//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Scarlet // Story: When the Mare Comes Around // by Skepticaliz19 //------------------------------// The rain poured. It tapped light, unrhythmically against the glass. The sun had gone down hours ago and a couple took shelter under the covers on the living room couch, watching their nightly show. Other than work, the day was, as usual, uneventful. The daily life made the couple feel...as if they'd been caught in a time loop. Conan droned on, however, till there was an interruption in the connection. First static, then the screen began to flash black and white, the dim light in the kitchen just across the living room began to flicker. "Dear, go check the fuse box," the wife requested and the husband promptly obeyed her, but not without giving her a kiss first. He made his way across the smooth carpeted room, through the kitchen and to the basement stairs. His wife followed. "They're all fine, but that doesn't explain what's going on with the lights," the husband commented. "I'll go call the electric company," the wife replied and left him to his devices. However, as the wife came back into the kitchen, she noticed the sky looked rather odd. A faint green light showed through a part of the clouds above. She was about to shake it off and head for the phone, until a large, green lightning bolt snapped, cracked and split the tree outside in half. The sound of thunder soon followed, loud enough to shake the house slightly. She could hear a faint cry outside. "Honey! I think there's a child outside, I heard crying!" the wife didn't care to put shoes or a coat on - she went out the kitchen door and rushed outside to find the source of the crying. "Where!?" he glanced left and right as he exited the house behind her, a flashlight in hand, bright, illuminating the grass. The couple lived outside the city, which meant no nearby houses, which meant the child could be anywhere. "I hear it coming from the tree..." "Or what's left of it," the husband sighed, rushing with his wife, across the tall grass, to the remains of the tree. Upon finding the source of the crying, the wife nearly screamed. What they saw, looked to be a mix of what they could only guess as bug...and human. A jagged horn jutted from its forehead, leathery wings from its back. One was bent and both were twitching out of control. Its face in the soggy dirt, and green blood oozing from its cheek showed it was hurt. "The hell is that thing...should I get my gun?" the husband asked. "What!? No! its hurt!" the wife slowly reached out to it and slowly tried to pick it up. The little infant sized creature only struggled harder as she pulled it out of the dirt. "Poor thing..." she held it in her right arm and wiped the green goo off its cheek. She headed back inside and quickly brought it upstairs where she dried it with a towel, which seemed to soothe it a little. "Do you even know what that thing is?" the husband asked, following her about like a lost puppy dog, inspecting the being which currently occupied his wife's arms. "No..." she said, staring into the huge orbs with blue and yellow-green irises, which were the creature's eyes. Its little hand held onto her forefinger. Being in the light now, she could see more defined features, such as the pointy ears, tail and hooves at the ends of its legs. "Its name is Scarlet Ivy," she stated. The husband seemed dumbfounded. "You named it?" "No," she presented to him a golden locket she found it had. The backside read her name. Then she opened it. Upon doing so, it glowed yellow, which startled the couple and they watched in awe as the locket left the wife's hand and it floated down to the floor, just inches above. There was a flicker and a hologram of what looked like a bigger version of Scarlet appeared. "Hello," it began, it had tears in its eyes. "If you've opened this, it means you've found my daughter. Her name is Scarlet Ivy. I miss her dearly, so please return her to me. She's all I have...but please care for her. It's a lot to ask, knowing how I've been in the past, but she's all I have. Again, I miss her dearly..." Once finished, the hologram disappeared and the locket closed. The couple were speechless. 15 years and 48 weeks later... I woke to the sound of a rhythmic pencil tapping upon my desk, followed by a throat being cleared. Slowly, my eyes opened as I lifted my sore cheek from my arm. My teacher, Mr. Pinsky, shook his head at me. His eyes were hidden behind the reflection of the light off his glasses. "No sleeping in class...and you've gone and drooled on your...phone?" His hand suddenly reached down, snatching it from me and gave it a wipe with the sleeve of his green button up. Everyone was looking by now. "Let's see what was so important you decided to not do your weekly quiz, shall we?" "Give that back!" I pleaded as he walked up the desk aisle of the brightly sun-lit room. His British accent annoyed me. His love for the color green resulted in forest green painted walls and books and all sorts of things with accents of brown with the natural light did make the room better for learning in. Unlike other classes with lacked color. His eyes squinted as he held up the phone. "Hello Baby Boo, I'll see u at 8, lots of love and kisses!" The room became an uproar of laughter and chuckles and giggles, my cheeks becoming as red as ripe cherries from pure embarrassment. I could only lower my head in shame. "Funny, I'd expect this to be from a boyfriend, who'd later dump you for a prettier girl, since that's how it works, not your mum," he continued, earning more laughter from the class. "You should know, Scarlet, that texting isn't allowed in my class, or any phone use at all! This will wait here for you to pick up after school is over," he finished, dumping my phone into one of his desk drawers. "Now, then. I'd like you all to get out your English textbooks and we can resume where we left off, where Juliet kills herself, since her actual boyfriend is "dead." Some coincidental turn of events, I might add." he turns back to give me a wink. "But soft! There is much to learn!," he chuckled contently to himself. I seemed to be his favorite to pick on. "Ass," I whispered to myself, pulling the requested book out of my bag, after pulling up my hood to hide the shame. About twenty minutes of reading went by, and I noticed a tingling in my right arm. Assuming it's just fallen asleep, I do what I can to answer the questions in the textbook. However, I couldn't think straight. The dream I'd just had was...very unusual. I dreamt I was small, from the fact I was being held in a pair of arms. This person holding me I couldn't make out clearly. It was a silhouette that appeared to be human...but something entirely different at the same time. For whatever reason, my subconscious seems to tell me I have a connection to this dream. The tingling in my arm increases, and in a certain spot, began to burn. My hand clutched instinctively, my other going to pull back my sleeve. I nearly screamed at what I saw, but only squeaked. There Was A Hole In My Arm. "I need to go to the bathroom," I blurted out loud. The teacher responded with a "shooing" motion to the door with his hand and quicker than the Flash, I ran from the room and down the hall. I made sure to keep my arm covered, only to see another hole. I rushed into the bathroom and bumped into another girl as I entered. She cussed at me before taking her leave. I checked my arm again, and lo and behold was another hole, but in the other arm this time. "The heck is happening to me!?" Hands shaking and breathing uneven, I entered a stall and shut my eyes tight. I clenched my hands into fists, wishing for this to stop as I felt another hole start to open up. I felt tingling all over me, stomach churning. "Please stop!" And it did. It was gone. At an instant, the tingling was gone. Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw my arms. No holes. "Oh, thank God," I muttered to myself, checking the rest of me. Seeing what looked like a blue tail shrink into my spine made me scream a bit. The bathroom door opened. "Somebody hurt in there?" came the voice of the E.L.A teacher. "Y-yeah, just...just saw a spider," I replied. "You killed it, right?" "Yeah, it's all good in the hood," I chuckled quietly and nervously to myself. The door closed and I could hear her high heels continue down the hall. After sitting for a few moments, wondering what the hell just happened, I then got up and proceeded to leave as well, hoping what just occurred won't happen again. I don't plan on telling anyone about it, either. I then saw myself in the sink mirror. Still me; a red-headed nerd, wearing blue shorts and a shirt with a creeper on it. So what, I like Minecraft. The odd thing was my eye color. Blue...which turned to a yellow-greenish towards the bottom of the iris. That's not normal. I could only assume it came from nearly turning into human Swiss cheese. With a heavy sigh, I left the bathroom to continue my school day. Of course with whatever sanity remained of me from what I had just experienced.