Persephone

Chapter One: The End

The days that followed were swallowed by the deaths of thousands. Blood rained down on the Earth and fire rose from its heart. I sat on a hill and watched the stagnant air roam and cripple everything it touched. An abyssal black grew from a great chasm that had formed in the city; every object in its path was devoured and spat out distorted, decaying and decrepit. All of the buildings began to change and shift as the darkening shadow crept over the city. Cracks began to appear in the ground and a smell of death came with them. Peculiar flowers began to grow with black stalks, serrated red thorns and a luminous red flower that was corrosive to the touch. The grass beneath my feet drooped and as I removed a clump from the dirt it bled a thick black as its life ebbed away.

After several hours I noticed the darkness expanding faster. Trees wilted and began to rot. Paths cracked and roads splintered. The ground began to shake, just as the first day. The cracks shone a vibrant orange for a while and I was entranced. They began to pulse as if they were alive. The sky became a penetrating black. The sort of black that sucks the life out of everything it touches and all who see it. A dark completeness. The ground shook once more and all of the orange channels dimmed. I watched intensely and suddenly, they erupted.

A blackened orange fluid had flooded the city. I hadn’t noticed before but the city had begun to sink, slowly but surely, it had sunk about thirty metres. The liquid ran to the centre where destroyed building lay about, sleeping on pillows of broken steel and mattresses of concrete. I stood up and watched this bizarre spectacle. The liquid was flowing down a hole, very slowly. After almost an hour it was nearly all gone. Everywhere it had been was now covered in a thick green moss that glowed an eerie light. It lit up the city and the blackened sky took on a hue of this iridescent green. It was quite beautiful.

I couldn’t sleep so began to walk around the city. It was dead. Every building had changed. They had become twisted, distorted. The shapes and sizes, everything was wrong. I got to my old house. The windows were broken. The garden was rotting and the very wood of the house seemed to groan as I approached. Waning as if under a tremendous weight were crushing it from within. I took a step onto the once painted porch where I had spent many a summers’ eve, wasting the hours away. The house seemed almost demonic in its appearance. The shadows it cast belying a sickening nature that ought not to be given to such a place. It was all wrong.

The door creaked open and quickly reduced to dust, floating away on a non-existent breeze. The floor boards were covered in the green moss, which cast more unnerving shadows about the room. The blood stains were still here, on the floor and walls but there were no corpses to be found. I left them here. I straightened out their crumpled clothes, cleaned the blood covered faces and even made them smile one last time. I can still hear them. My wife, my children, they all begged me to stop, pleaded with me. But I couldn’t stop, I knew they’d die if I didn’t kill them first. The blood wouldn’t stop. It poured from their eyes’ and noses and ears. I tried making it to stop but it just wouldn’t.

A crash upstairs woke me from my daydream. I ran up the broken staircase, careful not to fall through. A door moved, closing slightly. It was my children’s room. I crept forward and peered inside.

It was amazing, it was Peter. It was my son. He was just crouching there, in the corner of his room huddled around his books. I slowly walked in and sat beside him.

“Peter, Peter it’s daddy. Hey buddy, you okay?” I almost whimpered. He took a slight look over his shoulder and turned back. I shuffled a little closer and placed my hand on his shoulder. He screamed and fell to the floor in a heap, kicking and screaming. I tried to comfort him but there was a loud crash behind me. The door flew open. Peter was still screeching when this creature burst into the room. It was tall and slender. Its limbs were incredibly long and thin. On top of an elongated neck was a small spherical head tilted slightly to the side. It leaned forward and let out a voracious shriek that pierced my very thoughts and forced me to fall to the floor. The creature stepped closer. It looked at me with its fluorescent green eyes. Mouth agape, a putrid scent spewed forth and slithered into my nostrils and filled me from within. I could feel it twisting my soul with each breath and each gaze into those eyes. I rolled over and vomited. It let out another shrill shriek and grabbed Peter before sprinting out of the room through a hole in the wall by the window. Just like that; they were gone.

I spent an hour wandering around the house until I was sure that this was real. The air outside was thick and warm, like breathing in a syrup. The sky was still black. The moss, still green. I took a deep breath and began walking, but this time, towards the city centre.

The closer I got, the brighter the moss was and the thicker the air became. I trudged forward and looked around for a while. Every house was desolate. There wasn’t a single sign of life anywhere. No bodies, no people, nothing. There was blood, everywhere. The strange flowers appeared to be feeding off of it. Sucking up pools of blood as the petals pulsed and they grew bigger and brighter. I saw the remains of the statue that dominated the city centre. I hoped there might be some more survivors there, however unlikely. I took another deep breath and started on my walk to the centre but heard a strange sound. Something cold slithered around my legs and pulled me behind. I feel forward and crashed against my face. I struggled, screaming until my lungs hurts as I was being pulled down a manhole. I tried pulling the tentacle off of my leg but the more I pulled, the tighter its grip. The great black hole was getting closer. Panic washed over me and I desperately struggled but was being pulled down, I looked up and saw the faint green glow in the sky before I dropped down rapidly. I smashed my head against a metal pole and felt my vision blacken. The dark abyss enveloped me. A silent and complete darkness.

