Post by vlad on Dec 7, 2010 22:43:31 GMT -5
Purgatory
Senior Project
A Story By:
James Harris
Chapter 1
There was a sound from the water, moving over the falls. I could hear the sound of my heart pounding as I ran. I continued to run feeling the breath slowly moving in and out of my lungs. I heard the voices, they seemed so close. I knew it was a matter of time. Their will was much stronger then mine. I had to find a way out. I had to find the place where I will be free of this place, of these people. I run, every step takes more effort then the last.
I feel the woods, the trees, the leaves and the mist. I feel them rubbing my face as I run. I feel the sweat rolling over my forehead. I know that the blood is flowing down my back; I feel the sticky moisture at my belt. Can I make it? Even if I find freedom from this place and these people, will I be the same. Will I find peace and love again?
I am afraid to look back, knowing that they grow closer. I hear the foot falls as they run behind. They seem to run at an almost breakneck speed. They know this forest; they know every step before I take it. I keep putting one foot in front of the other. I feel myself slowing. There is no rest for me now. No rest for the wicked. I never considered myself wicked until just a few days ago. Trying to come to terms with the truth has been difficult.
I come to the edge of the water. I see the bridge up the coastline. I begin to move up faster. I run, hoping to get to the bridge first, before they reach me. Across the bridge is sanctuary. Across the bridge is my way home. The bridge is my way out of this nightmare. It is the way to freedom. The water has made the ground moist. I am afraid to move away from the shore I will run into the traps they have set for me.
The townspeople were ready for me. They were expecting me. They let me find my way to them, to let me discover my sins. . one by one. Now as I run, the memories haunt me. The sins will surely drag me to hell. I am afraid. I think of my Kelsey. If I knew I would meet her in heaven I would gladly stop running. I know she is there watching over me, afraid for me.
I see the bridge, growing closer. A small glimmer of hope begins to surface. I run, my gait moving faster, more confidently. I will make it to the bridge. My feet are moving fiercely with purpose and determination. Less then a mile and I will be there. Each step brings me closer to my goal. Closer to my goal of living, my goal to go on. I can not let my life end until I can be with Kelsey.
I feel the ground shudder with their footsteps so near. I hear Charlie, telling them “We are closing in! He will not make it to the bridge.” I smiled inside, Charlie always had a way about him, and he could sell ice cubes to Eskimos. I am sure he is rallying his town against me. Not that they needed any encouragement to hate. From old to young, the town despised me.
I feel the ground give way as I slip and fall into the mud and the muck. “Damn!” I screamed. I hear Charlie’s group closer. I have to hurry. I scramble up to my feet and begin to run. I let out a bit of a laugh. I don’t know why, I think it was stress. I think that I had to let it out. I run ahead. I am not as fast; I have a pain shooting from my ankle. I will not stop. I will find the urge to move forward drives me.
Her face appears to me. I can see it. She looks so beautiful. The soft black sheen of her hair was enough to keep my feet running even as the pain runs through my body, and my back. I ran as fast as my feet could take me, as Adrian cried “He’s a dead man ether way, he’s only prolonging the inevitable!” As I ran I couldn’t help but smirk, between the gash on my back and the twisted ankle he was right, but I couldn’t give up not yet the bridge was so close. I felt the air around me grow extremely cold as I heard another’s voice, hers more pain and hate filled then any of others. “Let’s try to have a little fun Jack you know we need this time to work out our issues.” Twyla she of all people in this town scared me, she was the only other person in my life I think I ether feared or respected, (or hell maybe both) I knew the bridge was there. I knew in my heart that I’ll ether make it or I’ll come close and fight my way there.
A sound started to make itself aware, almost like a constant “beeping”, almost as constant as my heartbeat, now considerably slower, not from the lack of blood, but from a almost unnatural calming sense that I’m not going to make it. I whispered “Kelsey… I’m sorry, I tried…” I kept running till I thought I was only minutes away. Then I began to walk knowing they would catch me, them and there town, I knew they were going to get me. I pulled out my pocket knife, knowing all too well that it would not stop them. I turned around to face them, and to my surprise they were standing right behind me, them and the rest of there godforsaken town.
“So… I guess its time” I said as I put down my knife. My mind flashed with various images, some pleasant, like my first in counter with Kelsey, our first date, and some that just makes me wish they’d just kill me quickly, like when we got the news about her condition. “So Jack… any last words you wish to say before all of us make you pay for ALL of your sins?” Charlie asked calmly almost toying with me.
I looked at all of them, the monsters they were, the creatures they had became, just to hunt me down to watch me suffer. I looked at Charlie, then Adrian, and lastly (Name). All monstrosities they had become worst then there peers, worst then I could have imagined in my worst nightmares. The sound started to get louder, almost unnerving. I look at my own hands, knowing I stood no chance to fight back against them even with my knife or any of my tools of the trade. The sound starts to get louder, almost overpowering, “Fuck all of you, anything any of you do is nothing compared to losing Kelsey” I shouted over the now constant beeping. Wait, I thought I know this sound!
They lounged at me, there monstrous hands tearing at me, the pain was almost unbearable, physically though. Then something terrible happened, they made me relive the moment Kelsey passed away, in pain and with me only by her side. “Please you unholy monsters just finish what you started, leave Kelsey out of this!” but they broke me down and as the sound the heartbeat monitor kept a constant beeping, then nothing only a bright light, “I don’t understand…” I said as I choked on a plastic tube down my throat, a voice almost lovingly sweet said “ Jack its time to wake up, you still have to pay for all the wrong you’ve done, but once you have then you and I can be together again”, I replied almost gone “ who are you?...”