Chapter One - Silent Chaos

Chapter one of my fantasy-adventure short story. When a young lad awakens to find a post apocalyptic version of the work he left behind, he has no memories or recollection of who he is...

The sound of distant screams woke me. As I instantly emerged from my deep sleep, I had that panicked feeling, the type of feeling you get awakening from a nightmare…

Something wasn’t right, I had this anxious feeling inside me, and I had to get up. It was like I was scratching my way out of my own body, out of a coffin or tomb. I felt buried alive and I needed air!

I searched around the room for clues, hints and reminders of who I was, but nothing. Empty picture frames surrounded by chaos, it was as is if a wrecking ball had swung through the room destroying everything. Was this even my house? I couldn’t remember anything, I just had this strong feeling that I had to do something, something important, yet I couldn’t remember what. I searched the top floor; the remaining rooms were the same, nothing but wreckage; no sign of a past life. I walked towards the final room on the top floor that I hadn’t yet explored, the door was slowly swinging back and forth. I creeped forward and tentatively reached my hand out towards the handle, when suddenly it slammed shut!

I stumbled backwards, almost falling over completely, I pulled myself back up, gathering my footing by leaning on a small table in the hall way. As I did so, I notice that the phone sat on top of the table had its wires cut. I still picked up the phone to listen out for a dial tone " nothing. Now not only was I in a destroyed house, I was in a place where communication was purposely taken away.

Confused, scared and a little angry at the whole situation my eyes re-engaged with the door at the top of the hallway that had just slammed shut. If somebody was inside that had answers, I wanted to hear them. With slightly more purpose I walked towards the door, again reaching my hand out, this time I grasped the door handle…

I slowly turned the handle opening the door, as I pushed the door forward I felt a little resistance from a breeze pushing from the other side. As I opened the door I was greeted by yet more destruction, this was by far the room in the worst condition. The breeze that slammed the door shot was coming from the side of the room which had half of its wall missing. Two windows were closed, yet the curtains frantically flapped around from the wind blowing through the massive tears in either side of the wall. I looked around the room as I slowly walked towards the wreckage, yet again there was no sign of who had lived here, or any connection to myself. As I reached the whole on the left side of the room, I sat down on the floor able to hang my legs down outside the house. I looked on into the neighbourhood, and my heart sank, this wasn’t just something that had affected the house I had woken up in, there was destruction everywhere. It looked like something out of a big budget movie; the grand nature of the mess was breath-taking. It was clearly the early hours of the morning, and the star lit sky shone brightly over a darkened vision of flame lit chaos. As I sat and stared into the lunacy of it all, suddenly a front door swung open in one of the houses across the street facing me…

A figure from inside the dark of the house burst forward screaming “Oooooh s**t! Heeeeelp!” I immediately jumped up and shouted out “Hey! Up here!” without stopping this now visible young lad; who must have been around 15 years old, and looked very geeky with his glasses and back pack, looked up at me as he proceeded to run down the hill in which the street was sat at the top of and screamed “Dude you need to get the frig out of here! Noooooooooooooow!” his voice slowly faded out as he ran further and further down the hill until he was out of sight.

I rushed downstairs and opened the front door. The brisk midnight air pierced through my clothes. I looked around to see if I could see anyone else, any kind of help or answers " Nothing. As I walked forward into the garden (or what was left of it), I put my hand on the white picket fence and as I pulled it open towards me, the gate fell off completely. Out of nowhere a piercing screamed bellowed from the same house the young lad had fled from. I ran over to the house shouting “Hello?! Are you ok in there?!” and as I got to the garden of the house, a young girl came running out of the darkness from the other side of the door, fear was brushed across her face and I could see the terror; she too must have been in her mid-teens like the lad I had seen previously, she was beautiful and clearly in distress. I reached out my hand to help as she got closer, she did the same, then just as our hands were about to meet, I saw a painful look in her eyes, suddenly from the dark behind her a sharp spear on a long metal chain pierced through her chest! In complete shock I froze; a mouthful of blood sprayed from her onto my face. As I wiped the blood away from my eyes, she stared intently and screaming as loud as she could she whispered “RUN!” without a moment passing she was suddenly pulled back into the darkness beyond the door, letting out a scream that rattled my bones…

As I stepped backwards in complete dismay at what I had just seen, I stumbled onto the grass. Staring at the doorway in which the girl had just been pulled through, I crept backwards gradually moving quicker and quicker. I leaped over the fence of the house, still staring at the darkness behind the door. Finally I looked away, I looked down the hill the young lad had fled down, and I noticed a green smoke rising in the range. Thick in texture and neon in colour, it rose from soil to sky.

Somehow I knew that was where I needed to go. I jumped on the pedal bike that was lay on the floor of a garden further down the street, and began to ride down the hill that sloped to the bottom of the village. As I rode down however, I noticed more neighbourhood doors open; the houses were empty. No noise, no people. There were screams in the distance that were getting closer; louder with every revolution my wheels made. I was so confused and afraid; I was riding from one scene of horror and appeared to be getting closer and closer to another one!

As I reached the high school at the bottom of the road, street cars were on fire, windows smashed and all. The image of chaos with a deadly silence for a soundtrack; the only noises were the distant screams, and they were getting louder still, closer.

Suddenly a figure emerged; about two hundred feet in front of me. The flickering street lamp beside it intermittently illuminated the dark entity. I couldn’t make it out; it was too dark and too far away. I stopped, leaning my weight to one side of the bike. After a moment of investigation, I called out to it. “Hello…can you help me?! I just saw a girl get killed up there!” I was met with no response. Again I tried, “Did you hear me?! Somebody is dead up there!” No response for my further efforts. However the figure began to walk towards me. As it got closer I noticed it wasn’t walking at all, it was drifting, floating with its feet off the ground. It left a trail of thick white smoke behind it, as it continued to drift towards me. A black figure floating on a white cloud, it was graceful yet chilling at the same time. Slowly it got closer and closer until…