End of Time

Chapter 2

Nieve pressed her small hands against her ears as a shrill scream pierced through the house. Her sister’s to be correct. She made her way up the stairs looking left and right, making sure the strange men weren’t there. Family members ran out in front of her, trying to find a hiding place, no one noticed her. It was the middle of the night and everyone had been woken up but the screams and shouts that had erupted throughout the household but what had woken Nieve up was a cruel laugh. It was like the Joker had entered her home.
Nieve’s bare feet stopped as her blue eyes widened, at the end of the corridor in front of her, the wall was on fire. The curtains had been lit and the flames were making their way across and up the walls. She just stood there and watched, her hands still pressed against her ears as she stood in her cream nightgown.
Her aunt Nina came out of one of the bedrooms, her two-year-old son clutched against her. She turned her head and her eyes landed on Nieve and the fire “Nieve!” she screamed as the flames got closer to her youngest niece. She past her son off to one of the maids before she ran and grabbed Nieve.
“Aunty Nina! There’s strange men in the kitchen and they have Daddy! And he’s there!” the young girl’s voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. Nina pulled the young girl up to the third floor of the house, “He? who’s he?” concern was laced in her voice as she looked cautiously around her. “the man from my bad dreams, Aunty Nina!” the 8-year-old said with no realization that it wasn’t a good thing
Nina pulled the child to a stop and kneeled in front of her, her hands held a tight grip on Nieve’s shoulders “what did he look like?!” panic was now taking over, she shook her niece’s shoulders “Nieve! Tell me!!” she was beginning to scare Nieve
Nieve’s lip trembling and her eyes filled with tears as she recalled what the man looked like and how her aunt was acting “he didn’t have a face” she whispered
Nina’s eyes widened and she hugged the young girl as tears slid down her face “it’s going to be okay, we just have to find a hiding place for you okay?”
“everyone’s going to be okay?” Nieve asked as she sniffled
Nina stood up and look at Nieve, she couldn’t promise anything. She had just found out that the most innocent one in the family was slowly being tortured in her sleep. Nina nodded “everything’s going to be okay” she grabbed Nieve’s hand and pulled her into one of the spare rooms.
It was worn down with its wallpaper falling off and dusty floor. The old iron bed was pressed against the far wall and at the head of the bed was a small old-fashioned window. “quickly! hide under the bed!” she ushered Nieve under the bed and pressed a finger to her lips “don’t make a sound okay? You stay right here until someone comes and gets you okay?” she whispered. Nieve nodded and pushed herself back under the bed until her small feet were pressed against the wall as she lay on her stomach, she watched as her Aunt’s feet disappeared out the door.

