Heyy,
This is the first part of my ongoing novel, Foretold.
Please start reading this story with a open mind- i havent got all the sciencey part sorted out yet xD
[Please comment and review, thanks ]
Foretold
PART ONE
Prologue
White, everything is white. Icy snow towers a mile over the mountainous terrain. In fact, it doesn't snow anymore. Wind just blows the snow around.
The faint outline of distant mountains fades in and out of view as the snowstorm outbursts irregularly. The same image you would find in any part of this world - this tiny little world. Orbiting nothing. Defying the ‘rules of gravity’. It should be in the black hole by now. Maybe it is. After their star died out, almost everything else died too. Plants, mammals, birds and reptiles. Wiped out. Never to be seen again. But some creatures did survive. They lived to the extremes, did everything they could, but they knew it wasn’t enough. The snow, which had now covered everything they had ever known, pushed them down and they waited to die, shivering and whimpering. Then we came along. This species (they called themselves humans) were fascinating-like no other in the universe. We would know. We had to save them. And we knew how. It was drastic, but there was so much experimenting to do!
There weren’t many left; the cold temperatures had killed off most. But this had helped us. The humans left were the strongest on the planet- able to endure the cold for the longest. We built a village on top of the ice, and moved them in. They thought they were saved, and in a way they were.
We soon found out we couldn’t feed on the adult humans, their skin was too tough. However, when the first baby was born, we knew all was to be well...
Now, a millennium later, the population has gone down immensely, and everything is running smoothly. Complete control, that’s what we needed. If we didn’t have that, maybe we would slip up, maybe the humans (that’s what they called themselves) would take over. We couldn’t have that, could we? We put a fake forest in, surrounding the village, a protective layer. Not that it needs to be there.
The people wouldn’t care if it wasn’t there. They can’t care.
When we first arrived here, the seas were only just freezing up. Now they are rock solid ice. We melt masses of snow each day for the people to drink. We don’t need it. There’s only one thing we feed on.
The species look lot like us, except with brownish or pinkish skin and other smaller differences. Most of them only ever see us once; when they are very small and have only just come into the world. They provide us with nourishment, and we provide them with their water, food, accommodations, life and freedom. Not that they use that freedom- they see no reason to. They all follow an unwritten routine every day.
This was the case until a young male of the species was born who- by complete accident- could feel. He being the only person he knew who could feel, and no emotion returned back to him, his frustration grew and grew- then someone new came into his life…
Chapter One - The Beginning
I woke up, but my eyes didn’t open. Karina clattered in the kitchen. Pushing the duvet up to my face, I breathed in that soft cotton smell, and sighed. My eyes fluttered open, but I squinted against the light straight away. My feet were too hot so I moved them around to find a cooler part of the duvet. After writhing around in my cocoon, I sunk back down into my bed sheets. In that moment everything felt so normal, so perfect. Though of course, in the back of my mind nothing would be perfect or normal for me.
After being wrapped in the soft sheets, I stretched and jumped out of bed. Sliding on my dressing gown, I padded through the bedroom and into the kitchen, from carpet to vinyl flooring.
She was washing the dishes. Not because she cared what they looked like. Just because it was something to do. Her hygienic instincts kicking in.
As usual.
There was only one good thing I could think of about being able to feel. This thing was that I could properly know someone- feel about someone! But she couldn’t. They all couldn’t. I was so alone in this world. Even with all my family and Karina, I felt alone.
Nobody could know me.
Nobody could feel me.
I sighed and walked up to her. Putting my hands round her waist, I kissed her neck, tracing the scar on her jaw line with my lips. She was the only thing I could thank the soul suckers for. We were paired by them, put together. When we first met, I felt resentful, but I have grown to love her. You may think 'How can he love someone, when that person can’t think, or feel, for themselves?', and I must say, I haven’t got a proper answer for that...
All I can say is that I almost know what she would be like, if she hadn’t been robbed of the ability to love, hate, grieve...
She carried on washing the dishes. My hands wandered down her waist and over her hips. I couldn’t describe the way I felt for her. It was love. This emotion was the only one I could be completely sure of. Every time I looked at her my heart pounded and I couldn’t speak. It wasn’t the same for her. It might if been though, I thought to myself grimly. Those bloody soul suckers. Taking what wasn’t theirs. The woman who I felt such strong feelings toward was emotionless and detached because of their disgusting and bizarre feeding patterns.
Karina turned to me with a blank, vacant stare. The same stare as every day.
“Torin, I’m pregnant” she said. It was a statement. No fear of my reaction. No happiness, no sadness, no nothing. Through her eyes all I saw was a deep black void of emptiness.
Then it hit me. She was carrying my baby. Our baby. My tears welled up with joy. My heart jumped up my throat; I was going to be a father! With shaking, I squeezed her tight and kissed her face. We were going to be parents. But still nothing. The same blank expression. What did I expect? A sudden burst of feeling and passion? After all these days, months together, I still hoped that suddenly she would…
No, I wasn’t going to let anything down my mood. I had my hand on the small of her back, pressing her closer to me. She had her arms around me, not in an act of fervour, out of routine. I pulled away to look at her. Suddenly, I realized she may take it the wrong way.
Maybe she thought I was pushing her away from me.
But she just went back to washing the dishes.
I walked round to the side of her and knelt down to eye her stomach.
Flat. Of course. I didn’t really expect a bump yet. I went and sat at the table of my apartment and looked at her. Her black glossy hair was pulled back from her dark skinned face in a messy bun. Her slender shoulders and arms, covered in her baggy night dress. Her legs were dark brown, and seemed to stretch on forever. My heart thumped furiously as I observed her. She glowed like an angel in the dull room. The yellow wallpaper was fading in colour, and in some places peeling away. The vinyl floor was very old and starting to show it. The only light was coming from the flickering light bulb above my head.
I turned my gaze to the big, glass doors, which lead out to the balcony. Endless white stretched out in my view. Snow, ice, snow and more snow. The giant, unnaturally white spotlights illuminated the small city. The dead, lifeless world that we all lived in. And it wasn’t just the land that was lifeless. Dust motes danced in the air- twirling and rotating down the beam of light coming from a tiny window just above the sink. The light glisten on Karina’s skin; my heart walloped against my rib cage. I hoped the baby would inherit more of her looks than mine.
The baby.
What did I know about babies? What did I know about parenting and about being a father? Maybe it’ll come naturally. Maybe it’ll be easy. I already felt a strange longing for my child that was growing in Karina’s womb. The longing felt different to what I felt for Karina, but peculiarly similar too. How would it feel about me?
I froze.
I remembered.
My heart sank and the pain which filled me was so intense, it felt like my frame would crumple onto the ground. My child would be emotionless. Sobs clogged my throat, and I retched with understanding. Empty, vacant, blank, hollow. Only a few words to describe the people of this lifeless world.
Even though life seemed so much easier for the empty people, I couldn’t bear the thought of my child, not being able to care for me, to care for its own mother.
The soul suckers would come. My arms wrapped round me, squeezing my chest, trying to soothe the incurable throbbing of my heart. Those evil, malicious…thieves.
Warm hands cupped my chin and all the horrid, painful faded away in a second. She did that to me. When she touched me all I could feel was passion and affection.
I quickly swivelled round on my chair to look into her deep, dark eyes. She stared back into mine. We stayed like that for what seemed ages. That was unusual. She usually had quite a short attention span.
Maybe she did feel something for me.
That’s what I had been telling myself over and over again for our last year together.
Maybe there was a point for me to be throwing all my love at her.
Maybe there was a point in me loving her even though I’d never get anything back
Maybe.
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