Page 41 of Where Darkness Falls

Blood.

Stains and droplets cover the top of his chest all the way down to his steel boots.

My body shakes as my chest rises and falls rapidly.

“You are lying,” I sneer.

He is silent.

“YOU LIE!” I yell.

“You know the price, Miss Cale,” he replies.

No. No. No.

I run for the door, but Antony grabs my arm.

“Let her go,” says the captain. “She must see what her actions have wrought.”

I yank from Antony’s grip and run to the path that leads home.

It can’t be true.

It’s not true.

I won’t let it be true.

I’m almost to the clearing when I see smoke rising from where my home should be.

NO!

I pick up my pace as I climb the last hill that leads down to the house.

Then, I see it.

My home… consumed by an unquenchable fire…

And eight bodies are lying in the grass.

My hands fly up to my mouth, as the pulsing in my neck intensifies. Nausea overwhelms me as I observe the carnage.

They’re not dead.

They can’t be.

Yet, they don’t rise from their places along the bloodied, singed grass.

“NOOOOOOOOO,” my scream echoes, as I’m hurtling toward them.

“Rolph! Amelia!” I yell.

Silence.

I ignore the prickly brush scratching my legs, as I practically fall down the hill to get to them.

“Cillian! Aiden!” I scream.

Silence.

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