My pen rolled to the classroom floor. A bit of chalk snapped in half. The class was a lively mix of letter jackets, short skirts, and the occasional pocket square.
"Hmm, another chalk. Heather, please remember to grab some for the class later."
I flinched. These were this morning's events before I…
'Felix killed me.'
I couldn't be here. My hand raised itself. Using the bathroom excuse, I left the school. Taking my old coupe car to head out of town. As long as I remained I would die. I couldn't trust anyone. The town was small enough to reach the edge in fifteen minutes. The twisted dead woods had long since devoured the rest of the world, leaving the town of light to stand alone. The darkness was relentless eating and eating until…
"You took my mom and now you want me."
Thoughts of my dad all alone. The home I grew up in. My only friend, Felix. I scoff. Tears came out as I desperately tried to stay sane. One last breath and I abandoned my car on the street. The forest I'd been told to never touch, never look too deeply into was in my way. Past the end of the road, the sidewalk, the last houses. I stepped on living grass then dying to dead. One foot between two twisting black trees. Nothing happened.
"Hah."
I took another step and another. Soon I went deep enough to lose sight of the town I came from. Nothing happened. Not one sound from a living thing, just countless dead trees. I kept walking even as I grew tired, even as the light began to fade out, even as the darkness slithered around me, and the whispers started.
I planned on taking a small break and resting against a tree. The tendrils playfully tapped me. It was surprisingly comforting. The whispers stopped and I felt drowsiness take over. I drifted off. There were no dreams just time slipping away. Till someone noisy disturbed my sleep.
"Hey! Get up! Hey dusky!"
"Hmm?" My eyes fluttered open to a very odd sight.
A young man in the dead woods. Long messy black hair with inhumane red eyes. Wearing a cloak covered in dirt. Contrasted by his handsome face. We blinked at each other. His eyebrow was twitching along with his lip.
"Hey, dusky? Can you speak?"
"Yeah."
"Then the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you in the woods? Do you have a death wish?"
The words processed but they made no sense. My brain was trying to compute on a now empty stomach. A growl told the guy as much. He looked annoyed.
"Hungry dusky?"
I nodded. He grabbed my hand and started pulling me along like a lost sheep. I noticed the tendrils didn't bother him, but they didn't avoid him either. It was like he was already part of the darkness itself.
"Who are you?"
"Oliver."
"..? And?"
"Just Oliver."
It didn't take long before we reached a hut in the middle of the woods. There were no landmarks, no stars, no sense of how he found his way home. Inside was musty and cluttered. A mess of paper sheets on his desk table, an untidy bed, and a mix of flasks and plants along the walls. A single fireplace with a cauldron marked the right side of the hut.
He let go of my hand to open the cauldron. He scooped out liquid into a bowl and shoved it in my face. It smelled like mushroom soup. For his appearance, he makes a really good cook. As I ate he kept writing at his desk.
"Are you a witch?"
"Did you finish eating dusky?"
"Yeah." I swallowed the last spoonful. "What does dusky mean?"
"Dusky is the darkness's pet," he scowls for a second, "I'm a herbalist. Also, witches are women."
"So you're human? Your eyes are red."
"But golden eyed saints are human dusky?" He flashes a grin for a moment. "I'm blessed by the woods. Saints are blessed by the light. And you are blessed by the darkness."
"You said I'm its pet."
"And I'm the woods' pet."
I touch the edge of my eyes in wonder. My mother and I shared rare violet eyes. My mud brown hair on the other hand I got from my father.
"I can not go back. They will kill me. So what do I do?"
Oliver and I stare for a moment. He hmms in thought before answering in a rather amused tone.
"I could use an apprentice dusky."