See Through the Flames

It wants her to know.

Title: Burn the Butterfly
Chapters: 1/?
Chapter Title: See Through the Flames
Characters: Lots
Genre: Mystery, Horror, Magic, Suspence, Thriller
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: cursing, violence, possible death
Synopsis: To save a soul. To sacrifice another.
Disclaimer: I own the story.
Comments: This just CAME to me somehow. Lets watch and see how it goes.


"The presence..." Zaikyo whispered. "It's hurting."

Renee nodded her head. "We're getting closer to the source."

Tera patted Zaikyo on the back. "We'll be done soon, honey. We just need to find the spirit and get it out of this building." She shivered a little and then pressed onward through the reckage.

They were in the living room of an old home that had burned down three weeks ago.  Since that day, there had been reports of ghost sightings and terrible sounds in the mits of the night. Feeling obligated to help, Tera decided to set the spirit free. She ended up dragging her sister Renee along with her and Zaikyo had volunteered in hopes of conquering her fear of spirits. Instead though, she was now more afraid then ever.

Zaikyo hadn't told the others where she was going. But, she hadn't really lied either. She'd simply told them she was going out for a while with Tera and Renee. Now Zaikyo was contemplating the errors she'd made.

What if they didn't come back? Where would the others look to find them?

"Okay," she thought. "Now's not really time for regrets. Lets just find the ghost and leave."

She sucked in a deep breath and tried to sense the direction of the presence. There was definately something there. But where exactly?

She looked around for a sign of movement. Nothing but Tera and Renee drifting from room to room, flashlights in hand.

It was so quiet though. Zaikyo felt like her sanity might slip away at any moment. All of the darkness surrounding her. And then there was that presence. She knew it was near! It just wouldn't reveal itself. Almost as if it didn't want to be set free...

But that was insane! What spirit didn't want to move on? Everything had a purpose. They wouldn't want to just linger on forever. Well, that is...all except the evil spirits. The ones that wish to stay only to reek havoc.

 But this spirit wasn't evil... was it?

Of course not! Tera and Renee would've never let Zaikyo come if it was dangerous.

But still...

Zaikyo tried to shake the thought off and concentrate. She knelt down next to a collection of blackened furniture and inspected it carefully. Renee had once told her that spirits could hide in objects and such. But there was supposed to be a way to tell...

"Hey Zai?" Tera called. "We're gonna go check the backyard for a bit okay?"

"Okay!" Zaikyo called back, keeping her focus. She could hear the sound of her friends footsteps trailing to the back of the house.

"I don't see anything..." Zaikyo whispered to herself. Though, in truth she was pretty happy. Zaikyo wasn't big on the whole idea of seeing ghosts. It was one of the things that went on her "Abilities I Could Live Without" list.

"Ah," she wined. "I wanna go ho-" She stopped as a cold chill wrapped itself around her neck. It was an icy feeling. Like someone who had been in a freezer their whole life and was now gripping their fingers around her throat.

Panicking, Zaikyo tried to called out for help. But nothing came out. The grip on her throat just got tighter.

She stood up. The grip was pulling her. She couldn't help but move where it wanted her to go. Zaikyo was getting closer and closer to.... the staircase?

Tera and Renee had said not to go there. The foundation was unstable and it was too dangerous. So why couldn't Zaikyo stop herself?

She just kept moving closer. Her body felt like it didn't belong to her anymore. Like it was just a puppet, with no mind of it's own.

Zaikyo felt her feet touch the first of the steps. Like an ominous cleche, she heard a creaking sound under her weight. Each step led her further into the darkness. Further into danger. But Zaikyo wasn't stopping. She couldn't.

The last few steps came into view. Zaikyo tried to scream again. She knew that once she reached wherever this force was taking her, it'd be too late. But just as before, there was no sound.

Now at the top of the staircase, Zaikyo felt the pull on her throat tighten, if that were possible. It dragged her effortlessly down the dark narrow hallway and towards a blackened wood door. She saw her arm extend against her will and grip the nob, then turn slowly.

