Before the Dawn Read online

Dancing. A ballroom full of shadows. Round and round and round while her heart burned within her chest. The sound of sleepy violin music and smoky laughter. The gentle pressure of a warm hand against her waist. Fingers tracing languid patterns on her arms. A voice whispering into her ear. Lips like silk against her skin.

  Come back to me...

  Her cellphone woke her up. Before Aline opened her eyes, she had the oddest thought that the sound of dawn's bells seemed wrong somehow, and it was then that she realized she was actually hearing her ringtone. Still groggy, she reached out a hand to grab her phone from her nightstand, but she couldn't find it. Then she felt a hard, squarish shape dig into her side when she moved a bit and she wriggled around lazily for several minutes until she was in the right position to place the phone against her ear without having to raise her head free from the little mound of pillows that covered her body.

  "Hello?" she mumbled.

  "Good Lord!" Meran's voice came sharp and clear through the phone. "Did you just wake up? It's almost two p.m. I've been getting ready for the dance since eleven."

  "What?!" She was so startled she became fully awake in a second. "It's that late? I can't believe I slept in that long." In a bit of a panic, she scrambled out of bed then yelped when she felt something sharp pierce her left foot. Ignoring Meran's worried questions for the moment, Aline bent down and pulled out something slim and shiny that had lodged its fine edge quite firmly in the fleshiest part of her foot. She stared at it in some kind of stupefied wonder for a long minute, not minding the bright red blood that was oozing from the wound it had caused.

  "Ali? Ali!" Meran was starting to sound panicky when she didn't answer right away. "What happened? Are you okay?"

  She looked at the thing she held in her hand. It was almost wafer-thin yet rigid, a curious object that was formed perfectly in the shape of a leaf. It was made of something metallic, and looked a lot like silver. Something cold slithered slowly down her spine as vague memories of the strange dream she had during the night flashed through her mind. "I’m okay," she assured Meran, though she didn’t really sound like it. For a second, the power of the strange dreams threatened to overwhelm her. She shook her head to banish the images from her thoughts. "Sorry, what were you saying?" Aline suddenly, desperately wanted to talk about something else that would distract her from the fear that had come over her.

  "Tell me what happened to you first," Meran responded. "Are you really okay?"

  "Yes," she lied. "I just stepped on something and it startled me."

  "Well, all right. If you’re sure you’re okay." Meran still didn't sound convinced, but she let it go for now and told her friend her news. "You're not gonna believe this. I went out earlier with my mom to do some shopping, and I met this guy." The tone of her voice took on a strange note when she started talking about him. It took a while before Aline could recognize it for what it was: excitement. "He's tall and kinda thin, but not too skinny, just right, I guess," Meran described. She was quite giggly, which was a first in Aline’s memory. "He said he recognized me as one of your friends and that we all knew each other years ago. He does seem really familiar, but I just can't manage to remember when and where we ever met him. I'm thinking maybe he was someone we knew back in kindergarten or grade school, or whatever. But he knows the two of us, and he knows that it's almost your birthday. So I–kinda invited him to your party. I hope you won't mind I did that," she finished sheepishly.

  "Of course I don't mind at all," Aline assured her. "If he's someone we used to know, then he's welcome to hang out. Hey, if my ex-boyfriends got an invite, then ex-friends or ex-schoolmates can get one, too. Did you at least get his name? Maybe I'll remember him better."

  Meran gave an embarrassed little laugh. "See, that's what was weird about the whole thing," she confessed. "I know that he told me his name and he mentioned exactly how we knew him before, but I can't seem to remember any details. I just come up with a blank every time I try to think about exactly what he said to me. But I think he said that his name was Ray something."

  "Hmm." Aline frowned, searching her memory for a former schoolmate or friend named Ray. "Can't remember ever knowing anyone with that name. But, anyway," she shrugged, "if he's gonna be at the party tonight, then I'm sure we'll get to talk to him about old times." She hesitated for just a second before she decided to go ahead and confide in her friend. "Hey, Mer. I've got some news to share, too." Then she told Meran all about her conversation with Trevor the previous night.

