The Grim

2. Awakening

It was a chilly, dark evening in the heart of fall; the night lay still, and an eerie solitude enveloped me. The wind whispered through the trees surrounding me, the only audible sound being the occasional flight of animals overhead. I found myself walking toward my workplace down by the lake, yet I couldn't fathom why. It was as if an invisible force tugged at my body, leaving me with no control over my actions.

Suddenly, I found myself standing before a cluster of shadows, faint whispers filling the air, their words elusive. My name echoed, leaving me to question if this was all a dream. Abruptly, the darkness intensified, and red began to seep from the walls. A cacophony of screams and agony surrounded me, instilling a profound sense of dread and remorse, emotions I had never experienced. The shadows, one by one, dissipated before my eyes, their cries of anguish fading. Strangely, with each disappearance, an unusual sensation overcame me – a rush, ungodlike in its intensity, unlike anything I had ever felt before.

The room began to tremble, and the surroundings gradually dissolved. Suddenly, I found myself back outside the building, gazing at the distinct logo: 'Dark Mills Lumber.' Was this merely a dream, or was I grappling with something beyond comprehension? The sensation of my body slipping away from consciousness in this shadowy realm heightened, leaving me questioning the reality of it all.

I awoke, utterly confused and with no idea what was going on. However, I remembered everything that had happened in that void and at my work. What was happening around me also seemed so familiar.

"Hey, Samson," I heard from behind me. Without even thinking, I yelled, "I don't have time, Eve. I'm going to be fucking late for work again."

I don't know why or how I knew I was going to say that, but I did. I looked down at my watch and saw that it was 7:45. My shift at the lumberyard started at 8am, and I was undoubtedly going to be late. I quickly finished the food on my plate and rushed upstairs, all the while hearing Eve faintly apologize. She was my younger sister, just 18 years old, and had recently graduated. Evelynn was her full name, but everyone called her Eve, she is a fairly short and skinny girl with bright red hair. She had finished at the top of her class and was heading to Harvard Law in the coming year. She always looked up to me, but I wasn't really going anywhere in life and had no real ambitions, my grades in school complimented this. I never quite understood why she was so overly attached to me, but I appreciated the constant company, especially since our parents were not very involved in our lives. Our mom was an abusive drunk who died around a year back, and our dad had left her a few years before that, needless to say, we had been through alot.

I quickly got dressed, my dark brown hair greasy and unshowered. Tossing on a beanie, I hurried to my old, beat-up Honda. We lived in a small town called Enderby in interior Canada. The snow had already begun to fall and the town was quiet and peaceful —small and run-down, but at least the nature was nice. The house we resided in was our mother's before her passing, left to me. It's a rundown shack surrounded by forest, but it's cozy. My main focus is paying off the mortgage, and my job is nothing special. I work in a lumberyard that specializes in making pallets, so it's pretty boring. It may not be luxurious, but it pays the bills and supports us. I work alongside my best friend, Oliver. He got me the job a couple of years back because his uncle runs the place. We've been buddies since high school, and after my mom's passing, he really stepped up for me, offering support and assistance with anything I could need.

I usually picked Oliver up for work in the morning, fully aware that I'd be in for an earful due to my habitual tardiness. Given that it was his family's business, he tended to be quite uptight about my lack of punctuality, expecting me to take pride in it for what it was. Oliver stood at an imposing 6'2, with long blonde hair and a well-built physique, while I was the opposite—more compact and shorter, though still in good shape.