Lights That We Fade In {part two}
Part one.
these are the nights and the lights that we fade in
• • •
• • •
there's one thing they'll never take from you.
The end.
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these are the nights and the lights that we fade in
the world is ugly // my chemical romance
They walked in the sand by the edge of the street, out of the direct light. Although she hid in her mother's shadow, the girl squinted against the brightness. It was brighter out here than the house had ever been. The only cover was scraggly bushes in the distance. The girl's heart shuddered fearfully every time they passed a streetlamp.
From here, the way would only get brighter. Her mother had told her once that the house was as far from the lights it could be, and that the cities were much, much worse.
The girl brought a hand to the blanket around her neck and held her breath as they came to another light. The puddle seemed to stretch towards them. She shut her eyes to block it out, but instead was met with an image of her brother, suffocating as lights crept closer to his paling face. She gasped and dug her fingers further into the blanket, and the image faded. Her breath came out in a hiss after they passed.
She tugged on her mother's hand. "Where did they take him?" she asked. Her mother shushed her.
"Past the cities," she murmured a few minutes later. "The place I was born." The girl didn't know where that was.
The girl stumbled on a rock as they passed a streetlamp. The woman yanked her back before she could fall into the lights, but silvery goosebumps began to rise on her dark arms. They hurt when she tried to rub them away.
The streetlamps grew more frequent as they walked, and the shadows grew thinner. The pair drew further back from the pavement to avoid the light. The woman said there were no shadows in cities. Why did the monsters live without shadows? The girl wondered. How could anyone create something so suffocating?
The foggy silhouette of a building rose on the horizon, marking the edge of the city. The girl's stomach turned at the thought. She had never been this far from the house before. The land was flat as far as she could see. Even the scraggly bushes had disappeared. The sky was a cloudless, soul-sucking sort of blue, too bright for the shadowy land it ruled. The goosebumps on her arms burned. The girl longed for the safe darkness of a home that didn't exist anymore.
"Were the monsters ever like us?" the girl asked.
"No." The girl heard the quiet jingle of her mother's necklace in her fingers when she spoke.
"Were we monsters?" she asked.
Her mother put an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. "I don't know."
The sand gave way to a gravel sidewalk. The city stretched before them, and the girl saw that her mother was right- there were no more shadows in the city. All of the buildings were dead. Their windows were broken; their bricks were charred and gray; their doors were shattered and collapsed. The buildings were dead, but the city was very much alive.
The woman tugged the girl's hand, and the she looked up. The girl reached for the blanket around her neck, and her mother touched her necklace. The girl tensed and held her breath. Together they stepped into the light.
The light didn't hurt. It felt strange, like being underwater. The bumps on the girl's arms tingled. She took a breath. The light shocked her lungs, contorting in ways that air shouldn't. Her vision swayed. The girl bit her tongue, and it steadied. The woman walked faster, pulling her along. The girl watched around every corner and in every alleyway. It wouldn't be long until they were discovered.
They made it four blocks before the girl heard something behind her. Frightened, she peered carefully over her shoulder. She caught a glimpse of a bright white creature plodding slowly, but determinedly, after them. The monster locked eyes with her and let out a low hiss. The girl whipped her head back forward. The woman's grip tightened on her arm.
More monsters flooded in from the alleyways and side streets, falling into step behind the first like a gruesome parade. They made no move to attack- yet. The girl's heart pounded as they turned the corner around a crumbling skyscraper. Her mother pulled her to walk faster.
Now there were several hundred monsters following them. The girl forced herself to stop looking. She wrapped a hand around her brother's blanket and breathed as deeply as she could without choking on the light. She tried to ignore the sound of hundreds of marching feet growing steadily louder and focused on the ground beneath her feet. The streets were like a maze of broken pavement. Every corner looked the same; every street had the same collapsed buildings.
Suddenly, the marching stopped. A quiet ticking filled the air.
With a hiss and the sound of scattering gravel, the monsters were after them. The girl screamed and ran. The woman dug her fingers into the girl's arm as hard as she could, and the girl clung to her blanket with both hands. The two ducked around a corner and kept running.
