TIME AFTER TIME

interludium.

INTERLUDE:

"A Demon Without A Curse"

ASH.

A scorching heat.

When I wake up, the air is hot. A burning fire in my lungs brings me back to life. My body feels still. Too still. Then I open my eyes and I'm blinking away specs of black. Ash. I start to feel the heat in my body and when I look down I'm inside some black box. No, a coffin. My heartbeat kick starts then panic follows soon after. I grunt out with effort as I raise my arms to break free from the coffin of ash. The black pieces break away as I kick until I'm scurrying out of the dirt. My eyes adjust to the bright fire only a few feet away and I realize I've been crying hysterically and there are two large figures above me, shaking their heads with confusion. I'm lying on a table, the great source of fire heating the small dark room only a few yards away.

Whispers fill my ears and I groan with frustration at the indiscrete noises. My eyes squeeze shut as I try to focus beyond the noise. At the top of my head, I feel a tug and the whispers calm enough for me to open my eyes and see one of the figures above me holding their arm in pain and backing away from blocking my exit. I don't question the opportunity to free myself from this oven of a room so I roll off the table and sprint away. I hear shouting behind me as I run towards the only other light source in this room. My hands find the handle of a door which I yank open then lock quickly behind me. I lean against the industrial metal door and look around what seems to resemble a cavern. Tall dirt walls are lit by torches perched against the long corridor's walls. The ground is smooth and that's when I realize I have no shoes or clothes on. I grab one torch from the wall and ignore the paranoid feeling that something has gone wrong. I continue to walk down the hallway, ignoring the feeling.

Just then, a shout comes from behind me, "Hey!" I turn over my shoulder to see two headlights pointing directly at me. My feet book it in the opposite direction, despite their protests for me to come back, "Don't run, we just wanna help you!"

They're lying!

I gasp and turn to find the source of the voice I just heard. But when I turn I see that I'm still alone in the spooky catacomb. So I blow out the torch and settle in a small nook in the dirt wall. My heartbeat settles when the two goons chasing me pass the nook I've settled in. Once alone, I dare to whisper fiercely, "Who said that?" I attempt to sound threatening but I sound shy, my voice hollow. My weak voice echoes through the now empty tunnel. Despite knowing I heard someone, I turned away and continued what I was assuming was an exit. While I walk, I rack my brain for the last thing I remember, hoping to answer why I'm suddenly underground, confused, and naked. While I think, my fingers skim the dirt wall as I walk. The memory is hazing even while I force my brain to produce something. There's not much to go off; flashes of broken glass, blood being spilled, a great loss. Someone was with me before I came to... wherever the hell I was.

I continue down the dark hallway and the lit flames that jutted from the dirt wall are unlit. My eyes squint through the darkness and I struggle over the uneven ground as the rest of the world disappears into black around me. The room I've entered is dark and smells like something wet that hasn't moved in too long.. like mold or moss. In the dark, my feet step on something hard then it snaps, and before I know it I'm on the floor, hands trying to feel what foreign object I'd landed on. I feel pieces of fabric then something squishy but tell myself to keep moving, from further away I see a dim light. Daylight. I stand from the ground and push myself to my feet to keep moving toward my exit across the dark uneven floor.

Then I trip again, this time closer to the daylight, and see I'm staring at a pair of feet. One shoe is on the left foot, and the other is missing on the right. The two feet are pointed in opposite directions. I look to what connects to the feet and see a female corpse, bones showing where saggy skin had deteriorated. I'm staring at a dead body for the first time.