by Navi' Robins
One, two, three…
As I jumped the ground disappeared beneath me into the waiting abyss. I misjudged the distance and only got enough space for two inches of my fingers to grasp. I yelled at the pain shooting through my fingers as I tried to support all my weight on such a small leverage of grip. I was slowly losing my hold. Through the loud roar of a dying planet I heard footsteps. Footsteps coming closer to the edge I was desperately hanging from.
“Please, God! Help!” I screamed.
There was no response, just footsteps coming closer.
“Who’s there? Can you hear me?”
No response.
Whoever it was continued towards the edge. I looked up and above me stood the most beautiful little girl I’d ever seen. For some strange reason I could see her clearly in the pitch-blackness. She didn’t glow or possess any kind of radiance. She was clearly visible as if immune to the darkness around us. She had long, shiny black hair and the most amazing big brown eyes. Her skin was caramel-brown and she had a look of sorrow and pain in her eyes. She looked to be about twelve years old. I took a closer look at her and I could see she was crying, but no tears fell down her face. Pouring from her eyes was the same black filth that was consuming everything. Around her it behaved strangely, it seemed to yield to her, bowing as if it worshipped her as its goddess of destruction. I began to think that this little girl was the cause of all this destruction. How could something so innocent and beautiful cause so much destruction?
I started to wonder if she was there to help me or push me in. Strangely she looked at me like she knew me and she was in pain looking at my condition.
“Help me, please!”
She seemed oblivious to my pleads and just stared at me. Then suddenly she broke her gaze and began weeping uncontrollably.
“I miss you so much,” she cried. “I’m so sorry for all of this. I just wanted to make you proud.”
“Huh? What are you talking about? I need your help? Is there anyone else that can help?”
“No,” she answered. “No one can because you’re already dead!”
Those last four words cut through my soul like a razor. Her voice suddenly changed from the sweet little girl’s voice to something dark and evil. Like a song being played backwards with multiple voices lending a hand in uttering those seven final devastating words. I lost hold and began falling into the emptiness beneath me. I looked up at the last moment to see her put her hands over her eyes, screaming while the darkness that was once worshipping her began consuming her. The agony she felt watching me fall outweighed the pain of being swallowed whole by the evil that had become the ruler of our planet. I should have been screaming, but I wasn’t. I just closed my eyes and accepted my fate. It seemed like I’d been falling forever and I could hear the earth’s crust being shattered and torn to pieces by this darkness. If this was the end of the world as we knew it, I couldn’t escape this fate. No one could.
Then suddenly….silence. I felt a surface beneath me and I slowly opened my eyes. There was still darkness all around me but I could clearly see I was in some kind of deep ravine and the night sky was above me. It was beautiful with the stars gleaming like tiny diamonds. There was a light coming from the left side of my face and I slowly turned towards it. The image I saw sent chills through my entire body. I tried to move but couldn’t; I was restrained by an unseen force. I tried to turn away from the horrific image, but I couldn’t move my head. Whatever it was that was holding me captive wanted me to see this disturbing image and it felt like a hand was pushing my face down preventing me from moving. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and tears poured down my face as I was made to endure watching the nightmare unfold.
What my eyes beheld was an image that has forever been burned in my memory. I didn’t fully understand what I was experiencing until much later in life, but by then it was too late. My eyes were witness to images of my father being tortured by cloaked assailants in black. One second they weren’t there and then the next they would reappear slashing and clawing at my father’s flesh. They were more like shadows or a dark mist that took a similar form as the “Grim Reaper”. They repeatedly tortured him till he died, then brought him back to life to start over again with new and brutal ways to murder him. He screamed in agony with every cut, every broken bone and every torturous extremity they put him through. They were enjoying it while they toyed with his life inflicting enormous amounts of pain on an already weak body. The last time I remember seeing my dad alive was of him smiling at me on his way out to his final mission before he was killed.
That memory was my last cherished moment with him. A ray of light and a positive memory of my father. Now, these evil entities had taken that from me and replaced it with this depraved image. I continued to struggle to break free as anger built inside me, watching my father’s tormentors carry on with their task.
“Dad!” I screamed. “Dad! Daaad!”
Then everything stopped, as his tormentors turned to me staring and hissing.
“He is a danger!” they exclaimed in unison.
Their voices sounding like air brakes struggling to halt a semi-truck out of control. Their many voices seemed to speak in unison but in different tones. The sound was terrifying.
“He must be destroyed before it’s too late.” “Yes,” they agreed. “Destroy the boy.”
“Dad?”
My father looked at me and managed a smile through the extreme pain he was feeling before saying, “Aiden, don’t save me. Let me go. It’s better this way.”
Before I could try to make sense of my dad’s request, the cloaked shadows began to screech like chalk dragged across a blackboard. The sonic pulse of their screams was so powerful I could feel my ears bleeding. Suddenly they began flying towards me at an alarming speed. They were more menacing than I thought, possessing five-inch fangs and talons; I could only imagine the horrors they were about to inflict on me. I tried to break free but I couldn’t move. I could only watch as they drew close to tear me to pieces.
