by Candy Crum
The Eternal Gift
By Candy Crum
Chapter One
The night air was cool and thick as it sheathed me in total darkness. The satin shorts and camisole that I’d gone to bed in had become damp from the heavy moisture hanging in the air. Holding my hands in front of my body, I wandered around totally blinded in the blackness as I tried to find some kind of clue that would give me a better picture.
Taking another step, my bare feet met with soft ground, the tall grass tickling my calves as I moved. It must have been a field, though the crisp, clean scent told me it was free of large animals.
Thunder cracked in the distance. The ominous, coal-black clouds had chased the moon and stars away, not even the faintest glow giving away their presence. It took a moment, but my mind had finally begun to recognize the area. It was a dream world, one that I’d seen before. With every passing night and into every dream, I was able to travel further and further into the illusion. I’d had recurring dreams before, but there was something different about these that seemed to call out to me.
Disturbing was the word that came to mind. Terrifying, even. My nerves always shook because I felt like there was something in the dream that I was supposed to learn, but always failed to. Whatever it was, I needed to find it. I was sick of seeing the same thing most of the nights that I dreamed.
The wind began to pick up, and I looked to the north. The same direction that I looked to every night. Lightning webbed across the sky, illuminating the massive, empty field in which I stood. Finally, I could see everything within the flash. This time, I saw something new. Something I’d never seen before.
Off in the distance stood two figures. Even with the great distance between them and me, I could feel the tension in the air. The hair-raising feeling surrounding them was anger, hatred. They were about to fight.
Thunder rolled again as the lightning danced across the sky. Using the flashes to light my path, I ran toward the figures in the distance. Something was happening, and I felt almost compelled to find out what. As I approached, a bolt of raw, electric energy reached down from the sky, flames spreading around the two figures in a perfect circle. I stopped hard, slipping on the damp grass and falling to the ground. I couldn’t approach any closer. I was grateful something had stopped me because I realized that I’d have fully approached if given the chance.
Sharp chills cut through me from head to toe as I realized that one of them was controlling the blaze. Nothing short of that could have kept the fire contained in such a manner. With my closeness, I could see that the figures were women. One of them was short, only a little over five feet tall and stood roughly fifty feet away to my right. Her long, jet-black hair reached just below her hips and whipped around in the wind.
As I studied her, I began to see a deep-red, transparent cloud—an aura—surrounding her. She was strong. Very strong. Even I could feel her overwhelming power from where I stood.
Looking to my left, her opponent was close to the same height, only her hair was impossibly white and hung to her knees. This woman was far different. She was surrounded by an aura as well, though hers was a very deep blue. Something about her called to me, and it took everything I had not to trudge barefoot through the flames to reach her.
Rain began to fall and soaked everything around us, though it was unable to extinguish the fire. Movement brought me to attention as the white-haired woman lifted her arms. The earth began to quake as it broke free all around her. She looked like a dancer as she moved her body, forcing the element into submission under her power. The packed earth sailed through the air toward the dark-haired woman, but she was quick to react.
In a flash, she disappeared from my sight, dodging the attack. My eyes darted around the battle field as I tried to find her. My body locked up as my vision became obscured. Something, or rather someone had come to stand directly before me. Slowly, my eyes traveled upward, seeing the mysterious dark-haired woman looking down at me. Her dark, emerald green eyes and dilated coal-black pupils stared into mine. Her hair seemed alive as it brushed my skin, sending tingles running through my body. Her flawless, olive-toned skin nearly glowed as she stood there, an odd expression on her face. Concern. Why on earth would this woman be concerned for me?
“Kailah,” she spoke. Her soft, sweet voice echoed through my mind.
I inhaled sharply. Though her mouth barely moved, her perfect, white teeth showed just enough for me to make out four tiny, yet still elongated, razor-sharp fangs. My heart fluttered as I wondered if the woman before me was the creature that she appeared to be. How did she know me? What did she want with me?
“Y-yes?” I replied, not having a clue what else to possibly say.
“This is not a dream, Kailah. It’s a warning.” She leaned in closer to me. Her next word came out in a whisper. “Run.”
“Wait… What? From you? Or from her?” I asked, chills once again stabbing me like thousands of needles running from the roots of my hair to the bare, wet bottoms of my feet.
“She’s coming for you in the real world, child. When you wake, she will find you very, very soon. You cannot let her take you. You are the key. The only one that we have. Let no one harm you. You’re stronger than you think. Now run!”
As soon as I turned to do exactly as I was told, the thunder cracked overhead, and the lightning began crashing to the ground all around me. Something was trying to hold me where I stood, but I ran anyway. I heard a loud growl from behind me, but decided not to look back. The earth began to shake once again, and my bare feet slid on the wet grass, the soft ground cushioning me as I landed on my right hip.
“Hello, Kailah.” A new voice echoed through the night. It was cold, emotionless, but held power in its tone.
I stopped dead in my tracks as I saw her, standing only a few feet ahead of me. I stared into her fearsome, ivy blue eyes, her long white hair blowing in the wind.
