Behind Lifeless Eyes: Issue One: New Life

A New Life

Tilting his head to one side, Geoffrey heard a faint thrumming sound coming from the distant forest. Far off in the horizon, Geoffrey saw a strange rectangular box gently hover into the air, all the while making a constant, dull thrum. Squinting to get a better look at the object, the box got closer...and closer...and closer. Soon the object took up all of his view and he could make out exactly what the object was.

It was a carrier craft, an older model judging by the greenish-blue glow coming from the four engines mounted on each corner of the craft. Geoffrey recalled that these ones were known as "Velume" which he always thought was a strangely pretty word, especially since it meant "corpse carrier".

The engines on the right-hand side of the bulky-olive green craft tilted and soon the cockpit of the craft faced him. The cockpit was made out of three luminous, pink coloured windows. The first two windows were large, slanted ovals and each took over the top half of the ship, the third window was also an oval, but it was half the size of the other two and lay horizontally below them in the centre of the craft.

It gave the impression of the face someone makes when they had to tell a person that someone they knew had died. Geoffrey knew that face well.

Standing back and un-focusing his eyes, his view quickly returned to normal and he had to close his eyes to help steady himself. Feeling curious, Geoffrey put down his cider and went to open the window. The handle was, like most of the objects in this mansion, an old fashioned plastic handle with a metal button/keyhole that was used to open or lock the window. Grabbing the cold handle firmly in his hand, he pressed the button with his thumb and recoiled as he felt fire shoot up his arm.

After managing to keep his cry safely concealed within his own head, Geoffrey picked up his cider and gulped some down before having a closer look at the lock. After a quick study, he covered his face with his hands and let out a deep sigh.

"Of course it bloody is. I should have expected that" he moaned as the numbness returned to his arm.

"Iron?" said a voice coming from the corner of the room. Although the person had said only one word, it took on multiple tones as it echoed through the room. It sounded quiet, loud, harsh, soft, far and close all at the same time.

"Aye, I really should have seen that coming. It's not like I didn't know it, especially after all the stories I heard growing up."

"Oh well, at least you did not fall through the floor. It is always unpleasant trying to break the ice when the other person is screaming about why they do not belong in Hell. It can get quite tiring after a while." 

"I can imagine. I'm Geoff by the way."

"I know. Shall we get going?"

Geoff finally turned around to face the stranger. It could have passed for human if you were to pass it in the dark and you were on the other side of the street. 

The body was there. It had two arms and two legs, with the legs being as twice as long as the arms. It was tall and skinny enough to look average in most places around the world. Most of the body was hidden beneath a plain grey jacket, dull brown shoes and black trousers.

It would have been able to perfectly blend in with most towns or cities as just another anonymous businessman, except for the small problem of the parts that weren't covered up. 

Where there would normally be hands, there was...not exactly nothing, but at the same time there was not anything actually there. It had something at the end of its arms, but what it had was impossible to tell. The same could be said of the head. Was there a head? Yes. Was it vaguely human shaped? Yes. Did it have any features? Yes. But what features did it have? It was impossible to say.