1

The voices always came at night and at least once a month. The little voices that swirl in my head here and there, like leaves in the wind. Nothing more than a whisper, really. I try to block them out as if they weren’t there. But as hard as I try they never go away. Not just one voice but many. All whispering the same thing it seemed. I can never tell what they are trying to tell me. I don’t listen. They started speaking to me the same day my Mother died and left me alone in this insane world. Insane. That’s exactly what I felt the day my mom was murdered.





















10 years earlier…


I could remember that day more vivid than anything in my 16 years of life. I woke up on my 6th birthday with my mom over my bed screaming at me “HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIYANA!!!”

I put my periwinkle plush blanket over my head trying to block out the bright light radiating from the morning sun as my mom opened up the curtains. “Get up love. It’s your birthday! I have the whole day planned out” My Mom said coming over to sit on my small bed. “ Were going to go to the zoo and skating and….” She went on.
Unlike most 6 year olds I wasn’t going to have a party. No friends to invite. It wasn’t as if the other kids didn’t like me, I just didn’t like any of them. All the kids at my school seemed…wrong. What they did and talked about didn’t interest me and I was fine with just being with my mom.
My Mom was still going on about our fun filled day when she looked down at me and saw that I still was not going to get out of bed.
“Don’t make me get the tickle monster out.”
I cautiously looked at her.
I always thought of her as an angel, my own personal guardian angel with all her dark ebony hair, dark green eyes that you could drown in and copper toned skin that practically glowed from within her. Everyone said that I was a spitting image of her. I didn’t think so; she was much more beautiful. She was someone who would always protect me. She worked so hard to take care of me, working as a nurse during the day and night shift. She’d never had any help from anyone. My father was nowhere to be seen and I had no idea who he was. My mom never seemed to bring him up and talk about him. I guess he must’ve been apart of my life sometime, but if he left my mother he was nothing to me. It was a mystery though, a mystery that I never planned on finding out about. As long as I had my mom, my guardian angel, I was all right.
“Moooom.” I groaned, “I am way to old for the tickle monster. That’s so 5 years old” Just to prove me wrong she started to tickle me anyways and I jumped and screamed and fell on to the wooden ground trying to scramble away from her. She chased me all around our tiny house. We were both giggling sliding on the wooden floor with our socks as we turned sharp corners. It was the best memory I had of my mom, the one I cherish the most.

But as the memory progressed it becomes darker, colder.

We were still running around the house like crazy banchees when my mom suddenly stopped when we were in the living room. I stopped running immediately and looked at her. I saw the laughter from her face vanish and replaced by an emotion I could not decipher. The closest I could get was horror. Sheer horror.

My mother looked around our house crazily as if she was searching for something important. “ No” she mumbled to herself.
I looked up at her confused. “Mommy what’s wrong?”

Her head whipped around to me as if she just remembered I was still in the room and cursed. Then she smiled. “ Honey I want you to do something for mommy okay?” I nodded my head not sure what was happening. But from the look on my mom’s face I knew it was serious.










“Go to your room and get your CD player and your blanket. Quickly now!” I ran to my room and opened the door looking around. There were stuffed animals everywhere. I had a thing for them when I was 6 so when I got my blanket and CD player I also got my favorite plush toy, a wolf.
When I got back to the living room my mom had a small silver box in her hand with a bow on it. My birthday present. Then I thought, maybe this was just part of my birthday surprise she was planning, hoping still that something bad wasn’t going to happen.

My mom came over and picked me up not speaking and I decided not to ask any questions, just go along with it. We started our way down stairs into the basement.
I never liked it down there. The stairs going down to it were rotten and produced an overpowering smell close to that of spoiled milk. And then there was the darkness. I usually don’t mind the dark when I’m outside. In fact I love the night, looking up at the stars and moon. But inside, down here, it had a feeling of vast emptiness. It was the emptiness that made me demented.
My mom put me down in the far darkest corner. As she put me down I looked up at her in her dark green eyes that were now filled with nothingness. Emptier than the darkness that surrounded this basement. It scared me so I started to whimper, pitiful little sobs.
“Hush child” I stopped my crying obediently, “Here’s what I want you to do. Listen carefully. When I go back up those stairs don’t you dare run up after me. You will stay right here and turn up your music as loud as you can handle it. And again I repeat do not move.” I looked up at her. “ Okay Mommy.” I whispered as if I lost my voice.

I huddled up in my blanket as I sat on the cold-cemented floor and shivered. Any other time I would of protested and wailed at my mom to pick me back up. Right now, I didn’t say a word knowing that deep down that she was trying to protect me. The only thing I didn’t know was what was she protecting me from?

“ Happy Birthday my little Aiyana. I love you. Love you very much. No matter what happens mommy, will always be with you.”

She took out the small silver box that she was holding. Opening the box she reached in and produced a necklace. It was a simple copper chain that had a somewhat large pendant hanging from it. I knew that the stone was a moonstone. It was also my mothers’ necklace that her mother gave her and her mother gave to her and so on. And now my mom was giving this precious heirloom to me.

She lifted up my dark hair and put the necklace on me. The pendant felt cool against my own copper skin.

Finally I found my voice.

