Dancing With Monsters

Dancing With Monsters

Copyright © 2015 by M.M.
Gavillet

All rights reserved. Printed in the
United States of America. No part of the book can be reproduced
without permission of the author. This is a work of fiction. Any
resemblance to persons living or deceased, places, incidences and
names are purely a coincidence and are the product of the author’s
imagination.

ISBN 10: 1511759224

ISBN 13: 978-1511759229

For my fabulous family—you know who
you are
.
And to the lovely Keri.

.

1

April

My first childhood memory that would
forever be burned into me was the day I was physically pulled away
from my mother. If I had to label her expression during that
dramatic moment, it would be that of relief. I screamed, cried, and
reached for her with my tiny hands. She had no tears…no sadness…no
regrets. Even at the early age of four, I understood that I was
different. I was some kind of abnormality, I didn’t fit in, and
that’s why I was here.

Sunrise Acres held those who loomed in
the darkness and on the borders of society. Too humane to put us in
prisons or asylums, they kept us in large, sterile buildings titled
with names that were much brighter with promises of good things,
rather than the truth of our existence.

I had a happy face on my door. I hated
it. I didn’t want to be happy because I was satisfied with who I
was. I’m sixteen now, and I had to get out of this
place.

“
April Snow,” said the new
night caretaker with a fake smile. I wondered if she had to take
classes on how to be phony. “You have a very unique name.” She
handed me my evening pills I secretly flushed down the toilet every
night. You’d think the toilet wouldn’t get as plugged up with all
that poison running through it.

“
Why?” I asked. “What’s so
special about the name April—it’s a month.”

“
True, but put it with
Snow and you’ve got April Snow.” She smiled, and I fake- swallowed
the pills.

“
So,” I said, nearly
spitting them out from their hiding place in my mouth and towards
her after I showed her my empty mouth.

“
Well, we usually don’t
get snow in the month of April, and when we do, I think it’s kind
of contrasting. Almost like the seasons are battling it out to see
how long winter can hang on or if spring is strong enough to
overcome it.” This chick had put too much thought into people’s
names or she’s been dipping into the good meds. “Don’t you think?”
She bobbed her head making her little ringlet curls bounce in
agreement.

I smiled and nodded my head taking
amusement in her. I had to get these awful pills out of my mouth,
they were turning bitter.

She left, and I ran to the bathroom to
flush the evidence. Suddenly, a scream broke the silence and cut
through the gentle music that played every night before we went to
bed. The music, I guessed, was supposed to be a lullaby, but it
wasn’t working on the girl two doors down and across the hall from
me.

I went to my door to see the staff
flocked around her doorway. She screamed and growled in almost a
chanting rhythm. I listened too, and then closed my eyes. If she
was speaking words, only she could understand them. She repeated
the same tone over and over as the staff tried to calm
her.

I didn’t know the girl yet, as she
only arrived two days ago, and this was the first noise I heard
come from her room. She had been quiet since she came, and now all
of a sudden she was going crazy. It could be bad meds or lack of
meds on her part, but suddenly a realization washed over me. She
wasn’t crazy; she was chanting darkness to come.

I’ve only had two encounters with what
I called the darkness—once when I still lived with my mom, and the
other at my first foster home. It always came at night when I was
in bed, and hovered over me like a blanket with red eyes. It was
like a magnet to me, and I couldn’t resist wanting to know what it
was at the same time I wanted to run.

“
No!” The girl finally
cried out. “You don’t understand it’s in 23! It’s in
23!”

The girl’s whimpering faded followed
by an eerie silence. She was right. The darkness had come, and it
was with me in my room, room 23.

I had to get out of here.
I was planning to escape anyway, but now with the darkness invited,
I had to escape
now
.

Seth

“
You are the only one I’ll
ever love.” Ezra’s lips brushed mine making them tickle as a shiver
ran down my spine. “I’ll never let you go.” Her indigo eyes
sparkled like the night sky.

