Summary
Silver Heart is a teen with a checkered past. His whole life he has had to fight to survive, but in death his world is turned upside down. He learns he is the prophesied Full Moon King; a being that comes at the end of an era and could lead all to their salvation, all to their damnation, or down a new path.
The question is: what path is he walking down?
EPISODE 1
*Snow*
Slowly Falling,
Into another place
Melting,
It’s poison into my veins
Piling,
It’s need on the edges of my mind
Burying,
The person I used to be
Silver Heart (Present Day: Jan 4, 2015)
I watched as the snow silently fell around me while I warmed my hands. Slowly it buried the ugliness of New York City and killed the unwanted homeless with its icy touch.
Snow. It can bury the world, but not my memories…
Creaking swings with a child’s laughter penetrated the silence of the park and sparked memories I wish would stay forgotten.
It was snowing that day too…
Silver Heart (Age 4: December 14, 2003)
I remember the warmth of a fireplace while an old dog played with me in our small living room. I was so young then and my looks were quite different. Instead of this albino curse I now bear, I sported my mother's colors.
My mother was quite beautiful. Long black raven hair, earthen eyes with flecks of gold, and amber skin, but she always smelled of spices and tea. How I miss her Hindi lullabies… I can sometimes hear them at the edges of my dreams.
On that forsaken night, she was reading a book and letting me stay up past my bedtime, a rare treat. I took full advantage, but something seemed off. She kept gazing at me and then at the clock with fear in her eyes. At times I would catch her silently praying. Something was weighing on her mind. The old cuckoo clock started chiming, proclaiming the tenth hour, but broke just before its last chime. My mother became pale as she broke out in a cold sweat.
“We’re going to play a little game, my Rajakumar. It’s called hide and run,” my mother cooed as she walked towards the dog and me. “I’m going to hide you in a closet, so our guest won’t find you. No matter what happens you must stay hidden until you can run far away.”
“Who is coming, Amme? How far will I need to run to win?” I questioned her while she picked me up. The dog seemed to sense her fear and his tail ceased wagging.
“Dreams have foretold a man I did not wish to see again. You must run until you can get lost in a sea of people,” her voice shook as she took me back to our bedroom. We never had any visitors this far into the woods and playing a game so late at night was making me nervous. My mother opened the closet that blended into the wall. She said it could hide anything with its’ magic, but only one item at a time could be hidden. It seemed silly for a closet to be magical, but we played so many games in it that I almost believed her. Our dog began to growl in the living room. She quickly placed me behind the clothes.
“I want you to know that, despite my sins, I grew to love you so much,” she explained, holding my face, trying not to cry.
“Amme, what do you mean by sins? Did you do something naughty?”
“I don’t have time to explain. I hope you will forgive me. Find what is missing and grow strong, little one,” she whispered with pleading eyes; then kissed my forehead and slammed the closet shut. In the darkness I heard the breaking of a door and my dog barking its head off. Then a loud bang and silence. Had something scared my dog into being quiet? I peered from under the clothes, through a crack in the closet, to find my mother was standing tall in the bedroom, but her hands were shaking. She stared out the door as heavy footsteps came closer.
A pale man dressed in dark clothing blocked the exit. His red eyes illuminated his sharp features, and I could smell blood drift into the room as he moved closer to my mother. It was the first time I had seen anyone else with my red eyes.
My eyes would only go red from anger or fear, but this man did not seem afraid. He seemed powerful, confident, and predatory. For a moment I wondered if they faded away to another color like mine did when I calmed down. It was as if the universe heard my question. Slowly his eyes became a chilling blue while his mocking sneer widened.
“I’m surprised you didn’t fly away, or did you finally realize you can never outrun me?” He taunted. My mother spit in his face unflinching despite how close he was to her. His gloved thumb wiped it off his cheek and he gazed at it for a moment contemplating something. Faster than my eyes could keep up, he struck her face. Blood trickled from her nose as her cheek and lip swelled. I wanted to run and help her, but Amme did not want the guest to see me, and I did not want to disobey Amme.
“That's the best you got? No wonder you had your goons take care of any dirty work,” she grinned, angrily. A quick jab to the eye followed by a punch to the stomach brought her to her knees, coughing up blood. He began to kick her mercilessly and she crumpled to the ground.
“Where is he?!” The man angrily bellowed, stopping his assault. My breath caught in my throat.
This stranger was looking for me. Why? What was I to him? Was this my father she had mentioned once before? He looked like that picture I saw once... Was he going to hurt me like Amme?
I was so scared…
I started hugging my knees watching the exchange fearfully. The closet mirror glowed dully beside me from my honey brown eyes turning red. I hated that red. Amme would always look scared when they turned red...
The man lifted part of the back of his shirt with one hand while the other hand started wrapping around the handle of a gun. My mother was trying to get her bearings again as she pushed her upper half off the ground.
