Nightmare of a Memory

Violet Kerr is lost in a mad maze of fate. Lost in its unending twists and surprising turns. Lost. No other word can describe it better. She wonders when it will all end. She wonders when this madness will end and she will be shown the right path. She wonders…

Her bedroom door slammed open and her mother hurriedly walked in. She frantically pulled Violet and her twin brother, Strylin, out of bed. Violet and her brother were wide awake and frightened by their mother's sudden behavior. She was heavily breathing and her eyes were wide with trepidation. She tugged the two stumbling nine year olds along with a deathly grip. There were shouts and noises coming from downstairs. They ran along the small, creaky, wooden hallway, and come across an oversized painting of a man and a young woman. The young woman had beautiful black hair, dark green eyes, and a long flowing blue gown that was tight at the waist and flared at the end. The man had wavy dark chestnut hair, brown eyes, and he wore a suit of the same dark blue complete with a matching top hat and cane. The paintings hung on the wall, out of place and too elaborate for its meager surroundings. Violet clutched her stuffed doll, which her mother made her, tight in one hand.

Her mother pushes the gold ring on a chain necklace of the young woman. CLICK. The painting door unlocked and swung towards them. She pushed the kids inside the small little room that was more like a large closet than anything. The room was mostly dark with the exception of one little candle that sat on a crate in the far corner. Violet looked around in interest. She's never seen this room before. There were maps of Juno, Cres, their world Efil, and navigating instruments strewn upon parchments of paper on a wooden desk in front of her. Two silver long swords hung on the right wall next to her. They both were elaborate Katana swords with a pearl white handle and gold hilt. Her brother's old gaw clubs and ball lay on the floor below them. There were two coffin sized wooden chests across from each other, one on the same wall as the swords, the other on the blank wall. Upon them sat Violet's older brothers Jo and Wayne. They stood up immediately when their mother walked in.

They all watched in wonder as she took the Katana sword from its place on the wall. As fast as lightning, her expression changed from fear to that of retribution, as she wielded the sword in her right hand with a white knuckled grip.

"Mama?" Violet quietly asks making her mother look from the sword to her. Her face relaxed a bit and she kneeled before her youngest children and in a low stern voice she says, "Stay here!"

She stood up, never taking her eyes off of them. She's about to walk out, when Wayne grabbed her arm, "We'll help you! We can fight! Please Ma..."

She gently shrugged her arm away and faced her fifteen year old son with glistening eyes, "No, I can't risk losing any of you..."

She walked to the entrance of the room and stepped out, but she looked back at them fearing it might be the last time she would ever see them. She looked at her sixteen year old son Jo straight in his dark brown eyes.

"If anything should happen just open the chest on the left wall. Go in and walk down the passage until you reach an opening. Run as fast and as far as you can away from here. And don't you dare turn back!" she was stern and fear shook her voice. Jo hesitantly nodded and she broke eye contact.

The twins rushed up to their mother and hugged her. Strylin asked, "Where are you going Mama?"

Their mother gave no response; instead she grabbed their hands and squeezed them. She leaned down and planted a soft kiss on each of their foreheads. She looked into both their eyes for a moment, her eyes giving a silent 'I love you'. She tore her eyes away and let go of their hands. They just stood there silent, scared, not knowing what the hell was going on. Her dark green eyes were brimming with tears as she closed the painting. CLICK. It was locked shut.

"What's happening out there?" Strylin asked the eldest brother Jo.

"It's those damn Fremiks! They're trying to get rid of us!" Jo angrily responded still facing the now closed door.

"But...why?" Jo sat back down on the chest and put his head in his hands.

"Because they hate us. Because we are Pions. Because we won't submit to their king."

"Are Mama and Papa going to be okay?" Violet asked voice trembling and eyes on the verge of tears; she clutched her doll ever so tightly to her chest. They all looked at their sister. Wayne knelt beside her and put two hands on her shoulders, "They'll be fine." Of course he himself didn't quite know what the outcome would be.

There was a long intense silence. Strylin was looking around the room bored. He opened one of the chests and found on top of the pile of books, armor, and other things, a dagger. Jo took down the other sword and wielded it in his hand the way his mother had done. Wayne was nervous and he picked up the nearest book next to him and pretended to read it. Violet still stood in front of the door with her doll clutched to her chest and tears spilling silently on her cheeks.

