Noir
Chapter 7

"Dammit!" I grumbled silently. Shoulders slumping in dejection, I eased the door back shut. Then, turning and with feet dragging every step of the way, I slowly made my way back down the hall toward my cell.

Entering the room, I made my way over to the bed and threw myself down on it, much like a three-year-old having a tantrum. In a fit of anger, I reached out and grabbed a pillow, punching it with a shriek of frustration. A few minutes passed as I used the pillow for my punching bag before stopping. Though the exertion of releasing some of my frustration made me physically feel better, it did little to relieve the pent-up emotions boiling within me. Not knowing what else to do, I lay down and closed my eyes, letting the tears trickle out beneath my clenched lids. Just what the hell was this place? Was it some type of cult? God, what I would give to have a white knight in shining armor come to my rescue right now!

~~

Deep in the night, I awoke, an awareness of having been startled from sleep drifting within me. I lay listening, trying to pinpoint the source of the abrupt stirring. When no obvious reason presented itself. I shrugged and rolled over, snuggling back into the warmth of my blanket. A yawn stretched my mouth wide as my eyes drifted back closed. However, the exhalation of air was cut short as I jerked into a sitting position. Staring about the room, a chill stretched icy fingers down my back. I was being watched. I could feel it! Something's unseen eyes were peering at me! Yet, the gloom of the room revealed nothing except even deeper, darker shadows. Shuffling in the bed, I pushed my way backward on my butt until I sat on the top corner of the mattress, my shoulders snuggled as far as I could get them within the v of the walls. With my knees drawn to my upper body, I sat, quivers wracking my frame. Here I am, a huntress of the very thing I now trembled over. What the hell was wrong with me?

Small whimpers pushed their way through chattering teeth and trembling lips. I gained no security in the position, though, for in a matter of seconds, my breath was shuddering out from between frozen lips. I felt my heart stop with a sharp jolt before restarting and pounding madly within the confines of my chest. The sound of something's loud breathing and shuffling began to resonate about the room. Its volume continued to increase until I finally tossed back the covers and leaped from the bed-my only thought was to escape the room-to be somewhere, anywhere, that whatever was creating the terrifying noises wasn't.

Running to the door, I passed through the entrance into the hallway, not knowing, nor caring, where I was going. As long as it took me away from the horrific thing in my room, that was fine with me. Then, fear turned to horror; horror that shuddered its way through every fiber and particle of my being, causing tiny, terrified cries to escape from between my lips. The thing within my room had followed me into the hall. The noises it was making were echoing off the ceiling and walls, doubling the intensity of the horrific sounds within the deep, bluish-purple shadows-shadows that were as profound, if not more, than what had been within my room. Though my system was now almost clean from the drugs I'd been administered, there was still a slight lingering effect of the narcotic that I had been unable to escape-a maddening disorientation that threw my senses off balance. As such, the shadows shifted and swirled before my eyes, and as I was desperate for protection, I again sought to bring forth my shield that my emotions, or possibly the drugs, had continued to hold locked within me since my arrival.

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I felt my eyes well with the moisture of relief when an orange, nebulous glow of flames filled the confined space around me. Swirling in their display of power, they snapped and crackled in a voice of authority, enclosing me within circling arms of armor. Continuing to master the flames that grew and increased in power as they danced around me, I stood motionless within their shield as they started to resemble the bright, reddish-orange solar flares of the sun, erupting forth with as much strength and ferocity. The ominous arcs of fire shot about, scorching whatever they touched, leaving small fires behind in their wake as the hallway filled with thick acrid smoke.

Locked in on my fear, I was unaware of the man behind me who dipped and swirled in a manner that resembled an Indian stomp dance in his effort to avoid being set afire until, when the dance had reached such a crescendo that he looked like a mad spinning top, Noir bellowed, "Jesus Christ! Lyra, stop!"

The firestorm was gone in an instant as I gave a startled yelp, however, the volume of noise in the hallway had only increased with my display of self-protection, as now, there was a sort of keening, almost a wailing from whatever stood within the hall with Noir and me, forcing me to shriek, "Holy mother of God! It's still here!"

At my words, Noir bellowed in an effort to be heard over the din, "I sure as hell don't know why it would be, after that display!" Afterward, he immediately turned on the noisemaker and erupted with a snarl of a shout, "Shut up, will ya!" After effectively silencing the creature, he angrily returned to putting out the hot spots that had a tendency to flare back to life.

The silence continued to reign around the hallway as I peered into the shadows with unease. The only sound to be heard was Noir's thudding footfalls, as well as the thumping of his palms as he put out small flare-ups that continued to erupt on his clothing. After several minutes of this, he snarled, "Would you mind telling me why in the hell you were trying to burn the house down over a puppy?"