“Dad!”
“Aiden!” I heard my father yell as I closed my eyes, waiting for the torture to begin. Then I heard screams, but they didn’t come from me, the shadow figures, or my dad. They sounded like little girls; frightened little girls. I reluctantly opened my eyes to find myself standing in the darkness on a staircase in a strange house. I quickly tried to get my bearings.
Where am I now?
I looked at the top of the stairs and saw the glow of a light suddenly illuminate the hallway and the staircase. The girls were still screaming and I heard a clicking sound, a sound all too familiar to me, having lived in a house with two military men with a fondness for fire arms.
It was the sound of a gun, safety off, and ready to bring the pain. I heard footsteps coming towards the top of the stairs from the right. I had to get out of there fast! As I sprinted down the stairs I noticed numerous pictures along the wall. In my panic to get out of the path of whatever firearm that was going to appear at the top of the staircase, I knocked one of the pictures down. It fell right in front of me and the image within the frame almost made my heart stop. There she was; beautiful, flawless, and smiling back at me. It was Jasmine.
I was in her house! WTF?!
How could I get from downtown Chicago to Jasmine’s house without a car or even remembering how I got here? How did I get in here? At the bottom of the stairs I could see what appeared to be the front door. I sprinted towards it as fast as I could. God, I hope the lock on this door doesn’t need a key. Unable to stop because of my forward momentum I slammed into the front door and, what do you know, staring back at me was a lock that needed a key! The gunman was at the top of the stairs now and had a clear aim at me. I quickly shifted my weight and direction to the right before I heard the loud boom of the gun go off. The top half of the door immediately shattered. From the damage the shot caused I knew it had to be a double-barreled shotgun.
Whoever was wielding the weapon meant business and wasn
’t looking to injure, they were shooting to kill. He was aiming for my head and nothing else. More screaming now from upstairs at the sound of the shotgun going off. I ran towards what appeared to be the dining room. Behind me I could hear my pursuer reaching the bottom of the stairs and preparing for another go at my skull. I looked to the right and saw a window, with no security bars, and the glass seemed thin enough.
As I ran on the far side of the dining room I saw another picture of Jasmine on the wall, smiling back at me as if to say, “You’re dead now!” Through the reflection of the glass on the picture I could see the gunman aiming and readying himself for the kill shot.
Oh shit! I shifted my body quickly to the left before another boom went off as the bullets shattered Jasmine’s picture.
Ha! Smile now, bitch.
I ran as fast as I could towards the window. I could hear my pursuer’s footsteps as he tried to catch up with me before I escaped. Wow, he was fast—too fast. He cleared the entire area on foot in less than five seconds. Who are these people?
I jumped towards the window and stretched my arms in front of me and closed my eyes, bracing for the impact of my body going through the glass. The sound of the breaking glass filled the air and I could hear my pursuer swearing as I dove out the window. I quickly rolled as I hit the ground and, without missing a step, was on my feet running away from Jasmine’s house as fast as my weary and drunk legs could carry me. After running for about twenty minutes I decided to stop and rest for a minute. I glanced at my watch; it was 2:20 a.m. Where was my car? Where was Tony? That nightmare seemed so real and vivid. How did I get all the way out here this fast? By foot would have taken at least eight hours. The last time I glanced at my watch at the club it was 1:35 a.m., and I knew I was on that couch with the waitress for at least thirty minutes, so how did I get here that fast without a car? My head was killing me, and I reeked of liquor. I could only imagine my mom’s reaction once I got home, smelling like a walking bottle of vodka.
I needed to keep moving because I was sure they called the police and I didn’t know if they got a good look at me. And with me being out this late by myself would definitely put me on the prime suspect list with the Deerfield PD. I started heading home but making sure I took short cuts to avoid the busy streets and roaming squad cars. I looked for my cell, finding it in my pocket, and tried calling Tony. No answer. Where was he? I knew he had to notice my absence. I was totally confused and the confusion enhanced my fear. What was I planning on doing in Jasmine’s house? What would have happened if I hadn’t yelled out waking everyone up? I then understood my impulses towards Jasmine were getting beyond my control and I might need to do something or speak to someone besides Tony before I did something terrible.
I was about two miles from my house now and I was beginning to relax. I heard a car coming so I moved quickly towards some bushes alongside the street because if it was the cops I was done for and my life would be ruined. Breaking and entering among other felony charges would soon follow. I ducked behind the bushes out of sight from the street. The car slowly pulled in front of the bushes I was hiding behind.
I heard the car door shut as the person made their way towards my hiding place. A beam of light invaded my hiding place through the bushes.
“Aiden? Dude, I know you are in there.”
It was Tony so I immediately jumped up and ran towards the car.
“Hey! What happened with…”
“Tony, not now. I have to get home now!”
Tony just stood there watching me get in the passenger side of my car. He didn’t move or flinch. A look of confusion and concern had taken permanent residence over his face. I could tell he was beyond scared.