“
I don’t want you to go,”
I said.

Ezra was beautiful in her lightness
and darkness that reminded me of a forest at midday. Sunlight cut
through the trees splattering pools of light here and there among
the deep shadows that were never touched by light. Ezra was like
that. Her dark brown hair, deep blue eyes that almost appeared
black, and her skin as pale as moonlight, made her appearance
striking. There were definite lines between shadow and light, not
only in her appearance, but her soul too.

“
I wish you could be with
me in the Shadowlands, lover.” Playfully, she ran her finger across
my lips. “I miss you, and I miss being with you whenever I wanted,”
Her innocent, but mischievous smile that she always flashed me
faded. It was the appearance I remembered before she got ill. I
also knew her time here was limited as the Shadowlands were not a
place to stay for long.

Her smooth skin looked as soft as
velvet, and tempted me to touch her. I ran my fingertips across her
collarbone, and then down her shoulder causing her gown to fall off
the rest of the way. I pressed myself to her cool body. Ezra’s eyes
twinkled like I truly gazed into the night sky that held enchanting
mysteries of untold stories. I did want to be with her. I needed to
be with her, and I was going to be with her. Ezra needed me as
well, and I wasn’t going to let her down.

“
Seth!” An unwelcomed
voice stabbed at my ears.

I ignored it.

“
Seth, hey…get up
sleepyhead,” said a musical female voice.

I knew who the voices belonged to, and
I wasn’t about to listen to them.

“
I said, Seth! Get up now
or I’m coming in after you and your dead girlfriend!” The female
voice warned.

Suddenly, a wave of ice flashed
between Ezra and me. Her image was gone, and I was soaking
wet.

“
Why do you let her in
like that?” Nessa asked bending down in front of me. Her
white-blonde hair was pulled back letting only a few strands fall
around her round face. “If anything she should leave you alone in
this world, and get on with the world she’s in. She shouldn’t try
to draw you in like she’s some enchantress, some seductress… some…
What’s the word I’m looking for?” She turned to Malachi, my other
partner-in-crime.

“
I would call her a nymph
or pixie. They are nasty little creatures that appear harmless and
cute until they sink their teeth into ya.” Malachi gazed down at me
with his gold eyes. “In fact I can tell you through personal
experience…”

“
Shut-up, he’s got the
point.” Nessa slugged him a little too hard in the stomach. “And we
don’t need to hear about your past experiences.”

Nessa folded her arms across her chest
as Malachi, who was a head taller than her, straightened and shook
his head at her.

I chuckled, which made Nessa’s
freckled, tanned skin redden.

“
I’m serious,” she stomped
her foot.

I jumped up and patted Nessa on the
head like you would a pet. She glared at me.

“
Come on, we need to be
moving anyhow.” I pulled my hood over my head, and jumped down the
crumbling rock slope in two strides.

Malachi followed, and we had to wait
for Nessa.

“
You know my legs aren’t
as long as yours and my ankle still hurts from the last cliff wall
we scaled up.” She stood in front of us with her hood over her head
and a few white strands curled over the edge like
cobwebs.

“
Do you want me to carry
you?” I asked seriously.

“
No, I want you to at
least give me a head start until I’m better.”

A rumble of thunder erupted from the
deep purple clouds that rolled lazily over our heads.

“
Come on,” Malachi gazed
up at them. “The Charedlands are not a place for gathering and
visiting. They are the nomad’s lands.”

We were in a dangerous place, not only
physically, but for me, mentally. I was what you’d call haunted.
Ezra had moved to another world not meant for the living, and she
wanted me to join her. I would give anything to bring her back, but
the only thing was, there isn’t enough to give to bring someone
back from the Shadowlands. There is no one to accept payments or
favors to bring someone back from there. There is only one
entrance, and once in, you never come out.

Each minute, hour, day that went by,
pushed me farther from her. I could join her, but something inside
of me was guiding me away from her. I shoved back, not giving in,
but I was growing tired of the battle.