Fiction | Fantasy
Cast into Darkness
When I was a child, running in the night
Afraid of what might be
Hiding in the dark, hiding in the street
And of what was following me…
Kate Bush
Matilda groaned. Her eyes fluttered, rolled back till only whites threaded with fine red veins showed. Her body jerked in tiny spasms.
“Mam!” Liora cradled her head in her lap. “Mam, wake up. Please wake up!”.
Her mothers voice rose, speaking words Liora couldn’t quite understand. Whispers and hisses. Breathed sounds and croaking growls. The air grew cold. Colder still. Liora’s fingers stiffened as she held her mother’s twitching body.
Mist, cold and white wreathed from mam’s contorted face, puffing from her mouth and nose. Mam’s shivering grew worse. Her heels beat the dirt floor, her dress tangled in the mat.
Something broke above them. Something heavy. A rafter? It cracked like a thunderclap and shook the air. The ground shifted uneasily. Tiny cracks opened in the dirt like mouths.
“Mam! Please Mam!” Liora’s gaze rocketed around the tiny room.
