Darkness in Light SCRAPPED VERSION Chapter 1

This is the scrapped version of the start of Darkness in Light, a story I'm working on. I hate the way it starts out, but I wanted to convey Lily's backstory, and the best way to do that I originally thought was to just show you what happened to her so yo

The woman in the white dress…it’s a painting that hung on the wall outside Dad’s room. It’s really weird; unlike most art these days, it was done on a papery canvas with oils making up the colours. Most artists like to paint using a holocanvas, because of the freedom it allows and how it combines many types of media. This particular painter, long gone judging by the frayed ends and yellowed tinge of the paper in the frame, was distinguished as a “classic media” artist.

Why am I talking about an old painting? Well, I guess because the story really starts with the woman in the painting. She glows off of the paper, with white hair, dress and skin. Her eyes are a shining gold, and warmly glow up at the viewer. The painter used a multitude of different, pale colours to shade and tone her…nothing is dark about the image but the background, which is a midnight sky with crystal like towers surrounding her.
It belonged to my mother. A friend had bought it for her a long time ago. When she and Dad got married, she hung it opposite their bedroom door. Dad told me it made her smile every time she saw it.

It was the only thing she left behind when she left back when I was barely one. Dad moved the painting to the same wall as his door, so he wouldn’t have to see it when he left the room. Every time he noticed it, he seemed to age a few years. He never considered throwing it out, though. It reminds him too much of Mum.
The woman in the white dress has haunted us all my life, yet it was only recently she had caught my attention: in my dreams. Every time I fell asleep, I’d enter a darkened version of our hallway. The painting was now large enough to be a door. When I stepped through it, I’d enter a world of dark coloured glass. The shards shone like starts, imitating a night sky. Glass steps lead from nowhere to a pedestal, where a dagger and chalice rested. One large crystal stood flat and erect behind it, reflecting the scene before it. There she would stand, her hand resting on the surface of her mirror. Her back was invariably to me. Before I could make a step, I would wake.

I wrote it off initially, until I begun seeing her when I was awake. She’d appear in an instant and be gone the next. I became paranoid and easily startled. Even when Dad took it down and stowed it in the garage, the hallucinations and dream continued. He took me to a psychiatrist outside of town once; I was hysterical. Committing me or putting me on medication were suggested repeatedly for the hallucinations. At one point I was actually on medication to stop the hallucinations, but even then…there she was. Smiling. I decided I had no choice but to live with it. It seemed that no matter what I did, I’d always be pursued by the woman in white.

At least, that’s what I thought until the day of the soccer match: my last day in town.
 

CHAPTER 1

Ruins

 

I hate to admit it, but this story begins with me bumping my head against the tiles in a public toilet. It’s pretty embarrassing. I’d rather leave that part out, but it’s pretty important because, well, it was the last time I saw the woman in white for a long time.

 

It’s going to sound kinda crazy, but please just bear with me here. Just because it sounds crazy, doesn’t mean I am.

 

****

 

“So, Lily…you going to ask Tyler out?”

 

Dana giggled in her knowing way, focusing the attention on me. She rested her head on a thick hand casually and smiled up at me. I fiddled with a couple of my coloured bangles.

 

“Maybe after Battle of the Bands Saturday.”

“Oh please, Lily, why don’t you just ask him out tomorrow? He’ll be at the game.”

“Not with my Dad there!”

 

Dana rolled her eyes at me mockingly and slurped on her cola.

“He’ll be happy you’re finally dating; I mean, you don’t get asked out much because of those freaky eyes of yours, so you should take what you can get, right?”

I narrowed my freaky eyes at her, but I knew she was right. Humans aren’t born without pupils or with eyes that glow in the dark and because mine do both, the freak factor skyrockets. In a town where humans are the dominant species, it doesn’t help with making friends…or as Dana put it, getting boyfriends.

 

“I’m not going to jump on the first guy that comes along!”

She sighed and put up her hands defensively.

“Okay okay, you’re sensitive about that, that’s fine. But still, you shouldn’t blow Tyler off because you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared! I just don’t like him. I mean, he’s a total jerk.”

Dana smiled playfully the moment I said that.

“You say that about every guy you get a crush on. It’s like a rite of passage; you hate them, then you want to make out with them. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed that yet.”

“Yeah, but this is different; Tyler doesn’t even look good.”

 

Dana sighed and shook her head. She nudged her empty glass towards mine.

 

“You’re so picky…you want to grab me another soda? I paid for the last round.”

“Sure, I’ll just grab my bag.”

 

I rose from the table and pulled the small green handbag from under it. My wallet was wedged between the lips of the bag, the yellow and pink kitten print design was partially visible. Dana took one look and giggled.

 

“You’re such a little kid! You’ve had one since you were, what, twelve?”

