Music of the Gods
Page 3
that grew steeper with every step he took. Boulders grew from the leaf-strewn ground around him. Growing larger as he got higher, each one precariously perched upon the side of the rising slope.
“Susan!” He shouted into the growing darkness. That spot of white had faded completely from view. She was gone, vanished into the night, the girl he’d once married had returned to him only briefly before becoming lost within the all-consuming darkness of the approaching night.
“Susan, come back,” he shouted as he dropped to his knees and lifted handfuls of leaves to the dark sky above him. He let the leaves fall from his hands and they spiraled to the ground around him as another sound intruded upon his thoughts. It came from nowhere and everywhere at once. A voice, feminine, yet commanding.
“We’ll get you out of this!”
Out of what? He wondered. Lights flashed around him. Blue and red lights imprinting themselves upon his retina.
“You’ll be fine,” that feminine voice reassured him. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Another pair of hands worked at opening his shirt.
What was happening?
He blinked, and in the brief instance of time his eyes were closed, he was transported out of the forest. He opened his eyes and lifted his head. Red and blue lights flashed, refracted into thousands of jagged rays by the shattered windshield. Beyond the windshield the branches of the weeping willow danced in a gentle breeze. Red and blue flashing lights sent shadows skittering among the parked vehicles.
“Where am I?” He asked.
“You’ll be fine, we’ve about got you out now.” That voice replied.
“Where’s Susan?”
He tried to look to the right but a strong pair of hands held his head straight. He yanked his head back, away from the grip of those hands, and glanced to his right. Susan sat beside him, her head hanging down, her long hair draped over the fence board protruding from her chest.
His right hand was grasped firmly in her left. He looked away, focusing on the road down which they had both walked not an hour before, as the first of many tears slid silently down his cheek.
THE END