Follow the Trail - IV - Darkness there and nothing more
Sept 16, 2018 22:43:13 GMT -5
Holden Ross likes this
Post by The Anarchist on Sept 16, 2018 22:43:13 GMT -5
“I’m sorry.”
The two words Seromine finally managed to say and the person meant to hear them wasn’t there. He knew he was wrong, but his frantic paranoia blocked rationality as well as an anti-virus program blocks a threat. All was quiet in the groves, sans some distant rustling from the cold breeze and what he swore was the sound of mass cawing. Laughing and taunting from a distance at his folly. It only existed in his mind of course…
Seromine studied the moonlit property as he slowly marched back into the barn. He sat where XIII had been. This wasn’t a rapture; the damn scarecrow wasn’t invited! WHO was the tormentor?? Seromine shatters that chair no sooner than he took a seat. It was an evil reminder of everything that had gone wrong tonight. He then brought himself to where Destiny had been seated. He didn’t sit down, but instead glared at the lectern he selfishly whored the word of GOD to...who? The followers were long gone, but he refused to accept it. Destiny didn’t want to be there, but he refused to accept it.
Now he was alone and searching his soul for answers. He deeply loved his wife and deeply loved his children, but allowed XIII to take away his common senses. XIII didn’t speak. He, or she, just listened without so much as presenting an answer to Seromine’s questions. The preacher promptly destroys the lectern with the same rage he had felt towards the chair of XIII. It was also an evil reminder of everything that had gone wrong.
That he was wrong for everything.
“I love you, Destiny...” Seromine whispers to himself. His eyes now locked on his wedding ring, before he caressed the spot on his right bicep where her name was tattooed. He smiles, thinking about her, and the memories of good times at the property back when they were teenagers. It was love at first sight for them. They had both been wronged by a parent, only by different methods, but it gave them someone to trust, someone to understand, someone to listen…
Seromine goes about the process of folding up the remaining chairs. They would be dumped into the eternal flame, their practical use no longer needed. Seromine followed the dance of the flames as the wood crackled and charred.
He swore he saw headlights approaching in the distance, barely making them out between the trees...but it was his mind playing tricks again. A hard sigh and a tilt of the head, places Seromine’s gaze on the sky. The pitch black, feathery, sky.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” he yells as his eyes adjust.
What he was seeing wasn’t the typical celestial body. It was a never ending wave of ravens flying by like an endless sea. Cawing in low hum unison as they pass like clouds. That was only the beginning of things.
“PRAISE SEROMINE! NEVERMORE! PRAISE SEROMINE! NEVERMORE!”
His followers had returned after all! Their disembodied chant was coming from inside the barn! He knew they weren’t gone. He just knew it! He was so happy to have them back, he was willing to ignore the taunt at the end. Seromine races back to the makeshift church and finds twelve scarecrows in a prayer circle. Their amish attire was in tatters. Patches of burlap had been sewn in-between. Their masks were also burlap, but had been aged badly. The material was fraying at the seams, barely enough of a peek to the faces concealed inside. Cocooned would be a more apt description. “PRAISE SEROMINE! NEVERMORE –- NEVERMORE –-- NEVERMORE –- NEVERMORE!!!”
They turned to face him. Each had their own roman numeral stitched, I-XII. It wasn’t a head count. It was the order of elimination. The chant stopped. The swaying stopped. It was like watching rigor mortis take effect. One by one they topple into a pile. Seromine couldn’t process what had become of them. Between the sky and this display, he was lucky to even be able to stand on his own power. That’s when the planks of the barn roof started to loosen and collapse inside. Dust clogged the air as the structure started falling apart. Seromine dashes out and no sooner does he get out into the open, does the barn completely implode.
Nevermore.
Light from inside the main house drew his attention. “Destiny! You came back for me!” he says after seeing their car parked where it had previously been. It was the spark he needed. Seromine races into the barren home and into the sight of the walls and fixtures being wallpapered by pages of the bible. He didn’t care. XIII could show its stupid face right now and it wouldn’t matter. His wife had returned to save him from this place and he was ready to go.
Up the stairs he goes…
The pages of the bible were now pages of The Raven.
Presently my soul grew stronger;
hesitating then no longer,
“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping,
tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”---
here I opened wide the door;---
Darkness there and nothing more.
The voice was hers. Only it stopped after the final word. Seromine cautiously moves down the hallway, ignoring the three boarded up doors and paying no mind to the spray painted NEVERMORE on them.
“Babe?” she called out to her husband. “I couldn’t leave you here! I thought you may have come inside to keep warm, but when I didn’t see you, I came in here to wait. I figured you would see the light on.”
