MIDNIGHT
Midnight
Kitee, North Karelia, Finland
Before
Zakk stood over the grave of his former lover, Mapu . She had been a beautiful of young woman of nineteen. She had thick, wavy chestnut hair that bounced off her shoulders whenever she walked. Her gentle brown eyes reminded him of a little, lost puppy dog. Her skin was not the snow white of most girls, but a light brown that shone whenever she wore a white dress. She always wore a golden heart shaped locket. He had once asked her where it had come from. She told him that the ring had belonged to her great-grandmother and her great-grandmother had given to Mapu on her death bed.
Zakk reached out and touched the cold marble of the tombstone. Gray was such a depressing colour. Why couldn't the tombstone be something a little more happier? Gray did not represent Mapu at all. She was pure, as pure as a white dove. He decided that her final resting place should have been marked with white. He did not understand how she could be gone. Nineteen was far too young.
With one final touch, he turned back toward Mapu 's home. She had lived alone in a huge, white, crumbling mansion since she turned sixteen. Her family had died that year from illness. Mapu was very lucky and escaped it. She had missed the big wave of the illness because she had been on holiday in France. It had been such a relief to him then, but now he was not so sure. She had not escaped death at a young age. Death had left her to suffer. He had tried to comfort her, but he always knew that he would never be enough.
He walked through the covered bridge that was created by trees. The ground underneath was so hard that it could have been wood. The leaves on the trees were closed and the branches were dead. The hard ground did not show any signs of life. It was just dead, like everything else was around him.
Zakk walked past the empty, stone swimming pool. The stone pool resembled that of the ancient Roman's bathing pools. Mapu 's family had been very wealthy, but the money was gone. It appeared that Mapu 's father had not paid his taxes for many years and the money assets had gone to pay them after his death. Mapu got lucky and had been able to keep the house and lands.
He walked up the white, stone steps into the house. Mapu had left in her will that he was to be the head of the estate in case of death. She must had known that this was going to happen. Huh, things like this always made him wonder. He shook his head. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Someone had to clean this old mansion out. It was filled with hundreds of years with of things. Hundreds of years of things than had to be sorted through.
And he was the lucky man to do so.
He entered the mansion. Just like the outside, the inside was just as broken. The furniture had seen its better days. Mothballs and holes marked the soft fabric. Everything was covered in a fine layer of dust. Papers and books were stacked in each corner; it also was covered in dust. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling and grand walls. The wallpaper was in desperate need of replacing. Most of it had fallen down, exposing the bare wooden walls. What was left of the flower paper was so filthy that one could not fully tell what it was. The house looked like it had been empty for years, instead of a matter of days.
Zakk took a deep breath and inhaled nothing but dust. Mapu had lived here. She had also died here.
If he could, he would join her in her soft grave, but he knew that he could not. That would be crossing the fine line. No, he would not go there.
!
Aku stared at the never ending white. It had been a mistake to follow Aatu. He had known all along that something wasn't right and this was living proof. He could see that Aatu was planning something, but he really didn't care.
Aatu stared to walk forward. Sighing, Aku followed. He wasn't about to be left here behind-alone. The snow crunched beneath their feet. The silence made it sound even louder than what it actually was.
The land was dead. There was just other way to put it. Aku could not see how anything could possible survive in this wasteland. It even seemed as if the wind had disappeared. Any kind of movement or noise would have been better than the never ending silence.
Aatu turned. "I really think we are walking around in circle."
Aku looked around. How Aatu had come to that conclusion was beyond him. Everything looked the same.
The wasteland just seemed to go on forever. Aku shifted his weight around. They should have never went down that tunnel. They should have never let the snakes chase them like that. Had they just minded their own business, they would not be in this mess.
Aatu tracked forward again; this time a little bit to the right. A cloud was starting to form at the left. It hung low to the ground and it did seem to be coming their way. Aku gulped as he fell in step with Aatu. He had heard far too many horror stories about people getting lost in blizzards and ending up being found, dead, just metres away from their destination. What would happen to them once the blizzard reached them? As far as he could tell, there was no one out here to really find them.
