Horor[PIC2016]

The young man slowly regained consciousness. He was lying facedown in dirt and leaves. For a moment he just lay there as he listened for danger and checked his body for damage. Aside from a slight ringing in his ears, he was fine. He rolled over and opened his eyes, staring up at the naked tree limbs above him. Unbidden, thoughts swirled into the tranquil moment. Why am I here? Where is Here? The thoughts left as quickly as they came, returning the young man to the eternal present.

He sat up, wincing as the ringing in his ears blossomed into pain. The pain divorced him from the moment, until the man consciously distanced himself from the pain, recognizing that he was separate. He sat for a moment, trying to sift his thoughts. Something hazy lingered at the edges of his conscious, something important... He let go of the thought, resolute in the knowledge that it would return to him, or it wouldn't. He looks around him, trees in every direction, except right in front of him there was a building. He sat there looking at it, and a word popped into his head. Church. The word felt heavy, as if it had some significance to it. He got to his feet carefully, to mitigate the rush of pain seeking to distance him from the moment.

He began to walk towards this church, it seemed like the only thing to do. As he walked, the wind began to softly blow through the trees, seeming to bring with it ephemeral whispers that threatened to entrance him in their call, as if, if he listened hard enough, he could make out their secrets... One time, perhaps, but presently this young man had no regard for secrets. The church was farther away than the man had originally thought, and also much larger. Finally, he stood outside the two heavy wooden doors that seemed closed against eternity. He reached a hand out to lay his palm against the door, and as he did so the door swung in smoothly under his touch. Without pause, he strode in.

He was greeted by quite the sight, a staircase rose on either side of a statue of a Demon, his mind whispered. As if in response to the thought, the statue moved. A part of the young man screamed at this, statues don't move! Yet another part seemed to accept this without pause. The hand came down off the demons head and extended out to the young man, the statues face one of kindness and repose. Speak your wish, that it might be granted by my power. The young man said nothing, wished for nothing, wanted for nothing. The demons form twisted, the edges appearing to warp as, from within the depths of its white color inky black and fiery red swirled to the surface. No longer did the statue seem a statue, but appeared to be flesh and blood, though an inkling told the young man that he would find no blood in this things veins, only thickly swirling darkness. Lastly, the face changed from one of kindness to one of pure undying hatred. The man remained unsurprised. From his throne of thorns and skulls, the demon raged and threatened him with eternal pain and suffering, eternal condemnation. A smirk came to the young mans lips first, then a laugh bubbled through, clear and alive he laughed in the face of his enemy. The demon seemed to shrink back before the young mans laughter, the life receding until all that remained was the original statue.

The young man ascended the staircase, choosing for this purpose to climb the left set of stairs. as he took the stairs one step at a time, a feeling of solemnity washed over him, from whence he knew not. When he came around the statue, he saw that the staircase ended at the wall ahead of him, leading nowhere. Resting there against the wall was an old, circular mirror with spiderwebs about it. As he drew closer, however, he realized that the spiderwebs were actually etched into the surface of the mirror. Odd, but the mirror seemed to be failing at the one task it was created for, it reflected nothing in its surface, only a blank greyness.

As he stepped in front of the mirror, however, it reflected his image and he got a good look at himself. He stood about 6', had long, lanky brown hair that seemed wet and greasy. A large nose was set under dark and brooding heavyset eyes. Thick lips obscured yellow teeth. He wore black clothes stained with something dark, and his hands were red? He looked down at himself, the blood was not his. Whose was it? and how did it get there? The blood looked and felt wet, but he could not wipe it off. He looked back into the mirror, now inky black, now revealing procession of images. Him, bashing in a mans skull in a dark alley, taking the mans jewelry and wallet, spitting on the corpse and walking away. Him, strangling on old woman in her large home, the smell of her hair coming anew to his nostrils, threatening to wipe him away into oblivion. But the mirror was not done illuminating the darkness, oh no.

One after another, he watched himself kill. People animals, ideas and happiness, he watched himself leave a trail of darkness and despair. He wept, but he could not wrench his eyes away nor close them, even if he had wanted to. As he watched, some part of him would not let him turn away. Finally the images ended, and left him staring at inky darkness. By this point, he was on his knees staring abjectly at the mirror. He must have stared into that dark portal for hours, thinking thoughts without thinking. He wrestled with himself, with the darkness inside. He could not understand this, could not fathom being the person that did those horrible things, and yet it undeniably was him, he could remember it all... Still staring into the darkness, he probed his inner mind, probed the fraying edged of his consciousness. As he explored, he wandered over the edge of a brink, and suddenly could not differentiate between himself and the darkness he was staring at.

