by Alexia Purdy
Never Say Such Things…
A Fall Into Darkness Story
By
Alexia Purdy
Never Say Such Things
A Fall Into Darkness Story
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Copyright © February 2013 Alexia Purdy
All rights reserved
Published by
Lyrical Lit. Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.
Cover Design © by Alexia Purdy
Cover photography © Lisa_A
ALSO BY ALEXIA PURDY:
Novels:
Reign of Blood
Disarming (Reign of Blood #2)
Ever Shade (A Dark Faerie Tale #1)
Ever Fire (A Dark Faerie Tale) #2
Short Stories:
Evangeline
The Faery Hunt
Poetic Collections:
Whispers of Dreams
Five Fathoms
Anthology:
Beyond the Never
AVAILABLE via Amazon.com
~Day of Night~
THE COBBLESTONES WERE slick and the air felt balmy as I hurried along, dodging the hordes of people filling up the avenue. I thought I heard someone say my name, “Hey Alan!” but pretended not to hear because I was late for my next college course. Missing any more classes was sure to lower my average. I didn’t want that, but the day had started off pretty bad and I was already sure crawling back into bed would’ve been a better option than the one I’d taken .
The streets were drenched and a fine mist from the cars speeding by mucked up my slacks as I stepped too close to the edge of the sidewalk. Cursing under my breath, I tried to shrug it off. I forgot my umbrella and my clothes were borderline soaked. Already a fine mess and there were still a few blocks to go to get to the Langle Stewart building, where my class was being held. The puddles were endless. Dodging one landed me in another, and my socks were now ruined. Pushing back a dark, black strand of hair from my face, I darted my marbled, brown eyes across the way and huddled momentarily under an overhang awning to the local liquor store.
The rain poured in sheets, getting thicker as the moments ticked by. Checking my backpack, it was still holding up, luckily. It was extremely water resistant. For how long it would stay dry inside where my expensive textbooks sat, I had no idea. I zipped it back up and stared at the alleyway to my right. It was covered in shadows and looked ominous. The solemn sky was darker than the light on a regular day with the angered clouds swirling down closer to the ground. They moved like soft wisps of greyed-out cotton, soft and light. But, I knew better. I knew they had more to pour down onto me any moment now.
I sighed. I would take the shortcut through the alley between the buildings in hopes of making it on time.
***
“You okay, Alan?”
A soft, familiar voice jolted me out of my revere and I glanced up at the young woman that placed her hand on my old wrinkled one. Her brassy, blond hair looked over processed but was pulled back into a neat ponytail. Her peachy skin was young, but her eyes shined with a knowledge that youth doesn’t possess. She checked my pulse and listened to my chest with her stethoscope. Its cold metal shocked my skin, as did her cold, scrubbed hands. Sitting in my bed at the long term care facility I had lived at since forever, no one but my wife ever visited me. Though, this had always been my own fault.
“Need anything while I’m here?” The nurse fluffed my pillow up and tucked the blanket around me.
“No, thank you, Ms. Landry, I’m fine.” I let out my breath and closed my eyes as the flashes of memory lingered behind my lids. She let out a satisfied sigh and retreated from the room, down the echoing hallway where voices always tended to hover. There was always noise here, never a true silence. It wasn’t something I would ever truly have. Never again, since that fateful day.
~Destined Darkness~
IT WAS STICKY and the humidity clung to my skin, hair and clothes like a film that wouldn’t come off. I was drenched. The alley offered no better recourse from the storm but it was the shortcut and I was going to race through it. I almost turned around. Why bother to continue? I was going to arrive a sopping mess and would definitely need another shower.
About to give up on getting to my classes on time and call it a day, I stood in the glumness of the alleyway, watching the fat drops of dirty rain plop down from the edges of the roofs above. The smell of mold and old garbage filled the air in its pungent embrace. A small river of water scurried down the center of the path, a worn out crevice, its bed. I almost laughed. Wet chunks of my dark, charcoal hair clung to my face and fell annoyingly into my eyes. I felt a slight of bliss at this most inopportune time. The patter of rain felt comforting. But, it was just a farce, a lie in the real evil of the storm. I fell for its beauty, the slight pleasantries of bad things. I fall for it every time for I had nothing but faith that everything and everyone was good. This was my undoing.
As I turned to head back home, the sky seemed to darken even more. It was late morning, but the morbid skies sucked the light away as if a late evening’s light had traded for the now. I felt the hair on my neck rise and the gooseflesh contract along my arms as the feeling of being watched made my stomach knot up. I threw my eyes about, finding nothing out of the ordinary in the grime of the alleyway.
Large garbage cans stood rusty and rank with most of their contents strewed about the cobblestones of the walkway. Musty rot clung to the corners where the building met the street. An old stale and ripped couch stood soaked and smelling of old cigarettes and dog hair, flushed to the wall. I wondered briefly if someone slept on it. It was disgusting and I shook the dread away.
As I stepped forward a voice echoed against the walls, snarling and contriving.
“Lost are ya?” the man snickered.