I woke to find myself attached to a wall, slowly, my eyes adjusted. There was a small stream of fluorescent green liquid flowing beneath me. I started to struggle, trying to break free but it was no use. I decided to rest for a while, I had no energy and my fate seemed to be quite clear at this point. The place looked like some kind of sewer substation. The concrete walls were stained with blood and aged. I looked at the floor and saw a mass of flesh and bone that used to be a man. Choking back more vomit I tried to break free. Frantically struggling I heard a shrill cry echo down the halls. It was something big and not human. I began tearing at the substance that was holding me in place, it started to fall off as I could hear splashing off in the distance, getting closer and closer. My heart was bursting through my chest and my lungs felt like they were on fire but I kept tearing away at my restraints until they broke free. I crashed to the floor and immediately pressed myself up against the wall. A large tentacle slammed against the wall beside me and another on the other wall. I could feel the sweat pooling on my brow and my heart shot up into my chest. I saw a hulking shadow creep around the corner. A strange hideous creature followed. It had a human body with large growths slithering beneath the skin. Its face was a bulbous mass of flesh and bone. It had no eyes and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. It slid next to me and licked the air, almost sniffing, just beside me…

… The memory of my family flooded my mind. Last summer, we went to a small cottage in the country. It had three rooms, one for Peter, one for Alex and one for my beautiful wife Cicely and I. The grounds were amazing, a beautiful garden of fuscias, roses and hydrangeas. The colours lit up the sweet summer sunshine. One morning, a soft breeze floated through our window and woke me from my sleep. I rubbed my eyes and adjusted to the sunlight before turning to see Cicely staring into my eyes. She smiled her perfect smile and my heart fluttered for a minute. I stared deep into her eyes. Dazzling emerald dancing around a ring of gold with a splashing of sapphire; her left was slightly brighter than her right. Her deep auburn hair flowing gently to the side of her face and down across her chest. I brushed my fingers against her milky white skin and kissed her forehead. She nuzzled down in the covers and moved to rest against my chest. I could hear little Peter and Alex about to burst into the room. The door handle moved and time seemed to stop as I took in every aspect of that perfect moment. It was 6:48 am on Saturday the 21st of June, the longest day of the year. Today is the 21st of December, the shortest day of the year, but the longest day of my life.

Chapter Two: Regret

The creature had gone by the time I came to. I couldn’t tell where but I figured that I shouldn’t hang around to find out. Taking a deep breath I turned and cautiously walked onwards. I was wandering through endless tunnels until my feet were sore and I could barely walk. I slumped to the floor and caught my breath when I noticed a ladder. Leaning closer I noticed that it went down into almost complete darkness apart from a single patch of light halfway down. When I got my strength back I decided to climb down it. I was descending into the darkness when I came to the light patch. It was more of the green moss from earlier. The light was dazzling and beautiful. It seemed to pulse and drew me in. Suddenly, I felt some crack and the ladder gave way. I forgot that the moss was corrosive too. After a few seconds free fall I cracked my head on something again. Knockout number two today.

I woke up groggily and tried to adjust to the light to take note of my surroundings. My head was splitting and I could feel my heart hammering in my chest. As my eyes got used to the light could make out shapes just off in the distance. I started walking towards it and found that it was some form of shanty town beside a lake of bizarre liquid. It smelt of bleach and rotting flesh. As I got closer I could see that there were no lights in the town, only the glowing moss from earlier. The shacks were built out of corrugated iron and sludge from the lake. As I stood at the entrance to the town I noticed a wooden sign, ‘Gutterside Town’ was crudely etched into it.

