Silver tears tracked their way down her face, falling to the ground and making a small silver puddle. No one saw her as she ran through the empty street. No one saw her as she ran along the riverbank. No one saw her as she tripped and fell into the muddy water below. No one was there to see the limp body float back up to the surface, the once bright eyes now blank and unseeing. No one.
***
I was walking along the road in the dark, armed with only a small torch, the light steadily getting dimmer. Looking for my sister. No one had seen her since noon. No one had known where she had gone. Except for me. I knew where she would be, same as always. As night came on, I couldn't shake off the guilty feeling that it was all my fault. Finally, as the moon rose into the sky, I had told my parents that I knew where Fleur was, and I was going to look for her. Nothing they could say was going to stop me. If only I hadn't said what I did earlier. I needed to apologise. If I ever saw my sister again, that is. I knew this was all my fault.
***
Fleur had woken up that morning with a start. But something was different, she felt it like the absence of her heart beating. She could not remember her dreams. Nightmares was probably a better way to describe it. Usually as soon as Fleur woke up the terrors of the night before came crashing into her head, vivid and seemingly real. Her younger sister Elizabeth would often come up the stairs, into Fleur's room, only to find Fleur crouching under her bed, eyes wild, shaking and crying. Elizabeth would comfort Fleur until she was no longer crazy from fright, and Fleur would curl up on the floor next to Elizabeth, rather like a cat. But this time was different. Fleur could remember nothing when she woke up. Nothing at all. Feeling bewildered she got out of bed and walked downstairs. As she reached the table Elizabeth turned her head to look at her, a questioning look in her eyes. Fleur shook her head dumbly and Elizabeth uttered a small gasp. She knew as well as Fleur did that Fleur not remembering her nightmares was very strange, and had not happened before.
***
I saw Fleur walk down the stairs that morning and noted the absence of the deep purple crescents that usually haunted her pale, slim face, under her bright green eyes. I called them nightmare scars. Curious, I looked at Fleur, asking about the nightmares. She shook her head, looking bewildered. Fleur could not remember anything of the night before, of the oddities that had happened in her head while she slept. I gasped. This was not normal. Later in the day Fleur sat at the scrubbed wooden table, holding an empty mug in her pale hands, her eyes blank, and I guessed she had retreated into her mind. And then something happened. It was like someone had flicked on a switch in her brain. Fleur started screaming, long, unearthly shrieks, and beat the table with her hands, a frightened, untamed look in her eyes. She was sobbing and tearing at her long silvery, tangled hair, crying, looking in horror at something only she could see. The symptoms of the nightmares had hit her. I should have realised this would happen.
***
Elizabeth froze. She watched as her older sister wailed and cowered in the corner, looking around as if demons inhabited the house. Timidly, Elizabeth edged towards Fleur, a shaking hand outstretched. Fleur ceased her screaming and looked up at Elizabeth out of scared eyes. Elizabeth waited. For a moment it seemed like Fleur would take Elizabeth's hand and submit to her, curling up like a scared mouse. Time seemed to stand still as the two sisters gazed at each other. Then something changed in Fleur's face, a look of horror once again overtook her ghostly features and she slapped away Elizabeth's hand, gazing at her as if she were a monster.
***
I was shocked. Fleur had never struck me in her life. And just then she had looked at me as if I were the Grim Reaper, coming for her.
"BE QUIET!" I shouted.
Fleur paused her moaning and jumped at he sound of my angered voice.
"There is nothing wrong with you, stop pretending! I hate you and your stupid nightmares!!"
Fleur was frozen to the spot.
"I wish you would just..just... LEAVE!!" My shouts echoed through the empty house.
A whimper came out her mouth and Fleur ran. Over the field and onto the road. Away and out of sight. I watched her go coldly, but my face crumpled as what i had done finally hit me.
"Fleur," I whispered "come back"
My shouts had called my parents back to the house from the chicken pen, and I told them in a shaking voice what had happened. We decided to wait, as Fleur often wandered alone along the empty country roads. As night fell though, we had become increasingly worried. I admitted that I thought I knew where she had gone and went looking for my sister, armed with only a small torch.
***
Elizabeth ran along the river bank, calling softly. She knew she would never forgive herself if harm had come to Fleur because of her. As she shone her torch along the bank the light found a small figure lying on the other side. My heart jumped into my mouth. I ran over the small, rickety bridge, my heart beating madly. As I approached her my voice shook.
"Fleur?"
No answer. I felt for a pulse. Nothing. I could only truly believe what my instincts were telling me when I saw her eyes. The vivid green eyes that I knew so well were gone, replaced with foggy, grey eyes, blank and unseeing. A harsh cry flew from my mouth.
"NO!"
As I bent over my sister I knew that my heart was broken. This event would forever be cut into my heart, never healing into scars. Never.
***