Anybody There?

The girl was lost and scared. The sun was setting quickly and the first stars were becoming visible through the thick leaf canopy far overhead. A rustling in the leaves caused her to bolt in a random direction, darting through the trees.

The rustling continued but soon the girl got tired.

"Is anybody there?" she shouted in between her gasping breaths. Another rustle came in response.

Again the girl cried desperately, "Is anybody there?"

A pair of human-like eyes were visible through the leafy brush. They stared at the girl as if thinking of whether to respond to her pleas or attack. The girl was frightened and once again darted away. She continued running through thorns and spider webs. Footsteps came quickly closer and the girl tripped over a protruding tree root.

On the ground, the girl rolled over and began to sob quietly.

"Somebody help! Is anybody there?" The girl inquired through her tears which mingled with the blood on her face and burned the scrapes from thorny trees.

"Is anybody there?" Mocking voices echoed from all around. The girl quivered on the ground in fear.

"Will you help me?" she asked pitifully. In response the voices just mocked her.

"Stop!" A booming, powerful voice halted the chattering, mocking voices, "She has... potential."

A tall dark looming shadow with glowing, pure red eyes emerged from the trees. It smiled nicely at the girl and immediately her shaking and sobbing stopped.

"Will you help me?" The girl asked, her small voice filled with hope.

"I will help you, if you join us," The dark shadowy figure replied with a comforting smile as the red eyes flashed blue for a second.

A black hand extended to the girl in a friendly gesture. The shadow helped the girl stand up and wiped tears from her eyes.

"What are you?" The girl asked innocently, looking up at the shadow in awe.

"We are the Marea. The Dallek Marea to be more exact. It is translated from our language into 'Dark Nightmare' and we bring nightmares to those who deserve them, we are good. And you have potential," the leading Marea told the girl.

"Daddy?" The girl asked suddenly.

The shadow's face flashed faintly for a brief moment as the face of the girl's father. He was, in fact, the leader of the Dallek Marea. He had supposedly gone missing in the woods about two years ago when the girl was just three years old.

"Yes Errella?" he said softly as he looked down.

The girl, who is now revealed to be named Errella, leaned forward to hug the shadow of her father.

He lifted her into his arms and his red eyes once again turned blue. Errella's figure slowly turned black in her fathers arms and she too was a Dallek Marea. Her eyes glowed lavender as the two of them slowly faded away.

AT ERRELLA'S HOUSE THE NEXT MORNING
"He stole our daughter. He kidnapped MY daughter." Errella's mother whispered to herself as she paced the living room, "Her hazel eyes flashed a ghostly, eerie white as she marched towards her closet.

"That SON OF A B**** will be sorry he messed with me!" she yelled as she yanked a pistol out of the back of her closet.