“I asked you a question,” he growled, pointing the gun at my mother's head. My mother smiled in defiance and gave him the finger.
“Go to Hell, Hunter!”
Yanking her up by the hair he placed his gun in her mouth. She struggled against his grip trying to move the gun away. I could hear a heart frantically beating and for a moment I could not tell if it was hers or mine.
Mother had always said Father was dangerous...
“Wrong answer.”
Bang!
EPISODE 2
Silver Heart (Age 4: December 14, 2003)
The house shook from the force of the shot, or it was my imagination, and I was the one that was shaking. Feeling warmth against my lower half, I looked down in confusion. My fear trickled down my leg onto the carpet as my skin lost its light amber color, becoming snow white.
I was so scared that my body lost its color forever.
“Useless Creature,” the man spat as he cleaned his gun with a dirty handkerchief from his pocket.
“If I can’t have the kid, I’ll settle for his weakness,” he muttered to himself, tossing the used hanky towards my mother's dead body. It fell ever so slowly before covering her dull lifeless eyes. He started tearing through the nearby bookshelf as I bided my time to escape.
I did not know what he meant by my weakness…To this day, I still do not know what he meant…
After his fruitless efforts, he looked at his clothes disgusted and left the room. I don’t know why he never bothered to check the closet before leaving the room, but I was grateful. It must have been as hidden as Mother led me to believe or something magical protected me. Amme always told me to believe in magic.
I stayed in the darkness listening to breaking furniture and shattering plates trying to find the right opportunity to run, but I desperately wanted to hold my mother's hand one last time…
Quietly creeping out from the tiny closet, I prayed that I would not be seen. The small room took ages to cross, and my shaking limbs were granting no favors. I eventually found her limp hand and held it to my face as my tears continued to flow. While I lamented over my mother’s death, a faint flash of light from under the bed caught my eye. Gently placing my mother’s hand on the ground, I investigated the light further. With an outstretched arm under the bed, I searched for the source of light, but I was careful to keep a close eye on the bedroom door; I would do my best to obey my mother’s last command. I would not let myself be seen by that man.
I felt something warm and smooth beneath my curious fingers. Pulling it out of the darkness, I found myself staring at my mother's charm bracelet. An old family heirloom that bore images of the full moon, an old oak tree, a snarling wolf, a cracked crown, a clenched fist, a wolf paw being stabbed by a sword, and two skulls stuck to each other screaming.
It must have fallen off when she was attacked. I clutched it tightly knowing this was the last thing I would ever have from my mother. Though my wrists were much smaller than hers, I made it fit and gave one last kiss to my mother’s bloody cheek. The taste of iron and salty tears coated my lips as reality sank in. I wanted to tell her I loved her. I wanted to say goodbye, but my voice was frozen, and my lungs barely held enough air for me to breathe. I hoped the gods would hear my cries and tell her for me.
She would go to heaven, right? Maybe be reborn in a better life? The unknown sins she had mentioned would be forgiven, right? …Right?
I slowly made my way out of the crime filled bedroom, peeking around the door frame, I verified that the man was no longer there. I saw a shadow in the bathroom down the hall and cabinets slamming.
In the glimpse I managed to catch, I noticed he had changed his clothes and the fireplace in front of me had gained more fuel from the discarded fabric.
I was lucky the exit was in the opposite direction. I wanted to run out the door, but my legs were still shaking too badly, so I crawled through destroyed items and my dog's blood. I was sad about my dog's death, but I felt empty when I looked at his lifeless body. Petting his wet fur, I tried to feel something for him. I loved him, but I could not feel anything. I could only think of my mother and even those feelings were fading. Everything was becoming calm inside me… Numb. Tears still ran down my face reflecting things I could no longer feel as thoughts of survival creeped into my mind.
I had to get out of there. I knew I would be next if I did not leave.
Not wanting to alert the man of my exit, I crawled out the doggy door onto our frosted wooden porch and gazed at the black van before me. This man could catch me if I left on the main road to town… I took off towards the thick woods and silently prayed there were no hungry beasts waiting in the night.
I did not stop running; I did not dare look back.
The moon illuminated my path… I had rarely looked at the moon on mothers’ insistence. It always made me feel strange. Mother would have to pet my head to make it go away or she would let me wear her bracelet for a brief time, but the moon was so beautiful that it was hard not to gaze at it. I even had magical dreams about it changing my mother and I… At least I could wear her bracelet all the time now…
The deeper in the woods I went the clearer my surroundings became. I could see every branch and hear every sound. The cold did not even bother me. If anything, I felt at home in nature and alive with the night.
I survived by some odd instinct I did not know I had… It felt animal-like.
All I could think about was following my mother’s last wishes to find what was missing, grow strong, and get lost in a sea of people.
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