Joseph woke in a daze. Groaning, he opened his eyes painfully. He was lying on his back and above him swam a sky of dark smoke. He slowly sat up and winced as a sharp pain shot through his head and chest. As quickly as it had come, the pain ebbed away leaving a numb, cold feeling flowing through him. He’d take that over pain any day.
His vision was still a little blurry so he blinked a few times to clear it. He looked around and found himself sitting in a dark and foreboding place. He was surrounded by an endless plain of black stone and dirt. Jagged rocks erupted from the ground here an there as if some blood-thirsty beast lurked just below the surface. The sky swirled horribly like a malignant mist, coating the horizon in a thin blanket of dust.
There was no sound. The air was stagnant with a dead silence. No sound of birds, cars or even other people. There was no wind. Not even a simple breeze. The air was an un-moving cloud around Joseph and it frightened him. Loneliness fell upon him.
“What is this place?” he asked himself aloud.
He stood up and ran a nervous hand through his red hair. He couldn’t remember how he got to that place and why. The rest of the day didn’t exist in his memory and he decided to assume he had woken up there. It still didn’t explain why though. Had someone brought him here from his dorm room? Was this his friend’s idea of a joke? But the place he was in didn’t seem real. It had an ethereal feeling like a place not of his world. In any case, he needed to get out of there. He had a class to get to.
He looked down at his feet to find he was standing on a path. It was obsidian in colour and snaked over the plain. It appeared to disappear into the foggy horizon. Looking behind him, Joseph saw that the path seemed to start right where he stood. It cut off a few inches behind him into a wall of pure blackness.
“Can’t go back,” Joseph said “I guess this is the only way,”
With that, Joseph pulled his black hood around his head, shoved his hands into his pockets and began slowly down the unknown path.
~*~
Joseph had been walking for hours. Well, he assumed hours. He couldn’t tell what time it was because his watch had stopped working. It was permanently stuck at 4:17 PM and had a small crack in the glass. He wondered how that had happened.
He checked his cell phone for the umpteenth time - still no signal. He sighed, exasperated.
He looked up and was surprised to see a child standing in the middle of the path. She had dark hair and was clothed in a tattered black dress. She wore nothing on her small, dirty feet. She just stood and stared wide-eyed at him.
Joseph approached her cautiously and knelt down to be at eye-level with her.
“Hey, kid. Do you know where we are?”
She simply smiled at him and said, “Blank.”
“What?”
The girl smiled wider “Blank,” she repeated
Joseph shook his head in frustration “Okay,” he said in a no-nonsense tone “Where are your parents, kid? I need to talk to them.”
“Blank,”
Thoroughly frustrated, Joseph stood up and walked past the strange girl.
“What are you doing here?” he heard her ask.
Joseph turned around and jumped. The girl had turned around…well, her head had anyway. The rest of her body was still facing forward. Joseph took a step back.
“W-what the Hell is wrong with you?”
The girl stumbled towards him in a jerky, un-natural way. Joseph found himself unable to move, locked in her gaze. She walked until she was about three feet away from him.
“What are you doing here?” she asked again sharply.
“I don’t know, you creep.” Joseph responded, fearfully.
Suddenly, the girl’s legs began stretching the rest of her body upwards until she looked like she stood upon stilts that were grafted to her skin. She swiftly leaned forwards until she was face-to-face with him. Her eyes were gone from their sockets, leaving holes of ashen black in her face. She opened her mouth to reveal two rows of sharp teeth.
“WHY ARE YOU HERE?” she shouted at him.
“I don’t know!” Joseph said, his voice choked with fear “I woke up here. I don’t know!”
“GO BACK. YOU DON’T BELONG HERE! RETURN TO THE BEGINNING!”
Joseph’s limbs were suddenly unlocked. He fell backwards and quickly scrambled to his feet. He took the chance to turn and sprint down the path.
“I can’t go back. This is the only way. There isn’t anything where I woke up! It’s nothing. It goes nowhere!” Joseph shouted to nobody in particular. He looked over his shoulder to see that the creepy girl was gone. She had vanished into thin air. He shivered slightly.