The woman tried to pull her up the steps to a porch. The girl stumbled on a broken board, and her mother's hand slipped from hers. When she caught her balance, she looked up to find herself surrounded. Hundreds of giant, furry silhouettes were pressing in on her, their claws stretching out towards her face. She backed against the cinder-block wall of building, staring fearfully into the hoard. The monsters grinned. Her heart thundered and her hands fumbled to pull the blanket from under her cloak. She was going to die.
The hairy arm of a monster brushed against her face. Without thinking, the girl gasped and hit it with the blanket. The monster recoiled in pain.
"Drop it," the monsters hissed. The girl stared, wide-eyed. She could hurt them. She could escape. The girl set her jaw and swung the blanket in an arc. The monsters jumped back to avoid it, and she ducked through the hole that opened in the circle and ran.
She slashed the blanket at any monster who got near enough. The parts of them it hit shriveled and turned black. She skidded around a corner and saw a dead end; the place where the streets stopped and the darkness began again. Hopeful, she jumped across a nearby porch and--
A low growl rose next to her ear. She lashed out with the blanket, but the monster snagged it with his claws and flung it to the ground. It put a paw on her chest and shoved her against the door.
The monster's hot breath stung her face. The girl held her breath. Her hands shook and her heart raced. Carefully, she raised her eyes to meet the monster's. Their darkness surprised her. Despite the monster's fiery exterior, its eyes were black, soft, and somehow sympathetic. Her gaze lingered there, like she could befriend it if she stared long enough. Her head spun and her vision paled, but she was calm.
"Really," a voice in her head told her. "The monsters are kind. Your brother is happy. Your mother is happy. The house is happy. You will be happy, too."
For a washed-out, dizzy eternity, the girl believed it. Her fingertips started to burn.
"This is what it is like to be happy," the girl thought. The burning sensation crawled further up her arm.
"No!" she realized suddenly. The world flooded back into full color. She stabbed her fingers into the monster's eyes and kicked its enormous middle as hard as she could. Then she set her jaw, jerked to the side, ducked under an enormous leg, and ran for her life. White fire flared up to her elbow. She could see the darkness up ahead. She could make it. Her feet slipped, and she fell on the edge of the rocks; her hands hit the sand and she crawled forward into the welcoming shadow. She lay quiet and still, gasping in the darkness like she was suffocating. Chills crawled on her skin as the fire withered and died. She was free.
She lay in the sand as static buzz of the lights faded and her eyes adjusted to the dark again. Then she stood up shakily and brushed the sand off her legs. She didn't dare look back as she started walking. She found a path between the trees, littered with pine cones. Her mother was behind her somewhere, but she couldn't look. Her armor was gone. She could only keep going. She pulled her hood back and let her hair fall down her back. Step. Step. One foot in front of the other.
Something crunched and broke beneath her foot. She looked down to see the remnants of a light bulb, crushed in the sand. She looked up, and suddenly the trees surrounding her were not trees at all, but instead, thousands of black streetlamps. The ground was covered with broken light bulbs. She shivered and kept walking.
Suddenly, she stopped. The ground fell away four feet in front of her, opening to a vast expanse of nothing but sky. Sand crumbled over the edge and disappeared. It was the end of the world.
Her mother appeared behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"We can save him," she said. She took the girl's hand and shouted some words the girl couldn't understand. Her mother led her a few steps closer to the edge of the cliff. For a long time, they stood there, hand in hand, toes brushing the edge of reality, raising their lives as an offering to the void. For a long time, they stood there, waiting for the darkness to consume them. It never did.
Instead, a voice rose from behind them.
"Maggie?" The girl's eyes widened, she slipped, and suddenly she was falling. All she could see was blue.
Hallie sat up to dim, early light filtering through the curtains. She looked around the room, trying to settle the feeling in her stomach. It had only been a dream, a nightmare of the worst kind. Her brother was still beside her, with a beam of sunlight falling across his sleeping face. She laid down again and curled closer to Maggie. He laid his head on her shoulder.
Hallie lay on her back with her arms wrapped around her brother, staring up at the cracked and water-stained ceiling. She could hear her mother moving around in another room. In reality, she told herself, all was well. The house would support them another day. There were no monsters in the walls. It was all in her head. No one would take Maggie away from her.
Even though it was just a nightmare, it felt too real for comfort.
