Chapter One

 

Sometimes life just isn’t fair. But it never promised to be so. You go about it without a thought as to what could change in just a blink of an eye. I should have never taken advantage of what I had and what I was about to lose.

Life seemed to laughing at me that day. I thought the day was the happiest of my life thus far. I had finally purchased the ring that would serve as a lifelong token of my affection for Elizabeth. Upon returning home I simply walked through the back door with my younger brother, not realizing it was in fact the worst day of my existence and the rest of forever was about to be changed.

 

*  * *

 

            “Give it to me! I know you’ve got money in this house!” My heart fell into my stomach as I heard the man’s shouting. It was quickly followed by a sickening smack. Then the scream came. Mother.

            I reacted without thinking. With one hand I swung open the floor door leading down to the cellar, with the other I grabbed Eli by his shirt. No time for explanations, I shoved him inside as he gave a yell. Grabbing the heavy wooden chest, I drug it over the top of the door. Sure that Eli was now safe I sprinted into the front room where I had heard my mother’s shrieks.

            I felt slightly faint in the knees as the scene came into view. I first took in my mother’s cowering form on the floor, covered in blood. I could not find the source of it but there were massive amounts of it. The look of terror upon her face as she looked at me as I came into view would forever be engraved into my memory. Her eyes shone bright with the horror of what was happening to her and they pleaded two things to me. The first was for me to run as far and fast as I could. The second was for me to save her from her assailant. I next took in her attacker. He was tall, much taller than myself and must have weighed nearly double what I did.

            I felt something boil up inside of me as I processed what was happening. The reaction was unfamiliar and would probably have frightened me had there not been a great need for it. Anger, that was what it was. But not any regular anger. Anger that made your blood boil, made you grind your teeth, and do idiotic things.

            Without taking the other man’s size into consideration I launched myself at him. I must have taken him by surprise as I was able to land a crushing blow to the man’s face. As he was sent crashing across the room he howled and cursed aloud as he cupped his hands around his nose, blood now streaming from it. I was not about to wait for him to recover as I sailed after him, jumping directly on top of him, landing hard on his rib cage. The uneven footing threw my balance off and I quickly toppled to the floor. As I recovered I could hear the man coughing and wheezing, trying to regain his breath. Just as I was about to plant my foot into his side his hand swung out and caught me around the ankle, sending me flying onto my back. Feeling the air being forced out of my lungs as I landed I tried to quickly recover. But as I rose to my feet so did my assailant. His hands met my neck just as mine met his. As my throat was being crushed and restricted, black spots began to form in my vision. Not being able to think straight I instinctively swung my right leg with as much power as I could muster. It had the desired effect.

            The man instantly released me and doubled over as my leg came square between his legs. I coughed and sputtered as I tried to force oxygen back into my lungs, the effect was dizzying and disorienting.

            My attacker recovered much more quickly than I would have anticipated. He suddenly righted himself and I seemed to be frozen in one single moment as something bright and shiny flashed before my eyes.

            Time seemed to stand still for everything except what I thought must have been the sound of a woman screaming and I thought I heard her call my name. It was difficult to comprehend, the sound was so far away but it was the only thing I could focus on. With everything frozen in time for that second I somehow sensed this was the end.

            I found myself wishing again for the time freeze when the burning began and everything speed back up. The flash of excruciating heat began in my abdomen and spread with ferocious speed to every limb in my body. My hands flew futilely to the source. Something there was wet and very warm. I could not make my brain comprehend what the explanation for this was. Even though my vision was now fading I raised my right hand to see what it was. It was indeed wet, a bright crimson. Still my brain could not understand what was happening as the flash of heat exploded in my head.

            My vision was quickly fading and the ground suddenly rushed up at me. Pain ripped through my body as I hit the floor. I could not hold back the scream that exploded from my lips as my skin felt as if it were suddenly consumed in flames.

            I rolled to my side, my face now laying in something sticky and slightly warm. The last image my failing eyes registered would haunt me forever.

            My attacker was walking away, satisfied that I would cause him no more trouble. Another movement caught my eye and I realized it was my mother’s sobbing, retreating form. I tried desperately to call out to her, to tell her to run but I could not force any air in or out of my lungs now.

            The man now stood poised over my mother. I looked into his eyes and saw something there that terrified me. This was a man who cared for nothing and no one. He would take what he wanted with no regard for anything else that may happen. If there were men like this in the world than why should any of us exist? If we all contained the potential to become like this man then why did God allow us to live? 

            He raised his arms slowly, sword in hand. It was stained red, dripping with what I now realized was my own blood.

            In one swift movement my mother’s screams were silenced forever.

            I squeezed my eyes shut. I did not want to see any more. I had witnessed the evil man was capable of. He had taken my mother’s life and soon my own. I now welcomed death that was racing to claim me with open arms. And slowly the darkness closed around me, dragging me greedily and hungrily down into its depths.