BANG. A door was being kicked open at the far end of the hallway. It echoed all the way to the painting and everyone immediately looked up at the painting door. BANG. Another door. BANG. Another one. SNIFF, SNIFF, GRRSSS. It was a Nref! Oh, were they going to be in trouble. They froze and continued to look at the door. Violet had a thought, maybe it won't find them. It can't possibly get through the painting! It was locked tight. Right?

"What is it boy?" a man with a black mask that was shaped in two large diamonds in a black hooded cloak asked his pet Nref. The large four-legged animal waved it's dragon like head side to side. GRRSSS. GRRSSS. Its head and its eyes were pointed straight at the painting.

"Is there somebody in there?" The man asked. He strode towards the painting not caring for an answer. He knocked on the painting. The noise seemed to reverberate behind it. He smirked and took up his rapier. He stabbed it through the heart of the man in the painting. Its sharp tip stabbed into the heart of Violet's stuff doll. She gasped and quickly let go. She backed up slowly looking at the moving doll as the sword twisted. They were all frightened with faces pale white and eyes wide as platters. Jo did what his mother had said and opened the huge chest on the left wall. The sword retreated from the wall and a blue menacing eye looked in.

"Well, Well, What do we have here?" He began kicking the door and he broke through. They all climbed in one by one, Jo first, then Wayne, then Strylin, and finally Violet. She forgot to close the chest. They ran down the dark hallway until they saw an opening. The moon was full and they could see the edge of the forest clearly. They ran into the dark forest. None of the brothers looked back. If they did, they would have seen their little sister Violet being taken by the man in the mask.

He held his hand tightly over her mouth. She began to cry and whimper into his cold pale hand. His thin sharp sword was held to her neck and his pet was let loose to chase after her brothers. She was paralyzed. She didn't know what to do. Oh where were her mother and father? Where were her brothers?

"Shhh, I promise a quick and painless death if you tell me where your brothers are going?" He whispered in her ear. There was silence except for the sound of her hard breathing and whimpering. The man looked her up and down and he took in the emerald green eyes, dark raven hair, pink full lips, and pale peach pixie features. Even for a child, she was quite the beauty.

"No answer? Hmm? I guess I'll just have to force it out of you!" He began to run his pale hand along her small frame. "Let me tell you...it's going to be quite fun for me," he huskily said in her ear and then a gave a low chuckle and began to lightly kiss the side of her neck. She shivered and tried to wriggle free, but was met with pressure and sharp pain on the nape of her neck from his sword.

SMACK! Suddenly, the sword fell away from her neck and the man in the mask fell to the ground.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY LITTLE GIRL!" her father raged, standing above the man in the mask with one of Jo's metal gaw clubs in hand. He was on fire. His usually calm chocolate brown eyes were glowing dark orbs, his reddish-brown hair disheveled, and his jaw was clenched nearly to its breaking point. He looked from the man to his tear-stricken daughter whose neck was bleeding. His face softened a bit and he took his little girl in his arms. She cried on his shoulder and he looked back at the man on the ground in disgust. He began running into the forest stumbling over branches and roots to a hidden cave where her brothers were suppose to be, but weren't. He put Violet down and she stood behind him holding his arm like a small scared child. He walked towards the end of the cave.

"Stry? Jo? Wayne?" he called, but the sound of his voice came back to him.

"Where are you?" he muttered looking wildly about.

"That man in the black mask sent his Nref after them," Violet said in a hushed voice. Her father looked at her and his eyebrows furrowed in worry. He took Violet's arm and led her into the darkest corner of the cave that couldn't be seen from outside.

He kneeled to meet her eye to eye. He caught a glimpse of the dark red blood from her neck seeping into her lavender nightgown. He grabbed his handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped it clean, "Stay here! I'm going to go look for your brothers."

There was a terrible feeling sitting in the pit of her stomach telling her something was going to go wrong. She clung onto his arm and she shook her head 'no'.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," he said smoothing her hair and taking her hand off his arm. "Here," he took from his neck a small gold ring on a chain necklace and put it around her neck, "Just hold onto the ring and think of me. Before you know it, I'll be there." He got up and walked towards the entrance and she held onto the ring between her index finger and thumb.