The first few houses looked fairly new. The ground was mostly mud and sewage but the townsfolk had clearly tried to make some sort of crude path by placing large stones along the sides of the houses to form a street. The air was somehow even thicker down here. The smell of death hung in the air and filled my lungs. I wretched but controlled it as I guessed I would have to get used to it. I checked every house and again, I couldn’t find anyone. Not even footprints in the mud. I noticed a small row of houses that were different from the others. They all had signs outside and were built better. I checked inside and found that they were shops. One of them had clothes, another had household items and another had food. Wandering through the aisles I noticed a small freezer. I checked inside and found chunks of a strange meat I have never seen before. It was thick like beef but softer.
After wandering around the town and finding no signs of life I decided to find a way out and move on towards the town centre like I originally planned. I found a small alley between the houses with a large ‘EXIT’ sign hanging above it. The alley led back to similar tunnels that I entered from but they felt darker and less used. The tunnels started getting smaller and darker until I finally saw something, a bright light at the end of a tunnel. The floor was black with cans and rubble littering the floor. I almost had to wade through them to keep walking. The light was bright but I could make out shapes off in the distance. I could feel fresh air rushing past my face as I started running towards the shapes. I ran faster and faster, the light became blinding but I burst through and stopped when I felt the cold air against my face. I opened my eyes but couldn’t see anything. I fell to the floor but felt something firm. I was standing on a stone path. I could hear music, faintly at first but it became louder and louder as I stood up and my eyes adjusted. I could see people. They were dancing. I looked up and saw a metal sign swinging from a post. It read ‘Geride’. I couldn’t believe that I’d made it to another town.

I felt an arm grab mine and start pulling me into the crowd. It was a tall slender woman with long blonde hair in a neat bun. She wore a fitting red dress with a cream, rose shaped corsage. She looked at me and I saw she had some sort of masquerade mask on. It was mostly cream and red in the shape of a birds face with a long beak and red feathering around the edges. Groggily being pulled to the crowd I asked here where I was. She looked at me and laughed but didn’t reply. I asked her what her name was and how she survived but she didn’t even look at me that time. I shook from her grip and took a step back. Everyone was wearing these masks and they all started looking at me. Some people were laughing and then children began emerging. The woman in the red dress walked up to me and grabbed my arms hard. I tried to break free but couldn’t. She took off her mask and threw it to the floor. Her face was a hideous mess of scar tissue, pulsating skin and what was left of her original mouth.

“Tell me I’m beautiful! TELL ME I’M BEAUTIFUL YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” she screamed at me and then threw me to the floor. The crowd moved over to me and the woman stooped to be just above my face. Her fluorescent eyes burning deep into my soul. For a second I was looking at the same eyes of the creature that attacked me earlier, then it flashed back to the woman in the red dress. The town started to melt away and reform. The people got closer and closer, they began to decay and twist becoming horrific abominations. I scrambled away until I met a little boy, he was wearing a mask but took it off. It was Peter and he was smiling again. I felt so happy, until I saw a wooden sign swinging behind him, it read ‘Gutterside’. Horror flooded my mind and I couldn’t move. Peter knelt down and whispered to me.

“I love you daddy” He smiled and looked into my eyes. I almost allowed myself to feel relief for a second, but the full horror of the situation rushed back over me. He took a step back and pulled out a hammer from behind him. He smiled again and smashed it across my face. Third time being knocked out and it was by my own son. I was starting to get used to sensation now.

Chapter Three: The Way She Sees the World

I heard a strange voice, calling for me but I didn’t know it. As I slowly regained consciousness I saw a pair of beautiful emerald green eyes staring into mine. My body shook and I rolled over and vomited. The girl stood back and giggled. As I sat up I noticed that we were in some form of metal shack with several candles dotted around. The girl approached me again. She had long wavy black hair and her eyes shone brilliantly through the dirt covering her face. She smiled and knelt beside me.

“What’s your name mister?” She asked inquisitively. She was wearing torn, dirty clothes with splashes of neon paint all over. She also had one of her arms nearly covered in neon bracelets.

“My name….my name is Jack. What’s yours? Where am I?” She seemed hesitant but happily obliged.

“My name is Sarah Underhill and I live on 142 Ashfield Drive but this is my secret hideout where I come when I’m sad or when mommy and daddy used to argue” She turned away slightly and looked sad.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Sarah” We shook hands and she perked up a little. “Where are your mummy and daddy now?” She looked away again sheepishly.

“They’re….they’re gone. They left when the monsters came. They said they’d be back soon with my baby brother but, they never came back. So I ran here and hid” A tear began to roll down her cheek but she brushed it off and carried on. “But it’s okay now. I started a scavenger hunt and collected a picnic. You want to go on a picnic with me Mister Jack?” Her eyes lit up as she looked at me. I couldn’t say no to her. Not with those emerald eyes. They were Cicely’s eyes.

After we gathered some supplies we decided to leave and see what we could find. I didn’t want to take her out into the chaos beyond but I knew that I couldn’t just leave her here. She brought along some snacks and her teddy that she clung onto. As we left the shack I noticed that we were just on the edge of Gutterside. Clever girl. The creatures appeared to have gone but I could still smell their fetid flesh and it made me wretch. We carried on towards the escape tunnel until we heard something. There were several footsteps, slow pacing ones, echoing through the town. We stopped just metres from the entrance and I heard a voice whispering to something.