The night seemed calm, the moon shined bright, and the trees rustled softly in the wind. The forest floor was bathed in moonlight obscured by the tree leaves. The scurrying of some woodland creatures echoed through the cool crisp air. Almost no sound broke through the innocent calm of the forest.

There was one sound, an unnatural noise, which pierced the silence all of a sudden. This strange sound resonated through the trees and startled all the creatures who now stood still and wondered where the noise originated from. To the creature's ears, the sound held no importance to them, and they continued to prepare themselves for slumber. To a human ear though, this noise was very distinct. It was the recognizable sound of metal crashing against metal.

In a clearing hidden deep within the heart of the forest, two figures darted back and forth, each trying to get a hit on each other. They almost seemed to be blurs, because they moved at a speed that no normal human could move. The pale moonlight flashed violently off the curved blades that one of the figures wielded. The blades were used to strike at the user's adversary, but a large scythe blocked the attacks.

After many failed attempts at slicing one another, the two separated and glared at each other from a distance. They waited for the other to make a move, but none was made. The wind's gentle breezed began to pick up, almost as if it were amplifying the tension in the air. The cloaks that each of the figures wore rustled loudly in the now raging gust. There was a silence between the two, and it would have suffocated anyone who may have happened upon the scene by accident.

"How could you betray us like this?" asked on of the two, his voice hard and demanding.

"How rude," replied the other with fake innocence dripping from every word she said. "I should be asking you the same question."

"Are you implying that this is all my doing," he yelled angrily as he glared at the woman from under his cloak.

The woman giggled happily and smiled sweetly. "Well if you had kept your end of our little agreement, then this entire situation could have been avoided." The man stood silent as he could neither accept nor deny the accusation.

"You know it's true," continued the woman. "If you had only followed simple orders, then things wouldn't have gotten as bad as they have. In fact, I wouldn't have even come into being!"

"SHUT UP," screamed the man as he lunged at the woman and swung his scythe at her. She easily leaped out of the way and landed gracefully behind the man.

The woman laughed sadistically and shrieked, "The truth hurts doesn't it friend. Just admit it, this is all your fault. Every bad thing that's happening now is all because of you."

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!," yelled the man as he continued to slash at the woman in vain. "If we had killed you all those years ago then she wouldn't be gone!"

"Exactly my friend, IF you killed me. But you didn't," she laughed. "If you had listened to your dear sisters wish, then she wouldn't be gone!"

"I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do!" The man was starting to run out of energy and his attacks became slow and unsteady. The woman saw this and smiled devilishly.

"Do you really think you can kill me with weak attacks like that," teased the woman. When he attacked once again, the women stepped out of the way and grabbed the handle of the scythe. The man tried to pull free of her grasp, but no matter how hard he tried, she wouldn't let go. The woman started to laugh again as she stabbed the man in the hand with one of her scimitars. He screamed in pain as warm blood flowed heavily from the gapping wound. Suddenly, he felt the wind get knocked out of him as the woman landed a hard kick to his stomach that sent him crashing into a tree behind him. He was gasping for air as his opponent walked up to him.

"Now do you understand just how weak you are," sneered the woman. "I should just end your pathetic life right now." She lifted her foot from the ground slowly and swiftly slammed it against the man's neck. He gasped harshly and tried to remove her foot, but he didn't have enough energy to do even that.

"On second thought, I think I'll let you live," said the woman sweetly. "Now you can go back and tell your little friends that if they try and kill me, then I won't hesitate to kill them. OK?

"Showing me mercy? Well how kind of you," rasped the man sarcastically. As soon as he said that, the pressure on his throat increased substantially, causing his vision to begin to blacken from lack of oxygen.

"Now, now boy, don't make me change my mind," warned the woman, her voice growing dark. She stepped back from the man who started coughing and struggled to gill his lungs with air. The woman started to laugh sadistically again and said, "The next time we meet, you won't be so lucky boy."

And with those last words, the woman vanished into thin air. The wind started to die down and the trees rustled lightly. The scampering of small slaws and the calls of small birds ushered in a wave of calm serenity that made it seem as if nothing at all had occurred that night.

2: Morning Blues

BEEP BEEP BEEP

    My eyes flew open as the piercing sound of my alarm clock rang through my ears. I groaned loudly and lazily pressed the off button to stop the annoying noise. The dim light from the early morning sun shined into my room from the small window near my bed. I sat up slowly and gently rubbed the sleep from my eyes before pushing myself off the bed and onto my feet. I glance over at the clock and the numbers 7:45 glowed at me. I sighed and walked towards the small bathroom that connected directly to my room.

