Deep Darkness

The party

The backyard was Tanya’s mom’s safe place. She did all her gardening from there and turned the place into her personal plant palace with so many potted plants and a few trees to give the place a healthy green glow. Chris found Tanya focusing hard with her eyes closed, he was about to ask something then he saw what was going on. All the potted plants in front of Tanya were suspended in mid air. She gently set them down and turned to look at Chris’ astonished face.

“So what do you think?” She said wiping blood away from her nose with the back of her hand.

“Um, first of all, woah, I didn’t imagine that you would get so powerful, I'm so, confused, also why do you have blood coming out of your nose?”

“It happens every time I do this, been doing it for about a week now and the bleeding is inevitable.”

Chris didn’t even have time to complain before she gently lifted him into the air. She then set him down as he yelled at her. She brushed him off with a giggle.

“Ok can you at least ask before you go and do something like that, you know I'm scared of heights,” he was breathing heavily, still trying to shake off what had just happened.

“Come on, Chris, stop being a cry baby, ok I promise next time I’ll put you on a trampoline or something,” she said in a mocking voice. Chris crossed his arms and looked at her with a tempered face.

“Anyway,” she continued, “ the dreams are getting more frequent, I dunno why but it keeps getting clearer and clearer each day and I keep seeing this guy, looks a bit your age with his black, curly hair and a slight moustache,”

“I'm pretty sure it means something, I can’t exactly say but I'm sure it means something, have you ever met this guy?”

“Never, I just see him in my dreams,”

“I think you should just give it time, maybe it will blow off or something,” he moved towards the patio and took a seat, Tanya followed him.

“So are you coming for Jenna’s birthday party? It’s this Saturday,” said Chris.

“You didn’t tell me it was this Saturday, I don’t even know what gift to get her,”

“Relax, Jenna is a jewelry type of person, she’ll accept anything shiny,”

“I’ll just go get her a necklace I think, what are you getting her?”

“Well she’s a very big fan of Five Seconds of Summer, so the last time they were here I got an autographed T-shirt,”

“OMG that would be perfect!”

“Yeah, oh by the way it’s at the dry cleaners so we will pass by before we head to her place,”

“She is so lucky to have you for a boyfriend,”

Chris just blushed and stood up to stretch his legs.

The days paced up to Saturday and Tanya was with Chris at the dry cleaner’s when she saw something. A boy with black curly hair, she had never seen him in her life but when he looked at her the resemblance was almost uncanny. It was the guy from her dreams. He looked at her and then walked out quickly. She immediately followed. He was already gone by the time she reached outside, she stood there looking emptily.

“You alright?” asked Chris.

“Um, yeah, yeah I'm, I'm good,” she managed a faint smile.

Jenna’s house was a few miles from where Chris and Tanya were, it took him only five minutes to drive to it. It had been adorned so aesthetically that it emanated an aura of ecstasy. Jenna opened the door soon as she heard the doorbell chime.

“Chris!” she said excitedly, giving him a soft kiss before turning to Tanya.

“Hey Tanya,” she feigned a smile which Tanya countered with a similarly fraudulent smile before replying.

They walked in and set their gifts in the living room before helping out with the finishing touches. People started trickling in soon after and by seven the whole place was booming.

Chris met with his girlfriend Jenna and stood besides her to prepare the cake.

“Hey there, beautiful,” he whispered into her ear. She blushed and then turned to give him a quick kiss.

“Can’t wait to see the look on your face when you open your present,” he continued as she picked up a party hat and put it on his head.

“You look amazing,” she said pulling her phone out for a quick selfie with Chris. Chris’ mouth made a weird scrawny shape as he tried to fake a smile under his obvious disgust. She had put a tiara on his head. A hot pink one.

“I thought you said your parents would be here,” said Chris after throwing off the tiara on his head.

“My dad went on a business trip out of town and mom went along with him, we’ve got the place to ourselves for the weekend,” her voice was deep and turned Chris on every time she opened her mouth. She moved away from where they were and grabbed a nearby microphone.

