The God From The Machine

River

The light-gray fabric of Felix's hoodie began to darken as droplets of rain soaked into his shoulders. He was so absorbed by Maude and Matt's stories that he hadn't noticed. "Well, I uh, heard something in the woods the other day." He said, unsure of whether or not his experience had any relevance.

"Heard what?" Matt inquired.

"It was... like an animal but, I dunno, more."

"More?" Maude asked with her arms folded across her chest.

"I really don't know, man. There was this chewing sound- like something fucking huge was just ripping into flesh... It felt like..." Felix paused and grimaced while Maude and Matt watched on in suspense. "It felt like it knew I was listening- like it wanted me to hear it."

Chills ran down Matt's spine. There was something about the way Felix spoke; it was genuine and inspiring. He knew the story was true, and it gave him the creeps.

"Where did you say you heard this thing?" Matt asked.

"Right over there, in those woods." Felix said, casually pointing to the treeline at the edge of the field.

"What the fuck, man?"

The group stood in silence for a moment as they stared into the treeline. Beyond the first row of dark brown pine trees, they were staring into an abyss of blackness. The woods stretched for miles behind the school, all the way up into the mountains. They were only ever interrupted by a road or two, which were scarcely driven down. The gentle tapping of raindrops on the leaves joined the chirping crickets, creating an atmosphere of total nighttime isolation. There were no cars or other people chatting in the distance. There were no dogs barking at each other on leashes. No sounds of happy children playing wiffle ball in the park. No planes passing overhead. There was only rain and crickets- and three silent, wet kids who were beginning to feel very fucking scared.

"Ooo-kay. So, I'm assuming you don't really feel like heading home yet, given all the sulking in the dark... Wanna head to my place?" Maude said, interrupting the group's terrifying transfixion on the vast darkness all around them. Felix shook the jitters out and decided to return to being a young adult who wasn't afraid of monsters in the dark. He recounted her words and was taken aback by her straight-forwardness. It had been a while since someone had spoken to him like he wasn't made of gold. It was a pleasant surprise. She was, of course, exactly right. Home was the last place he wanted to be. He imagined his father's reaction to him coming home so late, soaking wet. It was better to just wait until he would be asleep. Besides, some walls in between him and the forest couldn't hurt his chances of survival.

-----

"Ay I'm cutting you off, yo." Dan lifted his head towards the bartender and his vision spun into focus with a wave of nausea. He had only laid his head down to rest for a little while. He was sleepy. As he stared at the bartender's disgruntled face, he wondered, how can I be sleepy, while I'm dreaming? He felt his body rise from the barstool and watched his head float like driftwood atop waves towards the front door. He heard some commotion and a voice following him. A hand gripped his shoulder. "You not about to drive, bro." The bartender said concernedly. "Nahhh man. I'm... I'm walking." Dan slurred back to him, patting him twice on the chest sloppily. He gave him a lazy smile, and then pushed past him. Just as he reached the threshold of the exit, he heard the voice again. "You need a ride, man?" Dan posted his hand on the door and dropped his head. His stomach was on fire. People in the bar were starting to look at him. He cocked his head back and the light caught the sweaty, pale skin of his cheek. "I said I'm fine." He grumbled quietly. There was silence for a moment. He breathed heavily, clenching his jaw and grinding his teeth hard. The moment he heard the bartender inhale to start again, Dan bashed his own forehead into the wooden doorframe, shaking the wall of the establishment and killing all conversation in the room. The bartender stumbled backwards, startled. "I SAID I'M FINE YOU FUCKING CUNT!"

-----

Felix pulled his muscle car into a hidden driveway off of a back road not far from the school. He had been following his two new acquaintances for about ten minutes since they had agreed to get out of the rain. Matt had chosen to ride with Maude, unsurprisingly. The athlete wasn't offended. He was particular about who he let spend time in his car, and Matt had something reckless about him. Plus he smelled like weed, and if that smell lingered around, his coach would kill him- and then his dad would kill him again.

As he rounded the corner behind Maude's car, suddenly a gigantic mansion came into view over the ridge. Holy fuck. Maude was fucking rich. He could see Matt bouncing around in the car ahead of him like a pinball. As they drove down the longest driveway he had ever seen aside from on TV, Felix was awestruck by fountains and fucking lawn sculptures. He could've sworn he saw the start of a hedge maze over in the dark, too. Finally, the driveway emptied out into a roundabout overlooked by gigantic glass windows in the front of the mansion. Felix parked his car behind Maude's and began to chuckle as she stepped out of her car holding a finger gun to her head followed by Matt, who was practically screeching with excitement. Before he got out of the car he checked his phone. There was still no reply from Jay.

"Why didn't you tell me you were princess rich, Maude!?" Matt waved his arms around, gesturing to the huge estate around them.

"This is my parents' house, okay... Whatever man, we just met." She replied, dismissively.

Felix just laughed. He had been to away-games at enough schools to know the look of a rich kid who refused their privilege out of rebellion.

"Alright, settle down peasants," Maude teased. "My parents aren't home, but the staff is, and they're a bunch of fucking rats. So let's be quiet. And don't steal anything."

-----

Dan tripped and hit the ground hard. It was dark. He felt gravel in his teeth as he felt around on the ground. He grazed his palms over dirt and tree roots and tiny patches of grass. He couldn't see shit and he was piss drunk, so he figured it was best to crawl so as not to fall again. On hands and knees, he crawled in the dark without his sight. He smelled the earthy smell of wet leaves, and he could hear the trees rustling gently around him in the wind. His hand stumbled onto a thick tree root and he rested there for a moment, gripping the wood. Against the hard surface, he could feel that his hands were covered in something viscous and slippery. Dan brought his hand to his face to find that it was also wet. Did he really hit his head that hard? He began to feel woozy.

He listened again, but couldn't hear any cars driving on any roads nearby. He was injured and he didn't know where the fuck he was. He leaned against the tree and sobbed, wondering if he would die as the drunken idiot who wandered into the woods and hit his head. He wailed loudly in total desperation, trying and failing to remember anything good he had done with his life.

After what seemed like an eternity, Dan had no more energy to cry, and fell silent. His body had grown cold and numb. He leaned his head back against the tree and looked up towards the black sky. As he did so, the rustling of the trees died down and the insects became silent. His senses all dulled and all he saw was nothingness. In hazy thoughts, he wondered if this was what it was like to die.

Suddenly a white light faded into his vision, overtaking the darkness. In it he could see countless tiny black shapes dancing with one another. They were like little lines, all connected to one another, twisting and brushing past each other in front of the beautiful white light. He watched them for a while, mesmerized.

"They're leaves."

He heard the whisper come from behind his head as he suddenly jolted back into his body and fell forward. He looked up at the white light and realized it was the moonlight illuminating the leaves of the trees. He looked in the direction of the whisper. There before him, was the tree that he had been leaning on. It was a thick oak tree, as wide as a car. He strained his eyes to focus on it in the darkness. His heart pounded in his chest. As the wind picked up, the leaves above him danced, allowing flashes of moonlight to shine down on the base of the tree. On its face he could see thick, red splotches of blood where he was resting his head. The wind blew hard, moving the tree canopy above him entirely. Dan fell backwards in horror. The splotch of blood from his head sat in the center of an eight-pointed star drawn in blood. It was thick and viscous, and as fresh as the blood on the back of his head. He felt his legs go numb and his hands began to tingle. There were ants crawling in the wet markings, drowning themselves in a river. Dan looked down at his hands and found dead insects beneath his nails. He screamed in terror as the eight-pointed star writhed in the moonlight.