Origins - J.C. Kelley (little bear else holmelund minarik TXT) 📗

1

My eyes opened to see a pair of clawed hands grabbing at me. I ran as fast as I could but the hands got closer and closer. I knew this was a dream, but it didn’t make the fear any less real. Or the pain of being snagged by one of those monstrous claws. Pain might be all in your head, but getting hurt in a dream feels real.
I had to find a hiding place; I couldn’t run forever. As soon as that popped into my head, the scene changed. The claws were still right behind me but we were in a forest now. My hair kept getting caught in low-hanging vines, my bare arms and legs cut by branches. This didn’t feel right. Those hands felt foreign to me, as if someone else’s dream was intruding mine. This was my universe, my forest, but this was not my monster. I pushed myself to run faster, afraid of those things catching up.
Suddenly I came across a familiar clearing with a familiar scene unfolding. The little red-haired girl’s mother was being killed by the three bald men. As always, they couldn’t see me. Which really sucked at that moment because I really needed some help. The claws continued to slash at me, forcing me to make an on-the-spot decision. Going as fast as I could, I ran to the nearest tree and heaved myself up until I could perch comfortably on a high branch and catch my breath. It was like the claws had eyes: everywhere I hid, they found me immediately.
They snaked their way through the trees and appeared just beneath me. Their nails dug deep grooves into the trunk of the tree as they slowly made their way up. I managed to climb to the next branch in time to dodge them, but they swooped back around faster than I could blink. The branch I clung to started to splinter—it couldn’t take my weight. I had just enough time to curse the heavens for my bad luck before the thing snapped and sent me flying. There was no escape. There were no nets in the near vicinity. Nothing to shield the pain. Only hard earth.
The cold wind stung my eyes enough to make them water up as I saw the ground get closer. Maybe I was actually crying. I

was facing my death with the knowledge that absolutely nothing could save me.
My body hit the ground with a sickening crunch. I let out a whimper of pure agony and then closed my eyes.

*

A high shriek pierced through my sleep. My back arched and I sprung from the bed, crashing loudly onto the floor. I couldn’t see anything but an opaque blackness. I collapsed into a heap as my body convulsed with shivers. It was freaking freezing

in here. I could barely get a breath of air, I was shaking so badly. A series of booms came from somewhere in front of me and I heard a voice call out my name. I beam of bluish light nearly blinded me, triggering some kind of wretch-inducing reaction. I vomited and curled into a ball on the carpet, wishing I had a blanket. I wanted to wrap myself up in a cocoon and block out the world forever.
I heard heavy footsteps and pair of warm hands picked my frail body up. I barely had the energy to look up, let alone tell who was carrying me out of the bedroom. Whoever he was, he obviously wasn’t aware of how painfully bright that light was. I kicked and punched, trying to get free of his grasp but he just held on stronger, murmuring something in my ear. “Calm down!

” My mind couldn’t register the voice but for some reason it soothed me.
My eyes were wide open from fear. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting to see the claws waiting to rip my heart out. Flashes of bright light blew past my eyes, vanishing as fast as they appeared. They felt familiar, but I was too wacked out to remember why. My mouth was filled with a copper taste; I wiped and realized it was blood. It was then that I became aware of a blistering sting on my bottom lip. I must have bitten it when I was dreaming.
…I was dreaming

. The thought washed over my mind about a thousand times before it finally sunk in. I was dreaming. I hadn’t fallen to my death, I had been dreaming. It wasn’t real. I sighed and rested my head against the guy’s chest. At last, I was starting to feel better.
Another light came on and I realized I was in a bathroom, gently being set into a tub. I didn't really care; I could still see the giant claw getting closer, surrounded by the flashes of light. I almost touched one. Then water that was colder than ice showered down on me, breaking the illusion. I screeched, scared beyond belief, and blinked up at my newfound enemy. As his face came into focus my eyes shined red and I huffed in freezing anger. "K-Kade, you bastard, what the h-hell?!" I stuttered, frantically trying to get away from that damned jet of water.
He held me back, cursing when he got splashed. "Just sit still and shut up!" We struggled until he ended up in the tub with me. "Shit

!

