Chapter Seven

The raven haired girl’s proud figure grew more distinct as the mist thinned and turned into shifting smoke from two large fire bowls built at the temple’s base. Forced to begin walking by the guards behind her, she trudged up the steps. She counted each step she took in her mind. She counted to keep herself from screaming at the guards and the crowd and Fate itself. She looked at her feet to shield her eyes from the stinging smoke swirling around her body, and struggled to keep from looking at the top of the stone staircase.

It was a morbid desire to look at what awaited her, she knew, but in the end could not keep from giving in. She glanced up to the plateau above her. The billowing smoke barreled down at her, and she knew it came from the great sacrificial altar standing in the center of the mesa. It waited there year round, reminding the city of their commitment to the gods.

At the sight of the smoke her stomach turned and she quickly lowered her head unwilling to face her future. She feared the smoke, but she knew it was the least terrifying item that awaited her at the top of the stone staircase. She kept walking up the steps and watched as the smoke grew larger and the fire that produced it came into view.

Wanting to run back to her small mud brick home, the raven-haired girl looked out into the crowd, hoping for a sympathetic face, but cringed when she saw instead nothing but intense joy in the faces of the crowd. They cheered and jumped and clambered to get closer to her.

Seeing their excitement sent hate rushing through her body, pushing every other feeling away. Straightening herself, she set her mouth in a scowl and glared at each stone step she was forced to tread. The rough stone scraped against her bare feet. She despised the crowd for their cheering. She looked down at them again, though she could not really see their faces anymore, and silently cursed them for the savagery.

When the hate-filled girl looked back towards her destination, the first guard had stopped. She forgot her anger instantly and stiffened in fear. She had reached the end of the stone staircase. There was nowhere to run.

A breeze began to blow, but not even her hair moved as the wind silently carried in a thick mist that enveloped her body.

***

Waking up late in the night, I was barely able to breathe. The raven haired girl’s fear had me nearly paralyzed. The girl from the dream, her face was etched in my memory forever. Sitting up, I tried to blink the image away. I reached for the lamp and switched it on. Soft yellow light spread over the table and blanket.

As my eyes adjusted, they fell on the photos. The face from my dream stared back at me hauntingly. The only thing the faces in the photos were missing was the ceremonial paint that the girl in the dream was forced to wear. The silvery eyes looked the same, but were filled with very different emotions. The happiness in the photos was obvious, but the fear that overshadowed me dulled the emotion and I imagined I could see the desperation behind their smiles.

As I stared at the photos I realized something else that I should have caught right away. The girl from the dream looked no older than either of the girls in the photos. Why? What was happening? Why were all these girls suddenly reaching out to me? Having no answer to my own questions, I laid staring into the shadows.

I tried to understand the fear surrounding me, but I couldn’t even understand what, if anything, was happening to me. I felt as if I was being pulled into something beyond my control. The late night hours stirred my mind and led me to a thousand different conclusions that made very little sense and finally back toward sleep. In the morning I would find some answers. At least, I hoped I would.