A Journal From Who Knows Where

Gone Wrong

I had assumed that when I left the mining town, my next stop would be the castle. After all, I hadn't seen anything between those two points. I was wrong. Upon leaving the town, the road continued on toward the castle but before that it did something else. It took an impossibly sharp dive into a particularly hellish looking place. I pondered how to get down there but there was no need. I heard a familiar sound, a sound I first heard in the town square.

The train pulled up next to me, slow and steady. It hadn't been cleaned or maintained in a long time. The entire train was covered in black grease and rust, making it impossible to determine its original color. Its door slid open with a mechanical groan. As usual, I could detect no signs of human life. There were neither passengers nor crew. Cautiously I entered the train and found a seat. The door closed behind me with a creak. The train lurched forward with a jolt.

As the train moved, I was reminded of the impossibility of this place. The dive taken by the road was almost a straight decline. There weren't any tracks either. The train should have fallen and crashed straight to the bottom. Yet there it was, moving downward at a pace that was almost casual.

The scene ahead was a grim one. Dull, grey buildings covered in grime and soot lay under a blanket of thick, polluted air. As the train pulled through the large city, the picture being painted grew worse and worse. At first the buildings bore only chips and cracks. Then entire wall faces were missing. As the train pulled into its station, the buildings began to show stains of blood that, judging by their appearance, had been there for years.

Stepping into the city streets, I was taken by the full size of it for the first time. There was no way I would just happen across the memory as I had done before. It seemed she knew that as well. I heard the shrill, girlish laughter that I would soon become very familiar with. Turning around, I saw the flash of her scarlet dress as she ran into an alley. I chased after her.

I chased after her. Every time I turned a corner, I caught a glimpse of her doing the same. When I finally caught up with her, she was just standing there. Her hair and dress flowed in the wind in a way that was somehow unnatural. What was she? She couldn't be a memory. I had opened no bottle. I thought perhaps I could be finally losing my mind but then why would she have shown up in the memory of the club?

I was about to open my mouth to speak when she put a long, slender finger to her lips. She pointed at the ground between us, at the bottle that hadn't been there a moment ago. Very cautiously, not taking my eyes off her for a second, I stepped forward to pick up the bottle. I glanced down at the bottle for a moment and when I looked back up she was gone. Burning curiosity mixed with irritation as I yanked the bottle open.

Given the state of the place I was in, I was prepared for grim but not nearly enough. Through the thickly polluted sky, I searched for a sight of the castle. It was nearly complete, lacking only the tallest heights of the grand tower. All around me were workers. Men, women, children too. All were miserable. By the look of them, they were the same folk from the mining town. I could only guess as to what had happened. It seemed every time I came close to an answer, all I got was another question.

I was shaken from my thoughts by the ringing of a great bell. This caused quite a commotion and there was lots of shouting and running but I could discern one word spoken by many different voices. Shadows. I turned to see what it was everyone was running from. For a moment, yet again I saw that brief flash of scarlet. Then I saw them.

Husks of darkness and twisted flesh, they were truly terrifying. They appeared in the form of various animals, mostly wolves, that looked like they had only almost been made right. They had no eyes, at least not in any natural, organic sense.  Where there eyes would have been were bright, yellow, piercing lights. They launched themselves forward tearing anything and everything apart.

I turned around and there she was, standing and smiling amidst the carnage. All around her people were being slaughtered and buildings were being demolished. She motioned for me to walk with her and, cautiously, I did. Every attempt I made to speak was immediately silenced. After a few minutes we stopped and she pointed a finger forward. I traced her gaze to a dock connected directly to the castle. As I turned my head back to her, she was gone again. That trick was gonna get old real fast.