• ***Author's Note (ME): Thank you for keeping up with me and my book thus far up to this third chapter. I hope you've enjoyed the first two chapters. I won't say anything more in regards to the introductions because I'm trusting that you've read the previous chapters. If you like how I write, then you may want to check out the ones I've written that are listed on the bottom of this page. Again, thank you for reading my work.

    Book's Summary: Sarina thought her life was normal until the day she started having the strange nightmares. Then everything changed and strange things started happening to her. To many people, night time may have been the best time for them to party, hang out with friends, and go out for fun, but for Sarina things weren’t so easy. Night time for her was not the best, but the worst. One night her life completely turned upside-down after having a very extraordinary encounter with a fearsome creature.



    Chapter III: Amazing Encounter

    “What are you doing with so many books?” Mom asked right away after looking at them in surprise. I came in through the back porch and probably made a loud noise opening the door. She was standing in the kitchen by the counter with a rag in her hand appearing as though she was expecting me.
    “I’m going to read them,” was my automatic answer.
    Mom smiled and raised her eyebrow.
    “Well, well, go ahead then,” waving me away, “I hope you learn something from them, honey,” she said and went back to wiping the countertop. I shrugged my shoulders, I hope so, I thought.
    I spent the rest of my afternoon reading and flipping through pages of books, that if I didn’t have the reason to, I wouldn’t be reading them for the life of me. The first one didn’t give out any information at all, the second one was nothing but crap, the few others after that made no sense and didn’t have anything relating to my problem. I gave up after four hours and took a break. I was coming down the stairs when mom called my name.
    “I need you to go to the store tonight and get me a few things.” She gave me a small list of the stuff she needed and gave me some money. “Try not to take too long and be careful.”
    “I will,” I said. Before I left, I thought I saw her put her hand over her chest while looking up and mouthed something quietly, as though praying for me or something. I was puzzled. Mom was never the religious type, but we did go to church every Sunday and would pray before meals, and she was also related to the preacher of the church that we were attending.
    I wondered when Dad was coming home tonight. Work had been taking up all his time lately. He works at the courthouse, doing some top secret stuff that I never knew about. Mom wouldn’t tell me what he did at work, she just told me one time that Dad was a hard worker and earns a good amount of money because of that. I never asked her again.
    It was in the grocery store that I began feeling a strange force, something that made my hair stand on end. I shook it off, thinking that it was probably the cool air inside getting to me from how warm it was outside, even though it was already dark. The odd feeling left me for a while and I looked for the items Mom needed as quickly as I could. But whatever it was that I felt earlier hit me hard again inside when I was walking out of the store. It made me stop on my tracks, I felt like I couldn’t move an inch. It was strange, now that I realized that there weren’t many people doing grocery shopping tonight. Most of the people, which were only a few that I saw, were the people who worked in the store.
    Then all of a sudden, I dropped the bags in my hands. My palms began to burn. I quickly unwrapped them and saw that the marks from my nightmare were glowing, and they all started changing shapes from just round marks into letters; they slowly formed a few words—BEWARE OF HIM!
    My legs were shaking by the time the words registered in my brain. I couldn’t understand what they meant and why they were in my palms. What kind of supernatural thing was this? I felt my eyes widening as I looked down closer at the glowing letters in my skin, but strangely they were not hurting me anymore. They were just glowing red.
    Something in my brain somehow propelled me to move and I began walking away, the bags of groceries were once back in my hands, and I felt like I was being carried to my car. My hands were just moving on their own, and my feet were doing the same. I was confused and frightened at the same time. First it was the nightmare, next was the burnt marks, and now this? What would happen to me next?
    My hands and feet drove my car to some dark alley downtown and stopped in an empty parking lot. The place had an eerie look to it. At the end of the alley, there was only one building. It was a ten-story building and looked abandoned. Somehow, the building itself looked familiar to me, but I knew that I had never seen it before. My palms began to burn again and the glowing letters were brighter than before. I put on my jacket from the backseat of my car and almost forced myself to open the door and get out. I didn’t know what to do but stare at the abandoned building, wondering what I was doing there.