His mind was once again at peace. He had done these things, horrible things, but he was that person no longer. This person that he was now could not be further from that man that he had been, and that was enough. Before him, its purpose fulfilled, the mirror slowly disintegrated into nothingness. He stood to his feet, and as he did so the church around him faded away, leaving in its place a blood red sky with clouds of darkness. All about, there were pictures of pain and horror and despair, but the one that drew him was one of a bunch of porcelain baby heads. As he watched, they came to life, crying tears of blood and wailing in unearthly tones of misery. As he watched, and turned about, suddenly that's what this whole landscape was. Not anger, not fear, but pure Misery.

He cast about, for some way to bring happiness to this place, to bring forth a shining beacon of hope. He could find nothing here, and so he turned his gaze inward. Piercing his own soul, he found the light that shone within, and the pure laughter once again bubbled from the depths of eternity and escaped his mouth. Though he laughed softly, the land rang with the sound, and was transformed back into nothingness. Nothingness, and yet he remained. As he felt himself, he saw a point of light bloom in the darkness, and so he ventured forth, to investigate...

a reply to: 5leepingWarrior

(Whisper) don't forget the pictures, mate!

a reply to: swanne
Right you are, thanks! Would've gone and forgot them entirely lol.

a reply to: 5leepingWarrior

I like that you linked them too, that's cool

~Tenth

a reply to: 5leepingWarrior

Hi 5leepingWarrior!

That was great! I really enjoyed it. (love your style of writing)
Excellent ending too.

S&F
I'm just reading all the new entries now, and wow...the competition is fierce! Really good writing so far...nice to see.

jacy

a reply to: jacygirl
Glad you enjoyed it! As I made mention of, I felt I had to force those porcelain dolls in there, but I really like the way it turned out! Serves as a good lesson for future writing, I'll have to experiment with just throwing random things in and seeing where they go... I think this is my favorite story I've written before, and it came from 4 random pictures...

a reply to: 5leepingWarrior

Whoosh. Enjoyed the imagery - nicely done!

- AB

a reply to: 5leepingWarrior

You know...I like mine too, lol.
I actually like all of them so far.

I loved the picture idea, but kind of panicked when I looked them over.
Strangely, I just started typing...and my story unfolded on it's own.

Mind you, I had about 13 tabs open so I could keep referencing stuff, but it didn't feel like work.
I think this would be great as another contest with new pictures.

jacy

Good story! I was nervous in the beginning because it seemed similar to mine.
I thought "Oh no it will look like I copied." Fortunately we went in different directions.
I like what you wrote.

a reply to: 5leepingWarrior

I love how the ending left me hanging for a sequel!

Well done...Bravo!!

a reply to: AboveBoard
Glad you enjoyed it!

a reply to: jacygirl
I like them all too.

Strangely, I just started typing...and my story unfolded on it's own.

Not strange at all to me. That's how my writing process typically is, and my writing tends to go best when I am surrendering to the flow, and the story is coming to me one word at a time. That's why this contest was such a big lesson, it proved that sometimes, you need to mess with the flow for the story to go right. This story Was weird for me though, in that it wasn't like my normal process at all, I was just typing and letting the story type itself, without the usual dictation in my mind first. Instead, I saw flashes of the story before I wrote them, like how the statue was a demon, or how the mirror would show him his past.
I would Love to write in another contest like this one!

a reply to: Errollorre
Thanks! I liked yours too.

a reply to: TNMockingbird
One of the things I liked about this story is how it picked up at a crucial moment and dropped of at a crucial moment... I made a huge leap with this story in the way that the character was introduced naturally to the storyline, usually I get too overdescriptive regarding the characters, and why they're there...
As per a sequel, I certainly enjoyed writing this enough, and I can see a wide range of possibilities to this story, I will most certainly be trying my hand at writing more.

a reply to: 5leepingWarrior

HI, I hope you do keep writing here for us, because that was excellent - you're a really good writer. I also loved the way the linked pictures made them appear as if seen through his eyes; they kind of 'blinked' into view which was a really clever addition.

S&F&

B x

a reply to: beansidhe
Thanks! I certainly shall keep writing here for you guys, whenever the inspiration or mood strikes.

It's a secret, but I linked them because it's a lot easier that way I agree though the effect is pretty cool ill remember it f
or next time lol.

a reply to: 5leepingWarrior

the long overdue epilogue:

He opened his eyes, then, as a young boy, before all that darkness began. He remembered, quite clearly, his experience with the mirror, however, and he found himself about to begin it all again... he had scissors, a candle, and tweezers, and he had a squirrel tied up, squirmg on the ground... the scissors were in his hand and he had been just about to cut its stomach open, but he shuddered with revulsion and whispered "sorry" to the creature and instead snipped its bonds... the creature scampered off, and the boy heaved a sigh of relief. He felt a great weight lift off him then, and he snuffed out the candle and stood, resolute that this time around, at least, things were going to be different. He was going to help people, to blaze a trail of light instead of the horror of darkness. He didn't know who or what was responsible, but he was ever so thankful for this second chance, and he resolved to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and a second chance, since he had been given his. For now, though, he went inside, turned off his light, and he went to sleep.