Though the color of her hair would suggest otherwise, she looked no older than me: around twenty. Her skin was also olive toned, maybe a few shades darker, but she was flawless, just like the other woman had been. Her crystalline blue eyes had death in them, and I found myself backing away from her, toward the raven-haired woman I began to think was my savior there.
The woman ahead of me laughed and the sound enveloped me like frigid water. “Kailah, you would choose the Vampire over your own grandmother?”
As I tried to digest the information that she had unleashed on me, I could sense something. Darkness. Panic rose as my entire body began to feel strange. My fear was taking on something totally different. It felt like pins and needles pricked at my skin from head to toe. I was hyperaware of everything. I could feel the location of both women. One ahead of me, and one just a few feet behind. I could sense the dark-haired woman moving, her own senses heightened as she readied herself for a fight.
What was happening? What was happening to me? Wasn’t it just a dream? When would I wake?
So many things ran through my mind, but nothing made sense. It didn’t have time to.
A large knife blew past me and headed straight for the woman in front of me. The dark blue energy that surrounded her exploded into a barrier, not only stopping the knife, but flinging it away – directly at me. My eyes instinctively closed as I threw my hands out in an attempt to stop the blade from striking me – at least in any place that was terribly important.
“It is you!” the white-haired woman said with wonder.
My eyes opened at the sound of her voice. Her words echoed in my mind as my eyes focused on blue energy surrounding my hands, the large knife buried in the aura cloud instead
of in my flesh. As I studied it, I realized it was just like that of the white-haired woman, only mine was light in color and hers was very dark.
I’d had all I could handle. Fear crippled me then, and I couldn’t stop the scream that bubbled up out of my throat as the energy dissipated and the knife fell to the ground.
What the hell is going on? I wondered.
The woman’s attention shifted, and with soft, graceful motion, she lifted her hand into the sky. A lightning bolt responded as it split from the darkness above and reached for her outstretched hand. She caught the energy before hurling it at her opponent. Another loud growl sounded out only a moment before something slammed hard into the blue energy barrier surrounding the white-haired woman. I focused and saw that it was the woman that had been referred to as the Vampire.
Red energy swelled around the Vampire as she pushed against the blue barrier.
“Kailah!” the Vampire called out. “She can find you in your dreams! Go! Now! You must wake up! She searches for you now! I’m linked to you through another ancestor of yours. She is much younger. If she could find you, then Khia can even faster. Run! Trust no one! We will come for you! We will help you!”
“Oh, do shut up,” the white-haired woman, Khia, said. “I will find her first. And she will help me destroy all of you blood-sucking demons. Mark my words.”
“Kailah!” the Vampire called out. “WAKE UP!” As soon as the order left her lips, energy exploded from her body as Khia was thrown several feet back. “This dream is a figment of your own mine, but make no mistake, this is a premonition of sorts. You are the key to ending this war. If Khia finds you, it will doom all of humanity to a fate worse than death. Leave this realm now and prepare yourself. Your life is about to change.”
Chapter Two
Air violently filled my lungs as I sat straight up in bed. My heart was racing and my mind wasn’t much better. That was one hell of a dream. I shook as I thought back to what I’d been told. It was terrifying, but it was just a dream. I heard thunder off in the distance, but it was very faint.
I spent several moments staring down at my blanket, taking deep breaths to calm myself. It was working very nicely until my eyes wandered upward. My breath caught in my throat, a scream choking off as I scrambled backwards, hitting my head on the headboard. At the foot of my bed stood a translucent man. He was gripping the footboard as he studied me. Something about him seemed familiar as I stared into his deep brown eyes.
His hair was long and silvery as it hung in two braids, one over each shoulder. His skin was dark like mine, and I could tell that he was Native American. He looked a lot like my grandfather. If he was from around the Seymour Indiana area, it was possible that he was from the same tribe that my family stemmed from.
As I adjusted to his presence, I calmed. It was clear the spirit wasn’t there to harm me. It might sound odd to just get used to a ghost standing at the foot of the bed, but coming from the family I did – it was normal. We were a family of dreamers. Nothing was strange to us. Though we had only but a fraction of our Native American ancestors’ blood, it was theirs that stuck with us the most.
We saw spirits, had precognitive dreams – which made the one that I’d awoken from that much more terrifying –, and could sense impending death. Well, my mom could do all of those. My sister could see spirits and sense death. I was the lucky one of the three of us that could only see spirits. I didn’t have any special abilities. I’d could only remember one or two times when I’d predicted something correctly.
My Native American ancestral roots were stronger on my father’s side, which was strange, given my sister and I shared my mother’s gifts. My mom always joked we came from witches, but my grandfather told me it was our native heritage, rich in our natural connections to nature and the spirits of our ancestors. I liked his story much better.
The man at the foot of my bed opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came. His body began to fade for a moment, but came back into full view. He was spending all of his available energy on showing himself and, as a result, was unable to speak.
Or maybe it’s me holding him back…
The thought occurred to me and it made sense. I’d seen spirits before, but never that clearly and certainly not for that length of time. This was different, however. There was a sense of urgency to him. He didn’t want to talk to me – he needed to. Another thought ran through my mind…
What if it was about the dream?
