Somewhere, Between Hell And Nowhere
Short horror.
I lingered upon a swing, alone in the park. It was already well past midnight and hope was fleeting... "Perhaps she could not come out tonight? Perhaps she would not even try." Then I heard footsteps shuffling through the crisp Autumn leaves. I did not turn to look... I had to keep my composure. Without saying a word, she sat into the swing next to me and started to swing back and forth. This young girl was no stranger to flight. Her blond hair was trained to flow, gracefully with the breeze.
"Don't look at her," I told myself, "Her disappointment is too much to swallow." Instead I stared down at my feet, wile I nervously dug up a stone with the toe of my shoe. A stone buried deep within the dirt. Trying to free itself from the earth. "I'm sorry about what I said," I remarked. And after a long silence she finally replied," I'm listening." Sara had confided in me, something that was a little hard to believe. And so... I said that she was nuts... "Fucking nuts" to be technical.
I knew then, she had ever intention of forgiving me. But she was going to make me beg for it. She had too much esteem, to just accept some half hearted apology. In fact, she needed more than just an apology. She needed to know if I would fallow her.
"Where will we go?" I asked.
"Somewhere."
"Somewhere where? Ohio, Texas, where are we to go?"
"Somewhere between hell and nowhere..."
"Sounds lovely," I scoffed, "What's it like this time of year?"
She didn't look too amused...
So I muttered, under my breath, "This hasn't been easy for me, you know." She abruptly stopped, with her feet skidding into the ground. "Do you think this is easy for me?" she fired back. " Well most girls ask if I would be willing to die for them. You're the first girl to actually mean it!"
"Go home then!" She exclaimed. " I don't need you around!"
Sara hadn't been dead very long. But stubborn? She was born that way. I knew this girl since kinder garden. She once told on me for eating paste, I can't say we were ever friends. Hell, we barely talked. You might even go as far as saying we were from the opposite sides of the track. At least until last year... When she committed suicide.
Sara was a straight lace. She preferred bible study over hooky. Pep rallies over smoking. Sunday school, over drinking. The girl was just no fun. But no one ever saw the pain that was stirring beneath the surface. She hid the scars on her wrists, almost as well as the scars on her heart. As long as she pretended to be what everyone wanted her to be, she was loved. She lived alone with her father just down the street form my house. He was a phony too. Acting like such a model christen and pillar of the community. Most of his community service was done at the corner pub every single night.
There is no rational explanation for happened that night. But what I know is that she couldn't abide by God's commandments any longer... You've heard them, Hear no evil, see no evil. I guess the funny thing is... When you can no longer please God, the devil takes pity on you. After all... That's what landed him in hell... He simply could not remain silent, anymore. And so... while she laid awake one night, something in her room crept up next to her, and whispered in her ear.
She did not understand what the voice was saying... only that it was beautiful. It was as if the voice was speaking directly to her heart, in code so her conciseness would not understand. Girls love secrets. The ultimate secret is the one that sneaks past the mind and goes directly to the soul. With each passing word her head tingled, as if hundreds of tiny spiders scurried the surface of her brain. Then she understood one final passage... "What will you see, when you fall?"
Her father pulled into his driveway, late one night. He saw her sitting on the ledge of her bedroom window... High up on the third story of the pure white house, with black shutters. You would think he would have been perplexed by this, but he knew exactly what she was up to. And why not? He was the reason... "Stay right there!" He shouted, as he ran frantically through the front door and up the stairs. He tried to open the door, but found it had been locked from the inside. Something she always wanted to do metaphorically, So this was... more of a symbolic gesture.
He screamed for her to open the door but she did not respond. He rammed himself against the door in desperation, several times before the door finally gave. She looked back at him, standing poised, in the doorway. Tears ran down her cheeks as blood dripped from her fingertips. Cautiously, he walked towards her. But before he was close enough to seize her, she leaned over and allowed herself to fall gracefully, from the bedroom window.
He watched helplessly as she fell, everything seemed as if it were in slow motion. "Oh God, no!" He whimpered. But before she was about to hit the pavement, something beautiful happened... Sara transformed into a raven. Her arms became wings as she swooped above the tree tops and off into the midnight sky. Never to return home again.
They found her blood all over her room. Her father tried to make rational excuses, but eventually he ran out of alibis. So he told this story to the police... They locked him up. He was held in prison for weeks, until his nervous breakdown. He was eventually transferred to an asylum, but his illness only deepened. Oh, his lost little girl... She grew wings and flew away. Actions can cut so very deep, but words are death to the soul.