“What was that all about?” he asked himself. He didn’t have much time to contemplate because the pain returned, tearing through him like a dagger. He cried out and fell to the ground in pain. He tried to will the pain away with deep breaths but each breath came short and rattled in his lungs. After a few moments, the pain disappeared. Joseph slowly sat up and breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, a cough erupted from his parched throat. He brought his hand up to his mouth to stifle it. When he drew it away, he was terrified to see his fingers dyed dark red. Blood.
“What’s this place doing to me?” he groaned. He lay back down on the dark ground. He began wondering if the air in this place was poisoned or that this was the site of some sort of weird toxic waste dump. That could explain that freaky kid…sort of.
Joseph lay in silence until the sound of sobbing broke it. He sat up and saw a broad-shouldered man sitting a few feet ahead on the side of the path. He hadn’t been there a moment ago.
The man was shirtless and had long, bleeding claw marks running across his back. His hair was thin, wiry and was stuck upon his head in a matted clump. He was hunched over and was sobbing bitterly into his knees. Joseph stood up and approached him.
“Hey, dude.” He said “You okay?”
The man didn’t look up at him “Nowhere,” he said.
“Excuse me?” Joseph asked.
“This place goes nowhere,” the man responded, continuing to sob “We should go back. Back to the beginning,”
“Uh, maybe you can but I need to get out of here. Going back won’t do anything,” said Joseph.
“No. Must go back. The path goes nowhere.” Said the man.
“ Look, man. You don’t understand. Back at the ‘beginning’ is nowhere. The only way is forward.”
“The path goes nowhere,” said the man, lifting his head slightly from his knees.
“I don’t have time for another of you guys. See you around, Freakshow.” Joseph said, frustrated “Good luck with whatever you want to accomplish, I guess,”
Joseph turned away from the man but he was suddenly grasped roughly by the arm. He swiftly turned back and finally saw the man’s face. The left side was that of a mangy wolf, the other of a human that was so deformed to fit the shape of the wolf’s snout that it was almost un-recognizable as a human.
“You’re going nowhere!” the man shouted, gruffly.
Joseph tried to pull away from him but it was no use. The man’s grip was like an iron claw. He looked up when he heard the sound of growling. Before him was a pack of rabid wolves, teeth bared in frothing mouths.
Gasping in fear, Joseph tried harder to escape the man’s grip. He was suddenly released. The man had disappeared, leaving Joseph alone with the wolves. He turned and ran down the path, the wolves snarling at his heels.
In the most inopportune moment, the pain struck again. It was twice as worse as before, enough for Joseph to feel like he had taken a gunshot to the head. Stars swam before his eyes as he fell, losing consciousness before hitting the ground.
~*~
Joseph awoke and immediately rose to his feet to defend himself. Bad idea. He was hit with a wave of dizziness which brought him back to his knees. He took a deep breath and forced his vision to focus. The wolves were gone. Joseph checked himself over. They hadn’t hurt him at all. Looking around, he found himself in the same location.
He punched the ground in frustration. Would he ever be able to get back?
“Finally awake are you?” said a voice in a bored tone. “Not that I was worried. You do not matter. Nothing matters,”
Joseph looked behind him to see a large, black doorway. Maybe he had moved...somehow.
Beside the door was a strange creature. Joseph couldn’t distinguish the gender because the thing consisted of a flabby pile of skin. It was propped up on various sticks that held it aloft in the air. Its head rested on a stone column so it’s drooping eyes could see. It looked like something out of a Salvador Dali painting. Joseph was intrigued by the look of the creature instead of being afraid. Besides, anything in this place seemed normal to him now.
“Uh, hey. How did I get here?” Joseph said, groggily
“The wolves brought you here. They tend to do that to people who stray from the path. I know they may seem crude but they wouldn’t hurt a human. But that does not matter. Nothing matters” replied the blob.
“What exactly are you?” Joseph asked, fascinated
The blob sighed “It does not matter. Nothing matters. All I know is pain,”
“Oh,” said Joseph “I’m trying to get out of here. Can you tell me which way to go?”