I turned around slowly, gripping the strap to my back pack and readying to run. The man was dressed head to toe in black, and a soaked, black ski cap framed his face, hiding his eyes and hair. His face was covered in stubble and his teeth flashed a sinister smile. A flash of metal twirled in his hand as he crept closer, obviously looking to rob or maim me.
Great.
“Er…nope. Not at all, thanks.” I turned to run but the guy grabbed my pack and pulled me down with it. I struggled to grasp my footing and tug back with all my strength. My expensive textbooks were in that pack. No way did I have enough to replace them. What would he do with a bagful of books anyway? His ignorance made me seethe and more determined to win.
“Just give me the damn bag!” he grunted, as I pulled and kicked him in the shin. His grasp waned and sent me flying back into a cold splash of muddy water. My pants were ruined but I had my bag. I looked up at my assailant as I scrambled to my feet, but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere, anymore.
“What the…” My words slipped out of my mouth as my eyes came to rest upon a scene from a horror movie. A ghastly looking gargoyle with vast wings, like a bat’s, stood on hind legs as its massive muscular arms held up the robber against the rough brick of the building. His face turned a rancid shade of purple as the thing squeezed its taloned fingers around
his neck, whispering to him just low enough for me to not understand its words. Even the whispers rumbled around like a growl. I couldn’t move. My feet refused to take me−frozen in shock and disbelief. Nothing I’d ever known would’ve ever prepared me for this. Nothing.
“Please…don’t kill me..” The robber’s own breath barely croaked from his lips as he begged the thing for mercy.
“You have no grounds to ask for that. Your soul is tainted. You belong to me.”
With that, the demon pulled in a breath, sucking out a vapor from the man’s lips as she snapped his neck. It savored his essence as it dropped his lifeless body with a dull thump onto the wet pavement.
No.
I inched back, trying to pull my unwilling body into motion. It was stiff, like something held me in its grasp, pushed at me and turned my bones into lead. Nevertheless, I moved back, slowly, away from this unearthly beast.
“Stop.” Its voice boomed in my ears, making me gasp as the rain spilled down harder, stinging my skin and making it harder to see.
“What are you?” a foreign voice asked, making me wonder who would be so brave to demand questions from this beast. The Gargoyle smiled, its stone teeth sharpened to points that nothing but a shark could compare to it. I was surprised to realize it was me asking this of it.
“You cannot leave. I compel you to stay.” Its voice smoothed out into a woman’s voice, but it still echoed in my head like a gong.
I remained in my spot. Unable to even draw a deeper breath than the short shallow ones I could barely manage from my shock. I wanted to run, I wanted to never look back and erase the memory that I’d ever laid eyes on such a thing as this. What did it want? Why me? I was no one. I wasn’t evil or tainted like that robber. I kept to myself, went to college, got good grades, worked part time at the local diner to pay my way through school. I had some money that I’d saved building computers for people while still in high school and doing all sorts of techie stuff. I never did anything illegal. I was incredibly boring−a nothing in the eyes of anyone. Nothing special.
“Don’t be so sure…” The woman’s amplified voice echoed again in my head, making me reach up to hold it between my hands, as if it vibrated with her words.
“Leave me alone!” I yelled through my gritted teeth. The pain subsided as she gave a haughty laugh and approached me. Her stone fingers reached out, grazing my cheek.
“There, there child. No need to fight.” Her hand felt warm and eased the pain of the ringing in my head away. I blinked up at her as my breath slowed.
Her face was human now, but her features still grey and made of stone. Her wings more angelic but veins of granite ran through the carved feathers.
What the hell?
“I won’t hurt you. At least, as long as you do as I say. Understand?”
I nodded, easing my hands from my head as I watched her shift. Her movements were fluid but her eyes were dead, like orbs of rock. My heart raced in fear. She wasn’t a good being. She reeked of evil and treachery.
“Yes,” I whispered. I wanted to run still, but I couldn’t. She held me prisoner already.
“Good. Now, what do I do with you?” She grinned, tilting her head as she studied my face. I looked away, her eyes haunted me as she dissected into my head. I felt her moving around, seeing my past, my present, my habits, my likes and desires, my dislikes. It was disorientating and made me increasingly dizzy. Her probing was like someone holding my brain hostage, turning it here and there with a nauseating shake. I wanted to hurl.
“Please, let me go,” I pleaded. The muscles seized down my legs as I dropped to my knees. I couldn’t stand anymore. Her invasion had drained my energy like a sweet draught she enjoyed a little too much. I felt my life waning away. Falling to my hands, I attempted to crawl away but she was in front of me, just like that. Her movements were unseen and brisk as she picked me up and shoved me to the wall, pushing on my chest with her cold hands.
“I can’t do that, you see. I need you to do something for me. If you value your soul, you will do this for me, whatever it is that I ask. Understand?” She narrowed her gaze, her mind probe done. I felt a bit clearer with her out of my head, but still weak.
“What do you want me to do?”
She smiled, or snarled, I’m not quite sure. Either way, it wasn’t pretty.
