I wasn’t scared. I mean, sure, I jumped, but that was just a habitual response. I wasn’t scared. In fact, I’ve never been scared a day in my life.

You wouldn’t think that a person could be fearless. Yet I am. I don’t scream in haunted houses. I’ve never shrieked on a roller coaster. I barely even flinch when people try to sneak up and surprise me. Spiders and bugs never bothered me. Clowns don’t creep me out, and heights excite me. I’m not claustrophobic and I’m not afraid of sharks. Even the prospect of death doesn’t intimidate me. I’ve never really quite understood why… That is until my life started to change.

It all started when my parents sat me down two days ago.

“Honey, we have something important to tell you,” my mom began as my dad continued to look uncomfortable on the seat next to her.

“Okaaaay…” I said hesitantly.

“I don’t really know how to tell you this other than to just come out and say it. Here it goes, I guess,” my mom rambled but before she could finish my dad blurted out, “You’re adopted.” The way they were acting was strange, almost as if they were uneasy of how I was going to take the news. Even weirder was that I picked up on the little things that gave it away. Things I wouldn’t normally notice, I could sense their distress.

“Yeah, okay. That makes sense.” I answered.

“That’s it? You’re not going to ask who your biological parents are and why we didn’t tell you sooner?” my dad questioned suspiciously.

“That’s it. I’ve kind of suspected for awhile, I just didn’t know how to ask.”

“Oh, okay.” Just as quickly as it had appeared their sense of dismay vanished. I didn’t think anything of the occurrence, it didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary at the time. Now, though everything makes sense.
Over the course of the next two days, something kept nagging at me in the back of my mind. Something similar to the feeling I picked up during the conversation with my parents from a couple days ago. The sense escalated quickly as time progressed. I could, essentially, sense the anxieties of people around me. It suddenly stopped while I was walking home from work; I heard a noise in the alley beside the pizza parlor. Thinking it was a stray cat I turned, checking the shadows along the building. I felt two presences behind me though they made no noise and did nothing to indicate they were there. I spun around to investigate. I wasn’t scared. I mean, sure, I jumped, but it was just a habitual response when two dark, cloaked figures are blocking off your only exit point. I hadn’t ever seen them before in my life, yet I felt as though already I knew them.

“Who are you?” I inquired.

“You know who we are,” a deep male voice answered and I felt a deep sense of peace settle over me.

“You sure about that?” I retorted sharply.

“Yes,” a female voice this time, that sent my pulse racing.

“You know exactly who we are. Even if you aren’t sure you want to admit it,” the male stated clearly. I could have sworn all the birds and plants in the city had gone silent to listen when he spoke. The two cloaked figures removed their hoods, baring their faces. He was dark and brooding. His hair a shade of black I’d never seen before in this world. His eyes were wise with age but still had an amused spark to them. When he looked at me, I felt as though he could see straight into the depths of my soul and with one word it would be snuffed out like a candle. She had a flawless, otherworldly beauty about her. Her hair seemed to reflect all the light hitting her. Her eyes pierced mine and it was as if she could read your deepest and darkest fears known to no other but yourself. Her gaze sent chills up my spine and shivers down my arms. The last piece clicked into place when I saw them. No fears, understanding death, the conversation with my parents, the strange sixth sense I had suddenly developed; they weren’t random and all fit together now. I finally understood what made me different. It was staring me straight in the face at this very moment.

“You know exactly who we are,” reiterating what he claimed earlier. “I am the Father of Darkness.”

“And I, the Mother of Frights.”

“Hello daughter,” they said in unison.