 

            It was inescapable. It consumed me wholly and I rested in the belly of the darkness. Or perhaps it was more a vast open field devoid of anything. No matter, it was all powerful, unforgiving, and mighty. My feeble eyes searched for anything, a sign of life, a glimpse of light, a flicker of existence. But there was simply nothing.

            Since there was nothing to be held around me I focused internally. I was aware of the fact that I had thoughts, yes, there were thoughts somewhere out there, they were my own. I was unsure though if they were connected with a body. I had a body somewhere but for some reason it felt far away, long out of reach.  And I was becoming aware that that body was in pain. That pain was becoming unbearable and that body was losing the drive to hold on. And as the body was losing its grip on life I felt as if my thoughts were being pulled away, as if the darkness were trying to absorb what little was left of me. The darkness would absorb me, and then there would be no me. 

            The pull into nothing was becoming stronger with every passing moment. I sensed that this is what death felt like. I had always believed in some sort of life after death. It was looking like I might be wrong.

            With this terrifying thought I found resolve to hang on. While there was nothing physical I could grasp to, nothing to anchor myself to I could only will myself to not be obliterated. But the darkness only seemed to deepen and I could not comprehend how this was even possible.

            It felt like days, disembodied thoughts simply willing themselves not to be destroyed, to be smothered out. I was unsure of how I was still managing to hang on but somehow the struggle did come to an end.

            I was saved by the slightest lightening. It did not begin from one focused point. I had always heard the tale of the tunnel of light when one is dying. No, this light came from everywhere. Like the dawning of a new day, as the sun slowly fills the world with new light. Ever so slowly it lightened and as this happened I realized that my thoughts and the seemingly far away body were united now. With the ever increasing light the body felt different and I sensed a great change was taking place. New, strange, powerful. 

            As the light continued to grow I took in my surroundings. I now appeared to be a forest. The trees that surrounded me were the tallest I had ever seen before, evergreens. They were however leached colorless by the now almost painfully bright light.

            Not seeing any need or reason for remaining where I stood I stepped hesitantly forward into this strange white world. Walking was not exactly easy, the ground was covered in twisted and knotted roots, entangling ferns, and every other obstacle Mother Nature decorated the forest floor with. I guessed in normal light it would have been stunningly green here.

            A sound softly penetrated my ears. Waves. Distant crashing waves, lapping at the rocks as they met the shoreline. The sound was comforting to me and I followed it.

            As I walked towards the sound I felt oddly content and at peace. I felt safe here, no one could hurt me here, there were no wicked people in this colorless world. I felt strange though and not in a negative way. The body my thoughts were now attached to was growing stronger by the moment. The very scientific make up of it rearranging and reconfiguring. 

            A slight movement ahead caught my eye suddenly. Eager to find who else had been confined to this new world I sped to investigate. Another glimpse and I realized it was cloth. White, like the rest of this strange world. Just past where I had seen the cloth I could see a cliff’s ledge. The scent of salt was heavy in the air now.

            Now only a few steps from the ledge I froze as my view cleared. A woman stood at the edge, her feet only inches from the sharp drop off. She stood with her back to me and I now realized the cloth I had seen was her dress. Of course it was white and came just below her knees. She was slender but did not look fragile. She held her hands lightly behind her back, long white hair flowing smoothly in the air as a light breeze picked up off the water.

            Who was this woman? I suddenly felt the desperate need to see her face, to know the answer to my question. I would have asked her where I was but then realized that it did not matter. All that mattered was that she was here, that she existed. I realized she was someone important. I must know who she is.

            I walked closer, taking small, cautious steps. Surely she must not have heard my approach or she would have turned to see who had invaded her strange, white world. 

            Now only a few feet away I extended a hand to touch her lightly on the shoulder when I suddenly froze. But through my immobility I became aware of a new change in the body. Thousands of prickling sensations pricked up within me, sending sharp shards of pain ripping through me. The heart started pounding rapidly sending even more needles careening through my system. The pain grew with each passing second.

            I tried to call out to the young woman, to scream for her to save me from this torturous death but the lungs seemed to be in the process of being riveted with the needles in the blood.

            Surely I was going to die now. After my long struggle to not be obliterated by the darkness I was now going to be defeated by the thousands of needles coursing through my blood. As my heart pounded faster and faster I was almost sure that it would explode. My head now pounded, each throb sending new waves of pain.

            And now the darkness was returning, not from around me but from within. My peripheral vision began to blacken and I knew that death was coming for me again. This time I did not think I could fight it through the pain. And as my vision began to fade, I felt a vast hole forming within my core.

            I tried in vain to call to the woman again but no sound escaped my now burning lips. Then as though she could hear my shrieking, writhing thoughts she began to turn around. The hope that perhaps I might see the angels face before I was finished off by the darkness filled me. But the darkness was swallowing me up from the inside out too quickly. Darkness clawed at my insides to get out and destroy me in the process and just before the woman’s face came into view the darkness won.

Reviews

[Fabian G. Franklin]

I like that this is written in the first person from the character's pov, it is not a style I often see but one that I like, a nice tale you have started here and some pretty solid writing to carry it along, good work.