Lovely

She thought she’d found a way out, a way out of the horrid nightmare that existed and corrupted the world for the past month. But no, Millie made the worst mistake running out to the woods, in the middle of the harsh winter that occurred annually, especially with them out there.

    February was always horrible in North Dakota, but the black out just made everything worse. The sun had… some sort of reaction. People, you know, before the things came along, replaced the name “sun” with “Sliver”, because that’s what it was. Only six hours out of twenty-four had just enough Sliverlight to see a person twenty feet away from them on a clear day. The rest of the eighteen hours of the day it would be pitch black, with the exception of a few faint stars. This reaction to the formerly known "sun" caused a major black out throughout the earth. No power, no electricity… nothing.

    And some people in the world were stupid enough to begin riots and spark the purge. That’s how Millie lost Mom. She, Dad, and her older twin siblings had moved to their cabin up north and in the woods to escape the chaos. It was assumed that at least a quarter of the population was dead. Then that’s when we discovered… them.

    It had only been about a month since Mom died when Millie’s older sister didn’t come home from exploring the woods earlier that day. She and her brother set out in the civil twilight. Dad was left at home while the siblings took the only flashlights.

   About an hour of flailing the streams of light around passed when Millie found her sister’s body. It was stripped down to the bone, but she knew it was her sister. Her brother came running when he heard her cry. The two slowly moved away from their late sister’s body, but her brother turned his flashlight off to conserve energy. He was only a few feet away from Millie when… the things attacked him. Millie flashed her light onto it, but the creature fell and ran away. She didn’t get a glance of it, but when Millie turned back to her brother, enough damage was done to kill him.

    Overcome by shock and fear, she bolted back to the small cabin. She called for her father, but all she heard was commotion coming from a different room.

    “Dad…?” Millie remembered calling out as she neared on of the bedrooms. She gleamed the beam. A shrill cry of another thing echoed throughout the room. Millie saw it shrivel with eyes filled with horror. One thing was for sure. Those creatures were susceptible to light.

    A groan from her father drew her attention. There was a lot of blood, and he barely had enough strength to call out her name.

    “Millicent, promise me,” he moaned. “Run. Fight. Survive. And above all… don’t look… back…” those were his last words before Dad faded away. By now, Millie was too traumatized to yell or cry or do anything. She just slowly backed away while keeping the flashlight on her father. It was the only source of light in her pitch-black world, literally.

    Sounds of morbid things made her heart increase. Millie could feel their presence nearing on her back. She knew she needed to get out. The relentless wind slapped her in the face. And as she kept waving her flashlight around, she took her father’s dying advice.

    She never looked back.

Millie looked into the yellow-and-orange flames that danced around the sticks so effortlessly. After the flashlight died, it was her only source of light, warmth, and protection from those creatures. She had to stay there, at least until the Sliver came up.

    Brittle air pricked at the back of her neck. Snow and smoke blended into the air. Although her heart was shattered, Millie’s mind was made of stone. She forced herself not to cry, even after what had happened in the past few hours. She couldn’t here, not now. Not with those things out there.

    All she longed for was things to be normal, before the blackout. But she was determined to make it out of the situation, someday. Even if it took all night or a hundred years, she was not going to die. Not like this.

    “Welcome, Millicent, to your new life,” she imagined the flame say. A glimpse of a smile flickered across her mouth. Even though it wasn’t true, it told her that is was lovely here, all alone, just to console her for now. She rewarded her welcoming “friend” by feeding it another stick. It hardly made a difference.

    Little droplets of snow fell onto her head. It was coming down. Rubbing her aching shoulders, she curled up on her side. She was too sleep-deprived to stay awake, yet too numb to fall asleep. Besides, with the freshly fallen snow, she’d have to stay awake to tend to the fire. Or it would go out. Then it would be impossible to start it up again. Then no light, no warmth…

    She pushed the thought out of her mind.

Winds began howling, swirling the soft whiteness around. Digging for dry grass underneath the snow for fire food was no use any longer. The frigid weather started seeping into her veins. By now, she could she her breath in front of her face.

    It was colder than cold, and Millie was shivering violently. And worse, the fire began wavering over the harsh winter’s wrath.

    Millie managed to sit up to inspect it. There was only a little spark left, only just enough light to cast a shadow. Then, she heard them.

    She didn’t dare to look around her. She was too frozen in fear and almost literally to move. Instead, the fire mesmerized her. It was her only source of hope for staying alive.

    The creatures eerie presence was the weighed down on the poor girl. They were going to come at her.