The snow crunched beneath their feet, making Aku really think that there had been a blizzard not that long ago. He kept looking over his shoulder at the cloud; it was still coming right at them. A really big part of him wanted to say something to Aatu, but what good would it do? There really wasn't a place for them to hide. Everything was just open and white.
Aatu nodded. "Look."
Aku scanned the horizon and sure enough, there was a group of shapes just barely in sight. "What do you think?"
Aatu shrugged. "I've tried to shift, but haven't had any luck. It seems like the power is here too."
Aku moved a little behind Aatu. "Could they be working for her?" He was unable to make himself say Ajatar's name. It was like that curse word he always wanted to say, but never could make himself form it past his mind.
Aatu just shrugged. "I think it's all relative." Then, he started doing the most mental thing that Aku thought he could do. He actually started walking toward the shapes.
Grumbling and mentally cursing him, Aku slowly started to follow. He felt as if he was walking toward his death. The shapes might as well get it over with and just kill them now. There was nothing like killing an enemy that so willing walked right up to you.
The cloud was coming even closer and already the first snowflakes were falling. They weren't the big and fluffy kind either. They were wet and seemed to cling to everything. It was making it next to impossible to see what was going on in front of them. To make matters even worse, the wind was starting to pick up and they really couldn't make out if they were even still headed right down the shapes.
The more they walked, the more the weather seemed to turn against them. Now, it took everything that Aku had to even stay upright. He could barely make out Aatu, who was just right in front of him. They couldn't keep going on like this…They were going to die…
The wind whipped around them, blinding Aku. It seemed to stick right to his eyes; he could no longer make out Aatu's back. He reached forward, hands outright, as he struggled to grip something, anything that would tell him that Aatu was still right in front of him.
"Aatu!" Aku screamed, but only the wind answered him back. He yelled for Aatu again, but only received a mouthful of snow for his efforts. Frowning, he kept going forward with his arms outwards.
The snow blew all around him. Even if he did know what way to go, it would not have been possible. Aatu had to be here. He just had to be. As far as Aku knew, he hadn't turned away from the direction that they had been going. Aatu just had to be right in front of him.
Aku kept going forward. Every once in awhile, his feet would break through the fresh powder, sending him crashing down. As first, it was pretty simple for him to get out of. All he had to do was carefully lift his foot straight back out of the whole. Sure, he got a little snow down his boot, but it was better than nothing. However, as time went on and the snow got heavier, it took a lot more effort. There were times he was sure that he would not be able to pull himself free from the storm's grasp.
The snow did seem to be letting up. He could at least make out what was right in front of him…Well, at least ten centimetres or so. As far as he could tell, Aatu still was not in his range of sight.
Aku stopped, catching his breath. He hadn't realized how tried his was until now. He could feel his body screaming at him for pushing it so hard and for so long. Every muscle burned. To make matters worse, he really couldn't feel anything from his knees down. He stomped his feet, only to find that he could just barely feel the shock.
He had to keep moving or even more of himself would freeze. Freezing to death out here would not solve any of his problems. Granted if he were dead, he really wouldn't have any problems.
"Aatu!" Aku screamed as he started forward. The good news about the top being nothing but fluffy snow was that he could hear if someone answered him. However, only the wind replied.
Stomping his feet, he looked around. Maybe their target had been lost in the storm too. Maybe he wasn't even looking for anything anymore. He had to keep going…He just had to keep going…Aatu had to be out here someplace. He wouldn't leave Aku out here alone.
Aku kept going straight, ducking his head against the wind. Even though the snow as letting up, the wind just seemed as violent as ever. It's force was enough to knock people over and make it impossible for them to get up.
Aku ran into something. He looked up, but could only make out the shape and it didn't look friendly.