The shadows of our souls

Darkness

The little girl rose up high above his head, her eyes were a cloudy silvery colour and her hair snaked up in waves like an underwater waterfall. She floated peacefully in a corner when she felt an overwhelming presence when she spun around and her eyes met with seven people. Her eyes darted to the rightmost being in her peripheral vision. A stout man floated there and had in his hand a donut and in the other the rest of the doughnuts; he was glowing bright orange around his midsection. He stood next to another man who exuded wealth through his exquisitely tailored clothing lined with gold and diamonds. A man who was half asleep and constantly yawning was next, wearing blue pyjamas. There was a strict looking man with a sword the glowed a blood red as a substance that looked similar to blood dripped dramatically onto the floor. A woman looking down her nose at him exuded a dark purple almost black haze around her. A woman who was vivid green from top to bottom stood next to a curvaceous and sultry looking female who emanated a purplish pink glow, the latter looked pointedly at Revel and said, "You have been judged to have lust, myself, in your heart". With the little girl nodding her head in agreement. One by one, the deadly sins claimed his heart.

He was now on all fours quaking and gasping. The little girl spoke once more in an ominous voice, "For these sins, you must perish!" a white light shot from her hands to the man. The pain was excruciating and the last thing that claimed his mind was this: I wish I had been a better person when I met her.

Revel walked down the street sedately, nursing his headache from the previous night's party; he was a known thrower of excessive raves. His little black beady eyes watching his surroundings in mild fear and disgust. In that same town, filled with overflowing streets, was a little orphan girl by the name of Kritanta. She was small for her age and malnourished, slumped over against a wall with sunken blue eyes, but her cerulean eyes shone with innocence and life; she smiled despite the cold seeping into her bones as her bloated body absorbed the dirt and dust from her surroundings. Children ran up and down the street, dodging in and out of passer-by's.

"Disgusting little runts." Revel muttered under his breath. He kept moving forward down the street until he came to a little girl. She was down on her knees in a kneeling position. She looked up to Revel and grabbed him by the hem of his pants.

"Please sir," she said in almost a whisper. "May you spare me some money for food?" Coal black eyes met oceanic blue.

Her plea was met with a grunt and a disgusted look and a harsh retort, "Stay out of my way brat! You're just a good-for-nothing, little lazy slob who is a glutton, always asking for food! Not only that, you envy everyone else around you, you greedy little pig!" a sharp slap resounded throughout the street. And Revel stalked away from the scene he created leaving a trembling Kritanta on the ground and all passer-by's well out of the way.

That evening Revel was once again dissatisfied. The cook had done a terrible job making an extravagant and large dinner for him. Suddenly there was a sharp rap on the bedroom door. Revel made to the door to find seven people waiting behind it. "Well, what do you want? This isn't a charity you know." spat out Revel. "We know. We just want you." said a fat man with a possessed-looking smile. Then simply as that, all seven and Revel disappeared into thin air.

Kritanta was in the shadows of a building watching the sunset. It was beautiful. Her stomach rumbled and she sighed. No food again. Suddenly seven people appeared in front of her. "Kritanta," said a green woman, "we can help you. You can escape this life. Come with us." Kritanta nodded her head and took the woman's hand. All eight figures disappeared.

Revel woke up in a field unlike any other he had been in. Everything was discoloured. Nothing was the right way up. He then saw that behind him was a tunnel. He knew that if he stayed in the field life would go back to normal. If he went through the tunnel he would have a much better life. So, he decided. He started through the tunnel and he felt as if a weight had been lifted off his chest. He continued on when he heard sniffles. He carelessly looked over his shoulder to see the same little girl from the street in HIS tunnel. He was about to yell at her when her head snaps up and her cerulean eyes had been changed to a misted grey. She floated high above his head and the seven people he met at his door appeared. The little girl called each one and with each name, a weight was added to his soul. One after the other they flew into him. It hurt. It hurt so much. He looked up at the little girl pleadingly. Instead of forgiveness he only found a white beam of light being shot at him. His last thought before everything faded was "I wish I had been a better person when I met her."

Kritanta slowly floated back down to the ground. As this happened her eyes turned back to Cerulean. She started to run down the remainder of the tunnel. Her foot squelched on something. She knew what it was but she didn't look back. Not at the horror, not at the dying demon, not at the one who didn't have enough light in his soul. She ran to the end of the tunnel and made it to the other side. This was a new life. This was her beginning.