going on, something like lightning, a flash shakes the world around me – and then a man stands before me.
It’s not light enough to see his features, to work out what he looks like, his expression or even the colour of his hair.
And then they begin to gleam. His eyes. They look startingly out of place in the darkness – and reminds me of the Cheshire Cat.
Pale, pale blue. Once I look into those eyes, I can feel myself falling, drowning beneath a wave of darkness. I have this terrible desire to collapse into his arms.
There’s something else, too. Something overwhelming. It takes me a moment to realise but... I know those eyes. They’re as familiar as my own.
Before I can blink, he’s in front of me, inches away. One of his arms slip around me, pinning my arms – not that I’m putting up much of a fight. His face looms over mine, eyes bright in the darkness.
“Mon Cherie.” He whispers, his lips brushing my ear.
I feel an odd warmth at his voice, haunting, beautiful – overpowering. His lips move along my cheek and pause at the corner of my mouth.
Now I try to pull back, but I feel sluggish and almost sleepy, like I want to sink into the darkness that surrounds him.
“What? Who?” I try to speak but my words are jumbled and incoherent.
He pulls back an presses his fingers to my lips. Instead, he simply repeats the words from before. “Glacies, Glaciei, Ignis, Aqua, Terra, Ventus... Bestia.”
His voice is soft, powerful – I find myself shivering in response, my skin prickling, the hair standing on edge.
On the last word, his finger trails down my chin and drops. I squint at his face, trying to see him... but all I can see is those eyes – eyes that seem to be smiling.
“Now sleep.” And I do.
Some kind of electricity crackles along my skin. I don’t understand it, but I know there’s something dark about it. Something bad - and yet enticing.
And then there’s the something inside of me, fighting against this darkness, struggling to fend it off.
Both energies are just as powerful as the other, both evenly matched. No matter how they try to overthrow one another, they fail.
I wake gasping for breath, my legs twisted in my bed-sheets and sweat making strangles of hair stick to my face and neck.
I stand uneasily, almost tripping over in the process, my mind whirling. Already I can feel the dream beginning to fade away, beginning to get forgotten.
I stumble into the bathroom and stare at myself in the mirror reflection.
My face glistens with sweat. My pink lips are parted as I gasp for breath and my dark eyes are wide. My dark hair which usually falls in loose curls; is limp and unkempt, sticking to my skin. My skin has always had a olive tone to it – but right now it’s a chalky white.
I try to remember the dream. I try to focus on it but I can’t, every time it skips away.
Still looking at my reflection, I force myself to laugh, to watch the way my mouth stretches open and my eyes crinkle. Even to myself it sounds slightly hysterical.
I shake my head with a small sigh as I walk back to my bedroom. My eyes flicker to my alarm. 5:47AM. Fantastic – I have to get up in an hour or so. What’s the point in going back to sleep?
Instead I find myself moving towards my wardrobe and getting dressed. I pick out black skinnies and my baggy green jump – the thickness of it has kept me warm through many winter days.
It’s still pitch black when I enter the kitchen, flicking the light on. Fixing myself a bowl of chocolate shreddies, I feel almost on autopilot, sluggish and tired – my eyes still sticking together.
A strange noise from the living room snaps me out of this state of being. I find myself wide awake suddenly as I make my way towards the room. A loud clicking and whirring fills the room as I step into it.
The door slams shut behind me and I’m enveloped into darkness. I stand with my heart hammering, feeling sick to my stomach as the noises only get loud, echoing around me.
The television set switches on suddenly, the fuzzy screen my only light. It cackles and jerks, small grey dots covering every inch of the screen.
And then a laugh moves around the room like velvet, swirling around me, followed by a whisper.
“Glacies, Glaciei, Ignis, Aqua, Terra, Ventus... Bestia.”
The voice is distuishable – I can’t tell whether it’s male or female. And I can’t tell what the words mean either – what language are they? French? Japanese? Greek? I have no idea. I never really picked up on other languages, just my own.
The voice repeats the words twice more in the same order in a very soothing, tantalising manner.
Then, before I can try to work out what exactly is going on, something like lightning, a flash shakes the world around me – and then a man stands before me.
It’s not light enough to see his features, to work out what he looks like, his expression or even the colour of his hair.
And then they begin to gleam. His eyes. They look startingly out of place in the darkness – and reminds me of the Cheshire Cat.
Pale, pale blue. Once I look into those eyes, I can feel myself falling, drowning beneath a wave of darkness. I have this terrible desire to collapse into his arms.
There’s something else, too. Something overwhelming. It takes me a moment to realise but... I know those eyes. They’re as familiar as my own.
Before I can blink, he’s in front of me, inches away. One of his arms slip around me, pinning my arms – not that I’m putting up much of a fight. His face looms over mine, eyes bright in the darkness.
“Mon Cherie.” He whispers, his lips brushing my ear.
I feel an odd warmth at his voice, haunting, beautiful – overpowering. His lips move along my cheek and pause at the corner of my mouth.
Now I try to pull back, but I feel sluggish and almost sleepy, like I want to sink into the darkness that surrounds him.
“What? Who?” I try to speak but my words are jumbled and incoherent.
He pulls back an presses his fingers to my lips. Instead, he simply repeats the words from before. “Glacies, Glaciei, Ignis, Aqua, Terra, Ventus... Bestia.”
His voice is soft, powerful – I find myself shivering in response, my skin prickling, the hair standing on edge.
On the last word, his finger trails down my chin and drops. I squint at his face, trying to see him... but all I can see is those eyes – eyes that seem to be smiling.
“Now sleep.” And I do.