Light and the Night Sky

The beginning is at the end. Daphne stared at the words scorched onto the wall before her, how someone managed to so clearly write those words in such a manner couldn’t be explained yet but Daphne knew that with a bit of testing she could find out. “Officer Dephfretter, a moment?” The young woman was still coming to terms with her new title but turned to meet the eyes of the worried mother. “Yes ma’am, go ahead.” Daphne was here with her partner, who was casing the damage to the apartment wall. Someone had burned those words into the tiled blue backdrop of a newly renovated kitchen. “My son and I weren’t gone long, just out to go shopping. The door was untouched, when we got back. I mean look at this. How does this even happen?” Daphne nodded in agreement. From what the mother was saying, she was gone for no more than twenty minutes and the tile was damaged in a way that should have taken much longer to do. “You said you have cameras, are you comfortable showing that footage to us?” Looking around, she spotted the small eye in the sky. It had a perfect view of the kitchen, though it was curious that it didn’t alert the owner of any movement in the house. Sighing, the young woman nodded. She pulled her phone from her bright purple purse on the counter and clicked a few times before showing her the screen. They watched the footage together and were just as confused by what they saw. No one broke into the house. There was one single bright light and the letters appeared on the wall, though to the camera they look like they glowed. “Do you mind making that feed live?” She nodded and they were now in frame, looking down at the phone. Behind them, the words still glowed a bright blue. What could that mean? “Sir, you should look at what the camera caught.” Daphne looked back at her partner, he was in his forties, father of three and amazing at his job. “You should take a closer look at this, I’ve never seen anything like it.” “Yes sir.” With that, they traded places. As she walked closer, a humming filled her ears. Daphne had a bad feeling about the cause of this but knew that they needed to investigate. Stepping closer, Daphne pulled on some gloves and a face mask as a precaution. Looking at the words this close, they looked like they were almost part of the original tile. She couldn’t see any of the glow that the camera could, and worried that it was radiation. But they wouldn’t know that until later. Cautiously, she reached a hand up slowly and gently traced the letter E in end. It was then that she knew how stupid she was. A sharp pain rushed down her hand, up her arm and to her heart. She fell to her knees clutching her chest, heaving to breathe. How stupid could she be to touch glowing letters? Her partner was at her side, his words sounding hollow and far away. Daphne knew this feeling well; she would be unconscious soon. Breathe, Daphne. You stupid girl, breathe. With a crack her head hit the floor and darkness followed, but for her it was only a moment. When she opened her eyes, she was on a different ground. This time a woman glowing white stood before her watching curiously. She still could only hear through hollow ears; distant noises came to her. Her heart pounded in her chest painfully, the pain rushing through her veins as she met purple eyes. “The beginning is at the end.” The woman’s eyes were sad, her voice soft and almost comforting. “This will hurt, but you will not be alone.” Daphne tried to push herself up from the ground but the pain radiated through her, beyond something she has never experienced. Not even the heart ache when her husband, as she waited to die on the side of the road compared to this pain. The woman knelt down, holding one finger under her chin and gently kissed Daphne’s forehead. A scream rippled through her that Daphne thought would shred her throat apart. Instead, it tore apart reality. Around her the world rippled, contorting and shattering until she knelt again on grass. This time the pain slowly subsided, relief rushed through her though confusion and frustration followed. She dragged in deep breaths, cold air shocking her to her senses. Daphne’s mind struggled to follow what occurred. She had to be dreaming because how could she be here? Looking down at her hands, she steadied herself. Or tried to. The last thing she remembered wearing was her police uniform but now she wore a dress of light red cotton. There were serpents laced into the wrists and up the arm, down the front of the dress had a similar pattern. Before she could try to find clues to what she had undergone a growl, deep and warning came from her left. Slowly she looked up, expecting an animal but instead found a man? Was that a man? He stood next to a stone fence, in clothes that were not from her century that were entirely too loose and open. His sharp jaw, crisp eyes that could be gray or could be blue were locked onto her. His dark hair was long enough to touch his shoulders but now slightly covered his unnervingly handsome face. He growled again, stalking toward her. Oh hell no. Before he could get more than two steps in her direction she was gone, her feet finding the first escape route away from that thrillingly attractive man.