You face a choice. There is no way across the bottomless pit; you can either stay where you are or follow the path from the edge. Perhaps against better judgment, you choose to let the path guide you into the unknown. The further you walk, the barer the world around you becomes as the even earth itself, once covered in sand, is now cracked and decrepit.
But you keep walking until you have continued down the perpetual path for what feels like hours. Now your vision slurs, becoming a haze of dull colors as exhaustion sets in. Your legs are weak, fumbling over one another. You collapse, crashing to the ground. Your limbs ache, littered in scrapes as you drag yourself up.
A figure manifests, stepping through the distorted collage of smudges you see. Another assembles and then another, all growing closer to you until each comes into focus. You now see your loved ones standing before you, your mother and your father at your sides. Each challenges you to continue your journey and when you accept, they escort you along the path. As you move with your entourage, a performance plays out along the rim of the road.
With mirrors of your loved ones scattered about the scenes, you begin to recognize them as your forgotten memories. You watch the segments from your past years, your whole life building up before you. Yet there is an oddity about the timeline. It becomes disjointed, your transitional memories absent from the performance.
Before you can question this, the visions draw together alongside the path, merging into a gargantuan board propped up on a wooden platform. Crimson stains are smeared across the blank canvas, curling together to create a warning to passing travelers: "Welcome to Mermeros." A metal fence runs behind the decaying welcome board, a town imprisoned within its bounds. The figures escorting you now move away, evaporating into the fence until it breaks down into an opening.
You follow, trusting your guides as you slip through the rift they forged. The tear slams shut behind you, trapping you in the graveyard of abandoned paraphernalia and deteriorating buildings fusing to form the city, Mermeros. A shiver trickles down your spine as you glance over the town otherwise devoid of all life. To you, it appears locked in a time capsule, the discarded scraps of past civilizations discrepant with your present.
Despite the creeping sensation rushing over you and sending your heart into a frantic rhythm, you find your body maneuvering through the ghost town. It moves out of instinct without your consent, a faint sense of familiarity clinging to the winding alleyways you weave through. You are brought to a sturdy dwelling, the last sliver of vigor left in the desolate city. Now, as you stare down the house, you recognize it as your own, a family home where all the memories you saw occurred.
You enter, breaking through the façade of the pristine exterior. The disease of decay has infected the interior with the furnishings torn open, the walls stripped. You creep over the shrapnel splattered through each room, impulse guiding you through your now deserted home. You slip into a room your parents once inhabited, tiptoeing cautiously as if you may be caught in the intruding act.
Suddenly you tumble to the ground, collapsing over an obstacle strewn across the floor. A shriek breaks through your lips as you face the obstacle. Beaten, battered and bruised, your father lies sprawled out before you, his breathing labored, his features disfigured. You scramble to his side as he clings to life, choking on his last words.
“She did this,” he coughs out his claim, his once booming voice now wheezing out weakly. “She did this to me.”
“Who?” You stammer over your sobs.
His head lulls to the side, oblivious to your presence as he stares down the threshold. A figure stands there, their identity shrouded by a mask of shadows. A container lies at their feet, a pool of liquid branching out from it to engulf the room. The intruder cradles a lighter in their hand, a flame bursting out of it, lapping up at the air around them. Then in one swift movement, the flame falls free of their grasp. Your heart slams into your chest as the lighter crashes into the fluid river, engorging the room in flames, swallowing you into the inferno.
You wake, your body heaving. You frantically gasp for breath as you grope at your limbs. You gawk, confused as every splinter of your body is intact, not a single blemish in sight. Glancing about, you see an alleyway surrounds your crouching figure. You pull yourself upright, clinging to the wall as you struggle to make sense of the chaos racing through your mind.
Questions bound through your psyche once again. You wonder where you are now, how did you get here and more importantly, who was the hidden figure at your home. The only thing you know, without a doubt, is your father is dead, murdered. A need burns deep inside you, a need to find the truth, to know what happened to your father. But before you can act on this desire, voices flood over you, the speakers huddled several paces away from you.
“Someone now knows what happened,” a voice cries, a voice you recognize. “Someone knows what I’ve done.”
You slither closer, confirming your suspicions as the speaker comes into focus, taking the form of your mother. With an anxious look, she stands alongside a towering male, speaking in hushed tones.
“Then there is no reason to stay,” the man challenges.
“You want me to run? You want me to leave my home?”
“We can’t hide this so why stay? We can leave and make a new life away from everything here.”
You sink back as the two continue their muffled exchange. The puzzle of their words floats through your mind, piecing together until suddenly everything snaps into place. She did this to me. Someone knows what I’ve done. We can leave and make a new life. It all makes sense. Your mother is the reason behind your father’s death. You were there when he died, the only witness to what she had done and now she needs to run. She knows you know.
But you wonder how. How could your mother bring herself to do this? How could the woman who raised and nurtured you become a cold-hearted killer? Is the man she is whispering away to involved in what happened? Is he involved with her in other ways as well? It all makes sense yet nothing has ever confused you more.
