He knew he shouldn’t. He should be going to find his parents, or another adult. Maybe the ‘shooting star’ had really been some kind of bomb, or was dangerous in some other way. Maybe he’d imagined it all. Yes, of course he had. An object falling from the stars and landing in the forest? His mother was always telling him off for talking about aliens as if they were real; why would anyone believe him if he told them this. “Oh, he’s imagining things again!” they’d say, and they were probably right. But still, somehow, he found himself wandering through the forest, looking for the fallen object.
An owl hooted behind him, and he jumped, turning to stare up at the tree branch it was standing on. There was a sharp cawing sound, and he shrieked, turning to see several ravens sitting on the ground, arguing over something they’d found on the ground. He wandered over to them, holding his rollerblades in one hand. One of them held something in his beak. It sparkled in the moonlight. Slowly, he knelt down, and began to reach his hand out.
Don’t fly off... he willed, moving slowly so as to not startle it. His fingers touched the item, one small finger curling around a chain it was hanging from. The raven cawed, and spread it’s wings, to fly off.
The boy held on, however, wrapping the rest of his fingers around the shining item, and the raven, desperate to get away from this human, finally let go, flying off with a caw of disappointment. Slowly, the boy raised the object to eye level. It was a pendant of some kind – or rather, half of one. A small, intricate pendant which had once been shaped like a heart. Something, however, had broken the heart in two. There was a sudden screech from the owl, and the boy yelped, jumping to his feet as the birds which had been hovering around took flight suddenly.
He could hear growling. Wolves? No, that wasn’t possible... was it? The growling grew louder, and his courage finally broke. Turning on his heel, he bolted, not caring where he ran, too afraid to care, too afraid to think... He wasn’t sure how long he ran before his foot caught on something suddenly. With a yelp, he fell, using his aching hands to ease the impact. With a groan, he pushed himself to his knees, crouching there for a long moment before struggling to his feet. He sniffled.
Mommy, it hurts...Something caught his eye, suddenly, and he looked around to find he was near a clearing. Someone was lying on the far side of it. “Huh?... Someone’s here...?” he wondered aloud, before staggering over to the person. The moonlight seemed to pass over the person like a spotlight as a cloud moved away from it’s position in front of the moon. The person lying there was fairly young, perhaps in their late teens. The boy couldn’t help but stare at the person’s hair. He’d never seen a young person with white hair before. The person’s hair was fanned out beneath them like a carpet, seeming to sparkle in the moonlight. Their eyes were closed, their hands stretched out above them as if they had been reaching for something and fallen.
The boy let out a little cry of shock as the moonlight passed over the person’s hands. From the fingertips to the elbow, they were covered with blood. Turning away, he retched. It took him a few moments before he could look back. Whoever the person was, they were dressed simply, in white trousers and a sleeveless white Chinese-style vest with a high neck. Their feet were bare. Aside from the blood on his hands, the person looked almost as if they were a normal person, fast asleep, appearing unharmed.
The boy stepped back. He had to get help. Either this man was hurt or he’d hurt someone else, and either way, the only thing he knew to do was to get help. He took one step back, then another. There was a caw, suddenly, as a raven landed on the person’s side. “Get away!” The boy hissed at it. The raven looked at him with beady eyes, before lowering it’s head and pecking at the person’s neck. “Stop it!” The boy hissed, running over. With a caw, the bird took flight.
He looked at the unconscious body lying before him.
Please, don’t let that bird have woken him up... he thought, unconsciously. As he turned, the moonlight caught something hanging around the person’s neck. He hadn’t seen it before because it had been trapped under the body, but the raven had pulled it out from underneath the comatose young man.
Slowly, he knelt beside the unconscious man. The pendant which was hanging there was half of a heart, hanging on half of a chain.
The opposite half to the one he held in his hand now. He didn’t know what made him reach for it. All he knew was that something inside of him was pulling at his hand, making him place the two pieces beside each other. Not even a tiny splinter had gone missing when the two had separated. The two pieces fitted perfectly, not even leaving a line where they had been split.
The boy stared at the pendant for a long moment. Something told him to get away, to run, but he didn’t listen. What harm could a pendant do? But then, before his eyes, the pendant started to glow. With a cry, he backed off, tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground. The glow from the pendant grew brighter, brighter yet. The light filled the entire clearing within seconds, blinding in it’s brightness. He couldn’t look away. His eyes were watering, trembling with the light, but he couldn’t look away. After a long moment, the glow faded, vanishing back into the pendant.
He knew it was stupid, but he couldn’t help it. Slowly, he walked over to the body lying on the ground in front of him. He reached out a hand to the pendant. Slowly. Slowly. Then, just as his hand was about to grasp the pendant, a blood-covered hand wrapped around his wrist. He let out a shriek, trying to pull his hand free, trying to prise open the fingers wrapped around his wrist. But the grip was like iron. Slowly, he stopped struggling, raising his gaze to the young man’s face. The eyelids fluttered slightly, before opening. The boy stared into his eyes, and screamed.
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