“I haven’t had time to buy a new one…by the way, I have it on good record you still sleep with Mr Cuddles the Llama!” Dana immediately motioned for me to shut up, a gesture to which I just stuck my tongue out. Laughing a little, I walked over to the counter, fiddling with the paw-shaped clasp. The wallet had 395 credits on a card in a slot to the right and a four 10 credit notes folded neatly to the left. Drinks cost 7 each, which would mean after Battle of the Bands on Saturday, I’d probably be completely drained out and have to tap into my card again.

 

I remember thinking that I should probably consider getting a job. I was probably qualified enough for a lifeguard at the pool with the training as a healer and the fact I can swim. Someone who can purge something out of a body with a touch is probably more useful than someone that knows CPR.

 

As I handed over two of the four notes to the bartender, I noticed someone staring at me. Two people dressed in dark clothes. One of them was a girl with braided blonde hair and two faint scratches on her cheek. She was dressed in a tank top with a long grey skirt. She was fiddling with a straw in her cocktail and had her head slumped on her hand. Her friend, a tall looking guy wearing a mask and a hooded cloak, seemed to be more actively staring. The only feature I could make out was a red eye examining me under his mask. His hands were clenched in fists on his pants. The skin on them looked almost grey under the sleeves…like rotting flesh.

 

In all honesty, I ran to the female bathrooms the second I saw them. The tall one looked like he was going to try and hit me. His partner didn’t seem like she was all that happy to see me either. I ran into a cubicle, locked it and refused to come out to face them. The girl didn’t follow me in; she was more intent on drawing circles in her drink. Dana, on the other hand came in after me.

 

“Hey, Lil? What’s up, did someone out there grease you off or something?”

“Sort of. The couple outside were staring at me…the tall one kinda freaked me out.”

 

Dana looked at me in confusion and jerked her head outside. She turned back with a quizzical look.

“There’s no one there, Lily.”

“Are you sure?”

 “Well, yeah. I mean, there’s a cocktail on the table, and a half eaten steak, but there’s no people…they must’ve hit the road when they saw me coming.”

 

I smirked a little at Dana. She wasn’t very tall, but as the team’s goalie and a hopeful for the military, she was well built, particularly in her upper body She liked to joke about how she couldn’t get any guy’s number because they’re scared people will think they’re dating a boy. I liked to joke that no one would ask me out because they thought she was my boyfriend, which encouraged her to say it was because I looked like something out of a horror movie or an exorcism. We both just laughed each other’s insults off, though.

 

“Right, so you finish up in here and we’ll head home, okay?”

“Yeah, okay. I ordered the drinks, so you can drink while I wait.”
Dana looked at me with concern while she reached for her phone. “Call me if you need me, okay?”

I nodded and smiled. She headed out and I started to fix up my hair. A bug was trying to eat a strand of it. I was so focused on the single blue strand it was fixed on that I didn’t even bother with my reflection.

 

Once the bug was out, I flicked it into the sink and turned the tap on full blast. It skidded on its back all the way down the drain. I ran my hands under once the deed was done and looked up to try and fix up my windblown hair. Who would’ve thought shoulder length hair would be so hard to manage? I had cut it for soccer, but it still drove me crazy. Bits of the fringe just wouldn’t go down even with product.

 

I felt like I was going to choke once I saw my reflection. The girl in the mirror wasn’t me at all. In fact, it wasn’t even really a girl my age. She was more like twenty. Her ghostly hair was obscenely long and fell down naturally straight. She was pale all over, except for glowing eyes. My lip trembled when I recognised her.

 

The woman in white.

 

She smiled absent mindedly and put her hand to the glass. It was like she was reaching out for me. Her voice was faint, and sounded more like a mouse than a person.

“I’ll be coming to see you soon, Lily. You just be a good girl and wait for me.”

 

Confused, I raised my own hand to the glass to mirror hers. I don’t know why I did that…I guess I wanted to see if it really was her or feel some kind of connection. It was the first time she talked to me, face to face, after all.

 

That turned out to be a huge mistake.

 

“W-wha-“

 

Cold fingers wrapped around my hand and started pulling. My hand went through the glass onto her side. I screamed and started pulling against her grip. My left foot was pressed against the sink for additional support. I could feel something cut into my wrist…it was like fingernails.

 

Dana came running in, shouting. The hand released me and sent my body flying backwards.

 

Thud.

 

“Oh crap…Lily, you’re bleeding. We need to get you home, now.”

 

I felt dizzy after the impact. Dana ignored my sleepy protests that my Dad’s paranoid as it is and doesn’t need me to come home with a head wound. She yelled into her phone for her brother Nate to pick us up from our before game “party”. He was asking if I could count his fingers, if I was having a panic attack or anything else. I lolled my head groggily to the side once the questions subsided to rest my eyes. I fell asleep looking out the window, seeing glowing green eyes studying me from outside the car.

