The air in the room feels threatening and heavy with expectation, as if lightening from the storm has secreted inside, unseen but still felt. It sits there, poised, ready to ignite the air. A whimper from Lenore breaks the tension, and I stare transfixed as the man turns his gaze towards her.
Emotions and thoughts collide within me, twisting and turning inside like violent explosions. An internal war ignited by this man. The fear is still there, but above it now is a roaring torrent of anger for this night, for this man, for whatever force out there has allowed this to happen.
Unable to speak I watch as the outline of his hand reaches for Lenore, but stops short. His head, tilting to the side – like he's unsure of what is in front of him, or like he's deciding what action to take next. A beast, nose shifting about, scenting prey on the wind.
Suddenly, I feel heat on the palm of my hands, like I'm touching scalding hot metal, so hot it would melt and drip right through my skin. A murky glow begins to illuminate the room, sending shadows shifting and arching across the walls.
He leaves his hand outstretched towards Lenore but turns his head back to me, directing his attention at the box I can't see. As the heat from my hands intensifies and as the feeling of fire spreads up my arms the smile on the man's face drops, his expression morphing into a mask of sadness and pity. I feel the flames on my skin, burning and searing across my body, lighting up the room - reflecting in Lenore's glassy eyes rolling in their sockets. I try to scream, to voice the pain I'm feeling but I'm trapped, and all I can see is this hateful man and my friend.
He falters, for a moment, in indecision, but as flames flicker in front of my eyes and the smell of burning hair and flesh reaches my nose I see a hardness take over his face. He turns away from me, reaches out his hand and places it flat against Lenore's chest. The light in the room starts to twist around him, coating him like oil or ink.
Lenore's body jerks forward as it is freed from whatever is holding us both, her stored momentum carrying her closer to me, taking her closer to him. A wordless shout leaves her throat.
Then with sudden force her whole body is pulled up and flung back. I strain forward as if I could help, as if I could move, as if I could somehow stop her body being smashed into the wall. But instead of the impact I expect, instead of the sickening crunch of bones breaking, she continues to recede into the distance. Shrinking and disappearing into the darkness, like an arrow shot out into the night.
Wrapped in the shadows of the room, the man turns and walks steadily towards me, his face coming clearer into view with each step. He eyes are swirling pits of darkness, coming closer and drawing me in as if to consume me. Through this searing pain and heat, I see his arm reach out, inching towards me. And as his hand flattens against my chest, the fire I feel on my body is extinguished, a final fading flicker of light sends the room back into darkness. A cold chill emanates from his hand into my chest. His face is so close to mine, his eyes a void I am disappearing into.
He blinks.
And then rapidly shoots away from me. But as I see the room receding just as quickly I realise I'm the one moving. My body cold - but mine once more. Tet still as helpless as I was, a slave to an undeniable force that is pulling me backwards. The world blurs and rushes by, a rapidly changing half-seen mirage of buildings and trees and people and voices.
I feel myself being pulled up and my view shifts, the city and the land and the world now falling away as I rise into the sky. Everything I've known obscured as I'm swallowed by the storm. But just as quickly I'm above that too, as canyons of black clouds spread out underneath me, flashes of light rushing through the spaces between them.
I start to move faster still and soon planets and stars rush by as a white trail of light extends out before me, as if I were a cold comet of ice racing through the universe. All horror and pain and fear is lost as I stare transfixed at the brilliance of the cosmos. I move faster, and everything begins to blend and blur together as my eyes are bathed and washed by incandescent light. But I am faster still, faster than light, faster than time and space.
With a thought, I turn myself forwards and revel in this feeling. This rush of energy and life.
And in a world washed clean, in a world empty of everything I once cared about, devoid of pain and suffering I smile - and let all of existence fall away.
*****
Hello readers!
Well ... we got there! Things are really picking up now. A little more craziness to come, then back to the real (?) world soon.
Hope you're enjoying the story and if you like it feel free to get yo vote on - or leave me a message. Any feedback is always appreciated.
:D
Heath
YOU ARE READING
Neon Black
Paranormal"In the space of a breath, in a moment between this and the next, everything can change." Ever Black's life is forever altered when she is attacked on the train by a man that no one can find, and no one else can see. Increasingly strange events...
