One Step Beyond: 2A

    Between the rapid beating of his heart, Thomas screamed until his lungs could give no more air to his thrashing limbs. He wasn’t aware of anything. Not the dark night closing in on him. Not the damp earth wedging its way under his hoodie. Not the black water that still lurked in the river next to him. Thomas had never felt fear like the kind that held him in its steely embrace, it wasn’t overcomeable or even a choice, it was whatever it wanted to be and it wanted Thomas to remain its prisoner. Thomas writhed, until he couldn’t anymore, he screamed until his throat could bear it no longer. It was in this moment of complete exhaustion, that Thomas found something he didn’t expect. Peace. It was quiet, almost tranquil. Beyond fear was something else.

    Thomas sat up. His limbs felt like liquid, yet they still answered his commands, his mind felt hollow, yet ready to be filled with something. Everything looked the same through the darkness, he groped around on the ground and found the flashlight he had dropped when the water had begun to glow. He flicked it on and shined it at the stream. It was no longer glowing, there was nothing except Thomas and his flashlight at the edge of the stream in the dead of night. He glanced around, there was a good chance someone had heard him screaming, a good chance someone would come racing down the path any second and save him from whatever mess he had gotten tangled up in. Thomas waited for a few minutes wondering if his prediction would come to pass, but no one came to rescue him. He turned and knelt by the edge of the river, trying to understand what was happening. Under the spotlight provided by his flashlight the water seemed dark, but not the way it had when he had arrived. It wasn’t as thick, wasn’t as alluring. Thomas reached out a hand, was it even black anymore or was it just a reflection of the night sky. He pulled his hand back, he shouldn’t want to know why the water was behaving oddly.

    “I thought you decided you weren’t afraid of a little water,” said a voice from behind him. Thomas whirled around, it was the voice from before, hoarse and low. A person was standing behind him. Dressed in black they faded into the backdrop as easily as if they had never been there at all. They stepped forward and shook off the black hood that hid their faces. It was a she, Thomas realized with dark hair and pale skin. The hollows of her eyes and cheek bones were darkened black, making her appear one with the shadows that were her sanctuary.

    “I...um, I was looking for a girl, I saw her here earlier, I think she fell in the water.” Thomas stutters out his words, forms his course of action, confronts this woman who called to him from the depths of the black water. She smiles at his attempt for bravery.

    “Of course, nothing called you here except your faulty conscience,” she sounds as though she’s mocking him.

“Trying to help someone isn’t a fault,” Thomas responded indignantly. “Besides you said she wasn’t here, that must mean you’ve seen her.”

“Perhaps,” the woman waves her hand carelessly. “But I see so many people, who can keep track of the faces?”

“Who are you?” Thomas crossed his arms.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” the woman fell silent.

“You told me to touch the water, why did you do that?” Thomas’s voice took on an angry edge. “What did it do to me?”

“Haven’t you heard the stories?’ she asked, walking a slow circle around him, her long black cloak dragging on the riverbank.

“Of course I’ve heard stories, but they’re just stories,” Thomas spluttered.

“Ah yes, but if they hold no truth then why is the water black?” she asked, she was only toying with him, Thomas knew that, but the question was still valid, it was still one he wanted answered.

“Why is the water black?” Thomas edged closer, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“Well that all depends on who you ask. Some people would say it’s bewitched, evil even, others might blame a chemical concentration, the facts vary on the disposition of the person answering.” The women’s eyes seem to glitter through the darkness.

“And if I were to ask you, what would you say?” Thomas seemed entranced as he drifted closer. The women leaned in.

“The water is black to warn people of what lies beyond the veil,” She smiled eerily.

“What lies beyond the veil?” Thomas leaned in closer.

“Power,” The lady stepped towards the water, as it pooled out of the riverbed encircling her bare feet, it began to glow as she moved farther away from Thomas. “The kind of power that can only be found in truth.” The water crawled up her body and enclosed her in its grasp. As soon as it coated her entire form it crashed back into the bank, void of its victim.

Thomas stood there shaking from the cold he didn’t know was sinking into his skin. He turned back towards his house. Thomas was fine, touching the water hadn’t seemed to cause him any harm. Everything was the same as it had been earlier, except it didn’t feel the same at all. It was just the cold Thomas told himself as his fingertips began to go numb spreading that icy cold feeling to the rest of his body.