" He yelled, reaching for a towel.
I pushed him down and took the towel for myself. "Are you c-crazy?"
"You're the one screaming in the middle of the night." He turned the shower off. "I was just trying to help."
Jon and Jade came in as I wrapped the towel around myself. Her hair was disheveled; his stuck up like he'd put his finger in an electrical socket. "What's going on?" He said, taking in the strange scene.
Kade stood and pointed angrily at me. "She was having a freaking breakdown in her sleep."
I scoffed. "He tried to drown me."
"She tried to claw my eyes out!" I noticed little red marks on his face and arms.
"It wasn't my fault! I was having a nightmare..." I drifted off, not eager to talk about it.
"Some nightmare. It looked like you were having a panic attack."
I avoided their gaze, waving away another flash of light. "What the hell are

these things?" I muttered, trying to stop shivering and change the subject.
"This isn't the first time you've had a nightmare like this, is it?" Jon asked.
"Why does it matter? They're just dreams." I may have sounded fine but I wasn't. The dreams were getting worse.
I pushed past them and grabbed a toothbrush, brushing my teeth about four times before I got the taste of bile out of my mouth.
“Hey!” Kade wined. “That's mine!”
I really was not in the mood for this, so maybe I was a little bitchy. “Fuck off, dude. I'm soaking wet and I just barfed.”
He sort of growled, brushing past Jon and Jade and heading towards his room. Jon followed him, probably to try to smooth things over.
Jade stayed, handing me another towel from the linen closet. “Are you okay? I heard you screaming.”
“I'm fine, now,” I said, trying to remain distant.
“Do you always have nightmares like that?”
I wrapped my hair in the second towel and shivered. “Well, yes and no.”
She waited for me to go on, and when I didn't she mumbled, “Okay, I'll leave you to yourself, then,” and left.
As soon as she was gone I sighed and leaned heavily on the sink, waiting for my head to clear. I tried to remember the dream, but my thoughts were jumbled and foggy, like a smudged painting. All I could remember was the crippling fear and the branch snapping. I had no recollection of how I came to be on that branch or why I was so afraid.
I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were puffy and now a pasty orange color, with purple bags under them. I was pale under the bluish light. Overall I looked and felt like I had the plague.
I found my way back to my room and cautiously opened the door, feeling as if something was in there waiting for me. I immediately felt an unearthly chill in the air. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me, but I didn't like it. It took all of my will power not to look at the splotch of vomit next to the bed as I scurried to the closet and changed into something dry. It wasn't mine; My entire wardrobe consisted of random tee shirts and jeans I'd borrowed from Jade and Robyn, though mostly from Jade.
I made sure to close the door as I left, not wanting to think about what had just happened, and walked away. I didn't know where I was going but I didn't really care at that point. I just wanted to do something, anything

. Anything but sleep. I let my mind wander, thinking about nothing in particular.
I don't know how long I walked, but when I stopped I was in a room I'd never been to before. I would call it a library, but there was no form of organization whatsoever. Books, hardcover and paperback alike, were strewn here and there, in piles and stacks. I could barely make it to the center without stepping on a few. The ones on top were covered in a thick layer of dust, the ones at the bottom had mildew gathering on the edges. The whole place had this strange vibe about it. It was all new to me, but I couldn't shake a feeling of familiarity.
I picked up the book closest to myself, labeled Fae Lore & Mythology. I flipped through the first few pages. Apparently, faeries were a species of pixies.

There are many theories as to how the Fae came to be. Among the most common views expressed by those who believe in fairies, is that they were a subspecies of the dead. Those who looked upon them for some time would see the faces of dead kin and neighbors. Another view held that were demoted angels. When the angels revolted, God ordered the gates shut; those still in heaven remained angels, those in hell became devils, and those caught in between became fairies.
Some call them Pagan deities, others call them demons. A common belief is that they sprang from children's laughter. “When the first baby laughed for the first time, his laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping about. That was the beginning of fairies.”
The view that is believed to be the most accurate is that the Fae are an intelligent species, distinct from humans and angels. They are regarded as elemental beings, often called spirits of the air.
A faerie can only