    I almost cried out when a strange looking dog materialized in front of me. It was a huge white creature. I wasn’t sure if it was a huge fox or a wolf.
    This must be another dream I was having. I must have fallen asleep in my car after walking out of the store. Yes, this must be another dream. I should wake up now. Mom needed these spices and ingredients I bought for her. Closing my eyes, I pinched my arm.
    “Wake up, Sarina, wake up!” When I opened my eyes again, the dog, that seemed to be glowing blue now, was still standing there watching me. I gasped and closed my eyes again. “I’m still dreaming. Breathe. I just need to wake up and everything will be alright,” I said pinching myself again, almost bringing me to tears.
    “Fool, what are you doing?” I heard someone said in a cold voice, “You’re not dreaming, stupid.”
    I gasped. Now I was hearing things, what was wrong with me? What kind of dream was this? Why won’t I wake up? Fear of what was in front of me kept me from opening my eyes. With shaking legs, I started to walk backwards. I must run away from here, I thought, my car is just behind me.
    I’ve been scared of many things in my life. Since birth, just being alone would make me cry, but as I grew up I’ve gotten used to things that I feared. I was now seventeen years old.
    Suddenly, my mind began to think of random stuff that otherwise I would never have thought about. Words just flew in and I began talking to myself inside my head…In other countries, seventeen would be a marrying age. I would be married already or betrothed to somebody. I knew that growing up was a huge part of life. But living here, in this country, made me more fortunately than other girls my age. Whenever I think of those girls who could be in my place right now, I just felt pity and sympathy. Some of them get abused by their husbands, some get sold off to another country, several get beaten to death, and a few would run away, because they hated the life they had. There was more freedom for me here, more privilege to do whatever it was that I desire. Sometimes I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to live in another country, where I was different, live differently, act differently, and speak in another tongue.
    I’ve never in my life knew real fear—I’ve never been so scared of anything—until now.
    “Why do you shake?” Asked the person who spoke earlier, his voice was as cold as ice. “Why are you so scared, little girl? And where are you going?”
    I am alone once more in a place I’ve never been before. My heart was beating really fast; it took all of my mental strength to open my eyes again, expecting to see a strange looking glowing dog—but the huge animal wasn’t there anymore. Instead, there was a man standing there looking down at me, a handsome young man that I’ve never seen and met before. He was wearing strange clothes and white boots. His outfit could only be called foreign and out of this world. His long hair was silver with blue beads on it that appeared to be made of glass or crystal and kept neatly down. He had some kind of thin silver band around his head and wore a silver necklace that would catch anyone’s attention. His blue and silver coat was long, it almost touched the ground. He had a pair of white soft-looking pants that fit him perfectly and boots that went along with everything he was wearing. To me, he looked cruel and conceited, vain and cold. To say that I’ve never seen him before would be putting it nicely; in fact I’ve never seen his like before in my life.
    “Are you done yet?” He sounded ever as cold and a little angry. I couldn’t, however, get any word out of my mouth. I felt frozen in place just staring at him in alarmed amazement. If he was angry that I was scrutinizing him, then let him be. Who was it that just suddenly appeared in front of me without any kind of warning? It wasn’t my fault. Anyone who could see him right now would do the same thing I had done—I mean, who would not? The fear I felt just seconds earlier was replaced by my own anger. Who the heck was he and what right did he have to get angry at me? What was I doing here anyway? Mom would be furious if she found out about this.
    I hastily looked down at my palms again. The letters were the same. They had not moved an inch or changed shapes. But they weren’t only glowing now; they were on fire and felt like they were scorching my skin like hot coals. Tears started to fall from my eyes. Pain—so much pain.
    “Ahh,” was the first thing that came out of my lips since arriving in this desolated place. My knees buckled down under me, the pain was too intense. Looking up to the man in front of me, I pleaded crying, “He—help me! Please!” I thought I heard him growl before everything became blurry and I passed out.
    “You fool—“ was the last thing I heard the young man said.

    (to be continued...)

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