Grayson closed the door to the barn and looked over the fields towards the west, as the sun was setting. The horizon was an unbroken line and he followed it with his still youngish eyes. Nothing moved out there, not right now. People had been coming all through the day, as he was working the fields and animals, riding, walking, or driving wagons. Farmers, of course. Nothing else to do out here, in what used to be Dakota Territory. He refused to call it by the name his neighbors were using. "Come with, Grayson" they had said as they rode by. First he had yelled and screamed. Then he had shook his head and looked at them as if they were crazy. Then, finally, he had just ignored them, attending to his work.
He walked into the main house, from which the smell of his wife's cooking came. They had not been blessed with any children, so she and the food were all that welcomed him as he stepped into the kitchen. She looked at him with her green eyes, of late saddened, as his were enraged and slowly turning bitter. He sat down and she put food on his plate. They ate in silence.
"The Joneses came by while you were down by the creek." she said after a while. "Wanted to hear if we were coming."
"What did you tell them?" Grayson asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Just no." she said simply and continued her meal. Grayson grunted and downed the rest of the meal. He watched her clear the table, and as she started the dishes, he got the Good Book out and tried to find something fitting. To himself, although he said nothing to his wife, he thought that nothing the Good Lord had written could have foreseen the predicament they were in. Blasphemy, of course. He knew it. Still...
Monday 7 April 2008
Felt creepier than this.
"I saw him," said the adolescent boy, fear in his eyes. "The dragon thing came for him. He pushed me aside and told me to run. The thing wanted a sacrifice, it said. He volunteered. He just walked right towards it."
"Wh.." Cheryn couldn't even get the words out.
"He wanted to go." The boy turned his head directly to look at her. "He said he had nothing left here to live for."
Cheryn gasped with pain and confusion. "But...but, me. I'm his wife. I love..." her voice trailed off and she fell to her knees in defeat.
And the boy started laughing; at first a small, raspy chuckle that sounded like a cough then developed into a raging cackle, impossibly loud and reverberating about the walls of the school entrance (what's the word?). When Cheryn looked back at him he was no longer a boy, but a creature of evil. A demon, and his skeletal frame shook with the cruel, supernatural laughter, launching him up into the air, but the reverend mother grasped at him, holding him down. The laughter continued, though, and when Cheryn thought her head would explode, he burst into flame and instantly turned into a charred shell.
The three of them jumped and looked down at the blackened body, "He wanted to go..." the thing whispered as the last air disappeared from its lungs.
"No! Do not listen," the reverend mother instructed Cheryn. "You cannot listen to this creature in his living form, for he will never tell the truth then."
Cheryn was feeling lost. This woman before her had been her own teacher nearly nearly 20 years ago. And she did not seem surprised by this at all. She could only stare up at the reverend mother.
"Fetch me my (voice device)," said the reverend mother to the young nun standing nearby. She ran off and came back moments later with something Cheryn thought looked like a hosepipe from a vacuum cleaner.
The reverend mother placed this over the burnt creature's mouth and flipped a switch that pumped air into him again until it looked ready to burst.
"Now," she said to it, simultaneously weaving her fingers in a strange movement above the end of the pipe, "What are you?"
For a second, nothing, and Cheryn could only gaze on in confusion and disbelief, and then,
"LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!" The screaming started and went on, and it wasn't just sound emanating from the end of the pipe, but colored dust and ash, swirling out from the center.
"It is a lying demon," declared the reverend mother, "as I suspected. But lies are sometimes no less dangerous than actions. Beware even now of what this thing says."
But Cheryn wasn't listening to her anymore. There was something about the colored dust. It began swirling in towards the pipe again, and it seemed to draw her with it. She approached, and the screams of LIAR! were still there, but she couldn't hear that as clearly now. Her gaze fixed on the swirling dust, she heard other words. She heard James's voice. Bits and pieces of it. She put her ear close to listen.
"Cheryn disappears every 15 seconds..." James was saying from the end of the pipe. "I can't keep track of her. We have no life anymore."
Cheryn felt a stab at this, but couldn't bring herself to stop listening.
"(I can't remember what else he said.)"
