Through a Lens Darkly
Chapter 1
@copyright 2009 Heather Amaral and Jean Hontz
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They were right on
her tail. Ducking down an alleyway she could hear them huffing behind her, the
batons and keys jangling on their belts as they ran. God damn, she'd been so
close to getting out of this hell hole.
The alley broke out into a
brightly lit street and she blinked like a deer in headlights for a moment.
"Freeze, or I'll shoot!" Came one
of the two from the alley and it was enough to make Alicia duck out onto the
crowded sidewalk, the cop's curse echoing behind her. People shouted and dove
out of Alicia's way, the sounds redoubled as the cops plowed through behind her.
Running past the shops Alicia spotted an old black woman sitting slouched in a
bench outside one of the older Charleston establishments, the girl's quick green
eyes put every detail of the woman to memory before pushing on through the
crowd.
Not yet,
she told herself, save it.
She cut a sharp left onto Meeting
Street, running past the ivy and trees as her lungs started to give out on her.
Three mile jogs just did not prepare you for five mile sprints across town like
you expected them to. Then First Scots Presbyterian rose up like the god given
sanctuary it was. She put a last burst of speed into her screaming legs and went
past the open church doors, grunting as she went for the churchyard wall instead
and vaulted over it. Landing made her hiss, but she bit off the sound and
pressed her back against he wall to listen.
"She went into the churchyard!"
Shit!
She was already sprinting through the gravestones, ducking away from the cut
trees and small stones that meant to trip her. She had to find the right marker,
she knew where it was. A few more blind turns and she found it, pressed up
against one of the churchyard's perimeter walls. Taller then Alicia, the slab of
granite had been carved to look like some kind of Grecian doorway, the interior
was supposed to carry the deceased person's epitaph but it had been whitened
with age, almost looking like a mirror now.
Better yet, there wasn't a name on
this peculiar headstone.
She heard the shout of the police
officers and turned to see the bouncing trails of flashlights coming in her
direction. Turning her face back to the headstone, Alicia clasped her hands
together like any good hearted mourner and bowed her head in prayer.
"Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name..."
A breeze rattled the leaves on the
twisted tree that shaded her. A shadow seemed to move across the flat matte
portion of the headstone. Alicia shivered, feeling as if eyes bore into her.
She stole a quick glance to check but there was no one here now but her. The
sound of the pounding footsteps of the police grew louder as they raced down the
stone pathway towards her.
"Thy kingdom...come, thy will be
done..." She continued on with renewed vigor as the footsteps came closer.
"...of earth as it is in heaven..."
"Excuse us, ma'am." Came a sudden
voice from behind, signaling it as one of the police officers by the way he
panted between each word. "You haven't seen a young African American woman
running through here, have ya?"
The flashlight beams fell on the
figure standing in front of the blank headstone to reveal the old woman from the
bench downtown, glaring at the young cops like they were intruding.
"Not a soul in here for hours but
me and dear Carlisle, officer." The old woman crooned, nodding toward the blank
headstone. "Why are you chasing some young girl through here anyhow? Ain't no
place for such things." The disapproving tone clear in the woman's voice.
The young officers looked
sheepish and began to back away. "We didn't mean to disturb you, ma'am."
"We'll just be on our way, you
have a good night," the other added and soon the officers were off once more in
the dark, giving a negative on finding their prey into the the walkie talkies on
their belts.
The old woman shot a mischievous
grin at their backs, turning to look at the headstone. "Well darling, who ever
you were, I owe you one." She said in a much younger voice.
Kissing her fingertips she
pressed them against the white stone in thanks. The ground under her seemed to
tremble and she heard a cracking sound. A force froze her as she stood, her hand
glued to the stone. Then she was trying to stifle a scream as something shot
out of the stone and into and through her chest. She gasped from the pain of it,
finally able to pull her hand away from the stone. She fell to her knees. How
long she remained that way she didn't know. What made her finally move was the
certainty that someone stood behind her, eyes boring into her back.
Alicia shuddered, the guise of
the old woman flickering and then falling away completely to leave plain Alicia
Evans bare to the human eyes again. Alicia's body protested as she spun around
to see who was behind her, back pressed to the wall beside the headstone,
putting as much distance between herself and the thing that had suddenly brushed
her power aside.
The tree leaves rattled again as
if a sudden wind had stirred them, even though the air in the churchyard was
oppressively still. Her chest still on fire, she fought to take a breath and
then froze again when she saw something try to coalesce only a few feet away. It
was almost a face, but yet it wasn't and then it came at her like an arrow
straight at her heart.
She gasped, diving at the ground
to dodge the thing. No breath in her to scream, she dragged herself across the
grass in an effort to get back onto her feet and run. Even as her legs refused
her, adrenaline made the argument sway in her favor and she managed to crawl
herself towards the largest headstone in sight to use as a shield to hide
behind. Only then did she dare to glance around her thin safety to see where the
thing was.
She felt icy rage fill her mind,
all the more terrifying because she had no idea where it came from. It seemed to
wrap her in a cocoon of anger and black fury. It was only then she looked up and
saw a dark mass arrowing down at her. It hit her in the chest again, seemingly
as destructive as a large caliber bullet, tearing through her muscles and ribs
and heart and then back out right through her spine. There was pain and then
there was black nothingness.