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The Dark Ones

By Rachel Van Dyken

Genesis

I was never one to be accused of being patient Then again, I'd never understood the need for patience Tolectured or about to get lectured I chewed the edge of my thumbnail and waited in the darkness

"Ugly" My mother shook her head in ly to them"

Them

The very word dripped with hatred You'd think after centuries of working together, we'd have found a happythem, and up until this point, I'd had exactly none

I'd spentI'd always hated but it had been necessary, just in case my number was called

My entire faainst the calling that had been given the called in

Until now

I'd been eating soggy cereal, staring into the Corn Chex, when h the house, followed by her passing out andto call the paramedics

Her heart had stopped Literally Stopped

All because of a phone call

Naturally,chest pain, but I knew the truth

It was fear

Fear had stopped her heart, al in her death

And fear was about to stop mine

"Stop," Mother hissed at my side "Do you want them to think you're a barbarian?"

To them? I already was, so I didn't really see the point in pretending to be anything else To those individuals, I would always be the dirt beneath their feet, the little plaything they had to put up with

I knew their history

Probably better than most of them

I'd been studying the over books and research with constant dread that, one day, my number would be called, and my life would be played out for me in absolute horror

Humans were like little insects that they allowed to survive only because it was necessary for their own survival We die They die Therefore, we live