9

Aria

With some effort I manage to get my eyes to open slowly only to find that I am laying face down in the cold, damp dirt. My head is throbbing painfully and I can feel the blood trickling down the side of my face, warm and sticky.

I am shivering uncontrollably from both the cold and from the overwhelming fear that I feel. Nausea burns in my stomach and I have to swallow back the bile threatening to rise at any moment. I have to swallow back the sensation, trying to compose myself. 

I can hear the man moving around behind me and I want to crawl away from him but I can not seem to make my limbs move. I try to turn my head to look at him but I don't control the body. Eyra just lays there, wimpering in fright. Why isn't she moving? Why has she decided not to try and escape him? 

“I didn't really want it to happen this way, you know..” He says, coming to stand over me. His voice grates on my nerves, firing up a spark of anger inside me.

I want to say something smart or reach out to kick him, but I am paralyzed. Eyra is the one in the driver's seat, I am just along for the ride. The very unpleasant ride where I feel her every emotion and all of her pain. I just wish that I could move her limbs. But I know deep in my mind that this is all for nothing. There is no changing the outcome. She is dead, whether I can get her limbs to move or not.

“Please..” Eyra whimpers quietly, hoping that somewhere inside of him is a soft spot that she can exploit. Some part of him that she can reach that will make him regret this, on the hope that he will change his mind and spare her. No such luck. 

“Oh, how trivial. She begs to be spared..” He sniffs in disdain.. “How utterly predictable.”

Come on, Eyra! Turn your head! Let me see him! I know the killer is a man, obviously. He sounds young, I would say around early to mid-twenties. He sounds as if he has the slightest hint of a British accent, but it doesn't have the melodic flow of a natural accent. His sounds forced and contrived. He talks like he is an extra in an old English period movie, set in the Victorian era. Like he expects to be called M'Lord or something pretentious to that affect.

I can feel Eyra begin to stir, drawing in slow shallow breaths. I hear him move away and then I feel Eyra open her mouth and she begins to sing. Our lungs burn with the effort but she is determined to push through it.

“La-laa-aaa ahhh-aaahh-aaaa aaww.. Come all ye-”

“Shut up, bitch!”

The man comes over and kicks her hard in the side of her torso, making direct contact with her ribs and causing her to gasp. I feel the pain zing through me, sharp and unpleasant. Eyra reaches out to try to make contact with him but he moves back quickly, as if her touch will burn him. “Ah, tsk tsk. No touching, little siren. You will not get me to bend to your will.”

Eyra begins to crawl away from him, moving slowly. She is making no progress but I understand her motives. She is tired of just waiting there, terrified as she awaits his next move. It is a game of cat and mouse. He has all the power, leaving her helpless and she is tired of that dynamic. If he is going to kill her, she wants him to hurry up and do it.

She needs the torture to be over because she can not stand another second in his company. I hear him moving slowly beside her, following along behind her like he is escorting her, when in fact he is merely toying with her. Tracking her progress like a lion hunting it's prey.. Taunting her efforts as she makes little progress in escaping due to her weakened state.

“Where do you think you are going, siren?” He asks, mocking her. “Too charm a few men? Sink a few ships?” He laughs. “You are at my mercy now. Oh, how the tables have turned.”

“I have never lured anyone-”

“Doesn't matter.” He flips her onto her back and quickly straddles her, twisting her hair up in his fist and pulling backwards until tears sting her eyes and her teeth grit together in pain. My scalp is burning with the pain. It is excruciating. “You will still die, all the same.”

“Screw. You.” She spits out, using every last ounce of strength she has in her to try to knock him off of her.

He laughs, pure evil in his voice. “Way to go out with a BANG!” He slams her head into the ground with superhuman strength, killing her instantly.

I wake up, confused and disoriented. Silent tears drip down my cheeks and I feel like I can't catch my breath. I sit up in a panic and look around the familiar surroundings of my room. I have this empty feeling as if I have no idea where I am or how I got there, even though I can clearly see that I am at home in my room.

Then I remember everything. I was in the woods where I had just found Eyra Gold's dead body. I remember touching her, then I.. what? Relived her death? How did I get to be here, in my room? I look towards the window, noting the blue sky that is just beginning to show golden streaks of the morning sun. What time is it? What happened to me? 

I look around once more and notice for the first time my brother sprawled out in the reading chair in the far corner of my room. He is sound asleep, laid out in what can only be an uncomfortable postion. I call out quietly to him, “Maddy?”

He stirs, slowly coming awake. It seems as if he is confused for a moment as he looks around. He notices me looking at him and he jumps to his feet and rushes over to gather me in a hug so tight that my bones threaten to snap in half. “Aria!” He holds me close, relief coming off of him in waves. He pulls back to look at me. “You scared me to death! I have been worried out of my mind waiting for you to wake up! I was ready to take you to the hospital, but I was assured that you were okay.”

“What happened?” I ask him, pulling back slightly and looking up at him.

“You tell me! I thought you were safely at school. Instead, you leave before the bell even rings, heading off on foot to who knows where. No one sees or hears from you for hours until all of a sudden I get a call from the preternatural police saying that I need to come and get you from a crime scene involving a homicide. Let me tell you, that wasn't fun. I nearly had a heart attack on the spot.”

“Wait, what?”

“Someone called the police to report of louds screams coming from some woods a couple of miles from your school. When they investigated they found you passed out in the woods next to the body of a girl your age who had been murdered. The police assumed that you had skipped school and was hiding in the woods when you stumbled upon the body of a classmate and you became hysterical. You must have fainted from the trauma and you have been unconcious since. They will want to speak to you, of course.”

“That's not- I mean- I didn't skip school. That's not what happened.” I spend the next few minutes telling my brother everything about what happened at school, the visions and what happened in the woods.

“You are, uh, reliving her death?” He shakes his head. “That has got to be absolutely horrifying.” He grips my hand tightly, looking at me intently. "Are you okay?"

“Yeah, it's no walk in the park, that's for sure.” I jest, before I return his serious look. "But I am okay."

“Um, I don't really know how to help you. I hate to admit it, but I don't know much about this stuff. Although, I know someone who does.” He gives me a worried look. “If you don't mind me calling him, that is..”

“Calling who?” I ask him although I have a sinking feeling that I already know who he is talking about.

“Cash.” Maddy responds, making my stomach knot. “He studies all of this stuff, but more than that, he has been raised around it. He understands it and I think if there was anyone who might have the answers, it would be him. I don't really know where else to go for answers. I trust him and I think he could really help us. But it is completely up to you, though. I will only call him if you want me to. Your choice.”

I think about it long and hard. Me and Cash ended things well the other night, so my feelings towards him have softened a bit. Besides, it would be really great if he could shed a little insight on my situation. Show me what I am working with and all that. Besides, I think it would comfort Maddy a lot, having someone he trusts helping us to figure this out. I know he feels helpless in all this, so this is his way of trying to garner an inkling of control. I won't deny him that.

So I nod my head, “Yes, please, call Cash. See if he can help us.”