“ Mommy you can’t leave me!” I sobbed, “ Please, Please don’t leave me. What’s going on? I don’t understand. Mommy please….”

My Mother gave me a tight squeeze. I reached to touch her soft cheek and saw that she was crying too. “I’m sorry baby, but I have to go. Remember, always remember, I’m with you.”

She let go of me and started towards the stairs. I wailed even louder but I was always obedient and didn’t run after her.

As she started up the stairs she looked back down at me one last time and then walked through the door shutting it behind her.

The darkness engulfed me at last.


My crying finally subsided after awhile. I just sat there in the dark not knowing what to do and to tired to comprehend anything.
I put the CD player in my ear and Imogen Heap started singing in her musical voice. I was stressed out and scared about what was going to happen and wondering when my mother was going to come back. What felt like an hour was probably just 3 minutes. After what seemed like an eternity I fell into a deep sleep to Imogen Heaps voice on the hard concrete holding onto my stuffed animal in one hand and the pendant in the other…

When I opened my eyes I started to panic. Where am I? Then everything was coming back to me. My moms terror, her hiding me down here in the basement, my own terror. My mind went everywhere asking different questions.

What happened? Where’s Mommy? Why did she leave me down here? Why am I still sitting here?

The last question brought me up to my feet making both the CD player and stuffed wolf clash against the hard floor. I needed to get back upstairs no matter what my mom told me to do. I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing while my mom continued to try and protect me from whatever is making her scared.

I felt my way across the basement floor bumping into a few boxes that were down here, until I reached the stairs. Getting anxious I practically sprinted up the rotten steps tripping three times.

I got to the door and put my hand on the cold handle. Part of me was terrified to open the door. I had this strange gut feeling that something bad was on the other side. I could honestly smell the wrongness.

The other part of me, the dominant part, was already starting to twist the door handle slowly. The door squeaked as I opened it and I quietly slipped out of it.

My instinct down in the basement was right about it being nighttime. The full moon was out and was illuminating the whole house through the windows by its soft glow.

Right there by the basement is when I first heard the voices.

I was stunned into silence. My mouth dropped open a mile and my eyes went as wide as the full moon.

Well that’s interesting I thought

Surprisingly, I was taking the voices in my head deal very calmly. I was stunned, but not scared, as any other “normal” person would be. Then again I didn’t see myself as normal.

The voices were whispering something to me. Not knowing what else to do I tried my hardest to hear what they were telling me. The words were unrecognizable but I could sense that they were telling me to go forward; walk into the living room

I picked up my foot and started to walk slowly down the hallway leading to the living room. I was shaking, as I walked from a mixture of more anxiety and terror.

I heard I strange noise that sounded like a bunch of scuffling going around in the room. I could smell something in the air that was not normal.

I reluctantly put my head around the corner, just my head for I couldn’t move anymore after what I saw.

Blood. Dark gruesome red blood everywhere around this lump in the middle of the living room floor. The lump had dark ebony hair and deep green eyes that lost their depth.

I didn’t know what to do as I looked at my beautiful mom that was now, as I could tell, gone from my life forever. It looked as if her whole throat had been ripped out of her, the blood still coming out. No! This couldn’t be possible! She was just alive this morning, happy as could be. Who would do this to my amazing Mommy??

That’s when I looked up to see what was hovering over my moms’ bloody mess.

The first thing I saw were its eyes, the most piecing blue you could imagine, filled with cold hatred. Those eyes burned into my mind and soul. The next thing I noticed was that this thing was not human, even though it had human like eyes. The thing had silver fur everywhere except around its mouth where it was drenched in blood. It was as big as a black bear, but this was no bear at all. It had a distinct canine look to it.

Wolf.

The monster was in fact a huge wolf. He must’ve sensed me or felt my fear because its head shot up and his cold eyes met mine.

I knew I should have turned and ran but I was paralyzed to the spot like a deer in headlights.

It’s muzzle turned upward as the wolf began to growl and inch towards me. Its jaws were also humongous. I knew that with one bite he could snap me in two.

I’m going to die I thought

He kept inching toward me while I just looked at him and waited for him to pounce. Well at least if he does kill me I’ll be with my mommy again.

Suddenly in the distance I could hear some howls from inside the forest that was behind our house.

The wolf could hear them too and looked towards the howling and back at me again. Were their more wolves coming to kill me?

Then the silver wolfed tilted its head back and started to howl in response. He put his head down and looked at me one last time before it turned around and started to sprint and with a running jump it burst out of our living room window and ran away.

I stood there stunned and began to cry

The voices in my head were still talking to me in that strange language and were telling me that everything would be all right.

“ SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” I screamed at them. I didn’t want to listen to them anymore since it was they who brought me into the living room. It was they who made me witness this horrible event. If they kept on speaking to me I vowed to never listen to them again. It could only bring misery.


When I looked back up to where my mother lay she was glowing from the moonlight outside the broken window. That’s when I noticed that my moonstone pendant, the birthday gift that my mother gave me only this morning, was also glowing from the moon luminescence.


My mothers’ words whispered through my head above the other voices. No matter what happens, Mommy will always be with you.

With that I fell to the ground screaming and wailing at nothing in particular. The wolf? The voices? My Mom? If I was ever able to get up I knew that I was never to be happy again.