Spawn

I have two minutes to write, fifteen to catch my breath and absolutely zero in which to explain.

Interested yet? You should be.

My name is Rae Sage. I'm fourteen years old, have dirty dark hair chopped short to keep it out of my face, and a baseball cap that's always turned backwards.

Yes, backwards.

A lot of the kids say I don't look like a girl, but I am. I just don't put all that stuff on myself and wear shirts that would reveal how pathetically tiny my bust size is. I wear knee length shorts and a black t-shirt. Always.

But I really don't have time, so I guess it's time to get to the point.

It started Saturday, and it won't ever stop. I was walking toward the school, dragging my feet because I didn't want to go. The kids would make fun of me, even though I kind of freaked them out sometimes. I wasn't unaware of the effect I had on people, but it still hurt sometimes. (I kind of hope nobody will ever read this) I mean you can only pretend to be the tough girl for so long. Anyway, I was walking to school, when this kid grabbed my arm. He was tall, had to be in high school or something.

His eyes were gray and bleak, his expression grim. “Rae,” he said, and I openly stared at him even though it was rude, “You've got to listen to me, go home, put in your headphones, and tell your parents that you're sick.”

“What?” the word just kind of tumbled out of my mouth because it was already open from staring at him.

“Rae, please, just trust me.” He grabbed my hand and tried to pull me back the way I'd come, but I resisted. Who was this guy? I don't trust people on principle, but he scared me more than people did normally. And his touch felt like it burned my skin. “Rae. . .”

“Let go of me!” I yelled, twisting and pushing against his hand. His skin was growing uncomfortably hot, searing into my wrist. I was almost crying because it hurt so bad. When his hand moved a bit, I could see that my wrist was bright red. “What are you doing? Let go!”

“Rae!” He tried to hold me still, but I was twisting like a crazy person. He cursed under his breath, then seemed to realize what he was doing. He let go of me with a gasp and I jerked away, turning and sprinting toward the school. “Raven!” he yelled again, but I wasn't listening. I needed to get to school.

Which turned out to be a pretty lame decision.

When I burst through the front doors, I was already late. A hall monitor glared at me but I ignored them as I sprinted to my first class. My wrist was still burning, but I tried not to pay any attention to the pain. In fact, I tried not to think at all because thinking about the boy made me start to shake. Who was he? What was his problem and how had he burned me? And why did he know my name?

“Thank you for joining us Miss Sage.” my teacher glared disapprovingly down at me and I blushed, ducking my head and rubbing my wrist. The room was white and boring. It was a science room, so it should have been filled with interesting things right? Things like drying animal guts and baby fetuses in jars, but there wasn't anything like that. The only decoration at all was the big table of elements that dominated the back wall. “Miss Sage!”

My head snapped back to the teacher, surprised. Usually she didn't make such a big deal when I came in late. But something was weird today. Her eyes were a funny color, and her lips were pressed together so tightly I was afraid they'd be swallowed.

“Yes?” I didn't mean to sound rude, but I probably did looking back at it. I was a little freaked out okay? That's not unusual when a strange shouts weird things at you.

“You're a little piece of work aren't you?”

“What?”

“You little pest.” her eyes were turning darker and darker, like glowing fireballs. The other kids were staring at her just like I was, but she didn't pay any attention to them. She'd been standing behind her desk in the front of the room, but now she reached across it and dug her long fingernails into the wood, crawling on top of it despite wearing a long old fashioned dress.

“What are you doing?!” I yelled, I didn't mean to, but all of the sudden I was up and moving. Running, running from a teacher! That wasn't allowed, and apparently she knew it.

With a screech, she launched herself at me, knocking me against the wall and pinning my throat between her suddenly razor sharp talons. I screamed and the other kids screamed with me, all running for the exits.

Like I already said, sometimes it's hard to play the tough girl all the time.

“You're Devil Spawn,” she hissed. I tried to squirm but she dug her nails into my skin and I froze, “You belong to me!” Her teeth were long, sharp and pointed. Her breath smelt like dead fish, and I had to work to keep from gagging.