    All Millie longed for in that moment was to make it out of her dire situation. She wanted to stay alive. At least to not die on the same day as the rest of her family. This wasn’t the mindset she needed, a mind who only longs and never does.

    Millie was determined to survive that night. And she was going to get away from those things whether it took all night or a hundred years. She was going to make it out of there.

    Her attention turned back to the flame that was teasing to give up on her. Millie couldn’t move to find something to help it live. The things were out there; they would tear her from skin to bone.

   The wintery air pushed and pulled her around. Whenever she exhaled, the air was a white sheet in front of her. Millie was sure her hands were made of ice by now. Ever so slowly, the light was fading. It barely illuminated her face. She pleaded for the flame to go on. Her only and friend couldn’t leave, not just yet.

     As the warmth grew smaller, the things inched closer.

    They were watching here.

    Their heaving and raspy whispers snuck into her head.

    If she focused enough, she could hear the screams of her family.

    The sounds cut to her soul.

Millie knew she had to do something. These creatures weren’t going away. And another minute, the flame would disappear, and she would be dead.

    Burn something, anything, her mind chided her. Her jacket could be and option, but she would probably die from hypothermia instead. The same reason occurred with her other pieces of clothing.

    She had brought something else with her. What was it? More importantly, where was it?

    Fishing the thick snow for, oh, what was it?

    Something firm brushed across her fingers. The light was dimming, but when she brought it to the dark light of the dying fire, it was her deceased flashlight. IT had batteries in there that also happened to be dead. Gosh, why was everything around her dead?

    But maybe, just maybe, the metal itself would burn? Or it may at least spark something bigger than what already in the fire.

    Scrambling to peel her frozen gloves off and to get the expired batteries out of the flashlight, her fiery creation dwindle more violently before her eyes by the second.

    Come on Millicent, this is life or death.

Her gloves were finally off, though she couldn’t feel her fingers. She fumbled for the flashlight and tried to find the compartment for batteries.

    There.

    Why- WHY did you need a screwdriver to open it?

    Another howl of wind, then it was pitch black.

    The fire had gone out. They were coming.

    The world froze; her heart stopped. The sound of emptiness was so loud, it was deafening. Their ghostly presence edged on her back.

    Get up. Run!

    Adrenaline pulsed through her veins, forcing her to move. Keeping her head down with her arms wrapped around it, the crunch of snow beneath her glued her feet to her escape plan. But from other poundings on the inch-thick flakes signaled there were others, or things, chasing their next victim. There had to be at least twenty of them.

     Branches pricked at her jacket, pulling out the threads of her jacket and took snippets of her face. Her feet wavered and it took all her concentration not to fall over from the snow sucking and gluing her feet to the ground. Her throat was dry from heaving the frozen air, and her heart was on the verge of explosion. But she had to keep moving. This was life or death.

    But was she running away from them or was she actually running towards them?

    Whipping her head around to check would do no good. It was too black.

    Exhaustion was pressing down on her.

    The snow was sinking her in.

    Keep moving. Keep MOVING, Millie chided herself.

    Her core ignited, lighting her on fire. She was moving faster. Wind tried to push her back but she kept running through the blackness.

    Everything would be find as long as she kept moving, didn’t stop for anything, and hopefully she wouldn’t hit a-

    Tree.

    Millie’s temples throbbed as the memories came rushing back. She was running, in the cold… from the things. Then, she hit a stupid tree. And that same stupid tree beamed over her now. She had obviously gotten knocked out from running into it while running for her life. But… why, or how was she alive?

    Millie shifted on the soft blanket of snow she was laid on. Icicles glistened on the bare trees surrounding the area. Warm streaks that the trees filtered cast lightened shadows on her surroundings. It was about as light as golden hour. The Sliver had risen, and that was the most amount of light it could ever give. It must have risen when she was knocked out, or else she would be, well, dead.

    There was no telling of how long she’d been out, but she was running out of time and needed to find shelter. If she had estimated correctly, there would only be about five hours before night fell, and the things would be back again.

    Millie forced herself on her feet and looked up at the sky. Her father had raised her that if she were ever lost, she could use her surroundings to help find her way back.

    Her father.

    As realization hit, tears were on the verge of spilling over. She really didn’t have time to grieve her family’s death, which had only happened less than twenty-four hours ago.

   No, no, no. She wasn’t going to cry, not when she had to find shelter. Not just yet. That’s when a sound tickled her eardrums. It was something she hadn’t heard in hours. And she was immediately drawn to it. It was a lovely sound.

    It was the sound of voices, human voices. And they were near.