    Dragging my feet on the smooth tile of the bathroom floor, I stopped in front of the grimy white sink and stared into the mirror. My short brown hair looked wild and strands were sticking up at odd angles. Typical bed-head hair. Staring into my dull brown eyes, I could see the dark bags underneath them. 

    “These damn dreams” I thought angrily to myself. “I can’t believe you’re causing me sleep deprivation.” For nearly two years now, I’ve been having strange, disturbing dreams. On a normal basis, they were filled with dark creatures and bloodstained battlefields filled with bodies of the dead. I’m standing in the middle of a massacre, and the shadowy beings surround me and attack me like I’m their prey. Just thinking about the things that I’ve been forced to see makes my stomach feel uneasy. Some of the dreams are different though. Occasionally I’ll have a dream about these unnatural people. For some reason I can sense that they aren’t human, but I can never see their faces. I only know that it’s the same few people because I recognize the voices when they talk. They will talk to me and tell me that everything’s going to be all right. I have no idea what they mean by that, but they must be comforting me for some reason. What’s worse is that the dreams are so real. If I get scratched, my skin burns where the wound should be when I wake up. When the dream ends, the smell of blood still lingers in my nose.

    “Why is this happening to me?” I mumbled as I buried my hands into my hands. “Will this ever end?”

    “Hey Aurora are you up yet?” My older brother’s muffled voice rang in my ears.

    “Yeah I’m getting ready Auron,” I yelled back at him. “I’ll be out in a sec.”

    “Just don’t take too long,” he answered. “I don’t want either of us to be late for school.”

      “You can leave without me you know.”

    “And you know I don’t like leaving you behind at home all by yourself. If we don’t leave together then I know you won’t even bother going to school.”

    “Fine, fine,” I replied. “Just give me a minute.” I quickly brushed out my hair so that it was its normal straight self. I splashed my face with water and brushed my teeth before I went back into my room and changed into something appropriate for school. After putting on a simple white T-shirt and blue jeans, I grabbed my black jacket and went out into the living room. 

    When I walked out, Auron was standing there with a bored look on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. No matter what, Auron always seemed to have an unamused look on his face. His brown eyes showed almost no signs of happiness and I swear he’s going to get wrinkles from frowning so much. His shaggy brown hair had more life in it then he did. Don’t get me wrong, Auron is a really nice and sweet guy deep down, but he is just too serious all the time. All of my friends wonder how such a straight-laced guy is my twin brother.

    “Took you long enough,” grumbled Auron.

    “Oh shut up,” I replied, rolling my eyes at his impatience. 

    “Come on, let’s just head out,” he said as he grabbed his backpack off the couch of our small apartment and walked towards the door. I snatched up my own backpack from beside the door and ran out before Auron could slam it in my face.

    “You could at least be considerate to non-morning people who aren’t as quick as you are at getting ready,” I grumbled as I caught up with Auron, who was speed walking down the hall of our apartment building towards the exit. “Will you slow down? School doesn’t start until 9. It only take like 30 minutes to get there so there’s no need to rush.”

    “I have things to do before school you know that. And today I have really important business to take care of so the earlier we get there the better,” answered Auron. “If you want something to do in the mornings just study or something. Anything is better then sleeping until class starts.”

    “But studying is so boring,” I complained. “And I wouldn’t be sleeping if I wasn’t so damn tired all the time.” We reached the exit and Auron quickly pushed the door open. The sun was inching higher in the sky, and the brightness of the world started to give me a slight headache. 

    “Did you have one of those dreams again?” asked Auron. I wasn’t looking at him, but I could feel his eyes burning into the side of my head.

    “Yeah,” I replied quietly. “It wasn’t as bad as some of the other, but it was still really unnerving.”

    “Tell me what happened?” he asked. Ever since the dreams had started, I had been telling Auron about them. Actually, it was more like I said nothing about it and he figured it out on his own. Now whenever I have a nightmare, Auron knows, and since he’s such an overprotective brother he makes it his business to know exactly what I saw. I don’t really mind having him poke into my dreams, but having to recall the nightmares is like reliving bad memories.

    “There was a small clearing surrounded by a thick forest. It was really dark and quiet. All of a sudden, two people came out of nowhere and started fighting each other. They were wearing cloaks, but I recognized their voices. They were the same people from some of my other dreams. What I don’t get is why they were fighting. That’s never happened before and I don’t know what it means."