  "Really? He said he likes you, too?" Meran sounded really excited for Aline. "Then make your move during the party! You've been crushing on this guy since he showed up in school, and the sooner you two get together, then the sooner you stop acting all weird around him."

  "Well, yeah. That would be great. But what if," she took a deep breath, "he doesn't want to get together with me?"

  "What are you talking about? He likes you, right? He said it himself. So why wouldn't he be interested in going out with you?" It was apparent in her tone that she thought any guy in his right mind would definitely want to date Aline.

  "It's just the feeling I got from him," Aline said, miserable at the possibility that she may be right. "Like he doesn't seem to want to like me or something." She sighed deeply. "Anyway, I guess I'll know for sure by tonight. I'm gonna talk to him, hopefully without sounding like a total moron, and I'm gonna find out if I'm just wasting my time by liking him."

  "All right. So that's a plan then. And I'm sure you can get things worked out once you guys talk." Meran’s voice became more cheerful and energized. "Well, we've certainly gabbed enough. I'm gonna go back to fixing my hair and you start getting ready for the night. Call me when the limo has picked you up and you guys are on your way to my house. Bye. See you."

  "Yeah. Bye." Aline hung up, still thoughtful, but she couldn't ignore her injured foot any longer. She still had the silver leaf in her hand and, suddenly scared of the mystery it presented, she locked it away in her nightstand drawer and went to search for some antiseptic and bandages. She had no idea what was going on regarding the dream and the strange way a part of it had crept into reality. That leaf should have been just a figment of her subconscious or something, but she had held it. It had cut her skin. It was real. Which didn't make any kind of sense at all.

  She was still tending to her wound when her dad passed by the open door of her room. He abruptly halted when he noticed what Aline was doing and he rapped on the doorframe to get her attention, something he always did whenever he wanted to come into her "personal space" as he called it. His expression was a mixture of curiosity and concern.

  "What happened to your foot?" he asked. "Are you all right?"

  "I just stepped on something," she shrugged. "It was an accident."

  "Need any help bandaging that up?" he offered.

  She shook her head and gave him a little smile. "No. It's nothing. I got it."

  He nodded. "Okay then, if you're sure. Let me know when you're ready to go to that dance so I can take a picture of you all dressed up."

  "Oh, please, no," she begged. "You seriously don't have to do that."

  He chuckled. "Come on. It's traditional or something. These are your last few hours as a fifteen year old. At midnight, you'll turn sixteen and you'll think that you know everything and become more insufferable than ever. So I need a picture of you to remember the time when you were still relatively young and innocent." His tone was teasing, but she could tell by the affectionate look on his face that he was being sentimental, in his own manly way of course.

  "Fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "Whatever you want. We'll observe tradition just this once and you can take as many pictures as you like."

  "All right." He grinned. "Hey, I'm heading to the grocery store for a last minute Halloween candy shopping adventure. Do you still have time to join me or are you gonna be getting ready for the dance?"

  "Dad!" She was exasperated. "I can't believe you didn't get candy yet! I always remind yo
u to do that about a week in advance. I even write it down in your planner."

  "Sorry. I completely forgot all about it until today." He didn't sound sorry at all. "So, are you coming with me to the store or not?"

  "I definitely should," she said gloomily, "or you'll get the bad candy and all the little kids are gonna tell everyone we're the house that gives away the worst treats." She finished cleaning and bandaging up the cut on her foot, and then she took a few minutes to make herself presentable for a public appearance. However, she still looked like someone who had just rolled out of bed when they got in the car and drove to the nearest store, so Aline hoped really hard that no one she knew would see her while she was out and about with her father.

  Though she hadn't gone trick or treating in a few years, she always loved it whenever Halloween came around. Of course, a lot of her affection for the holiday was due to the fact it was her birthday. When she was younger, she remembered that her mom and dad always made quite a fuss about her being born just after the stroke of midnight as October 30 became October 31. It was a distinction that she used to lord over the other kids in school, and she always insisted that everyone give her a share of the candy they collected as a present. So as she and her father headed for the store, Aline smiled with real pleasure when she saw how everyone in town was getting ready for the big night tomorrow. But, unlike the rest of the townspeople, she and her friends weren't going to wait until night-time of October 31st to have their fun. They would start partying as soon as it was officially Halloween and her sixteenth birthday at midnight tonight.

