Sanctuary of Shadows
You would never take me for a mad man; I'm quite sane, sir. Officer, I didn't do it.
It all started last night. The stars were absent; the clouds hung low in a murky grayness. A fog set upon this quiet neighborhood. I was walking. Yes, that's it. I was walking down a main road. And you wouldn't believe what I saw.
A soothing hissing noise came out from the side of the road. I peered down deep into a forest that lay a quarter mile from the main road, past the sharp shrubs of sheared corn crops. It was like a beckoning from a heavenly figure calling me to paradise. It was like a demon in the darkest courses of hell leading me to the inner sanction of misery.
As I stared at the tree line the hissing became louder as if whatever was making it was behind me. It kept ringing in my mind. Every hiss became fiercer than the last.
The sounds soon became a noise of terror within me. I broke down in shivers falling onto my knees. I asked for forgiveness. It knew. It knew, and I did not know how.
The hissing paused for a moment. In that moment of silence, whatever was making that noise whispered in my ear. It seemed to say…cross. Yes, it said cross, and there was no denying it. Reluctant at first, I stayed on the ground at the side of the road. If a car had happened to passed by it probably wouldn't have even have seen me. I would have been struck easily. And then, the same damn hissing. It was driving me insane. The shivers went up my torso and I felt a drone of hornets piercing the backside of my head.
I covered my ears trying to close out the endless hiss. Still, it was ringing in my mind. The hiss was soon joined with a deep growl. The world around me spun in circles and everything turned into something it was not. The trees became jagged knives that cut across the landscape towards me. I knew that running away would not help. I saw a vicious face in the back of my mind. I was so disoriented, I couldn't help but run forward anyway but towards the cutting swords scraping the ground. The face had a snarl. A black snarl of a wolf, the growling behind me.
I turned around and started running backwards, after seeing the monstrous face behind me. Was that the thing making that hiss? I wondered as I ran in fear. As I looked towards what lay ahead in the road I saw another shady figure. I couldn't run towards it, who knew what it could be. I couldn't stop running either. I turned sharply towards the trees.
I looked behind me to see if the figures had stopped following me. They were just standing there as I ran away. But every step I took they seemed to be getting closer to me. I tried running faster but the hissing and growls grew twice as loud every second.
A trickle of blood oozed down my chin. I felt my face and it was coming from my ear. I didn't feel any pain, just the numbness that I felt in my head. I was very unhappy of my terrifying situation. Nobody could possibly have done anything else if they were there. They would have run. They would have bled. They would have been led to the dark territory, the dark sanctuary of shadows. My breath froze in front of me. My panting gave away my fear. I was lost in my desire to be free from the newly bound chains of terror. I was trapped, torn. I couldn't go back, and I refused to go further. But the calling. The heavenly calling of hope pushed me onward. The dark desire of the netherworld lured me to go further. I began to trek past the trees. I noticed the black mongrel following behind. It made no noise, no snarl, no footsteps. I swear that its feet never touched the ground. It was like a ghost dog. And I swear on my life that I am not lying.
I continued to run from the terrifying creature that followed. I turned my head to see what lay in front of me. Suddenly, I stopped. In front of me, as I stood panting, was an old man. He looked frozen, his skin emanated coldness. His skin was the hide of death and decay, and his ghostly transparent beard stretched down to the floor in a forest of tangles. He was father time, the present but also the past and future. And he knew. He knew how things turned and weaved. He knew all in my life; I could see it in his eye. Petrified he stood. A withered hand on a cane. He hobbled to one side and still I stood. I could barely whisper a word. This is the man that controlled my destiny and I did not want to test faith with the old man.
The creature that was following me was still. The leaves stopped falling and the grass stopped blowing. There was no wind. Not even a light breeze. Everything around me withered. Fog surrounded the old man and me. I looked into the old man's eye. I saw what my future held. Memories of my past flashed before me.
The devil singing a lullaby as I slept like a babe. I knew that the antichrist was inside me. And I fell on my back and birthed a monster. It came spewing out of my bleeding uterus and shrieked a cry of everlasting pain. A sac of liquid goop. And now I'm here. Holding this young child. He does seem to have a sort of charm. A charm with a demonic twist. Yes, officer. I am not mad. I am the mother of the devil.
Written by Akayuki and Xaberz.
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