Secrets Past, my work in progress and the last in the series.
William lost all idea of time and direction as the loss of blood sapped his strength and clouded his mind. His last fall to the ground barely registered. Scattered, random thoughts came and went, as did his consciousness. His younger sister would be all alone in the world if he died. If he lived and succeeded in his mission, she would never see him again and still believe him to be dead. Damned if he did. Damned if he didn’t. If he died, would he see his mother and father again, on the other side? Would they at last be happy and smiling as he remembered them in his childhood, before the attack? |
Slowly, he became aware of the silence; silence all around him but for his own raspy, labored breathing. The nearby tawny owl ceased his eerie call. Even the wind, that had howled all day long, died.
A single tiny pinpoint of light appeared in the bare limbs above him and quickly grew in intensity. Was this the end? His end? Had he failed in his mission? Would others, countless others, now suffer and perish due to his failure?
The light was joined by another and then another. Soon the tree tops glowed, all around him, as if aflame.
A movement or a noise—which he was not certain—brought his attention around to his left. He peered into the
outer darkness, beyond the strangely glowing trees.
“Who’s there?” he called out, his voice as weak as he felt. “Show yourself.”
He strained to see. No one answered. No one appeared. His gaze wondered back to the ethereal lights above. Was this what death looked like? Was this the gateway to the other side, to his next life? Or his eternal end? His eyelids
grew heavy.
Again he sensed a presence to his left. His breath caught in his throat. What was not there a second ago, stood
studying him with her pale, blue eyes glowing whitish against the shadows on her weathered face. The woman, bent and wrinkled from a long, hard life, slowly smiled.
“You did not believe the last time we met. Do you now?”
“Witch,” he rasped. “I knew you were a witch the first time I laid eyes on you.”
Her yellowed teeth gleamed and the tips of her silvery hair blazed in the ghostly light from above as she threw her head
back and cackled.
She grew serious, her pale eyes narrowing. “You still do not truly believe, even after what you have seen
in your own mind’s eye.”
“What I have seen? You talk in riddles, old woman.”
“In your dreams. You have seen the inevitable. The end.”
His chest tightened at the mere mention of his nightmares, nightmares that had plagued his sleep for months. “How do you know of my…dreams?”
“It is not how I know of them that is important. It is what I know of them. Do you remember the warning I gave you?”
He glared at the old woman, anger building with his every breath. She was the pinnacle of his torment, this witch, this evil specter. His life had been irrevocably altered, since the day he’d met her. Before that day he had been blissfully
unaware.
“You have a long and treacherous journey ahead of you, Keeper,” she stated again, as she had that day, the day
his life ceased to be his own to live. “A dark angel awaits you. She can be your salvation or bring about your ruin. The choice is yours.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “More riddles. You and Kimble both speak in riddles.” He forced his heavy
eyelids to obey one last time and they opened to find only empty blackness where she had stood.
He fought against it with what little strength he still possessed, but darkness descended upon his mind and his
eyes would stay open no longer. His strength seeped from his body as surely as his blood.
An unknown, soft, feminine voice began very near his side but quickly faded away into the shrouding mists in his
mind.
"We've waited so long for you, William. Fear not. All will be well."
A single tiny pinpoint of light appeared in the bare limbs above him and quickly grew in intensity. Was this the end? His end? Had he failed in his mission? Would others, countless others, now suffer and perish due to his failure?
The light was joined by another and then another. Soon the tree tops glowed, all around him, as if aflame.
A movement or a noise—which he was not certain—brought his attention around to his left. He peered into the
outer darkness, beyond the strangely glowing trees.
“Who’s there?” he called out, his voice as weak as he felt. “Show yourself.”
He strained to see. No one answered. No one appeared. His gaze wondered back to the ethereal lights above. Was this what death looked like? Was this the gateway to the other side, to his next life? Or his eternal end? His eyelids
grew heavy.
Again he sensed a presence to his left. His breath caught in his throat. What was not there a second ago, stood
studying him with her pale, blue eyes glowing whitish against the shadows on her weathered face. The woman, bent and wrinkled from a long, hard life, slowly smiled.
“You did not believe the last time we met. Do you now?”
“Witch,” he rasped. “I knew you were a witch the first time I laid eyes on you.”
Her yellowed teeth gleamed and the tips of her silvery hair blazed in the ghostly light from above as she threw her head
back and cackled.
She grew serious, her pale eyes narrowing. “You still do not truly believe, even after what you have seen
in your own mind’s eye.”
“What I have seen? You talk in riddles, old woman.”
“In your dreams. You have seen the inevitable. The end.”
His chest tightened at the mere mention of his nightmares, nightmares that had plagued his sleep for months. “How do you know of my…dreams?”
“It is not how I know of them that is important. It is what I know of them. Do you remember the warning I gave you?”
He glared at the old woman, anger building with his every breath. She was the pinnacle of his torment, this witch, this evil specter. His life had been irrevocably altered, since the day he’d met her. Before that day he had been blissfully
unaware.
“You have a long and treacherous journey ahead of you, Keeper,” she stated again, as she had that day, the day
his life ceased to be his own to live. “A dark angel awaits you. She can be your salvation or bring about your ruin. The choice is yours.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “More riddles. You and Kimble both speak in riddles.” He forced his heavy
eyelids to obey one last time and they opened to find only empty blackness where she had stood.
He fought against it with what little strength he still possessed, but darkness descended upon his mind and his
eyes would stay open no longer. His strength seeped from his body as surely as his blood.
An unknown, soft, feminine voice began very near his side but quickly faded away into the shrouding mists in his
mind.
"We've waited so long for you, William. Fear not. All will be well."
*********
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