“Okay,” the sound of your mother surrendering to the man’s suggestion breaks you from your thoughts. “I just need to get a few things. I’ll meet you after.”
With that, your mother vanishes into the darkness. The man grunts, turning the opposite direction and striding passed where you are hidden. A force of instinct consumes you once again, tugging your body after the man. You follow him as he approaches the outskirts of town, reaching the meeting point agreed upon with your mother. An undetectable witness amongst the looming shadows, you wait as he does. Soon enough someone approaches. The man straightens himself, a smile spreading across his lips.
“I was starting to worry,” he says, his voice carrying along the breeze. “Have you got everything you need?”
The figure pauses, their features obscured by a cover of darkness, matching the intruder from your home. You lean forward with interest, nearly slipping out of your hiding as you watch your father’s murderer stare down the man, further cementing your mother’s guilt. The man speaks up again, his voice now drenched in anxiety.
“What’s wrong?”
Before he can question any further, the intruder thrusts a knife towards him, silencing his words. In another swift move, the murderer finishes the attack. The man collapses to the ground, dead, the knife glinting in his back. You stumble, shock racing through your body at the second murder you have witnessed.
Suddenly the figure’s head whips upright, staring straight into the shadows where you cower. You feel paralyzed under the stare, breath caught in your throat as you have been discovered. You will join the two fallen men. You squeeze your eyes shut, begging for mercy until you hear the scrambling of feet.
Back turned to you, the figure now runs, fleeing the area. Your body lunges forward out of your control, chasing after the coward at top speed. Adrenaline pulses through you, fuelling your sprint as you charge through the winding maze of discarded buildings. Your mind screeches for you to stop
, for your instincts to instead order you to safety, for your life to be secure. But your impulses continue pumping through you as faster and faster you run after the murderer.
It is only when you arrive at a familiar building that you stop, catching your breath as you gaze up at your desecrated family home. The fire is extinguished, but the charred corpse of the room remains, rotting the once unspoiled exterior. This is the final shred of proof; you now know your mother is the murderer. She murdered your father as only she knew you were a witness, she murdered that man as only she knew of their meeting, and now she has fled home one last time.
You swallow your nerves. It is time to face her on equal ground. You crawl inside, moving through each room carefully should she attack. You reach the final room, the only place she can be hidden. It is now or never, it is time to bring your mother to justice. You kick the door open, leaping onto the figure within immediately.
You pin your mother to the ground without resistance, but before you can revel in your victory, crimson stains begin crawling up you. More and more form until you climb to your feet, backing away from your mother. You now see her lifeless body lies limp on the floor. Blood seeps from her many wounds, she must have known you were coming. Maybe she could not face you. Maybe she could not face herself.
You now release your suppressed sobs as you slump over the sink, washing her blood from your hands. Yet no matter how hard you scrub, the scarlet smudges will not fade. Needing something stronger, you glance up at the mirror, a cabinet of cleaning supplies tucked behind it. You press your hands to the reflective surface to peel it open, your horrified face staring back at you.
“Her blood is on your hands.” A teasing voice echoes through your mind, cackling at you.
Suddenly, your reflection twists as the manic laughter grows, its lips distorting into a wicked grin. Its features knit together into a demonic mask as its hands lunge forward, breaking free of the mirror. A scream rips out of your throat as it grabs hold of you, dragging you into its domain. You crash through the mirror, plummeting to the ground as the cackling subsides. Chasm walls stand around you, stretching towards the sky, only a sliver of light reaching the pit’s end. Your double circles you as a shark trapping you in, eager to tear its prey to shreds.
“Who are you?” You wail through your frenzied breathing as you struggle to your feet.
No response comes, but the demon’s appearance begins to shift into one you all too easily recognize. Its face becomes a mesh of shadows, matching the mask of darkness worn by the murderer whose dark deeds you witnessed. It cackles once more, the cruel sound piercing through the depths of the gorge.
“You know me all too well,”
It circles closer and closer to you with every passing second. You whip around after the creature, never turning your back to it. You cannot let it attack you. You must stop it before it can murder you as it did the others.
“No I don’t!” You protest.
It jolts towards you, its hand curling around your throat. It holds you prisoner. It draws its face to yours, your features almost touching as it speaks once again.
“Oh, you do know me. I am the one you have been searching for, the one who murdered your father, your mother and her lover. But do you really want to know who I am?” As you nod, its face morphs one final time, mirroring your appearance exactly. “I am you.”
It releases your neck as you scramble back, staring at your twin. Your heart pound against your chest and your pulse beats against your eardrums as the words echo through you.
“Do not doubt my words, you came to this place for the truth and here I am. This world is you; it is a wasteland of your banished memories. I simply bring you the truth of your deeds.”