Surely not…
Once again, he opened his mouth to speak, but the action proved to be too much. He completely faded away and the air cooled as he vanished. I hadn’t realized how warm his presence had been. The breath that I heavily released made me realize that I’d been holding it for longer than I’d thought. I’d also been death-gripping my sheets… Maybe I was a bit more frightened than I thought.
Looking over to the clock, I saw that it was 4 a.m. The silence let me know that I’d completely forgotten to set the alarm. Seems my rude wakeup call was a good thing because it was already time to get up and get ready for work. Instead of lounging around for a few minutes as I usually did, I got up and got started. I didn’t want to waste another moment in bed thinking about the terrible dream or the wandering spirit that had visited me upon waking.
After picking out my scrubs, I jumped in the shower and enjoyed the few moments of peaceful hot water as I tried to shake the icy feeling of the cold, unnatural rain that soaked me in my dream. I’d been awake for a while and it still chilled me. I hurried to finish the rest of my morning routine and grabbed my hoodie, keys, wallet, and iPhone before heading out to my car – a 2014 Chevy Sonic.
The drive was peaceful until I hit the Seymour morning traffic. Everyone was either trying to get to the large factory for the 6 a.m. shift, or headed to the hospital, like I was. I was in nursing school and graduation wouldn’t come for a few more months, so I worked as an ER Tech. It was a great job and Seymour Memorial was kind of a dream place to work. Great benefits. Great people. Amazing atmosphere. Most of all, it was okay to go above and beyond for patient care there. You could kind of be your own person instead of doing step one, two, then three and nothing else. It was okay to think outside the box to make sure people were happy and cared for.
When the large automatic doors to the ER opened, my head began to throb. I groaned with my irritation for the ailment and walked in anyway. I wondered if it was a late reaction to bashing my head against the headboard that morning.
Crossing the floor seemed the same as any other day, but my nerves were shot. My stomach was rolling over, and I knew it wasn’t going to be a very good day. Even worse, I couldn’t even tell where it came from. It was totally random.
“Good morning, Kailah,” a familiar masculine voice said.
“Good morning, Sam,” I said with a smile.
Sam Riley was a really great twenty-one-year-old male nurse that I worked with. I usually didn’t go for blondes, but he was absolutely adorable. A little taller than my five and a half feet tall frame, sandy blonde hair that was cut short and spiky, light brown eyes, and a good build.
“Has the new doc showed up yet?” I asked as I took a seat at one of the long, wall-mounted desks.
“Yeah, and she’s really cool. I think you’ll like her a lot,” he replied from his seat across from me.
Doctor Sydney Austin was to be our new ER physician, but she specialized in Pediatric medicine. The doctor that she was to replace had the same qualifications, though it hadn’t been a requirement for the position. We’d already been told all about her, but had yet to actually meet her. Well, I hadn’t anyway. Seemed Sam beat me to the punch.
Another sharp pain cut through my head as my heart began to race. It must have been anxiety. I always developed anxiety with pain. Something hurts? Freak out about it… That’s how I handled things. Unfortunately, it was affecting my stomach as well. It continued to roll.
“Hi!”
I jumped as a voice came from behind me
. I turned and saw a woman standing there. She was about my height with short, shoulder-length, straight, jet-black hair with caramel highlights. It was parted to the side and swept across her delicate face. Her eyes were a bright hazel and complimented her porcelain skin. Her large smile lit up her features, and I couldn’t deny the pull that I felt.
“I’m Sydney Austin. Nice to meet you…”
“Kailah,” I replied with a smile. “I’m Kailah Clark. I’m your tech for the day.
Keeping my composure while simultaneously feeling like both my head and heart would explode and my stomach would come hurling out of my mouth was difficult, but I managed – for a few moments. The anxiety was killing me. My fingers had begun to feel cold, almost numb.
“Nice to meet you, Kailah,” Sydney said with a smile. “You and I will work closely together. The nursing assistants have just as much to tell me about a patient as the nurses do, sometimes more.”
She was right. Most doctors ignored the nursing assistants because they didn’t have a degree. Personally speaking, a lot of doctors and nurses treated aids as peons. I was happy to work where that wasn’t accepted, and where I was encouraged to learn more. Seemed like Sydney would fit right in.
Sydney extended her hand to shake mine. Never in my life had I been hesitant to take the hand of another person I’d just met. Sure, if they were dirty or something like that, but this certainly wasn’t the case. I just had a feeling like I shouldn’t. I’d begun to feel claustrophobic with her standing closer to me. Her hand that close to me only served to worsen it. I put my odd feelings behind me and reached out.
The instant that her hand touched mine a shock passed through us. It wasn’t the tiny jolt that one got from touching metal or brushing against someone when static was high. No… This was something different. The moment that we touched, the dream flashed through my head. I saw Khia again. I could even hear her voice as she said my name. It echoed through my mind so strongly that I could swear I heard it somewhere in the room around me.