Own the Night (Part One)

I hadn't really forgotten about this story, but it was resting in the very back corner of my brain until today. It's called Own the Night, and it's a story I wrote with my cousin Claire. Her brother Isaac helped, too (he made up the backstory of the bad guy, among other things, and it's super cool), and Neil was supposed to but never actually wrote anything. Well, he wrote "I'm orange......ok?" and "…ºπWHºªππππππππ" and "CHAPTER THREE" (which still isn't finished) and "something", but that's it.
  It's only about two chapters long, but oh, well. Here's the prologue.

PROLOGUE

It was late at night when the woman opened her eyes. She got out of bed and walked down the hallway. In the dining room she found her husband hunched over the table hard at work. “You shouldn’t do that.” she said, and he turned around. “You need your sleep.”

He smiled. “So do you.”

“I just barely woke up. The baby’s coming.”

* * *

He hurried down the hall, worried. Master had called for him and he wasn’t there... It could result in something a lot worse than simply being late for work. The door to Master’s chamber loomed overhead. Not sure if his certain death awaited him, Riplakish sucked in his fears, squared his shoulders, and slowly entered the room.

* * *  

It was 12:03 AM. The baby had been born a few minutes before. She already had a bit of hair; jet black, curly,  and very soft. Her eyes were gray and shone like the moon. She was the tiniest, most beautiful baby the nurses -or any of them, for that matter- had ever seen.

Her mother cuddled her in her arms and tried to think of a perfect name. The baby cooed softly and closed her eyes.

“Leila.” her mother decided.

In a sudden flash of light, a strange hooded being appeared in the small room. Odd as it seemed, only the baby could see the figure. To all the others it was lightning in the storm outside.

The baby heard the man in the hood say something she couldn’t understand with a chilling voice. Everyone else simply thought it was thunder.

After the words stopped, the man vanished. Leila was taken away from her mother by a kind-looking woman with red hair who said it was time for her check-ups to make sure she was healthy.

  * * *

His mission was simple. When he heard the baby’s name, he had to go set the curse. Flash in, do his job, flash out. Simple as that. The master had been merciful. The conversation still spun in his mind...

“You are late. I could incinerate you for keeping me waiting this long.”

“ Master...  a few minutes, that is all. I was only a few minutes late.” he said it before he could realize that arguing was just going to get him killed.

“Fool.. a few minute’s time is enough time for an assassin to sneak in and do away with me.”

“I understand.”

“You have a mission. A very special child has been born. You must find it... uncover the curse. I have been waiting long for an event like this to come to pass.”

“Yes, master.”

He had then set off to find the special child, knowing that if he didn’t the master would not be so merciful as to just give him another assignment. He shuddered as the thought of death crossed his mind. Clearing his throat and ridding his mind of these thoughts, he had left to find the child and do his job.

                                        * * *

The nurses slowly stepped into the room. Their faces were grim.

“Missus, we are ever so sorry. I’m afraid that she never had much of a chance.” One of them said. It was the red-haired lady that had taken Leila for her check-up.

“What are you saying? It can’t be!!” the woman said, looking horrified. The heartbroken mother’s mind was racing. The nurses looked at her sadly, and another nurse spoke up, this one with long black hair in a braid down her back.

“Leila had heart failure. We are ever so sorry, missus. The baby was born too small and could never have made it. You were lucky that you were able to spend a happy moment with her.” she said.

The three nurses left the lady sobbing in her hospital room.