“Okay everyone, first of all I wanna say thanks to everyone who came here with a gift, really means a lot to me. Party’s gonna start in a bit but I wanna cut the cake now before we all get high high over our heads,” she was looking at a few guys who were already holding drinks.

Chris joined her where she was standing and took the mic from her.

“So before we gather up and cut this cake I want to make a toast,” he cleared his throat.

“To the most wonderful girl to have ever walked this planet, to the only reason my dad doesn’t think I’m a loser,” he giggled before continuing, “ and to many more years of standing by your side to be there for you through thick and thin, I love you babe, happy birthday,” he kissed her as she cut the cake.

Jenna’s best friend was holding a bottle of champagne and she immediately sprayed a jet of foam and liquor at the couple as everyone shouted and sang. Jenna and Chris were caught off guard and just decided to roll with it. The music became loud and people started talking to each other. Jenna spent a few minutes taking pictures with her friends before joining Chris in her backyard for a little quality time. They’d restricted anyone from getting there so they had it all to themselves.

Tanya was a bit dizzy from the punch and was about to vomit after seeing Chris and Jenna kiss for the hundredth time. She never really liked seeing them together. That’s when she bumped into him, the boy with the black hair. She almost dropped her drink.

“Figured I would join you,” his voice was husky and deep.

“You’re, um, I,” Tanya didn’t know what to say.

“I’m not sure you know me, I'm Tim, I'm guessing you are Tanya,”

“Yes I am but how did you know that,” she was almost at the top of her voice.

“We always know one another,”

“We?” Tanya was so lost.

“I’ll explain this outside, come on,” he walked out to the front porch and continued to a car across the street. She followed him outside where the noise from inside started to feel like a distant din.

Soon as she reached the car he looked around to see if anyone was watching before turning to her. Tanya didn’t know if it was the punch making her see things or that’s how they were because Tim’s eyes had a yellowy glow to them. He had a slight smirk on his face when he turned to her and all of a sudden he gripped her neck so hard and lifted her into the air. He was too strong for any of her judo skills to help her at all. All she could see were his eyes as everything else turned to a dim haze. She tried to scream but could only manage a soft whimper.

She was just about to black out when he all of a sudden plummeted to the ground, dropping her in the process. She looked up to see what caused it. It was Chris, she didn’t how he knew or where he came from but she felt better now that he was here. He was just about to strike Tim again when Tim grabbed his hand, unhanded him of the stick he was holding then kicked him to the ground. Tim turned to Tanya, the anger in his eyes quickly increasing. He grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up, she saw Chris helpless on the ground, trying to regain his footing. The sight of him lying there infuriated her so much that she closed her eyes. Her heart was pounding like a motor engine. She was drifting to her imagination when she started blacking out again. But the anger in her wouldn’t let her. She felt a surge of energy inside her gathering itself. It reached a c****x and she felt it being released from her with a deafening explosion. It blew Tim away and he hit a tree, Tanya meanwhile hit the cold grass. She stood up immediately and rushed over to check on Chris. He looked slightly happy at first, and then his expression turned cold when he saw Tim regrouping. He loomed over both of them with a venomous smile.

His smile quickly turned limp and cold. His skin started looking scaly as blood trickled from his chest. He fell to the ground and his body changed form into a decimated vile creature clinging onto its last breath. Behind it stood someone else, it was Tim, but dressed completely different and looking a bit wearier than before and holding a knife drenched in black blood.

“That right there is a shape shifter,” he said, his voice was completely different, not deep but a little husky, “I know this seems a little strange but I’ll explain the rest later, it morphs into the shape of its target and only shows its true form when killed.” He looked down at its rugged body and stroked his hair. Tanya and Chris were still a bit more scared than confused but they let him help them up.

“I have a lot of questions but first of all who are you and how did you find me?” Tanya managed to say.

“Um, you started using your powers two weeks ago, that’s when I started dreaming about, usually when I dream of somebody it means they’re in danger and the last time I did that, the shape shifter was killing my brother,” Tanya noticed a subtle grim expression on his face when he said that.

“If this is a little too much to process, I understand but you must know that you and I are special. And we’re not the only ones,” he moved on into the night, leaving Tanya and Chris still utterly spellbound.