Banner by Cloudsfloating !

I have been rewriting this story, so here you go!

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Darkness; It's the first thing a child sees in its life. The world is foreign to the child.

Light; the first refraction of color into its eyes.

As a small sliver of white comes through its small eyelids, the baby is blinded with the bright contrast. New experiences and new thoughts. All of these are foreign to a child.

But I am not a child.

I have seen this before.

I attempted opening my eyes, but I was surprised by a pang in my skull. I squeezed my eyes tight in a futile effort to shelter myself from the feeling.

I was seventeen, my birth and childhood had already long passed me. So why was I experiencing this extreme radiance once more?

I pushed past the pain and parted my eyes slowly and carefully. It took a minute, but I finally adjusted to the colors. Everything appeared to have a dull glow surrounding it.

Suddenly, a face appeared. I couldn't make out any features, but I could see a head of jet black hair. As my other senses kicked in, I could feel my dry mouth part and I tried to speak.

I made no sound, but the face moved out of my view as if startled by my presence. The silence around me grew from nothing to a sharp pang of booming voices. I opened my eyes fully and blinked several times, trying to ignore the pounding in my head as the voices grew.

The face was finally coming into focus. I saw a chiseled jawline first, then blue eyes, brighter than the light I had just experienced.

I tried to sit up in my groggy state, only to be met by blinding pain. I grimaced and heard a voice somewhere far within me scream. Concern was clear on the boy's face. I only saw his shining face for a moment more as the darkness crept in to claim me again.

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Waking up the second time was a much better experience. First I felt my eyes moving behind my lids, and then my fingers twitch. I learned from my previous awakening that I shouldn't sit up so fast, and I slowly sat upright.

Once I was upright, I peeked my eyes open. However, this time I was not greeted by a radiant shining light, but instead a soft luster.

I was sitting on a sleeping bag only a couple feet away, from a fire pit gazing up at the stars in the night sky. The landscape was barren; dry powdered grounds with a tree line in the distance.

Where am I? How far am I from home?

Even as the thought crossed my mind, a bitter taste filled my mouth. Home was a term for a house; filled with family, love, and warmth.

My home was cold.

My 'home', was nothing more than scraps of wood and a drunken mother. It was almost a relief not to wake up in my own bed for once.

Nevertheless, I was hit by reality. I needed to figure out where I was and, no matter how putrid that house was, find a way back to my home. It wasn't a nice home, but at least it had shelter and a life waiting for me.

Why throw away something so productive?

"You're awake," a deep burly voice said from behind me. I, still in a state of sleep, slowly turned around, blood thrumming through my veins. I was met with the face I had seen earlier.

From where I was, I could see the firelight lick at his curly black locks. His long lashes framed his glassy blue eyes. I felt very unsettled by the sight because he was close to me, very close.

Without giving it much thought, I reared my hand back and struck the boy. He staggered back and let out a few choice words, as I composed myself and jumped to my feet.

"What was that for?" He asked with a tone that bordered confusion and incredulousness. I fought my mind for a good comeback, but my mind was not in a cooperative mood and rebelled against my mouth.

"Because," I let out the childlike retort in a raspy quiet tone.

The word felt foreign in my mouth as if I hadn't spoken in years. The subtle movement of my lips triggered a dull pain in the back of my neck, and I reached up to touch the source of the pain. I was shocked to feel the warmth radiating from my neck.

I looked down to see a cloth wrapped meticulously around my throat. Pulling my hand away to look at it I saw red and sticky blood lightly dusted over my fingertips.

I gasped and looked up at the mystery boy.

My instincts told me that he was my obvious assailant, and he stared down at my fingertips then swore quietly to himself. He made his way over to me and as he moved to get behind me but I pulled away. I gave him a skeptical look as he reached for the cloth.

"Trust me. If I wanted to hurt you I would have done it already."

I kept my stare unwavering and took a few steps away. I had no idea who this man was and I didn't trust him with anything. For all I knew, he was the one that hurt me.

I slowly removed the cloth and my eyes never left his face. He seemed distracted as he watched my hands work on the cloth, and I pulled the cloth away to see the back of it covered in blood. My knees locked at the sight, and I kept my balance as I held the cloth at an arm's distance.

The cloth, that was now in my full view, was actually a white t-shirt. While staring at the T-shirt, I was acutely aware of warm air hitting the back of my neck. I sucked air through my teeth at the sudden pain and pressure at the base of my neck.

"Don't move," I realized the boy was pushing against me.

He was behind me and pressing something warm to my wound, and I remained motionless so that I didn't provoke him to hurt me.

After a few minutes, the pain went away and he appeared in front of me with a bloodied hand. As he came around the most startling occurrence was the mystery of his missing shirt. I hadn't paid much attention to anything but his face, but seeing the blood on his hand drew my face to his abdomen. I looked down at the cloth and the pieces clicked.

Maybe he didn't hurt me. Maybe he saved me.

I decided I better get to the nearest hospital to get some help but I thought I should apologize to him first.

"I'm sorry," I said.

He gave me a quizzical look. "For what?"

"Hitting you," I noticed a red imprint had started to form on his lower jawline."I'm sorry."

He seemed startled at my apology. Just as fast as the emotion spread to his face, it was gone, "Who are you?"

I debated lying about my name but decided I would trust him... for now.

"Ember."

He nodded. "I'm Cameron," he said as he walked to a sleeping bag and sat down by the fire.

I watched him and decided to follow. Since the bleeding felt as if it had stopped, I figured I would milk him for information to get out of here and get home. I sat down close, but not too close to him on the sleeping bag that I woke up on.

I was about to speak, but I heard what sounded like a twig snap in the woods.

Cameron jumped up and got into a battle stance, and I could see all the ridges of his muscles as they ticked with what could only be the rhythm of his heart. My own heart was racing from the sound and the sight of Cameron in a defensive mode. I saw the glint of silver in his hand as a figure emerged from the woods. My heart felt like it was about to beat out of my chest as the figure moved into view. 

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