[chuchutrain]: 63.Short Stories.Death By Darkness

The girl ran through the dark streets of the large city. Nothing but the sound of her feet hitting the wet pavement as her trench coat flowed gently behind her. The only light source was the lampposts that sparsely lit up the sidewalk. She ran as fast as she could, she knew that soon she wouldn't be the only sound there. She knew this would happen, she had told the others, but of course, they didn't listen. She was one of the last of them, the second last of her kind. She, along with her brother, were Ciro's; a race made at the beginning of time. How could they be so blind? She had asked this question over and over again in her mind.

As she rounded a corner, she stopped and leaned up against the brick building, her breathing a little deep. That was her first mistake, suddenly she saw a man turn to look towards her. "I found her!" he cried as he took off towards her. She didn't waste any time as she scrambled away in the opposite direction of the man, and those who were bound to arrive. She longed for those carefree days that once surrounded her and her kind, impossible, those days were over she was in danger. She ran and ran rounding corner after corner, all in attempt to shake those who were constantly gaining on her. If she could just make it back, if she could make it into her sanctuary where her brother was waiting for her, she would be safe...if only.

There it was, her sanctuary. The door to the building that her brother and her had barricaded. "Almost there..." she muttered to herself as she suddenly heard a round of gun shots go off. She covered her head and rushed into the building and slammed the door shut, breathing heavily now, she could still hear a few rounds of shots being fired just outside the door. She opened her eyes and looked around, something was wrong, it was pitch black. No light at all. She quickly put her hand up in front of her face, nothing, no light what-so-ever. "no...." she muttered as she slammed on the light switch turning it on. There sprawled on the couch was her brother, limp. She rushed over to him kneeling before him. He died in the one weakness of the Ciro, darkness.

A sound was heard from behind her as she whipped around and came face to face with a man. "How sweet..." his icy voice sounded throughout the silence of the room. She stood there tears falling from her normally green eyes, which were now a bright yellow mixed with orange. "the last of the race comes back to her brother...only to find him dead. Such fragile things you are, death by darkness." he said slowly in a calm but deadly tone.

The girl lunged at the man as she was enraged. She knew she had to be careful, one slip up and she would kill herself. She, unlike other Ciros, could control darkness. She could call upon it when she wanted to and to make it leave if she concentrated hard enough. Suddenly without warning two more men came out of hiding and restrained her. She kicked and screamed all in a futile attempt to get free. Fighting harder just brought her mind to lose concentration. She kicked and tried to pull her arms loose from the men but they were too strong as the darkness began to consume her. "n...no!" she screamed as she fought harder which just made the darkness surround her faster. Soon everything was dark and she felt a sudden pain in the back of her head, knocking her out.

Her mind was at an unrest as she ran through her mind screaming trying to find a way out, nothing. She ran but suddenly she heard voices, they came from all around her. "The last of them....will soon be dead..." the clearest one rang out throughout the dark abyss. She fell to the ground as she began crying unable to see she knew what was happening as she felt her body become weak. Soon excruciating pain surrounded her and all of her being as she gasped for air and desperately clung to something that wasn't there. Her breathing became deeper and came in larger gasps as she fought to take in the air that was becoming thinner and thinner. Others that were able to get out in time had told her of the pain of this, they had told her that it was immense pain, none like she's ever felt. She always thought she could take it but now that she was experiencing it first hand, she knew no one could survive it. It was almost like a snake constricting it's prey painfully as someone slowly took out all of the air around her.



As the girl, trapped within her own mind, opened her mouth to scream in pain nothing escaped. Not even the tiniest squeak. A sudden calm overtook her mind as all movement around her stiff body ceased. "p-please......n-no......" she pleaded silent pleads, pleads that would never reach anyone's ears. She clung to that last breath never wanting to let go, but eventually it would slip through her mouth and into the dark abyss of her mind. Never again will anyone hear of these creatures who could talk to gods and goddesses, never again will others get to witness the miracle of a Ciro's birth through those amazing trees. The girls mind became blank as her body went limp and the pain dispersed along with the darkness which slowly crept back into the unlit corners of the room. And there, in the middle of the room, lay the last Ciro, eyes a mixture of yellow and orange, usually vibrant and shining now were glossed over and empty. The eyes, void of all emotion held the truth of what they had just done. A few of the men there started feeling the guilt that would eventually over come many others in the world, the guilt of murdering a race.

"Murder is one thing...extermination is another..." the man's icy voice cut through the silence of the room once again. "Dispose of the body....make this reality a legend." he finalized the fate of the race that died at the mercy of darkness.



© Stephanie Chu, 2006