(Page 1 of 2) Guarding Angel by Federico Patané
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SUMMARY: Entry for the october Flash fiction contest "Darkness".Guarding Angel by Federico Patané.
I used to be afraid of the dark. But that was before it happened. Before I discovered what lay in the dark beyond what my eyes could see. Before I got to know the creature that lived under my bed and came out when the light went out and I was fast asleep. Those were good times. Now, however, I'm afraid of something far worse than that. Experience taught me to be afraid of the creatures that live in the light.
I remember waking up in the middle of the night, scared of a nightmare. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness and there he was, standing at the foot of my bed. I could only distinguish his outline with the little light that filtered in through the blinds from the cars outside. I remember clearly the look in his eyes. Eyes that were red like rubies harvested from hell itself, glowing in the darkness of my room. Oddly, I felt no fear of him. A gut instinct, if you can call it that, told me he wasn't there to harm me.
"Stay still." He said almost in a whisper. "They are watching us, but they can't see in the dark unless you move."
A car's light flashed through my window and I saw something trying to look inside. A flash of something at least, one moment it was there and the next it was gone.
"She is gone." The creature said.
He was about fifty centimeters high and wearing a sort of grey hooded cloak. He walked on the bed until his face was a few centimeters from mine. Then, I could see that his face resembled a bearded boar.
"You are in danger," he said. "She is after you because she knows what I know. And now she wants you dead."
I was frozen. Unable to decide what should scare me more, that a creature was standing in my bed or that he said another creature wanted me dead.
"Who is she?" I managed to say.
The creature caressed his beard and jumped to the floor. Then he began pacing around the room impatiently.
"She's a fairy. A creature of the light. Her name is Xriza." he said. "And I am Koli, a creature of the darkness."
I remember sitting up in my bed and looking at him, my expression puzzled.
"Ah, yes." He said when his eyes crossed mine. "I must explain. For ages there has been a war between the creatures of the light and the ones of the dark. There is a prophecy that a chosen one will be born and shall unbalance the war in favor of one of the sides."
"And you think I am the one?" I asked.
"No, of course not." He said dismissively. "I am the one. But just as I am the one of darkness, there is also the one of the light. Xriza is that one."
"I don't understand." I said. "Where do I fit in?"
"Easy." He explained. "You are the one I chose to be my aid, my sidekick, or whatever you want to call it. And this goes both ways. Having chosen you makes me your protector."
I rubbed my eyes. He was still there. This wasn't making much sense.
"What? What is this war about?" I asked.
"You don't get it, do you?" he said. "You've been told the story since you were born and you still don't recognize it, do you? But the truth about it is much more cruel.
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