Ancient Spirit

The sun was setting over the wild acres in Northeastern Washington.  The sky was still a brilliant shade of peacock blue, but the pine trees that jutted upwards toward the vault of the sky were only black, stencil like shapes.  An owl could be heard, and an occasional flapping of wings as the forest settled in for the night.  Only one sound seemed incongruous to this peaceful setting, and that was the sound of labored, heavy breathing and of twigs being snapped underfoot.  1

The woman ran through the forest, desperately looking for help.  She was bleeding; the front of her diaphanous dress was stained and dripping blood.  She was lost, and the sun was setting.  Her breathing grew shallow as she doubled over in pain, grasping her swollen midsection and crying out.  She hit her knees, not caring as the sharp pine needles that littered the ground dug their way through the thin material of her dress and into the tender flesh of her knees.  Her long dark hair swung forward, obscuring her face.  She dug her fingers into the mossy ground and cried out again as another wave hit her.  Between her legs, she could feel the head of her child beginning to crown.  She knew she could not run anymore, and so she squatted, pushing with the muscles of her abdomen, and not noticing the sound of footsteps as they grew closer.2

She heard brush moved aside, suddenly, and looked frantically behind her, only to see a silver flash of metal in the moonlight.  A sharp pain pierced her breast; she couldn’t breathe.  She fell backwards, her hands clutched over her chest where more and more ruby liquid seeped.  Finally her heart slowed its frantic pace, and her lifeless eyes stared unseeing as the first stars overhead began to twinkle in the night sky.  Her body was not finished in its task, however, and with one reflexive push it moved the new life from the corpse of the mother.  No one was there to receive it, save for a strange blue mist that began to wrap its way around the body of the mother.  The baby began to cry.3

Invisible hands severed the umbilical cord and deftly tied it off.  The baby was lifted off of the cold earth and carried with supernatural swiftness to a small stream which flowed over a series of stones, creating a small waterfall.  The child was gently placed into the flowing water, effectively cleansing it from the messiness of birth, then removed and rocked gently in the breeze until it fell asleep, and then the child was spirited away. The human authorities who found the corpse of the mother assumed wild animals had dragged the baby into the forest and devoured it.  They could not have been more wrong.4

Sixteen years later5

Aiden looked around at his new home.  It was literally in the middle of nowhere; eighty miles north of the closest city, down a two lane highway and a dirt road that climbed halfway up a mountain.  Aiden’s parents loved it.  The property had been cheap, and came with a house on it.  Of course there was no electricity, no running water, and no indoor plumbing.  6

“Are you seriously moving me out here?” he asked, pushing his unruly auburn hair from his eyes.  “This is some kind of joke, right?” 7

“Of course not,” said his father as his forehead knit together in a frown.  “Don’t worry, we’ll be getting electricity next month.  We’re going to have to haul our water from the well, though.”8

“Won’t this be fun?” asked his mother.  She smiled at her son, but at the same time she could not hide the doubt in her eyes.  “We’ll get to live like pioneers.”9

“Fabulous,” Aiden said dryly.  “I’m going to find my room.  Wake me up when I can plug in my Xbox, okay?”10

His father rolled his eyes and sighed.  “You’re going to help out around here, got it?  I didn’t move us all the way up here so you could lie around like a bump on a log. Being without your game systems for a while will build character.”11

“My science teacher told us that video games help us learn the scientific method,” Aiden grumbled, heading for the two story house that loomed in front of him.12

“What a load of malarkey,” said his father.  “Aiden, get back here and help me unload the U-Haul.”13

Aiden sighed and turned back to the U-Haul.  Suddenly he stopped, feeling eyes on him.  He looked around as a chill made him shiver, but shook his head.  He felt overly paranoid, and opened the back of the U-Haul.14

Meanwhile, in the forest, a pair of vivid green eyes watched intently.15

To Be Continued…. Maybe.16