“Dude! Come on, we got to go,” I protested.
“Okay!” Tony responded looking towards the ground. He couldn’t look me in my eyes anymore. Things were changing between us and there was nothing I could do about it. But at the moment I was only concerned with getting home without running into the cops. Tony got in the car and began driving. We both just looked ahead, saying nothing. I was trying to avoid being asked questions I had no real answers to and Tony was afraid to ask questions because the answers would cause him to make a hard decision. The radio was off and the drive was depressingly slow.
“You know what? I can’t do this!” Tony yelled.
“Do what?” I asked, pretending I had no clue what he was talking about.
“This! Acting like nothing is wrong. Listen, I know where you were. You were at Jasmine’s house. Now I’m telling you this so you can avoid lying to your best friend. I know you are wondering how could I possibly know that, right?”
I turned and looked at Tony. He was still looking straight ahead while he was driving, avoiding eye contact with me. I was terrified now. How could he know? Tony was getting borderline hysterical now. Ranting on about how he couldn’t remain quiet anymore, about how he climbed through my bedroom window while we were downstairs eating dinner and installed a GPS tracking software on my cell phone. He has been tracking me since I told him about my reaction to Jasmine on the football field during tryouts. He knew every move I made since then. Once the reality of this revelation sank in I became overwhelmed with shame, the shame turned to fear, and then fear transformed to anger, and anger gave birth to rage. I could feel my entire body heating up and I began sweating like crazy. Tony was still ranting about how he had no choice because he couldn’t live with knowing if I harmed Jasmine he could have prevented it if he had acted. But his words were muffled by the roaring waves of rage smashing against my head.
Everything was just spinning now and my mind was having a hard time processing what Tony just said to me.
“Stop the car,” I said, calmly at first; trying to hold back the obscenities dancing on the tip of my tongue. Tony was so engulfed in his rant that he didn’t hear me.
“Stop the car!” I repeated. Still no response from Tony; by now those obscene things were no longer dancing on the tip of my tongue, they were now hanging on for dear life.
“Tony! Tony! Stop the fucking car and get the fuck out!”
Those damned obscenities were now escaped convicts that had already done a world of hurt. Tony immediately stopped the car and looked at me like I’d just lost my mind. Thing is he was too late, I’d lost my mind weeks ago.
“What did you say?!”
“Get out of my car,” I demanded. “Now!”
I could tell Tony was in disbelief at my reaction by the look of horror that came over his face.
“Look, you left me no choice. You—”
“Get the fuck out of the fucking car right now, Tony. I won’t ask you again!”
“Ask? You call that asking. Cool, whatever, I’m out. I was only trying to help,” Tony protested as he got out the car. I quickly moved into the driver’s seat.
“Aiden, hear me out. I only did it bec—”
I quickly floored the gas pedal and raced off before he could finish his statement. As I sped off I looked in the rearview mirror, watching his reflection disappear into night….
CHAPTER NINE
The sunlight hit me the next morning with a cold burn I’d never felt before. When I opened my eyes to receive the coming day, the events of the night before hit me harder than the headache my hangover gave me. Last night was a night I would never forget for the rest of my life. There were a lot of firsts last night and being shot at and betrayed was just a couple of ingredients of the recipe. How could Tony do that? I trusted him with this dark secret, and I felt he should have trusted me as well. Tracking me was completely out of line, and tracking me in secret had crossed that line. He made a choice and now I had to make one and that choice would be to cut ties with Tony for a while until I could iron this out. If someone would’ve told me that Tony was capable of that kind of betrayal, I would have spat in their face.
But now everything has changed and I would have to go through this without him. I turned and looked at the clock; it was 1:15 p.m. By now To
ny would be here, invading my room and waking me up to play a few rounds of “Halo 3” on Xbox Live before finding something to do outside the house later. But today there was no Tony and I felt that I would have to get used to this going forward. I decided to brave moving around despite my pounding headache, to get myself together for the day. It seemed like it was going to be a very boring day. But I was wrong, very wrong. I didn’t actually eat anything till around 3:30 p.m. and all I could really stomach was a banana. I could still smell a hint of alcohol coming through my skin, so I avoided contact with my mom and Sarah. It wasn’t until around 3:30 that I decided to leave my room.
That’s when I went downstairs for something to eat because I couldn’t take being in the room alone anymore. Without my best friend, my room felt like a tomb, cut off from the rest of the world.
I tried chatting on Facebook with some new fans I got since making the team; boring. Once downstairs my spirits lifted and the sunshine felt good, even my headache felt better—not gone entirely, but better. I was done eating and getting ready to go outside to try out some new things in the car when a huge banging sound erupted in our home. The sudden invading sound sent shockwaves through my body and suddenly my headache returned in full force. The sunlight seemed to diminish and from where I stood it felt like I was back in my tomb of a room. I looked out the window to see who it was. It had better not be Tony because I had nothing to say to him. But who was at the door made me wish it were Tony banging on the door instead.