  Aline idly noticed that there seemed to be more people on the streets than usual, and some of them were even already in costume. One person in particular caught her eye. He was dressed all in black, and what appeared to be tattered fabrics swirling around his slim frame at first glance turned out to actually be a coat completely covered in black feathers. Here and there, twinkling as they caught the light, were little mirror shards sewn into his outfit. He had a mask on too, a black velvety thing that curved outwards into a sharp-looking beak. It covered most of his face, but as their car passed him by, he suddenly looked up right at her. Just then, the streetlight turned red, so her dad stopped and she got more time to stare at the strange guy.

  He saw that she was looking at him, and he smiled. It was as sharp as the edge of a knife against his lean features. Then he decided to show off. Feeling slightly amused, she watched as he seemed to conjure up a crystal ball out of thin air. Then another one appeared in his hand, and then another, until he was soon juggling three crystal balls. Her dad finally noticed the guy's little exhibition and he laughed. "Do we have circus people in town this year?" he wondered. "We've got a lot of folks dressed like him walking around."

  It was then Aline realized that the number of costumed people seemed to have increased. And all of them were performing some kind of trick or other before several groups of locals. While the performers like the guy in feathers held everyone's attention, she noticed that others who were equally strange in appearance ran haphazardly through the crowds. They were unspooling what looked like bright multicolored threads from their hands and creating a huge tangle of everything.

  "What on earth do they think they're doing?" she exclaimed, frowning. "Hey, Dad. Look. What are those people doing?"

  He looked, then he frowned, too. "What are you talking about, honey?" he asked.

  She stared at him with wide eyes. "What do you mean by that? I'm talking about those weirdos who are tying up everyone with their threads. Just look at them." She pointed at the scene outside her window and then choked back a little scream. The guy in feathers was standing right there, peeking through the glass at her.

  For a moment, their gazes met and held. His eyes were as odd as the rest of him. They were amber in color, and not in the same fanciful sense that people usually spoke of when they were describing a pair of light-colored eyes. They looked like actual amber. For a few unsettling seconds, she even thought that she saw strange shapes like dragonfly wings and flower petals trapped within those orbs. Then the feather-clad man's smile became wider, sharper. And, without any sort of warning, his fist punched through the glass of the window to reach for her.

  She screamed in panic and heard her dad let out a hoarse yell.

  "Jesus!" he shouted, quickly adjusting his grip on the steering wheel he had let go of for an instant. He looked at her worriedly. "Ali, baby, are you okay? God, you startled me. I think you fell asleep and started dreaming."

  "Wh-what?" She was confused. Her heart was pounding like crazy and she looked around to see how far they had gotten away from the scary guy. "Oh, God! Dad, he punched through the window. We should report him to the police!" It took several minutes, but eventually it sank in that her father was looking at her like she had gone insane. And she realized that the window on her side of the car was completely whole. Her body turned cold at the sight.

  "Honey," her dad said slowly, reassuringly, "you must have been dreaming. You probably dozed off when we stopped in traffic a while back. Everything's okay."

  "I fell asleep?" she said uncertainly. Adrenaline was still coursing through her veins and she felt the urge to lash out at something very strongly. But her dad was looking very concerned about her and she didn't want to frighten him or hurt him in any way just because she was extremely rattled by what had happened. But what exactly had happened?

  "Yes, you must have fallen asleep," he nodded. "You just had a bad dream then you freaked out for a bit. But everything is fine."

  She knew that he meant to be comforting, but his words only scared her more. She fell asleep and had a bad dream in the few minutes it took them to wait out a red light? And what about the guy in feathers and the other weird people in costumes she had seen? Did she really just dream them up?

  No. It couldn't have been just a dream. It had felt too real. But what else could it all have been but a dream? There was nothing to prove that it had actually occurred.

  What was going on?

  ~~~

  Chapter 5