“Let go!” I tried weakly, but my voice was small and squeaky. She laughed, and there was a pulling sensation, like I was about to sink into the ground and melt there. I struggled but she tightened her grip on my neck. “LET GO!”

The voice that came out of my mouth shocked me more than it did her but I acted on it just the same. It was a harsh voice, one that felt like it was full of power. I shoved against her, and this time she let go of me with a scream. My hands and feet were steaming, and so was the front of what used to be my teacher.

Now she was. . . something else. Her overcoat was puffed out in the back, making it look like she had wings, and her face was twisted, like a monster. “I'll kill you,” she hissed, her mouth foaming.

I think I said something real intelligent, like, “EEK!” She launched herself at me again, and I only just barely managed to dodge out of the way. She'd maneuvered herself so that she was between me and the exit. I backed toward the back wall, my heart thumping a million miles a minute. The power that I'd felt just seconds ago seemed to dwindle as I stared into the face of the creature in front of me.

“Who are you?” I whispered, I wasn't going to let myself cry, but I seriously wanted to. And trust me, I don't cry. Crying is when things are so hopeless, there's literally nothing else you can do. I guess this kind of qualified as that type of a situation.

“What do you think I am, spawn?” the monster hissed, slowly advancing toward me.

“Are you going to kill me?” I don't know why I was so intent on talking, maybe it felt like that would buy me time. She smiled, and I cringed back because her canine's were now so long and dripping with a blackish goo that made my stomach squirm.

“We don't eat the flesh of spawn,” she growled. I swallowed, which almost made me throw up, seeing her black spit put serious disgusting images in my head.

“Spawn?” my teeth were clattering. At this point, I had backed up so much that I'd hit the wall, my spine pressed tightly against the barrier. Instead of answering, the monster attacked me again. I threw myself out of the way, smashing into some of the desks and giving myself bruises that I'm sure will make me ache for days.

She jumped onto the wall, her talons sunk into it and holding herself there. I swallowed nervously, but she just snarled. Her fingers were gripping the table of elements poster. Her back foot had ripped the corner. She tried to launch herself at me again, but the poster caught her, holding her in place and then tangling her up as she fell to the ground. I ran. I ran faster than I should have ever been able to run in my entire fairly short life.

I darted through the doorway, running smack dab into the boy from before. My wrist burned angrily at the sight of him, and I tried to push past but he grabbed my shoulders.

“Is she still in there?” he barked, I tried to shove him away the way I had the monster, but he didn't budge. He didn't look like a beast the way the teacher had, if anything he seemed to glow a little bit. But I didn't want to take any chances. His hands were already burning through my t-shirt.

“Let go! Let go of me!” I screamed.

“Shh! Rae!”

“Who are you!?” I demanded. He paused, then took a deep breath.

“My name is Gael, I'm a divine. And I'm also your half brother.” I don't really have time to explain my reaction to that. I don't really have much time left at all actually. But Gael took me away from the monster, and took me to a place where 'Divines' usually stayed. It was like a hotel, but smaller and hidden like a pub. Divines apparently are like Angels, only they aren't affiliated with a God or anything like that. They're just. . . I don't even know. Supposedly they are the essence of good. And on the other side, Torments-like my teacher-were like Demons without the Devil. They're the essence of bad.

And apparently, being Spawn means I'm a mix of both.

I wish I had more time! But I just don't. Gael may have been a gallant brother and a good guy, but he wants the same thing as the torments. The divines want to take all spawn like me and eat their energy. It doesn't supposedly kill us. . . but I'm not willing to risk it. So now my time is up, and I have to leave. But I have to warn someone. I have to tell someone before I run.

Because it could be you next. Everyone is either a divine or a torment, or spawn like me. If your spawn, then there's a chance that you can put yourself on either side, but if you try to stay neutral. . . you'll be consumed. So I'm just warning you all now, because I need to run. I need to run and I'm asking you to join me. Because it won't ever stop. This battle for good and evil, and all us little people stuck in the middle. I just want to live, I just want to be happy.

Is that so wrong?

So be careful. Because all of us. . .all of us spawn, all of us half divine, half torment, we all have one thing in common. One thing that the other two sides don't have.

We're human.