From here, the way would only get brighter. Her mother had told her once that the house was as far from the lights it could be, and that the cities were much, much worse.
The girl brought a hand to the blanket around her neck and held her breath as they came to another light. The puddle seemed to stretch towards them. She shut her eyes to block it out, but instead was met with an image of her brother, suffocating as lights crept closer to his paling face. She gasped and dug her fingers further into the blanket, and the image faded. Her breath came out in a hiss after they passed.
She tugged on her mother's hand. "Where did they take him?" she asked. Her mother shushed her.
"Past the cities," she murmured a few minutes later. "The place I was born." The girl didn't know where that was.
The girl stumbled on a rock as they passed a streetlamp. The woman yanked her back before she could fall into the lights, but silvery goosebumps began to rise on her dark arms. They hurt when she tried to rub them away.
The streetlamps grew more frequent as they walked, and the shadows grew thinner. The pair drew further back from the pavement to avoid the light. The woman said there were no shadows in cities. Why did the monsters live without shadows? The girl wondered. How could anyone create something so suffocating?
The foggy silhouette of a building rose on the horizon, marking the edge of the city. The girl's stomach turned at the thought. She had never been this far from the house before. The land was flat as far as she could see. Even the scraggly bushes had disappeared. The sky was a cloudless, soul-sucking sort of blue, too bright for the shadowy land it ruled. The goosebumps on her arms burned. The girl longed for the safe darkness of a home that didn't exist anymore.
"Were the monsters ever like us?" the girl asked.
"No." The girl heard the quiet jingle of her mother's necklace in her fingers when she spoke.
"Were we monsters?" she asked.
Her mother put an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. "I don't know."
The sand gave way to a gravel sidewalk. The city stretched before them, and the girl saw that her mother was right- there were no more shadows in the city. All of the buildings were dead. Their windows were broken; their bricks were charred and gray; their doors were shattered and collapsed. The buildings were dead, but the city was very much alive.
The woman tugged the girl's hand, and the she looked up. The girl reached for the blanket around her neck, and her mother touched her necklace. The girl tensed and held her breath. Together they stepped into the light.
The light didn't hurt. It felt strange, like being underwater. The bumps on the girl's arms tingled. She took a breath. The light shocked her lungs, contorting in ways that air shouldn't. Her vision swayed. The girl bit her tongue, and it steadied. The woman walked faster, pulling her along. The girl watched around every corner and in every alleyway. It wouldn't be long until they were discovered.
They made it four blocks before the girl heard something behind her. Frightened, she peered carefully over her shoulder. She caught a glimpse of a bright white creature plodding slowly, but determinedly, after them. The monster locked eyes with her and let out a low hiss. The girl whipped her head back forward. The woman's grip tightened on her arm.
More monsters flooded in from the alleyways and side streets, falling into step behind the first like a gruesome parade. They made no move to attack- yet. The girl's heart pounded as they turned the corner around a crumbling skyscraper. Her mother pulled her to walk faster.
Now there were several hundred monsters following them. The girl forced herself to stop looking. She wrapped a hand around her brother's blanket and breathed as deeply as she could without choking on the light. She tried to ignore the sound of hundreds of marching feet growing steadily louder and focused on the ground beneath her feet. The streets were like a maze of broken pavement. Every corner looked the same; every street had the same collapsed buildings.
Suddenly, the marching stopped. A quiet ticking filled the air.
With a hiss and the sound of scattering gravel, the monsters were after them. The girl screamed and ran. The woman dug her fingers into the girl's arm as hard as she could, and the girl clung to her blanket with both hands. The two ducked around a corner and kept running.
The woman tried to pull her up the steps to a porch. The girl stumbled on a broken board, and her mother's hand slipped from hers. When she caught her balance, she looked up to find herself surrounded. Hundreds of giant, furry silhouettes were pressing in on her, their claws stretching out towards her face. She backed against the cinder-block wall of building, staring fearfully into the hoard. The monsters grinned. Her heart thundered and her hands fumbled to pull the blanket from under her cloak. She was going to die.
The hairy arm of a monster brushed against her face. Without thinking, the girl gasped and hit it with the blanket. The monster recoiled in pain.