Nieve could still hear screams and shouts, she could even hear the fire blazing downstairs. She prayed that it wouldn’t climb up the stairs. She titled her head to the side so she could see out the small window, she bit her lip as a gasp tried to escape her lips.
It was snowing.
In August.
She closed her eyes tight. I’m going crazy, and I’m only eight! she told herself.
She could hear shouts coming from outside. “where’s Nieve?! Where is my sister?!” Nieve’s eldest brother, Shane, shouted. She heard another scream but it was cut short.
Everything went quiet. The sound of Nieve’s scared breathing filled her ears, her breath began to become visible as the house dropped in temperature.
“Snow? Come out, come out where ever you are!” a voice echoed, their footsteps clunked on the wooden floor. “we know you’re here Snow White”
She didn’t like that they called her Snow, it sounded like dirt when it came from their lips. But when A said it, it was like actual snow as stupid as it sounds.
“we’re not going to hurt you,” another voice joined before both the voices chuckled “yet”
Both of the strangers feet came into view, Nieve bit her tongue to suppress a scream.
“Snow White…” one of the men sung “with hair as dark as a raven and lips as red as blood. Your pale skin like snow, like me drink from you and take your soul”
Nieve began to shake with fear, she had nightmares like this but he had always came and saved her. A had always saved her.
She pressed her hands against the cold wood floor as her tears dripped onto the floor, A said he would be close, he had saved her once why couldn’t he save her again?
Smash!
The strangers retreated back out of the room quickly, Nieve listened as their footsteps stomped down the stairs. She could hear a commotion coming from deeper in the house, her heart began to thump harder in her chest as the thought of more people coming into her house dawned on her.
“you know, this isn’t the most comfortable hiding place?”
Nieve jumped when she looked next to her to see a man with a mohawk lying uncomfortably beside her under the bed, she opened her mouth to let out a scream but the man covered her mouth with his hand “shush! Calm down I’m not going to hurt you! I’m friends with your dad!”
She looked at him and tried to pry his hand off her mouth, “you’re not going to scream?” the man asked and Nieve nodded. He removed his hand and let out a sigh, “how old are you?”
“eight” Nieve gave him a soft smile
“Ange ain’t going to be happy about this” he mumbled as he looked around him. The young girl watched as he pressed his ear against the ground, his eyes darted around the room. “come on, I think the coast is clear” he said before pushing himself out from under the bed, he kneel down and helped Nieve out.
“who are those men?” she asked as they walked down the stairs, she noticed how the dust clung to her nightgown mommy isn’t going to be happy about this
“bad men” he said, his combat boots banged against the ground
“you should tell your feet to be quieter” Nieve whispered as she looked around her. The man chuckled and continued walking.
The house was in darkness, the fire had been put out and no one was to be seen. The temperature rose and Nieve began to get warmer.
When they reached the bottom floor, Nieve could hear voices. One of them was angry
“they’ve crossed the line!” the voice said “we have lost our leader and his mate has lost her sight!”
“they came for the child! Obviously they couldn’t wait till she was of age” another voice muttered
“they could have killed her Chris! She’s only 8-years-old!”
Nieve knew they were talking about her, she looked up at the man who guided her down the stairs “why are they angry?”
The man didn’t answer, he walked into the living room with the child at his heels. Nieve looked at the five men that stood in her living room, two were face to face shouting at each other, one was a lot taller than the other. She covered her ears and the three other men noticed her, the man with the mohawk pushed himself between the two men trying to break them up, Nieve’s eyes landed on one of them and a smile appeared on her face
“A!” she squeaked as she ran over to the man who was clothed in black just like the rest of the men, she clung onto his leg. She had missed him even though they had only met once.
Everyone stopped and stared at the child and A, they look at each other cautiously, worried for the girl’s safety. One of the men who looked like Edward Scissorhands came and tried to pry Nieve away from A,
“No! he’s not going to hurt me! He’s my friend!” she cried into the strangers shoulder as he sat her down at the far side of the room were another man was standing, Nieve looked at all the men who all stared back at her “there’s so much pain in your eyes” she whispered quietly as more tears fell down her face
A and the tall one began talking in hushed voices, the one with the mohawk began to light the fire.
“you’re Nieve right?” the Edward Scissorhands look-a-like asked her, she nodded “what’s your name?” she asked
“Devin but you can call me Ghost” he replied and he gave her a crooked smile when she shyly held out her hand for him to shake. He did so and nodded towards the man who stood behind them “that’s Ricky” Nieve turned around and bit on the sleeve of her night gown as she gave Ricky a wave “I like your hair” she said making Ricky chuckle.
“why are they angry?” she asked yet again and Ghost and Ricky exchanged a look. “they aren’t happy that those men came looking for you”
“I don’t think you can call their friend ‘a man’ he had no face, just like in my nightmares” Nieve said staring into Ghost’s eyes.
He frowned. He was about to say something when a crash came from behind him. A had broken a glass coffee table. “mommy isn’t going to be happy about that” Nieve said making A look at her, his eyes were bright red. He was angry but his features softened. He sat down on the couch and put his face in his hands.
Nieve walked over to him slowly, “Chris..” Ghost said. But the tall one put a hand up watching the child make her way over to A.
She peeled his hands away from his face, “your hands are freezing!” she gasped before she placed his hands on her face and put her tiny hands on top of them. She stared into his gray blue eyes, he watched her “Daddy always did this when I was cold”
“well I’m cold all the time” he chuckled slightly
“I knew you would come” she said quietly “don’t be angry, bad things happen for a reason.”
A removed his hands, he looked up at the tall man. “you understand now why I am so angry about them coming for her”
Nieve turned and walked over to the tall man, her bare feet patted on the floor “your tall” she said absent-mindedly. “I’m Chris” he gave her a smile, the flames from the fireplace reflected off his lip piercings. “do you like Oreos?” she asked as she put her hand in the pocket of her nightgown and pulled out an Oreo “they make my little brother happy when he’s angry or upset.” she held it out to Chris, it was a bit crushed but Chris took it, he didn’t want to make her upset.
“who were those men? Mohawk man over there said they’re bad men but why did they come here, what do they want with me?” she looked at the men around her, each was same but different in their own unique ways
“look your safe now and you will be until your older, we will look out for you. You’re our responsibility now” Chris said making Nieve know that he was the leader of the six. He was wearing a suit but the other wore black shirts and pants.
Nieve sighed, she didn’t like being treated like a child even though she was one but she understood things that were serious.
“and my name’s Balz by the way” she looked at the mohawk guy who was standing by the fire place with another man with long black hair, “I’m Ryan” he nodded
Nieve looked at all the men “so many names and faces to remember” she muttered before she looked at A “you’re going to leave me again aren’t you?”
A nodded sadly before quietly saying something to Ryan.
“can I talk to her alone please?” A asked standing up from the couch. His friends nodded and left the room.
“have I done something wrong?” Nieve asked
A chuckled “no, just come here” he said motioning for her to come to him. She did so and he crouched down to her height and put his hands on her shoulders “you’re probably going to see me more okay? And you’re not going to be scare or hurt anymore, I’m going to protect you from those men that came tonight”
She nodded “does that mean you’re my friend?” she smiled slightly
He laughed and pulled her into a hug “always”
“I’ve never had a friend before” she laughed and held on tightly to him before he let go and took something out of his pocket. Nieve’s eyes widened and a smile spread across her face as she looked at the small snow globe, it had a large snowflake in the middle with her name engraved on it.
“I know I missed your birthday by a couple of months but here,” he handed her the snow globe and kissed the top of her head “happy birthday Snow”

That was the last thing she remembers of that night. She woke up in hospital the next morning, where she found out that her mother had gone blind and her father had passed away. Her Aunt Nina couldn’t look at her. She was sent to a therapist about her nightmares, but it didn’t help in any way. She was branded as the ‘crazy girl’ as she got older. Her family didn’t like it when she talked about A but her mother did, she saw him from time to time and something even his friends. The most recent visit from him happened on her sixteenth birthday, soon enough he just disappeared and she forgot about him. But the dreams stayed with her always.