You pray for doubts, for denial, but you know these words are true. You remember now. You remember everything. You remember such envy as your mother bathed in the attention of great men. You remember discovering her affair. You remember such fury. You remember revenge as you chose your weapon. You remember returning to the house, sneaking to the bedroom to defend your father’s honor. You remember confusion as you stopped your beating, discovering that your mother and her lover have fled. You remember weeping as you returned to your father’s beaten body with fire. You remember burning it all, all the evidence of your misplaced murder.
You remember finding your mother and her consort in the darkness. You remember hearing how she planned to leave you and your father with his replacement. You remember following him to the meeting point. You remember swiftly ending his life without a single sound. You remember fleeing to your house, the one place you felt safe. You remember your mother discovering the murder. You remember pouncing on her in the bathroom. You remember slashing and slashing until all the noise finally stopped. You remember the silence as the men took you away. You remember the doctors and the white walls. You remember the locked doors and the pricks of needles. You remember the pain.
“It is time to return home,”
Your double offers its hand to you as it speaks. You hesitate. You want to forget. You want to stay here. You want to stay the savior. You want freedom. You want forgiveness. But, knowing you can never return to ignorance, you pinch your eyes shut and grasp its hand.
Now open your eyes and truly see.
Alba
by
K.R. Jordan
Darkness surrounds Alba Diaz as she dreams. The light dims more as she traverses a maze of spires that reach to the sky, blocking out the moon. She exhales in a puff of white smoke, her breath freezing from the frigid temperatures. The silence is absolute and she feels as if the shrubs are closing in on her. Suddenly, a beautiful but haunting song fills her ears. She hurries toward it, stumbling through the maze. The clearing she comes to is a field of trees symmetrically spaced and their thin branches are barren. Drifts of knee-deep snow litter the ground causing her to stumble several times. All the while, the lone viola croons out Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, luring her. She staggers forward under the silvery glow of Queen Luna. There beneath the branches, Queen Luna reveals a lone figure. The shadows of bare branches crisscross the man’s countenance. Her body sways with the song that is swelling within her and she walks up to him, standing with her body less than an inch from his, she looks up to see his face but it is obscured by shadows. The moonlight shows his full and flowing dark hair and she reaches up with her hand, caressing down his face. Pleasure pulses through Alba’s body as the unknown man bends down to press his lips against hers. Sliding one hand through his hair, she breathes him into her body, their souls dancing together, ululating to the rhythm of the lone viola. Then his hand is in her hair, wrapping it around his fist. He pulls with a firm but gentle tug and then feasts upon her neck, running his hungry tongue down to the pulse point. His other hand holds her tightly to his body and she feels his desire merge with her own.
***
Right after graduation from high school, Alba moved to Randallstown, Maryland to live with her grandmother and attend college. She’d started classes in August and it was not October. The leaves were in their autumnal glory.
Her first day of classes was long and hard, but the one great thing is she met Phoebe. Phoebe Stockton was now her closest friend and would often spend Saturdays with her and her grandmother. The long wooded path to town at first seemed long and lonely but now that she was making friends, it was source of peace to her. Last week they went to a party at the Sigma Delta Psi fraternity and met up with Phoebe’s boyfriend Todd and his best friend Sean. Phoebe tried in vain to play matchmaker between Alba and Sean, but neither was interested. Instead they agreed to all be friends and had gone to several parties together since then. Most of the time Alba’s friends left her alone while they danced the night away; she wasn't lonely because most of her classmates stopped to say hello and ask her to dance. Unfortunately for them, she was not interested in any of them as a potential boyfriend.
But that night she was restless and stepped outside onto the patio, hoping that a b
reath of fresh air would make her feel better. It was dark and cold but she could see several couples, some talking softly to each other in corners, others necking like crazy. She turned away from the lovers and made her way to the area beyond the patio.
The freezing grass crackled under her boots as she made her way toward the fence line where the trees met in a natural archway. Raising her face to the moon, she stood beneath the natural archway enjoying the peaceful night.
"Aren't you afraid your posse will miss you?"
The rumbling voice came out of nowhere. Startled, she let out a very embarrassing squeak and spun around.
"Who are you?" she asked breathlessly, frowning furiously at this man whom she’d never before seen. He towered above her tiny five-foot frame with dark hair and eyes, and she noticed a lean muscular build.
"Does it matter?” he asked tersely. “I'm not fawning over you so you can go back inside to your shallow friends." At that, he turned and sauntered away.
How rude, she thought.
Frowning at his back, she was unable to come up with a proper comeback to his rudeness. At that moment her breath hitched in her throat as he jumped the six-foot fence, not even skimming the top of it. Turning her head back toward the patio, she looked to see if anyone else had seen. No one had.
That night she dreamed of him jumping fences and running through the forest that surrounded Gram's home.
After several days she had all but forgotten he even existed. That was when she saw him out on the University lawn. A group of football players were playing touch football on the University lawn. She noticed him right away and stopped by the fountain to watch them.
She was surprised when he turned to her and called out, "Venturing out without your admirers again, are you?" His deep voice rumbled through her and she felt her temper rise at his boorish tone.
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