Alicia Eyres
"Mine is a character profile, focusing on emotions and actions to do with those emotions. I have turned it into a short story to make it more interesting. It (the idea) came from the session with Brian Caswell."
Reborn
My hands shake as I write, tears streaming down my face. It's a mess; my life's a mess. I stare out the window, out at the rain pouring down, covering the land. God's tears. Tears for his creation and, perhaps, for me - a person gone wrong.
My hands hurt, my head aches and my heart is sore. I can't take it anymore - the loneliness, the … feeling of … nothingness. The birds are screeching outside, strong, mournful notes, notes that would have once been beautiful. I breathe in deeply; the air is foul and stale from being prisoner for so long in the one room. The earth outside gives off a rotten odour, reminding me of a piggery I had once been to.
The paper in my hands is soft - like baby skin, like my sister Amelia, so small and frail, so delicate. Her tiny finger curled around mine, tiny legs kicking . . . . .
The memory fades and more tears slide down my cheeks. Sorrow fills my heart and then, once again, the emptiness returns. I let the paper flutter to the floor and read it one last time.
Deep,
Dark,
Black.
Lost in a sea of nothingness.
Lonely,
Scared,
Depressed.
An empty void, emotionless.
I look around the room and then pick up the packet, shoving its contents down my throat. It burns like nothing I have ever felt before. I fall to my knees.
"Andrew ! No ! !" The voice finds my ears but I cannot respond. A hazy figure approaches me, calling out to me. And then, suddenly, the world is gone.
Six months later:
It is hard to believe that I tried to kill myself. I have never been happier. It's like I've been given a second chance - like I've been …. Reborn!
The sun is shining and the sky is the clearest blue I've ever seen. The birds are singing beautifully - different types coming in at different times, making it sound like a band. Kids run and jump across the soft green grass of the park, releasing its rich aroma.
I turn around to look at the person next to me, my saviour, my guardian angel. And now, also, my girlfriend. I smile at her and she smiles back, taking my hand in hers.
"Everything will be fine now," I say to myself and, for the first time, I believe it.
Alicia Eyres
October, 1999.
Note: In the near future, I plan to use this piece as a prologue for a longer story. It will be mostly about their adventures in the place where they disappeared - probably another world or even perhaps an afterlife. They will find out why they are there and who sent them. Of course they will probably be able to return to Earth after they have done whatever they needed to.
THE SACRIFICE
The figures dragged the girl kicking and thrashing wildly from the house, their hands clamped down firmly over her mouth. Sweat steamed over her eyes and her terror grew with every racing beat of her heart. "Where were they taking her? What were they going to do?"
The forest was looming closer and she knew that if they reached it, she'd be doomed. She bit down hard on the flesh on her mouth. The person groaned and lifted their hand just long enough for her to let out one final scream . . . .
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Casey? ! Casey? !" the boy ran around in circles, frantically calling her name. Suddenly a piercing scream shattered the silence, echoing loudly in the cold night air. The boy stopped & listened, then started running towards the forest.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Leaves and branches whipped at the girl's face as her abductors pushed her deeper and deeper into the forest pressing all around them. It was no use trying to scream again. They had learned their lesson and she now had a filthy cloth tied around her head, covering her whole face. They cloth stank and with each breath she breathed in fumes from some kind of oil or petrol. She wished she'd never screamed, for now she was not only mute, but unable to see as well. All she had to go on was what she could hear.. and that wasn't much.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The boy ran quickly and quietly following the sound of whispered footsteps way into the forest. An owl hooted and with each step the boy grew closer … but to what?
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The girl groaned as she was kicked to her knees. A sharp blow landed her on the side of the head and she crouched into a ball, waiting for more. They didn't come. She listened carefully and raising her arms slowly undid the blindfold and gag. Turning her head she stood up and looked around.
WHAM!! The kick connected with her gut and she doubled over, gasping. After a while, she again stood up, her hand clasped around her stomach. They were standing at the edge of a dark clearing, the full moon shining above their heads.
One of the figures - probably their leader - moved forward and, grabbing her arms, started to drag her out further. In her confusion she had missed seeing the statue in the middle of the clearing - a stone altar. As she was pushed closer, she could smell the sickly sweet smell of blood and with a shock, she realized the altar was covered in it. Suddenly, she felt sick to her stomach - this wasn't looking good.
They reached the altar and she was lifted onto it, where she stood, terrified, her shoes soaking up the blood. Gathering up her courage, she decided to speak. "What are you going to do to me?" One of the weirdos - as she now called them - turned to her and in a rasping voice answered, "Don't worry - you'll find out soon enough!" and with that he and the others took out a knife and cut themselves, dripping the blood over the cuts. The girl's mouth dropped open, for in this action their cuts had been healed!
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* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The boy's panting could be heard easily as he blundered through the trees - but he no longer cared. He'd heard the chanting and knew he had to hurry. Casey's life depended on it. He ran on and on until suddenly he burst through the trees and into the clearing. He stopped, revolted by the deformed faces of the weirdos, their skin gray and shredded, their crazed, red eyes hardly glancing at him as they continued their ritual. He looked behind them to Casey, standing on the bloody altar, her expression one of hysteria.
Abruptly the chanting stopped and the leader once again withdrew his knife. Casey saw this and immediately started to try to climb down, but it was too high and the weirdos too numerous. The boy started to run towards her, but he was too late. The knife struck Casey hard and she started to scream, but was cut off as she mysteriously …… blinked out of existence.
The boy stopped in his tracks, dumbfounded. "What'd you do with her?" he demanded. The weirdos turned and their leader stepped forward. "Don't worry - you'll find out!" and with that, cackling like a lunatic, the leader drew out a second, more brutal looking knife and threw it straight at the boy. The knife flew through the air striking the boy in the heart. He collapsed to his knees in pain before he too, disappeared…
Andrew Bart, Kimberley Birt, Monique Cannell, Becky Christopherson, Emma Craggs, Hollie Crowley, Jennifer Eustace, Rebecca Evans, Alicia Eyres, Kieran Goulter, Mary Huntress, Robert Illingworth, Katie Kilpatrick, Siobhan Kranz, Kate Norsgaard, Samantha Ong, James Ramsey, Nathan Rieck, Ben Sielaff, Aleisha Sutton, Ruth Thomson, Michael Ward, Alex Wells, Jessica Weston, Kathleen Williams
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