The pipe was yanked out of her hands and Cheryn jerked back to find the foyer full of teachers, all looking extremely distressed and wary.
"What did you hear?" demanded the reverend mother.
"I heard James."
The reverend mother looked uneasy.
"You still cannot believe the words, dear, no matter what was spoken. But all is not lost. James may still be alive."
"Wh.." Cheryn couldn't even get the words out.
"He wanted to go." The boy turned his head directly to look at her. "He said he had nothing left here to live for."
Cheryn gasped with pain and confusion. "But...but, me. I'm his wife. I love..." her voice trailed off and she fell to her knees in defeat.
And the boy started laughing; at first a small, raspy chuckle that sounded like a cough then developed into a raging cackle, impossibly loud and reverberating about the walls of the school entrance (what's the word?). When Cheryn looked back at him he was no longer a boy, but a creature of evil. A demon, and his skeletal frame shook with the cruel, supernatural laughter, launching him up into the air, but the reverend mother grasped at him, holding him down. The laughter continued, though, and when Cheryn thought her head would explode, he burst into flame and instantly turned into a charred shell.
The three of them jumped and looked down at the blackened body, "He wanted to go..." the thing whispered as the last air disappeared from its lungs.
"No! Do not listen," the reverend mother instructed Cheryn. "You cannot listen to this creature in his living form, for he will never tell the truth then."
Cheryn was feeling lost. This woman before her had been her own teacher nearly nearly 20 years ago. And she did not seem surprised by this at all. She could only stare up at the reverend mother.
"Fetch me my (voice device)," said the reverend mother to the young nun standing nearby. She ran off and came back moments later with something Cheryn thought looked like a hosepipe from a vacuum cleaner.
The reverend mother placed this over the burnt creature's mouth and flipped a switch that pumped air into him again until it looked ready to burst.
"Now," she said to it, simultaneously weaving her fingers in a strange movement above the end of the pipe, "What are you?"
For a second, nothing, and Cheryn could only gaze on in confusion and disbelief, and then,
"LIAR! LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!" The screaming started and went on, and it wasn't just sound emanating from the end of the pipe, but colored dust and ash, swirling out from the center.
"It is a lying demon," declared the reverend mother, "as I suspected. But lies are sometimes no less dangerous than actions. Beware even now of what this thing says."
But Cheryn wasn't listening to her anymore. There was something about the colored dust. It began swirling in towards the pipe again, and it seemed to draw her with it. She approached, and the screams of LIAR! were still there, but she couldn't hear that as clearly now. Her gaze fixed on the swirling dust, she heard other words. She heard James's voice. Bits and pieces of it. She put her ear close to listen.
"Cheryn disappears every 15 seconds..." James was saying from the end of the pipe. "I can't keep track of her. We have no life anymore."
Cheryn felt a stab at this, but couldn't bring herself to stop listening.
"(I can't remember what else he said.)"
The pipe was yanked out of her hands and Cheryn jerked back to find the foyer full of teachers, all looking extremely distressed and wary.
"What did you hear?" demanded the reverend mother.
"I heard James."
The reverend mother looked uneasy.
"You still cannot believe the words, dear, no matter what was spoken. But all is not lost. James may still be alive."
Tuesday 1 April 2008
April 1st.
At least the rain had stopped as the couple followed the guide through the night-black jungle. He was half a head shorter than either of them and had a weak flashlight that he waved back and forth, sometimes shining on their feet to see the not-quite path beneath them, sometimes shining forward to see what was ahead. What was ahead seemed to be a neverending slog through damp jungle; broad, flat leaves slapping them wetly in the face as they passed.
"Here! Here!" The guide excitedly waggled his hand to indicate something. (His name) and (her name) crept forward hoping against hope, but were confused and disappointed.
In the small clearing before them was a deep pit which had previously been covered by thin tree branches, but these were nearly all gone or broken; no one had used this place for some time.
"Here! Here!" The guide excitedly waggled his hand to indicate something. (His name) and (her name) crept forward hoping against hope, but were confused and disappointed.
In the small clearing before them was a deep pit which had previously been covered by thin tree branches, but these were nearly all gone or broken; no one had used this place for some time.
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