“It does not matter. Nothing matters. Not even the way. There are two.” Said the blob.
“Two ways?” Joseph asked “Which one is fastest?”
“It does not matter. Nothing matters. Both will lead you home. One way or another,” said the blob.
Joseph stood up. “Is one way through that door?” he asked, gesturing to the black door.
“Yes but the way you need is the beginning. But it really does not matter. Nothing matters.”
“But it would take hours to go back. I don’t have that kind of time,” explained Joseph, getting tired of telling people this.
“It is your choice I suppose. It does not matter. Nothing matters”
Joseph moved towards the door and reached for the doorknob.
“Nothing matters. Nothing. Nothing. You will be nothing. It does not matter. Nothing matters,” said the blob.
Joseph set his hand upon the doorknob, ignoring the repetitive words of the blob creature.
“Stop! Joseph, wait!” shouted a voice.
The sudden booming voice caused Joseph to release the doorknob and jump back. Looking behind him, he saw a man standing in the middle of the path. His skin was as black as night and his hair was dark red, topped with a silver crown inlayed with red gems. He carried a lantern on the end of a staff in his left hand.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?” said Joseph
“My name is Efherek, child. I will not harm you. But I have come to bring you home.”
“Uh, no need, dude. Can’t I just go through this door?” asked Joseph
“No. You are not ready for the place beyond that door yet.” answered Efherek “Come now. We must get you to the beginning.”
Efherek snapped his fingers and a black, swirling mist surrounded them. When it cleared, Joseph saw that they were back where he had woken up. The wall of darkness still towered above him, un-yielding.
“There’s nothing here. How do I get home?” asked Joseph
“Step forward, child. Towards the mist.” said Efherek
Joseph did as he was instructed. The moment he stepped into the mist, it cleared away to reveal a shimmering white doorway. Joseph looked at it in awe. Efherek placed a hand on his shoulder.
“You see. If you had taken the time to explore the beginning. You would have found your proper way,” he said
“So, this is definitely the way home?” asked Joseph
He walked towards the door and opened it. He cautiously walked through and as his vision faded to black he heard Efherek say “Yes, child. It’s time to wake up now.”
~*~
Joseph awoke in pain. Not the pain he had been previously experiencing. His limbs were stiff and he could barely move without hurting himself. His vision was blurry once again. He made out a white ceiling and alabaster walls. There were a few dark, circular shapes above him which he decided were light fixtures.
He inhaled a strange medicinal smell. His ribs hurt him to breathe. He tried to shift his head to the side and his neck cracked loudly. He hissed in pain just as he heard a nearby door open.
“What the Hell?...Joseph?”
Joseph turned his head as his eyes focused. He saw his friend, Sam, standing at the door. A look of shock plastered across his face. Sam leaned out the door and shouted to an unseen person.
“Guys, get in here! Someone get a nurse! Joseph’s alive!”
Joseph heard the familiar voices of his friends as they entered the room.
“Oh my God, Jo...you’re back, man,” said Kyle, his voice catching slightly.
Joseph stared at him groggily “Back? What do you mean ‘back’? Where did I go?”
Owen stepped up to his hospital bed and sat in a nearby chair. He took a deep breath and said “Jo...you were dead, man”
Joseph’s eyes widened “W-what?”
“I guess you don’t remember. We were walking home from class...you were hit by a car.” Said Kyle
“You were in a coma for months...the doctors lost you an hour ago,” Sam elaborated.
Joseph’s glanced at the clock. 5:17. Exactly an hour past where his watch had stopped. He couldn’t believe it. He’d been dead all along. Where was that place then. Some sort of afterlife where time stands still? Or maybe it was a place between the living world and the afterlife. If he had gone through the black door, would he have stayed dead? Why did that Efherek guy save him? His words came to Joseph’s mind. You are not ready for the place beyond that door yet. Joseph’s smiled as he understood them. It just hadn’t been his time to die. That’s what those creatures were trying to tell him too. With that thought in mind, Joseph fell into a deep, natural, healing sleep.
-Maureen
No comments:
Post a Comment