The Day I Died

Chapter 0

It was dark... I remembered that much. I was barefoot in the middle of a desolate road, the last rains of the evening had littered debris across the street, and the wind tousled my curls and brushed them into my face. In that moment, all was silent but the shuffling of the trees and the rattling of their leaves, all was calm; all was serene, until something nudged me towards my demise.

I remember the face of my killer. Eyes so sharp they pierced, yet tears glistened on her cheeks. She seemed confused, upset, and in an instant, I knew why. She was hated, feared, embarrassed, she was the epitome of sin, her existence was blight.

I'd known this girl all of my life, I can still recall the sepia frames. It was nostalgic, but I would never have guessed our reunion would end as it did. This girl, this monster, she looked so very familiar. Her skin was pitch, her form hazy as bleak fog, she had no place in this world. She was otherworldly, a projection from the other side. She was a fragment of the broken soul, one forbidden to make contact with. But I'd signed a contract long ago, against my permission. Yet I was far too young to oblige or decline.

A light had shown at the end of the world, a faint glimmer from my position. "Take a step closer," She'd whispered to me. I did, one foot leading the other through a translucent trail. "Don't look back," she'd suggested, and I had no strength to deny her request. I trudged across an endless terrain, two forces attracting like north and south poles..How I'd wanted to melt those magnets, to cease the danger before it ceased me. Yet, I was powerless and I begrudgingly sauntered along. One foot, then the other.

She walked beside me, and she told me not to fear. How could I fear? Did she expect me to fear the unknown? The glass has always been empty in my eyes, like my eyes. "You shouldn't listen to me.." She'd said, melancholy saturated her tone, and I knew she was right. I despised her, she was never someone I'd want to associate with, so why was I listening? What was pushing me towards the inching light? I shook my head, my nerves sparked with a inexplicable flame, and I stepped back.

I took a step away from the path unwinding before me. Stairs of white spiraled into oblivion, and they led deep below the ground. This path, I realized, wasn't the stairway to heaven, this wasn't the path to Nirvana. I didn't want to know what this led to. She widened her eyes as she saw me hesitate. I stepped farther back, disobeying her commands. Her lips were bleached black and they curled into a smirk, the last expression I would see. My wrist was encased by a lacy shadow that crawled horridly up my skin, it was a dull pain so numb that it swiped my breath from my lungs. Just like that, I had lost all control.

My feet stuck to the pavement, I refused to move them. Yet I was being forced to move forward, and I could not stop the bullet of light targeting me. She laughed, she danced as she held me under her faint hypnosis, and all feeling was null. "Isn't this fun?" She asked with sarcasm dripping off her tongue. "Isn't this what you asked for?" It struck my heart; I felt something within me snap. I was inches from that staircase, from that light, and time froze.

The trees swayed, the wind whistled, the crows serenaded with the knells. Orange clouds blended with the purple of night, and the cool atmosphere sent shivers down my spine. I acknowledged the stars beginning to glimmer through the blanket slowly unfolding over dusk, and I didn't want to forget. Oh god, I never wanted to forget this world. I didn't want to leave, I never wanted to leave.

"I change my mind!" I yelled, using the last of the air within my lungs. I was exasperated, tired, I didn't want my past to envelope my future. "Leave me alone! Let me go!" I couldn't fight back for much longer; my voice strained and quivered as these words left my lips. She laughed, and pranced, my words hadn't affected her in the slightest. Heat seared my cheeks and tears began to slither their streaks over my flesh.