Raija

Chapter I The awakening Light Tiny pin needles coursed throughout my veins, tearing at every tender vessel with each pounding rasp that hammered within my chest. It was a shot of energy that had startled me out of what seemed an endless nightmare, wrapped in something worse than the visions bleak midnight and encasing hellfire. I gasped to catch my breath, squeezing short puffs of air from my throat while my eyes burned against the overhead drips of sunlight that splashed against my face. Thundering beats batted against the airways overhead as the rhythmic strum of startled birds swam indiscreetly out of sight, snapping up twigs and tossing

Cool streams of thick quilted darkness webbed in soft opaque patches about me. Smooth and welcoming as the heavy crimson curtains of my bedroom windows swallowed the remaining drips of light from spilling past the cotton masking of the dark window framed veils.  There, they would conceal even the slightest drip of tender light that dared to trickle passed their pleated seams, and illuminate my bedroom walls with its soft, soothing moonlight. Whirrs of the air conditioner hummed somberly overhead, while outside my masked window seal, crickets composed a symphony that played an even tune along the steady hum that stirred from overhead vents.

Late one evening, when the sun had just retired to bed, and the stars were all tucked in against the warm breath of night, a young girl tussled about trying to settle down for bed. She tossed and she turned, throwing both her arms and tiny little feet into the air with frustration. No matter what she did, she could need seem to fall asleep. Her older sister, who happened to be sitting at the foot of the bed, looked up from her notebook and sighed. “ Would you like for me to read you a story, Samara?” Her older sister asked with a gentle smile. The young girl shook her head rather quickly, and then crawled down to her sister’