Then one night, he was awakened by the sound of something tapping against his window. He got up from his hospital bed and staggered towards it. There on the windowsill he saw the raven. The beautiful black bird, that was once his daughter. "Sara?" He whispered ,as he lifted the window.
Once the window was opened , the raven became Sara again. She looked back at him with indifference as his eyes began to swell with tears. "You've come back to me," he said with a gut-wrenching tone. She shook her head from side to side, then replied," I'm not your daughter anymore... I have a new father... And he would like to have a word with you."
With one hand, she reached in and grabbed him by the throat. He tried to pull her hand off, but her grip was unnatural. It was as if his neck was wedged into a vice, and someone was slowly turning the lever.
He made painful gurgling noises as he desperately gasped for air. She was almost smiling as he fell to his knees. Then he felt something snap... And offered resistance, no more.
They found his body on the floor... White laced curtains, dancing in the breeze of the open window. The marks on his neck were obvious. But with no explanation of how someone could get up to his room on the ninth floor, they concluded that he had slipped and broke his neck. Passing away peacefully, into the stillness of nocturnal unconsciousness.
It was in the wee hours before dawn when she first came to visit me. My room was in the attic... And I had just dozed off, after a midnight raid on my dad's liquor cabinet. I usually slept with the windows open, even in October. I was awakened by a cold hand upon my shoulder. I looked up and saw her silhouette, standing in the darkness. "Sara?" I mumbled. I knew she had been dead for weeks now, but my mind was still foggy, I figured I must be dreaming. She offered no explanation. But simply commanded, "Move over!"
So I did. She laid down next to me and pulled the covers over her. Her body was frigid, so I wrapped my arm around her. Whatever warmth I could give, I would gladly do so. I tried to comprehend what was happening , but the whisky made it too hard to think straight. I remember falling back to sleep with the sent of perfume from her neck. And when I woke up the next morning, she was gone... I assumed I was right in thinking that it was all just a dream. But every night since, she returned.
I don't know why she choose me. Maybe it was just the open window. Nevertheless, she told me what happened. Then she told me of worlds that exist, just beyond this one. Nighttime worlds... Places that we only dreamed of. And the only way to get there... Is to fly...
So now I sit here with a choice to make... Death!!! With the eternal landscape of morbid dreams? Or life without her... She is waiting patiently for an answer....
"Don't look at her," I told myself, "Her disappointment is too much to swallow." Instead I stared down at my feet, wile I nervously dug up a stone with the toe of my shoe. A stone buried deep within the dirt. Trying to free itself from the earth. "I'm sorry about what I said," I remarked. And after a long silence she finally replied," I'm listening." Sara had confided in me, something that was a little hard to believe. And so... I said that she was nuts... "Fucking nuts" to be technical.
I knew then, she had ever intention of forgiving me. But she was going to make me beg for it. She had too much esteem, to just accept some half hearted apology. In fact, she needed more than just an apology. She needed to know if I would fallow her.
"Where will we go?" I asked.
"Somewhere."
"Somewhere where? Ohio, Texas, where are we to go?"
"Somewhere between hell and nowhere..."
"Sounds lovely," I scoffed, "What's it like this time of year?"
She didn't look too amused...
So I muttered, under my breath, "This hasn't been easy for me, you know." She abruptly stopped, with her feet skidding into the ground. "Do you think this is easy for me?" she fired back. " Well most girls ask if I would be willing to die for them. You're the first girl to actually mean it!"
"Go home then!" She exclaimed. " I don't need you around!"
Sara hadn't been dead very long. But stubborn? She was born that way. I knew this girl since kinder garden. She once told on me for eating paste, I can't say we were ever friends. Hell, we barely talked. You might even go as far as saying we were from the opposite sides of the track. At least until last year... When she committed suicide.
Sara was a straight lace. She preferred bible study over hooky. Pep rallies over smoking. Sunday school, over drinking. The girl was just no fun. But no one ever saw the pain that was stirring beneath the surface. She hid the scars on her wrists, almost as well as the scars on her heart. As long as she pretended to be what everyone wanted her to be, she was loved. She lived alone with her father just down the street form my house. He was a phony too. Acting like such a model christen and pillar of the community. Most of his community service was done at the corner pub every single night.
