'Fragmented'

Part One

'Fragmented'

(Part One)

By M.I. Bancroft

October 18th, 1995. Onsted, MI.

"C'mon Melissa! Mom's working late tonight and wants me to feed you. I ain't cookin' though!" My oldest sister Hannah griped as she grabbed my wrist. "Do we have to go to Doris's Diner?" My other sibling Julie complained. "They left a band-aid in my food last time we ate there." I was huffing along the sidewalk. Obviously I couldn't keep up with them. At five years old, I didn't know that this night would change my life. Or our world as we know it...forever. The cool air whipped inside my windbreaker as we stood in front of Doris's Diner. "It's the only place to eat in this tiny ass town." Hannah said with a frustrated glance at Julie.

My sisters argued for a good half a minute. I stood there, feeling sick to my stomach and anxiety chewing my brain like I do to my nails. Mom wanted to get me tested, but the mortgage came first. We stepped into the restaurant. Scents of fried grease and cinnamon assaulted my olfactory sense like a tidal wave. I sat on the hard plastic stool. My eyes wandered the local establishment with curiosity and a bland expression.

The usual customers sat in their designated spots. Harry Larson stubbing out a cigarette into his egg sandwich and gruffly letting loose gas at the same time. Old lady Ellie with her bingo gear, hoping to win the jackpot--just like the other elderly codgers every Thursday night. A large family gathered in a corner booth with a gaggle of redheaded, loud mouthed kids. The ragged looking parents regretting every choice they have ever made in regards to childbearing.

The table next to me had a stranger sitting there. He emanated a "go away" vibe. His face was obscured by a dark gray hat and coat. His fingers held a beautiful opalescent pen. I was mesmerized by it. It was irridescent with flecks of colorful sparkles twinkling. I loved to draw. Especially with a pen like that. His face turned to me. I couldn't remember any of his features. All I could remember was blacking out.

There was that cool October air again. I was on the sidewalk outside of Doris's Diner. "Mel? Mel?!" Hannah's tear streaked face loomed over mine. She looked older than seventeen. "That dude's fuckin' creepy.." Julie remarked as she helped me onto my feet. The street was busy for it being eight at night. I looked towards the stranger in the distance. His back was faced towards us. Then he rummaged his left pocket and took out his pen. I began feeling that twisted ache in my stomach. "I bet he's on drugs.." Hannah said as she took my hand. It looked like he was drawing squiggles in the air.

The squiggles began to crack and glow. Bright light bursting through the seams of reality as we know it. Our reality had been distorted by the horror that came from it. The cracks became wider and wider, releasing inky black ooze, ice like tendrils, and monstrosities no sane human can comprehend. As parts of reality shattered like glass, those very shards began flying through the air. I heard a cacophony of terrified screams.

I wished I never gave in and looked at the source of those screams. People were being cut open by flying sharp objects. Gouged in the eyes and mutilated by shards of the abstract substances. The Lovecraftian creatures slithered out from the other dimension to began their feeding. That family in Doris's Diner were nothing but blood smears on the pavement after the horrible ordeal. Not even a lock of ginger hair left. I was being dragged in to a car. My sisters were gone. Something told me they were dead. I was hoping it was a quick death for them. I began panicking. Two young men and one young woman with blond hair tried to calm me down. I recognized the blond instantly- she was my kindergarten teacher, Ms. Marks. "Kevin! Let's go! Now!" She yelled to the him. The ride was soon interrupted by a giant machine wielding a roaring saw in the front of it. Glass showered my teacher and I, sparks flashing off the steel of the sedan from the saw's whirring blade. The passenger was cut crudely in half. Sinew and muscle wriggling from his severed shoulder. Miss Marks was dismembered and had a large shard of blood covered glass jutting from her neck.

I shrieked as the driver-Kevin-snatched me from the wreckage and fled. We came upon a small structure after five minutes.

There were four other people in that shelter. An opened magazine laid on the dirty wood floor. The pages were a dark gray color. To my surprise, goo covered people were emerging from it. "Quick! Put the child in!" A chunky woman yelled. I was dropped into it. Every law of physics was violated as I was encased in the syrup like fluid. Almost like an apocalyptic baptism.

I floated there in suspended animation. It felt like an eternity before something or someone pulled me out of there. I climbed out from the surrealist womb, shivering and gasping. My wet red coat stuck to my body. The shed was empty except for a few body parts littering the floor. All that was left was a colorful pen. It's siren song beckoned me to claim it. I pocketed the mysterious instrument and stayed in the shed until it was okay to come out. My town in the end, was an image straight out of a warzone.

The catastrophe happened all over the globe. It continued to happen for over two decades. We didn't know the cause of it. Not until I joined The Enforcers twenty years later.

(Part Two coming soon.)