The Fears

By Anna Augustine

Our world is captured by the Fears—the wraiths of mankind. They haunt us and hunt us, because we are the Children of the Promise. The last hope for the human race.

Which is why I’m leaning against the side of a building in the heat of the sun, watching people moving up and down the street with my perfected expression of disinterest. I finger the silver blade that’s strapped beneath my trench coat and let my eyes follow the hoverboards and transports that zip around me.

People are so blissfully unaware of the war raging right beneath their noses. In fact, I doubt they would notice much of anything anymore. Not since the invention of the cranium computer chip. Now they can have screens floating before their eyes whenever they want.

“Eli.” Shad, my partner and best friend, snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Geez, where is your head today?”

“It’s never where it’s supposed to be, you know that.” I shrug. “It’d probably roll right away if it wasn’t attached to my neck.”

Shad ignores my statement, clearly not in a joking mood. “We’re supposed to be watching for our mark.”

I smirk, pushing past my partner and easing into the alley to wait.

After a moment, I ask, “What’s the target count right now? You five, me five hundred?”

Shad snorts. “Sure, Eli. If that’s what you want to believe.”

“Hey, I’m the superlative hunter, and you know it.” Even as I jest, I ease my silver dagger out of its sheath.

Shad crouches beside me. “The target is coming.”

You can always sense a Fear before you see it. Cold shivers across the sidewalk, attempting to bleed into my soul and make every horrible imagining spring to life before my eyes. I grind my teeth, squeezing my eyes shut to keep the nightmare in my mind from springing to life.

I try to level out my breathing as the next wave hits. The Fear. It crawls over my skin like spiders, weaving its sticky web of lies across my mind and heart, trapping me. It’s worse this time around, breaking through my barricade, taunting me with the cold what ifs.

Dead, alone, forgotten.

“Ready to kick some wraith butt?” Shad asks.

I force my cocky smile to my face, despite the raw terror clawing at my throat. “When am I ever not ready?”

“Well, yesterday you almost—”

“Rhetorical question, Shad.” I smile for real, before springing out toward the wraith.

The monster leaps away from my silver dagger. He’s in his human form—his cold grey eyes and pale complexion the only hints that this man is not a man at all.

“Oh, Children of the Promise. How lovely to meet you here.” His voice is low, calming in its false sincerity.

“Yeah, see, I don’t believe that.” I shrug, my eyes never straying from the Fear’s face. “Do you feel like he enjoys our company, Shad?”

“Not particularly.” My partner’s voice contains a grin as he comes to stand at my side. “And he’s really not gonna like us dispatching him.”

The wraith hisses, the vapor seeping out of his eye sockets. The air around us smells of sulfur. The human features bleed down his cheeks to reveal the twisted features beneath. What once looked human is more shadow now. Shad launches forward, his silver blade gleaming. He slashes toward the wraith’s heart, the place where all the fear is housed.

The wraith sidesteps and smashes into me. I bring my blade down, slicing through its gray, twisted hand. It shrieks, its soulless black eyes seeming to peer into my soul.

He ignites my fear once more.

Dead, alone, forgotten.

Shad crumples on the ground; a puddle of blood grows around him. His eyes, lifeless, stare into me.

Dead.

My stomach rumbles as thunder shakes the house. I bury my face into my knees, trembling in fear. The wind shrieks by my window, but no one comes.

Alone.

I’m in my foster home, huddled in a corner. Yelling and screaming come from downstairs, and still no one comes for little Elias.

Forgotten.

The silver blade slips from my fingers, and I crash to my knees. The memories I’ve buried spring to life as darkness devours me. A chant of fears parade through my mind.

Dead, alone, forgotten.

Dead, alone, forgotten.

Dead, alone—

“No!” Shad’s voice halts the mantra, and light rides on those words.

The shadows recede as the wraith rips out of me, flinging itself on Shad. I’m the one on the ground, shaking as Shad battles the wraith. A light wraps itself around my friend. He glows as he fights the Fear with a confidence that I long to have.

And as I watch, I remember these simple truths.

My friend is here with me, I am loved, and I will never be alone.

Lilacs waft on the breeze, helping me focus, and I push to my knees, my fingers closing around my dagger as I struggle up. The wraith turns, stiffening as I smirk at him. He no longer controls me. His power is weak. I lift my arm and fling my dagger, end over end, right into the heart of the Fear.

It wails, back arching, before it explodes into smoky wisps of nothing.

“Thought he had you for a minute there.” Shad chuckles, clapping me on the back as he wipes at a trickle of sweat snaking down his face.

“No, not me.” I wink at my friend. “You’re too headstrong to let me die.”

“Well, I need some humor in my life. You’re good to laugh at.”

I punch his arm, and he smirks. Tucking our steel away, we saunter down the street, ready for the next Fear to rear its head.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anna Augustine lives with her family of eight in a small, midwestern town with two dogs and a whole lot of crazy. Anna is the author of romantic fantasy When You Found Me and is currently working on a pirate fantasy. When she’s not writing, Anna is either working as a teacher’s aide in her local elementary school, taking photos for her bookstagram, or trying to put a dent in her never ending to be read pile.

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