Page 11 of Voices in the Stars
My arm refused to move as it stayed glued to the ground. A groan escaped as I tried to move again. It felt like weights were keeping me pinned to the dirt, like I was separated from my body. I sunk deeper within myself, getting farther and farther away from my unmoving limbs. Panic coursed through my body, screaming at it to respond. There was nothing. My toes wouldn’t wiggle. My eyes couldn’t open. There wasn’t even so much as a twitch.
My chest was heaving. Invisible walls were slowly closing around me. Why couldn’t I move? Why didn’t I just stay home? None of this would have happened if I had just dealt with the dinner. I could’ve been tucked away in bed right now.
Except, I wasn’t home. I was almost killed by a monster who stole my sister’s face. A forest spontaneously burst into flames. Suddenly, planning a wedding sounded like the greatest thing ever. If I could, I would have laughed at myself.
Something ice-cold trickled over my neck, pulling me back into my body. The sound of rushing water flooded my senses as something pricked at the back of my mind. The little boy. He had been there in front of me, lips moving franticallyas he pointed back at the flames. What was he saying? His eyes were wide and frantic as they darted between me and the trees.
“You’re okay,” a rough voice spoke beside me.
I tried to answer him, but my lips were sealed shut. All I wanted was to scream. Shake the man as I demanded answers.
“You were attacked by a Kabora.” He spoke plainly, like I should’ve known what that meant. A chill trickled down my spine as something rough dragged along my arm. The cloth prickled and tugged at my skin. As it reached my shoulder, pain throbbed from where I had been scratched.
“Their claws are coated with a toxin that paralyzes their prey.” My heart sank at his words. I really was about to become someone’s dinner. “Dumb bastards are scared of everything when they’re feeding, though,” he continued, his voice moving around me along with the sound of shifting rocks. “Look, lady…this is about to get very unpleasant for you. Try to stay quiet unless you want them to come back.”
That wasn’t very reassuring. Or helpful. I couldn’t move right now, no matter how badly I wanted to.
The rough cloth was pulled away from my shoulder. It throbbed as the pressure lessened around it. Callused hands replaced the cloth. They rubbed along my shoulder, focusing on the cut. A cool liquid seeped into my skin. It tingled, like little sparks were shooting through my arm, down the rest of my body.
Nothing about it seemed unpleasant like he warned me about. Maybe this mystery man just had no idea what he was talking about.
It was confusing as I felt completely weightless, like a simple breeze would be enough to send me floating through the sky. The tingling sensation traveled down me, pooling at my feet. My legs were numb like I had been sitting cross legged for too long.
That’s when it started. There was a sharp pinch in my toes. The sting radiated through my foot until my body felt like it was vibrating with the pain. The pinching crawled its way up the rest of my body until it felt like hundreds of bugs were crawlingunder my skin, pinching and biting their way up.
I wanted to cry out, to smack at the intruders slithering through me. My fingers ached with the urge to dig into my flesh. Nothing followed my wishes. I was a prisoner locked away within myself.
Searing pain had nausea twisting my stomach. Even with my eyes closed, it felt like the world was tilting me. Like the dirt was water sloshing around.
My back bowed off the ground as hundreds of knives were stabbed into me. A scream finally ripped from my lips as I slammed back onto the ground. Tendrils of pain sank deep into my spine as I collided with the rocky ground. All at once, the pain shot up my body to my shoulder. Claws repeatedly sunk into where the monster had gotten me before.
“Make it stop!” My voice was hoarse as I screamed, thrashing around.
My eyes remain stuck shut. The sounds of water were drowned out with my own screams and ragged breathing. I thought about his warning to stay quiet but I couldn’t make myself stop. I had no more control over myself now than I did a few moments ago.
He seemed to read my thoughts, as my screaming was cut off by something heavy pressing against my lips. My fingers twitched as I wanted to pull it away from me. I tried to keep them buried in the dirt. My chest heaved with shorter gasps as my lungs fought for each breath.
Then it stopped. The pain was chased away by a new coolness. It crept through each of my limbs like I was laying on snow-covered grass. The cold settled into my body, chilling me to my bones. Any nausea was satiated as my body gave a final jerk, pushing the last of the agony away.
With a gasp, I jolted up, my eyes finally opening. Shapes and bright lights flashed around me as the world came into focus. I rubbed away the fuzziness before freezing once again.
In front of me, the little boy was crouched down. Half of his body was sitting in the slow-moving creek with his back to me. I glanced around us. The voice I heard was older than what a child should be capable of but we were the only ones on the small patch of rocky land in the middle of a creek. Any hope I had of saving him quickly vanished. Wherever this place was, I was in way over my head. I couldn’teven save myself, let alone this strange child. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around what just happened. This place felt like something out of my father’s horror stories. I could imagine the lines that would be written about me in this moment.The poor, lost girl far from her only family dies alone in the creepy, monster filled forest.
A chill racked through me; pebbles shifted along my sides. If the monsters were able to change what they looked like, what would stop them from turning into this boy? They could’ve heard me yelling for him and figured this would be the perfect opportunity. Or there never was a little boy, and they just lured out someone to make an easy meal.My knees shook as I turned myself over. I wasn’t going to stay here and dwell in the realm ofwhat ifs. I needed to get away from him so I could find my way back. Figuring out the invisible wall would come later.
I bit my lip as my legs gave out, holding back a whimper as I caught myself. Glancing back, the boy was still occupied by whatever was in the water. I looked at the slow-moving creek in front of me. Was there something in it that was going to eat me, too? Shaking those thoughts from my head, I pulled myself up to my hands and knees. Of course not. He wouldn’t be calmly sitting behind me if there was.
For someone I was worried about killing me, he made no moves toward me. A forest stretched along both sides of the creek. There was no knowing what could be waiting for me in there. My heart thumped painfully at the thought of going back in there alone. I pulled myself to the edge of the rocky mound. No matter what my thoughts were, it felt safer here than in those woods.
Water lapped at the tips of my broken fingernails. Dried blood swirled red into the cooling water. I wiggled my finger against the slow current.
Rocks glistened along the bottom of the creek. Pebbles of every color imaginable shined up at me. My face scrunched as I looked at the creatures swimming. Most of them were a blue that let them blend in almost perfectly in the water. If it wasn’t for the fluttering, I was sure I would have missed them. The others were much more obvious. Their colors were brighter than the rocks.Something sharp ran along their spines as they terrorized the smaller fish. One attached itself to the side of one of the others. Rows of sharp teeth stuck out of their too small mouth as it shredded the creature. My stomach rolled as I watched.
There was no way I was going in this water. My mind quickly settled on staying here with the boy and waiting until the man came back.
I started pulling myself backward, my gaze not leaving the group of creatures in front of me. Their gaze shifted up, locking onto me. The more I kept staring, more tiny eyes appeared in the water. They were all swimming up to me, stopping just shy of my hand. As I moved my fingers to the side, the group followed me. They stayed in the red streams of blood that were flowing from my fingers.
“What are you doing?” the man called out.