"Drop it," the monsters hissed. The girl stared, wide-eyed. She could hurt them. She could escape. The girl set her jaw and swung the blanket in an arc. The monsters jumped back to avoid it, and she ducked through the hole that opened in the circle and ran.
She slashed the blanket at any monster who got near enough. The parts of them it hit shriveled and turned black. She skidded around a corner and saw a dead end; the place where the streets stopped and the darkness began again. Hopeful, she jumped across a nearby porch and--
A low growl rose next to her ear. She lashed out with the blanket, but the monster snagged it with his claws and flung it to the ground. It put a paw on her chest and shoved her against the door.
The monster's hot breath stung her face. The girl held her breath. Her hands shook and her heart raced. Carefully, she raised her eyes to meet the monster's. Their darkness surprised her. Despite the monster's fiery exterior, its eyes were black, soft, and somehow sympathetic. Her gaze lingered there, like she could befriend it if she stared long enough. Her head spun and her vision paled, but she was calm.
"Really," a voice in her head told her. "The monsters are kind. Your brother is happy. Your mother is happy. The house is happy. You will be happy, too."
For a washed-out, dizzy eternity, the girl believed it. Her fingertips started to burn.
"This is what it is like to be happy," the girl thought. The burning sensation crawled further up her arm.
"No!" she realized suddenly. The world flooded back into full color. She stabbed her fingers into the monster's eyes and kicked its enormous middle as hard as she could. Then she set her jaw, jerked to the side, ducked under an enormous leg, and ran for her life. White fire flared up to her elbow. She could see the darkness up ahead. She could make it. Her feet slipped, and she fell on the edge of the rocks; her hands hit the sand and she crawled forward into the welcoming shadow. She lay quiet and still, gasping in the darkness like she was suffocating. Chills crawled on her skin as the fire withered and died. She was free.
She lay in the sand as static buzz of the lights faded and her eyes adjusted to the dark again. Then she stood up shakily and brushed the sand off her legs. She didn't dare look back as she started walking. She found a path between the trees, littered with pine cones. Her mother was behind her somewhere, but she couldn't look. Her armor was gone. She could only keep going. She pulled her hood back and let her hair fall down her back. Step. Step. One foot in front of the other.
Something crunched and broke beneath her foot. She looked down to see the remnants of a light bulb, crushed in the sand. She looked up, and suddenly the trees surrounding her were not trees at all, but instead, thousands of black streetlamps. The ground was covered with broken light bulbs. She shivered and kept walking.
Suddenly, she stopped. The ground fell away four feet in front of her, opening to a vast expanse of nothing but sky. Sand crumbled over the edge and disappeared. It was the end of the world.
Her mother appeared behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"We can save him," she said. She took the girl's hand and shouted some words the girl couldn't understand. Her mother led her a few steps closer to the edge of the cliff. For a long time, they stood there, hand in hand, toes brushing the edge of reality, raising their lives as an offering to the void. For a long time, they stood there, waiting for the darkness to consume them. It never did.
Instead, a voice rose from behind them.
"Maggie?" The girl's eyes widened, she slipped, and suddenly she was falling. All she could see was blue.
Hallie sat up to dim, early light filtering through the curtains. She looked around the room, trying to settle the feeling in her stomach. It had only been a dream, a nightmare of the worst kind. Her brother was still beside her, with a beam of sunlight falling across his sleeping face. She laid down again and curled closer to Maggie. He laid his head on her shoulder.
Hallie lay on her back with her arms wrapped around her brother, staring up at the cracked and water-stained ceiling. She could hear her mother moving around in another room. In reality, she told herself, all was well. The house would support them another day. There were no monsters in the walls. It was all in her head. No one would take Maggie away from her.
Even though it was just a nightmare, it felt too real for comfort.
• • •
there's one thing they'll never take from you.
The end.
If you haven't yet, go give The World Is Ugly a listen. I listened to it and a few other songs exclusively while I wrote this, and it really fueled the mood and plot. Leave a comment with what you thought of the story and if you want me to share the playlist!
Oh my gosh this is so good!! I loved reading this story a lot!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteThis was amazing, great job on it. <33
ReplyDeleteThank you very much! I'm glad you liked it.
DeleteI loved this! It's so good. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it! :)
Delete