Seromine breathed a sigh of relief. The nightmare was over! It was time to make Labyrinth Grove a distant memory, as it should’ve been long before now. He wastes little time going into the remaining room. There she lay naked on the bed. How one got there isn’t important. Her head was turned towards him. Her brown eyes filled with seduction. Her arms held out for an embrace. Biting her lower lip, she motions for him to join her.
“The kids aren’t here. It’s just you and me.” she finishes with a soft moan. “Take those clothes off. Or do you need some help?” this time she winks and wiggles her body. After he removes each article of clothing, he kills the lights and gets into bed.
“You’re mine!” comes a growling declaration. But not from her...
The darkness of the room suddenly becomes the night sky. Seromine has been crucified! He’s in tattered preacher attire and forced to stare directly into the coal black eyes of XIII. Seromine isn’t on a cross in the groves. He’s on the symbol of his past and unable to make an audible scream. Ravens flock to his body, finding sanctuary on his outstretched arms. XIII paces forward to the position, orchestrating a symphony of CAWS.
XIII has directed them to pick at his flesh. While the blood flows, XIII’s hand reaches to his mask. When the whole piece is removed and the identity of the attacker revealed, Seromine sees it’s…
Kristen flips on the light to spot her father at the kitchen table with a half full pot of coffee.
“Dad! What are you still doing up?”
“I couldn’t sleep. Your mom is snoring so loud, Australia called to complain about the noise.”
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Oh. Well...” he turns the question around on her. “What are YOU still doing up?”
“It’s the scarecrow dream again, isn’t it?”
“You got it. But I’m getting closer to unmasking it this time!”
Kristen smiles. “You have a better chance at finding where Carmen Sandiego is in the world. But I love you.” She kisses his head. “Goodnight, daddy.”
“Goodnight, sweetheart.” he replies.
Destiny didn’t stay mad for long and in fact, turned right back around to get him no sooner than she exited off the property that night. She couldn’t leave him there. If anything, she would’ve stayed with him. They both apologized for what happened (especially him) and like always, put it behind them and moved on.
That was going to be the last time they were at the property. In the morning, calls would be made.
Seromine knew it well past midnight when he decided to pry himself out of the kitchen. The only things on his mind now as he went to join his wife in bed, was that of beating Kyle Shane and finally converting him to his cause…
and the absolute embarrassment that would follow if he lost.
The two words Seromine finally managed to say and the person meant to hear them wasn’t there. He knew he was wrong, but his frantic paranoia blocked rationality as well as an anti-virus program blocks a threat. All was quiet in the groves, sans some distant rustling from the cold breeze and what he swore was the sound of mass cawing. Laughing and taunting from a distance at his folly. It only existed in his mind of course…
Seromine studied the moonlit property as he slowly marched back into the barn. He sat where XIII had been. This wasn’t a rapture; the damn scarecrow wasn’t invited! WHO was the tormentor?? Seromine shatters that chair no sooner than he took a seat. It was an evil reminder of everything that had gone wrong tonight. He then brought himself to where Destiny had been seated. He didn’t sit down, but instead glared at the lectern he selfishly whored the word of GOD to...who? The followers were long gone, but he refused to accept it. Destiny didn’t want to be there, but he refused to accept it.
Now he was alone and searching his soul for answers. He deeply loved his wife and deeply loved his children, but allowed XIII to take away his common senses. XIII didn’t speak. He, or she, just listened without so much as presenting an answer to Seromine’s questions. The preacher promptly destroys the lectern with the same rage he had felt towards the chair of XIII. It was also an evil reminder of everything that had gone wrong.
That he was wrong for everything.
“I love you, Destiny...” Seromine whispers to himself. His eyes now locked on his wedding ring, before he caressed the spot on his right bicep where her name was tattooed. He smiles, thinking about her, and the memories of good times at the property back when they were teenagers. It was love at first sight for them. They had both been wronged by a parent, only by different methods, but it gave them someone to trust, someone to understand, someone to listen…
Seromine goes about the process of folding up the remaining chairs. They would be dumped into the eternal flame, their practical use no longer needed. Seromine followed the dance of the flames as the wood crackled and charred.
He swore he saw headlights approaching in the distance, barely making them out between the trees...but it was his mind playing tricks again. A hard sigh and a tilt of the head, places Seromine’s gaze on the sky. The pitch black, feathery, sky.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” he yells as his eyes adjust.
What he was seeing wasn’t the typical celestial body. It was a never ending wave of ravens flying by like an endless sea. Cawing in low hum unison as they pass like clouds. That was only the beginning of things.
