When You Were Young

As her world dimmed, she heard Reverend Crane say, "Did she tell anyone about us?"

"No, no one knows. But there's a message in the car."

"Go retrieve it. We can't leave any sign."

After Molly shuffled away, Reverend Crane bent down next to Samantha. "It's time for you to meet your creator, my child," he whispered into her ear. I failed again, she thought. Joseph, I'm sorry. Then her world went dark.

***

Darkness presses all around her. She can't see anything. The smell of something wet and decaying fills her head, a wave of nausea rising from within her. She tries to escape, but her arms and legs won't move. She's trapped in this dark place with no way out. She tries to scream, but nothing comes out. Someone help me, she thinks. Get me out of here!

Then she hears a voice that sounds distant, as though she's hearing it from the bottom of a well. "What do we do with her?" the voice asks.

"Toss her into the sea. By the time she washes up in Canada we will have long since departed."

She struggles against the bonds holding her, whipping her body around like a caged animal as she tries to escape. "She's awake," the first voice says.

"No matter. She can't escape from there. Put her on board and let us be gone from here."

"We can't do this," a third voice says. "We can't kill her. It's not right."

"It is necessary. Sacrifices must be made. I thought I had made that abundantly clear to you already."

"Take her with us. Make her one of us."

"I will not have one of her kind living with us. She's far too dangerous. She could destroy us."

"But think of how useful one such as her can be."

She stops struggling then, awaiting the judgment against her. "Yes, she could be an asset, if controlled. Very well, she will come with us." There's a pause and then she finds herself suspended in midair. A moment later she's flying, only to slam into something solid. Colored stars pulse and explode before her eyes as her dark world spins out of control. "You had better be right about her," the second voice says. Then a flash of red light erupts from within the bag, blinding her.