Chapter 25: Seiren Song

The lake air was damp against my face; I breath deeply, the cool wind off the water refreshing me. It was the first time in weeks that I felt safe. Well, as safe as one can feel with Ethereals chasing you.
"Seth, come on! Danta found a working truck." I hear Clair call from the bank. I begrudgingly leave the knee deep waters and climb onto land.
"We'll be there soon then huh?" I ask.
"Yeah..." I can tell she is thinking of Jay when she says this. His shadow will be the last to leave her, if at all.
"Come on." I say, and start dragging her towards the road.
"Um, Seth, the road is this way." She says.
"Oh"
I hear a small laugh escape from her and I smile, clearly I wasn't the only one relieved to be away from a city of ghosts.
Still, we couldn't be sure they hadn't made it out this far. We had been out of touch with the world for quite a long time and it had been completely different when we did come back to it.
"Come on you two! You can make out all you want after we find this 'safe house' of yours." Danta called from the pick-up he had hot-wired. Out here the roads were clearer, meaning we could travel farther, faster. Something we needed to do if we were to get to the shelter.

We listened to some of the old CD's we found in the truck as we made our way north. Clair got to sit shotgun, while I sat in the back imagining what lay out my window. I was told that all the towns we passed through were in tatters, over run with ivy and shrubbery. I tried to imagine what happened to all the people, why the world was in ruins. We hadn't been gone so long as for the world to retake everything had we?

I felt the engine sputter and clunk and fall silent. and Danta start to cuss.
"Looks like we'll be walking for a bit guys." Danta said and I heard his boot bounce off the tire. As he said this, I heard a new sound fill the silence. A distant voice was singing softly. It began low, and quiet, then rose into a beautiful song.
"Hey kiddo," Danta's strong hand grabbed my shoulder, "Where ya going?"
I shook my head to clear it, but the music wouldn't leave.
"Please Danta! I have to find where that voice is coming from." I say, and even I think I sound crazy.
"No way kid, we don't know what's out there, and there ain't no music to begin with." Danta tells me, but it still rings in my ears.
I hear Clair get out of the car.
"Seth, what's going on?" she asks but I can't turn towards her, I can't do anything but try to reach that voice. I felt my hand grasp Danta's and squeeze the pressure points in his hand. I heard him gasp in pain.
"What in the hell!" He says.
Next I feel Clair's hands on my chest, pushing against me.
"What the hell are you doing Dumb-a*s?" She says. I am horrified to find my hands moving of their own accord, reaching up and grabbing Clair's small arms. I could feel her trembling, afraid of what was going on. But I couldn't stop it.
With my own two hands I throw her to the ground and walk on towards the voice. I can hear her sobbing, betrayed by the only person she had left. I wanted to stop; to run over and apologize. My feet had other ideas.
"Go run on home little girl" I heard myself say coldly.
I felt hot tears streaming down my face. At least I was allowed that luxury.

I wished I knew where I was going. I felt so alone out in the world filled only by the sound of that beautiful voice.  It promised to make me feel better, to fill up the voids within me. I knew it was a lie, but I wanted to believe it.

Seth? What took you so long? Your father and I were begining to worry.

My mothers voice rang in my ears alongside the music. But how? I had felt their dead bodies at my house. They had been so cold.

You're crazy Seth! Man I thought I was supposed to be the little sibling.

Maybe they were right, maybe it had all been just a bad dream.

Of course it was honey. No come to us so we can be a family again.

I smiled, I wanted that so much.

But what about Clair.

Forget that stupid girl.

I took a step back. There was hate in my mother's voice. I had never heard her speak like that before. She wouldn't talk like that. This was all wrong.

"Stop it!" I yelled out. The music grew louder.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you. It's just that girl is so bad for you.

She had been mean to me for so long, maybe my mother was right.

That's right, mama knows what's best for her children.

But Clair wasn't bad. She was strong and kind, even though she teased me. She cared enough to cry for everyone, where I could only stand like a statue. Unmoved. Drowning in my own pity.

Come, aren't we more important than that girl? We are you're family.

No. my family was gone, cold and empty, sentenced to a fate worse than death.

Clair was alive, and warm, and everything to me.

Everything? What could she possibly be to you?

My mother's voice was cold and crushing. But the thought of Clair raised my spirits.

"AHHHHHHH" I heard a voice scream in frustration. My world exploded into light around me, leaving me at the edge of a white circular room. In the center stood a tall dark figure, floating as though trapped under water. It's cold blue eyes glared at me.
"How dare you challenge your Mother, insolent child." It screamed as it threw glass shards towards me. I rolled and picked up one of the glass shards.
"You are not my mother!" I yell and charge it, but I am knocked down by a blade of water. The being laughed at me. It was like she was playing a game with me. Like a child had gotten carried away and was now hurting people for fun.

That's right, just like a child.

I dropped the glass fragment and started to walk towards the thing. Arms outstretched. Again it throws it's water blade at me, but I brace myself against it and keep walking. It's reactions become frantic. It throws everything it has at me, but I eventually back it into a corner and wrap my arms gently around it.
All at once it stops, and the darkness starts to fade away, leaving a little girl where it once stood. Her blue eyes were like the ocean, big and blue.
"I'm sorry. Please don't be mad, please help me." She whimpered and I nodded as I held her close.
All at once the world grew bright again, until I couldn't see again, and the world was dark.

**********************

I gasped as we broke the waves of the lake. I was coughing out water, but I kicked with all the force I could.
Once ashore, I let go of the little girl and she too coughs the lake water out of her lungs. As we both lay there panting for breath I think of Clair, and what I had told the illusion of my mother. I had hurt the girl I had come to love. I had been so weak that I let her get hurt by my own hands. I couldn't let that happen anymore, I thought. I wouldn't let anyone hurt any more.
I stand and hear the little girl follow suit.
"Where are we going?" The little girl asked.
"Someplace safe." I replied and took her hand. "To where Clair will be."
"Do you know the way?" She asked, and I shook my head.
"No, but I know we will find it."

Author's Note

For LucyXMorningstar and Momo Beans.

This will be the last I update this version of the story, as I will continue the reworked version. I want to thank you both for reading it all the way through and helping me rekindle the spark in it.

Also I want to say thanks to everyone else that has read What lies in Shadows to this point.

And so we go.

Reviews

[Peach]

Oh snap! This piece! It annoys and fascinates me!!!!!

[Lucy Morningstar &heart..]

Baaaaaaaaaaaabe, this was incredible! I felt so many feels reading about Seth and Clair and how much she meant to him and what she was like and she reminds me a lot of me which probs sounds vain but damn, you broke my feels here. And not only that but your writing over the course of this has gotten so wonderful and the story has just kept on drawing me in further to it and I'm sad that this version is over but so damn excited for the next one. I might be biased because reasons but you are such a talented writer and I can't wait to see what you do next with this and other things.