He stopped dead in his tracks. There was a dark looming shadow on the ground beside the entrance. Her father slowly looked up. He found that the man with the black mask had gained consciousness and followed them there. The man stepped forward, "You won't get away with that! You Pion Scum!"

The man with the mask charged at her father and swung at him. He saw it coming from a mile away and dodged it.

"You won't take me down so easily!" Her father returned, and he charged at the man with the Gaw club still in hand. CLANK. The man struck at the metal club and the noise of the two metals echoed in the cave. Her father pushed the metal club so the sword was pushed back as well. The man in the mask kept striking at her father, he kept blocking with the club. Her father slipped into the dark shadows of the cave and went behind the man. The man looked around wildly. THWACK. He swung the club down in the area between the man's neck and back and knocked the man down again. He writhed on the ground holding the back of his neck. Her father stood above him ready to strike his head. He drew the club up above his head and the man in the mask put his hand up and started crawling backwards. He was cornered against the cave wall and he shook his head 'no'. Her father drew the club up and the man grabbed a handful of dirt. Her father swung down and the man threw the dirt into her father's eyes and he screamed and dropped the club. The man did the same tactic her father did and went into the shadows. Her father tried to find him, but his vision was blurred and he blindly searched for the club. He found it and started swinging. Violet saw her father struggling and saw that the man in the mask was slowly coming up behind him. He held the sword at his side ready to strike. Violet's heart was pounding madly against her ribcage and she stood up.

"PAPA!" she screamed in horror. Her father turned around at the sound of her voice and he was stabbed straight through the heart.

Everything stopped. Violet stopped breathing and her eyes wide. The Man plunged the sword deeper into her father's heart until the hilt touched his chest. The length of his sword protruded through his back, covered and dripping with blood. Blood was streaming from her father's mouth and chest. His eyes were wide in surprise and shock as he made a choking sound. The man grinned madly in triumph as he slowly took out his sword. Her father fell, first on his knees then on his chest. His eyes were still wide, but they were lifeless. No more warm chocolates. No more happiness. No more…

Violet let out a ragged breath and tears started falling again. Violet let go of the ring and went for her father, but the man in the mask stopped her midway. Backing her up against the cave wall, he towered over her. His threatening blue eyes with an outline of red bore into hers. She slid down the wall and looked up at him. Tears were pouring from her eyes. He smirked and he narrowed his lust filled eyes.

"Now...where were we?" He kicked open her legs and grabbed the collar of her night gown. RIIIP!

"NOOOO!" She screamed into the darkness. She abruptly sat up on her bed. Her breathing was erratic and she was covered head to toe in sweat making her oversized purple pajamas stick to her skin. Her green eyes looked wildly about and saw that she was in her bed with its thin red curtain surrounding her. She frantically felt her body. Her clothes weren't ripped, her neck wasn't bleeding, and she was sixteen again. She put her wet forehead in her hands and she muttered, "Not again!"

"Shut up!" her roommate Anilia yelled from her bed, "Some of us have tests in the morning!" Violet looked up at the sound of the voice and curiously pulled back the curtain. She watched Anilia go back under her covers. She looked around the huge circular room and glanced at her eleven roommates fast asleep with dreams of their boyfriends, crushes, dates, and all other things that girls other than Violet dreamt about. She closed her curtain and fell back against the sweat-drenched pillow. She turned it over to the dry side and tried to go back to sleep.

Why did she have to have these nightmares? Memories that would come back and haunt her in her sleep. Before, she used to cry herself back to sleep. Now, it seemed like all the tears have gone away and she is left with this large aching tear in her soul. She couldn't go back to sleep, her mind kept replaying the event over and over like a broken record. She lifted her curtain and looks tiredly at the carved wooden tep on her nightstand. The tep told time with different shades of color, midnight blue for midnight, yellow for noon, orange for afternoon, red for evening and all the in between colors. Now, it's a shade of royal blue which meant that it was still early but nearing dawn. Figuring that she can't go back to sleep anymore, she quietly got up and changed.