The door creaked open slightly, then all the way, revealing a dark room with pieces of furnature broken and burned. There was glass littering the floor and a single window on the opposite wall cast an errie glow of moonlight inside.

The grip on Zaikyo's neck pulled her into the center of the room and turned her body to face the wall. The door closed and the hold on Zaikyo's throat retracted. She gasped and fell to the floor, releaved to be in control of her own body again.

"What the heck?" Zaikyo whispered to herself. She looked around at her surroundings. Everything just seemed so dead. If she hadn't known better, Zaikyo would've guessed this place had burned down years ago. No one had ever even found the cause of the fire. The house had just set fire one day. There weren't any people around when the fire had started, no one lived around there anyway.

Zaikyo was thinking of the possiblities of a delibrate fire when something caught her eye. A little light in the corner of the room. She stared at it in amazement. It seemed to flicker back and forth in the darkness. What was it? Where had it come from? Zaikyo wondered.

She got on her knees and crawled a little closer. She wanted to find the source of this light.

Suddenly, the light exploded in flames, engulfing the entire corner of the room. Zaikyo jumped back in suprised. It was a fire.

The flames spread quickly outward, moving along the walls of the room.

Terrified, Zaikyo scrambled to her feet and bolted for the door. She grabbed the handle and turned. It didn't open.

"Locked?!" Zaikyo thought. "Doushite?!" She tugged on the lock even harder, but still it didn't budge.

The flames around Zaikyo crawled around the door, causing Zaikyo to move back to the center of the room. The fire was now completely surrounding her. There was no way out.

She tried to use her magic to calm the flames.

"Water! Extinguish the flames!"

But nothing happened.

"Huh?!" Zaikyo questioned frantically. "Why aren't my powers working?!"

With no magic on her side, and no exit, Zaikyo was truely trapped.

So she screamed. Zaikyo screamed to the top of her lungs for help. In a situation like this, that was her best bet.

Through her cries, she could hear the worried shouts of Tera and Renee making their way upstairs. Suddenly, the door burst open and both her friends came running in.

"Get her out of here!" Renee shouted. She and Tera grabbed Zaikyo by the arms and led her quickly out of the room and down the stairs to the entrance, Zaikyo still screaming.

They made it outside and Zaikyo calmed herself down after a moment, enough to speak at least.

"How," she breathed. "Did you not get burned?!" She was still gasping for breath and huddled inside Tera's jacket.

Tera and Renee looked at one another. "Burned by what sweetie?" Tera asked.

The fire of course!" The question suprised Zaikyo a little. How could they ask that when they were just in the middle of a blazing fire?

Tera knelt down beside Zaikyo on the pavement and put her hand on her back. "Honey, there was no fire. See?" She pointed to the dark house in front of them. Zaikyo could see the window to the room she'd just been in. But, all was still. There wasn't a single flame or sliver of light emitting from inside.

"What?" Zaikyo whispered. She had just seen it! She felt the heat! It was hot. It was bright. It was real.

"Zai," Renee said, looking over her shoulder at the house. "What exactly did you see?"

Chapter 1 End



Doushite=why?

Author's Note

Comments are love! ^_^

Reviews

Interesting beginning. The mispellings were a little distracting, nothing that can't be fixed with spell check though.
I thought it was rather odd though, that the character Zaikyo, found herself being dragged up the stairs by a spirit, which she is terrified of, that all she did when released was question what just happened. I would like to know more of why she reacted the way she did.
I really liked the point of the story when Kaikyo found herself in a room surrounded by fire that nobody else saw, it makes me want to read more and find out what is really going on.
Good job, great imagination!
-Tim

[Jasmina Amethyst Pendra..]

WOW! MORE MORE MORE! I cannot wait to read more of this one. I was at the edge of my seat as I read this. You have some great descriptions and imagery. Keep up the great work and please let me know when you have written more.

Liv