 

*****

 

I knew instantly that I was dreaming when I felt the cold glass underneath me. Confused, I looked around to see where I had been brought; it was definitely Vidaan, the town I grew up in, but there was something wrong. Not only was no one living around, the sky and buildings were made of the same crystal that the mirror world inside the painting was made of. I was on the soccer field, rising onto my feet in a daze. It had a dull sheen to it with some clear glass streaks running through it. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. There was something moving underneath the glass. I couldn’t see what it was, but something told me to start running.

 

The moment I moved, the glass shattered and shadowy things started climbing out in pursuit. Not just out of the soccer field, but the houses, the school, the buildings…everywhere was breaking into millions of pieces. They just kept multiplying as everything shattered.

 

I started running towards my house to try and find a way out through the painting, but the monsters cut me off. I could feel hairline cracks form under my feet. The woman in white moved from among the monsters and smiled at me. I felt helpless…behind her, my house was starting to crack. She stretched a pointed hand at the cracking building.

 

“From here, there are only two choices. The home you know will be destroyed very soon…you may either choose to die with it and your loved ones, or you can escape this fate and face the trials to come. Make the choice quickly though…you don’t have much time before one path is gone.”

The city started to shatter before my eyes and beneath my feet. The monsters launched themselves past her towards me. I started running in the opposite direction. There was a narrow path that lead out of the city. It was made of very thin glass that could break with a wrong step. Desperate, I started following it, ignoring the glass collapsing around me. Pieces of the path were beginning to break off behind me, but I just kept going. I needed to escape alive.

 

However, it couldn’t support the weight of the monsters and me for very long.

 

Crack.

 

The floor burst beneath me. I clung in desperation to the remaining path. The glass cut into my hands. The monsters dangled off my legs, threatening to drag me down with them. The woman in white appeared in front of me on the path. I reached out a hand for hers and instead received a smug smile from her. As usual, she disappeared, leaving me to wake up before the weight of the monsters and the pain from the glass sent me falling.

 

****

 

“Now, you sure you’re okay to play today, sweetheart? You did have a pretty nasty fall last night…”

 

I groaned irritatedly at my Dad. My fingers were prying beneath the bandages to try and feel where I hit my head the previous night. He had wrapped my skull up like a mummy’s.

 

“Dad, I’m fine. I just bumped it. It’s the finals, anyway! I don’t have to go to anymore games after this so you don’t have to worry too much!”

 

He squeezed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. His steely eyes were closed to try and shut out whatever was stressing him out.

“That’s not what I’m worried about, Lily. I’m worried that this game, you’re going to crack your head open.”

“Dana will be there to keep other girls off me.”

He sighed and placed toast in front of me. I looked up at him expectantly and spread the butter. I missed the toast a few times, but I was more curious as to whether he’d try and make me stay home. He has done that before. If he did that, I knew sneaking out would be easy because he worked during the game, but it’d be better to have his permission. The last thing I needed was Dana to blurt out how awesome we were and how much the other team cheated later.

 

It looked like he was just about ready to give up.

“It’s not as bad as your bandage job makes it look. I was just in shock, that’s all.”

“You saw her again, didn’t you Lily?”

 

I gulped down my toast. Just mentioning the woman in white was taboo in our house. Dad never told me why, but any mention of Mum or the painting seemed to make everything about him seem more tired and faded. His eyes were rimmed red every morning when I complained about a dream or he saw the painting. I felt guilty the first time I told him I saw a woman in white in my dreams…he didn’t know I still saw her in the real world too, though. Well, I didn’t think he did until that morning.

 

“I was awake when I fell Dad. I just saw a rat in the toilets, panicked, and slipped.”

“It didn’t bite you, did it?” He smiled in relief, but still carried a concerned look in his eyes. Whether or not he believed me was debateable.

“No, I’m not rabid. You don’t have to take me for shots” I held out my arms for his inspection. Completely bite free.

“You tell me if you see her again, okay?”

I looked at him confused and lowered my arms. I forced a smile and got up from my chair.

“I’m not going crazy Dad. It was just a dream I had because we have that creepy painting on the wall.”

“It’s not creepy, it’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll meet you at the game, okay?”

 

I briefly hugged him and made a dash for the door. If I didn’t hear him say no, it meant that it was okay for me to go. Hence, I ran like crazy and flung the door against the wall.

 

“Wait I never sa-“

“Bye Dad, love you!”

 

His attempt to call me back was interrupted by the door slamming behind me. I was down the street before he could say another word. Looking back, I kinda wish I stayed and told him the truth. Maybe if I did, he would’ve taken me back to that institute outside of town to see if there was a reason. I probably would’ve been better off in the asylum than where I was going.

 

****

Author's Note

I'm basically after critique on if it's appropriate as the start of a story, conveying information and descriptions. However, I want to hear anything else you guys might think is wrong with it. If there's a way I can improve, I'll see what I can do. :3