“PRAISE SEROMINE! NEVERMORE! PRAISE SEROMINE! NEVERMORE!”
His followers had returned after all! Their disembodied chant was coming from inside the barn! He knew they weren’t gone. He just knew it! He was so happy to have them back, he was willing to ignore the taunt at the end. Seromine races back to the makeshift church and finds twelve scarecrows in a prayer circle. Their amish attire was in tatters. Patches of burlap had been sewn in-between. Their masks were also burlap, but had been aged badly. The material was fraying at the seams, barely enough of a peek to the faces concealed inside. Cocooned would be a more apt description. “PRAISE SEROMINE! NEVERMORE –- NEVERMORE –-- NEVERMORE –- NEVERMORE!!!”
They turned to face him. Each had their own roman numeral stitched, I-XII. It wasn’t a head count. It was the order of elimination. The chant stopped. The swaying stopped. It was like watching rigor mortis take effect. One by one they topple into a pile. Seromine couldn’t process what had become of them. Between the sky and this display, he was lucky to even be able to stand on his own power. That’s when the planks of the barn roof started to loosen and collapse inside. Dust clogged the air as the structure started falling apart. Seromine dashes out and no sooner does he get out into the open, does the barn completely implode.
Nevermore.
Light from inside the main house drew his attention. “Destiny! You came back for me!” he says after seeing their car parked where it had previously been. It was the spark he needed. Seromine races into the barren home and into the sight of the walls and fixtures being wallpapered by pages of the bible. He didn’t care. XIII could show its stupid face right now and it wouldn’t matter. His wife had returned to save him from this place and he was ready to go.
Up the stairs he goes…
The pages of the bible were now pages of The Raven.
Presently my soul grew stronger;
hesitating then no longer,
“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping,
tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”---
here I opened wide the door;---
Darkness there and nothing more.
The voice was hers. Only it stopped after the final word. Seromine cautiously moves down the hallway, ignoring the three boarded up doors and paying no mind to the spray painted NEVERMORE on them.
“Babe?” she called out to her husband. “I couldn’t leave you here! I thought you may have come inside to keep warm, but when I didn’t see you, I came in here to wait. I figured you would see the light on.”
Seromine breathed a sigh of relief. The nightmare was over! It was time to make Labyrinth Grove a distant memory, as it should’ve been long before now. He wastes little time going into the remaining room. There she lay naked on the bed. How one got there isn’t important. Her head was turned towards him. Her brown eyes filled with seduction. Her arms held out for an embrace. Biting her lower lip, she motions for him to join her.
“The kids aren’t here. It’s just you and me.” she finishes with a soft moan. “Take those clothes off. Or do you need some help?” this time she winks and wiggles her body. After he removes each article of clothing, he kills the lights and gets into bed.
“You’re mine!” comes a growling declaration. But not from her...
The darkness of the room suddenly becomes the night sky. Seromine has been crucified! He’s in tattered preacher attire and forced to stare directly into the coal black eyes of XIII. Seromine isn’t on a cross in the groves. He’s on the symbol of his past and unable to make an audible scream. Ravens flock to his body, finding sanctuary on his outstretched arms. XIII paces forward to the position, orchestrating a symphony of CAWS.
XIII has directed them to pick at his flesh. While the blood flows, XIII’s hand reaches to his mask. When the whole piece is removed and the identity of the attacker revealed, Seromine sees it’s…
Kristen flips on the light to spot her father at the kitchen table with a half full pot of coffee.
“Dad! What are you still doing up?”
“I couldn’t sleep. Your mom is snoring so loud, Australia called to complain about the noise.”
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Oh. Well...” he turns the question around on her. “What are YOU still doing up?”
“It’s the scarecrow dream again, isn’t it?”
“You got it. But I’m getting closer to unmasking it this time!”
Kristen smiles. “You have a better chance at finding where Carmen Sandiego is in the world. But I love you.” She kisses his head. “Goodnight, daddy.”
“Goodnight, sweetheart.” he replies.
Destiny didn’t stay mad for long and in fact, turned right back around to get him no sooner than she exited off the property that night. She couldn’t leave him there. If anything, she would’ve stayed with him. They both apologized for what happened (especially him) and like always, put it behind them and moved on.
That was going to be the last time they were at the property. In the morning, calls would be made.
Seromine knew it well past midnight when he decided to pry himself out of the kitchen. The only things on his mind now as he went to join his wife in bed, was that of beating Kyle Shane and finally converting him to his cause…
and the absolute embarrassment that would follow if he lost.