    “Well you shouldn’t think to much about it,” replied Auron as he placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “If you get too worked up about it, you could get yourself hurt somehow.”

    “I guess your right,” I sighed.

    “Good. Now perk up some,” said Auron. “We don’t want your friends worrying about you too.”

    “You got it bro,” I laughed. My mood was getting better already. I was about to say something else to him, but I suddenly heard someone shouting my name from behind me. 

    “Aurora! Auron! Wait up for us!”

    “Speak of the devils,” muttered Auron under his breath. I punched him playfully in the arm and gave him a sour look.

    “Be nice,” I scolded. He chuckled and slowed down his pace a bit. I looked behind me and saw my two best friends, Lucinda and Diana, racing to catch up with us.

    “Come on guys,” I yelled to them as I waved hello. “You’re almost there!”

    “Goodness you guys walk fast,” huffed Lucinda as she caught her breath. He long, dark red hair was all ruffled from running, so she pulled out a brush from her purse and started fixing it. That girl is always messing with her hair in some way.

    “It was Auron, don’t blame me Lucy,” I replied.

    “It’s half your fault for not telling him to slow down every once in a while,” said Lucy, her blue eyes staring at me accusingly. 

    “Don’t be to hard on her Lucy,” scolded Diana as she ran a hand through her curly black hair. “It’s not her fault that Auron is such a busy-body that doesn’t like to wait for us lazy people.”

    “Sounds about right,” said Auron bluntly.

    “You shouldn’t sound so proud about that,” replied Diana, glaring at Auron with her bright green eyes. 

    Auron rolled his eyes and said, “Well at least I get things done.”

    “We get things done to,” snapped Lucy. “We just do it slower then you do.”

    “Whatever, “replied Auron. He turned to me and said, “I’m going to go on ahead Aurora. Don’t take to long, I don’t want you to get a tardy.”

    “Don’t worry mom I won’t be late,” I said, rolling my eyes. Auron said nothing in return and picked up his pace again, speeding ahead of us. Once he was out of sight, Diana turned to me.

    “What’s got him in such a rush?”

    “I have no idea,” I answered. “He just said that he had something important to do this morning. He didn’t tell me anything about it, but it must be really important if he’s rushing to get to school.”

    “Must be Student Council stuff,” said Lucy. “It’s gotta be tough being the Council President and all.”

    “Yeah, I wouldn’t want his job,” mumbled Diana. “Too much work, too much time.”

    “All to true Di,” agreed Lucy. “Hey Aurora, how do you live with such a know-it-all like Auron. I bet it gets really annoying.”

    “He isn’t that bad guys,” I answered. “I mean yeah he can get on my nerves sometimes, but it’s nice having a smart brother when you get stuck on a homework problem.”
    “You’ve got a good point there Aura,” replied Lucy. “Do you think Auron might help me with my homework?”

    “I highly doubt it,” I replied. “You guys don’t get along at all.”

    “Well how can we get along with a guy like him?” asked Lucy. “Don’t answer that. Anyway, on to a more interesting topic, have you heard about all the murders that have been happening lately?”

    “How did we go from my brother to a murderer,” I grumbled. “And of course I’ve heard about them. Auron’s gotten so paranoid about it and he won’t let me go out at night by myself anymore.”

    “And for a good reason too,” said Di. “I’ve heard that all the victims have been teenagers.”

    “It’s pretty scary to think that we could be next,” said Lucy. “I wouldn’t even leave my house at all if the attacks happened in the day to.”

    “Can we get off the subject of death please,” I begged. “I don’t really want to go to school thinking about this stuff.”

The two girls both sighed a synchronized “Fine,” and the conversation turned to petty things like boys and clothes. I’ve never been one to be interested in things like that, so I tuned them out and my thoughts traveled elsewhere.

    “Maybe my dreams are trying to tell me something,” I thought. “What if the murders are connected to my dreams somehow. But if that’s the case, why have the murders started only recently when my nightmares have been happening for over two years. Wait! Ever since the murders started, I’ve had a nightmare every single night. They only used to come every few nights. There must be some kind of connection between the two! There must be an answer somewhere, I’ve just got to find it. Oh look, the school’s coming into view. Like Auron said, I can’t think too much about all this right now, especially with school starting soon. I guess I’ll talk with Auron about this later after school is done, but until then I’ll just have to think better thoughts and get through the day first.”