“I want souls. I want you to get them for me. Untainted souls. These unsavory ones taste bad on my tongue. I want souls that are pure and good. They don’t have to be perfect, no one is. I want the ones that are giving, selfless, true and honest. Bring me one soul a year and in exchange, I grant you one year more to live. If you don’t bring me a soul, I take yours for pay.”
She sighed, seemingly happy with the deal she’d offered. “I offer you a way out, though, forever. If you bring me the soul of your true love, I will leave you to live your life as if you’d never met me. Otherwise, in one year, I will collect a soul. Do not fail me. I will find you, no matter where you hide.” She let go as I crumbled to my knees, looking up at her as she morphed into the ugliness of her previous form. “One year, Alan Morgan. And never speak of this. Never say such things.”
With a leap, she disappeared into the grey mist above. The drench of night chilling me to the bone. I scrambled to my feet and tumbled out of the alleyway, stumbling the entire way home.
~In Memorium~
“ALAN, IS THAT you?” Rachel’s voice echoed into my study. I shook the fog of memory from my head of that long ago fateful day and plastered on my happy face.
“Yes, dear. I got home early from the college. I wasn’t feeling well.” I gulped, closing the calendar I had nearly worn out as she entered. My wife gave me a darling smile, one that made my fear go away, my anxiety wane and my worries fade.
“You alright? Need anything? I can make some chicken soup if you like.” She reached over and felt my forehead. Her touch was healing, and I sighed as the pain of my head temporarily fizzled with her. I wondered how she did that. She would just smile and turn away, reassuring that I would be okay and that her soup would fix it all. I was sure it would, I always seemed to feel so much better after eating that soup of hers.
“Thank you, hun,” I called out behind her as she hummed to herself down the hall. I breathed in deeply, relieved that she didn’t ask about my calendar, or why, at this time every year, I would incessantly flip through it to this month, this particular date every time.
September 12th.
Each year it kept coming.
Each year she would come with it.
Each year, another person went with her.
So many years…so many…
I rubbed my forehead again, the twinge of pain returning. It would start at the beginning of the month, a slow steady throb. As the 12th neared, the pain would be unbearable. It wouldn’t fade. It wouldn’t go away but with my wife’s touch. The only other cure was handing a soul to the gargoyle woman. Only then would she touch my cheek where she’d first touched me, taking the pain back with her for another year. It was always the same. It never got any easier. I still had not handed her the soul of my true love so it would never end.
I never would. Would I?
***
The café window misted up, making it hard for me to peer out from it. I wanted to see the gloom outside, feel it to my very soul. Somehow, the misery of the day matched my soul well. It was a comfort in the vast loneliness I felt within.
“Hey Alan!” the voice of my colleague interrupted my thoughts. I waved at him as he shed his raincoat before tossing it onto the seat of the booth. The vinyl groaned as his weight made it rub in that most annoying way. I stirred my tea as I turned back down to watch the steam swirl off its honey surface.
“Hey Richard. Looks like a river out there.” I sipped the hot fluid, letting it semi scorch my tongue. Punishment in light of wrongdoing seemed appropriate.
“Sure is! Dang! I hope what you asked me to meet with you for doesn’t involve outdoor activities.” Richard ran hi
s hand through his sopping wet blonde hair. He was in the same year as me, but was heading towards pre-med instead of English like I had chosen.
“Well, unfortunately, it can’t be helped,” I muttered. Pushing the teacup away. I sighed, rubbing my head to ease the stabbing, increasing pain that had lingered far too long. I had to make it stop. I had to.
“You okay there? You haven’t been looking too hot these past few days. Finals getting to you?” Richard gave me a suspicious glance before the waitress interrupted for his order. Asking for his usual coffee, straight black, he settled back and studied me. We had been friends since grade school. I could hide nothing from him.
“Just having these bad headaches lately. Maybe too much studying, not enough sleep.”
“Hmm,” Richard gave me a quick nod. Knowing he was not a fool, I had risked a lot in asking him to come today. He would see through me in no time. I was starting to wonder if this was all a mistake. But I was desperate and I had no more time.
“Well, I hope they go away soon. You look like hell. No way you can study much more and live to see yourself graduate at that rate,” he chuckled and gave his steaming coffee a swig not a moment after the waitress set it down. Her eyes lingered on his gleaming blue ones that twinkled with mischief, giving him a blushing smile before turning away. “I on the other hand am having a blast. This pre-med stuff is cake! I think I’ll die of boredom before I ever get to medical school. I was thinking surgical rotation. What do you think? Dr Malcom- Head Surgeon? I love the sound of that…”
His haughtiness annoyed me at times, but right now, I wanted to shake him into reality, tell him to quit being so stupid. He was a good guy, but the road he was heading, he would end up selfish, conceited and alone in no time. Rich but empty inside. I guess it didn’t matter then what was about to happen really. Not with his end so near.
“Yeah, that sounds great Richard. Listen, we have to get going. We’ll be late if we don’t leave now.” I fished a crumpled ten dollar bill onto the table and waved for him to follow me out into the fading light of the evening, out into the dismal rain.