There is no rational explanation for happened that night. But what I know is that she couldn't abide by God's commandments any longer... You've heard them, Hear no evil, see no evil. I guess the funny thing is... When you can no longer please God, the devil takes pity on you. After all... That's what landed him in hell... He simply could not remain silent, anymore. And so... while she laid awake one night, something in her room crept up next to her, and whispered in her ear.
She did not understand what the voice was saying... only that it was beautiful. It was as if the voice was speaking directly to her heart, in code so her conciseness would not understand. Girls love secrets. The ultimate secret is the one that sneaks past the mind and goes directly to the soul. With each passing word her head tingled, as if hundreds of tiny spiders scurried the surface of her brain. Then she understood one final passage... "What will you see, when you fall?"
Her father pulled into his driveway, late one night. He saw her sitting on the ledge of her bedroom window... High up on the third story of the pure white house, with black shutters. You would think he would have been perplexed by this, but he knew exactly what she was up to. And why not? He was the reason... "Stay right there!" He shouted, as he ran frantically through the front door and up the stairs. He tried to open the door, but found it had been locked from the inside. Something she always wanted to do metaphorically, So this was... more of a symbolic gesture.
He screamed for her to open the door but she did not respond. He rammed himself against the door in desperation, several times before the door finally gave. She looked back at him, standing poised, in the doorway. Tears ran down her cheeks as blood dripped from her fingertips. Cautiously, he walked towards her. But before he was close enough to seize her, she leaned over and allowed herself to fall gracefully, from the bedroom window.
He watched helplessly as she fell, everything seemed as if it were in slow motion. "Oh God, no!" He whimpered. But before she was about to hit the pavement, something beautiful happened... Sara transformed into a raven. Her arms became wings as she swooped above the tree tops and off into the midnight sky. Never to return home again.
They found her blood all over her room. Her father tried to make rational excuses, but eventually he ran out of alibis. So he told this story to the police... They locked him up. He was held in prison for weeks, until his nervous breakdown. He was eventually transferred to an asylum, but his illness only deepened. Oh, his lost little girl... She grew wings and flew away. Actions can cut so very deep, but words are death to the soul.
Then one night, he was awakened by the sound of something tapping against his window. He got up from his hospital bed and staggered towards it. There on the windowsill he saw the raven. The beautiful black bird, that was once his daughter. "Sara?" He whispered ,as he lifted the window.
Once the window was opened , the raven became Sara again. She looked back at him with indifference as his eyes began to swell with tears. "You've come back to me," he said with a gut-wrenching tone. She shook her head from side to side, then replied," I'm not your daughter anymore... I have a new father... And he would like to have a word with you."
With one hand, she reached in and grabbed him by the throat. He tried to pull her hand off, but her grip was unnatural. It was as if his neck was wedged into a vice, and someone was slowly turning the lever.
He made painful gurgling noises as he desperately gasped for air. She was almost smiling as he fell to his knees. Then he felt something snap... And offered resistance, no more.
They found his body on the floor... White laced curtains, dancing in the breeze of the open window. The marks on his neck were obvious. But with no explanation of how someone could get up to his room on the ninth floor, they concluded that he had slipped and broke his neck. Passing away peacefully, into the stillness of nocturnal unconsciousness.
It was in the wee hours before dawn when she first came to visit me. My room was in the attic... And I had just dozed off, after a midnight raid on my dad's liquor cabinet. I usually slept with the windows open, even in October. I was awakened by a cold hand upon my shoulder. I looked up and saw her silhouette, standing in the darkness. "Sara?" I mumbled. I knew she had been dead for weeks now, but my mind was still foggy, I figured I must be dreaming. She offered no explanation. But simply commanded, "Move over!"
So I did. She laid down next to me and pulled the covers over her. Her body was frigid, so I wrapped my arm around her. Whatever warmth I could give, I would gladly do so. I tried to comprehend what was happening , but the whisky made it too hard to think straight. I remember falling back to sleep with the sent of perfume from her neck. And when I woke up the next morning, she was gone... I assumed I was right in thinking that it was all just a dream. But every night since, she returned.
I don't know why she choose me. Maybe it was just the open window. Nevertheless, she told me what happened. Then she told me of worlds that exist, just beyond this one. Nighttime worlds... Places that we only dreamed of. And the only way to get there... Is to fly...
So now I sit here with a choice to make... Death!!! With the eternal landscape of morbid dreams? Or life without her... She is waiting patiently for an answer....
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