SILENCE

Young Boys n' Beasts

The walls of the tunnel loomed mockingly by his sides as he ran and ran. He could hear the creature's shrieks as it viciously chased him. The ground trembled as if a bomb had gone off but he did not wait to check.

His goal was to run and keep running until he was far from that... thing. He pushed on and his limbs protested yet he ignored them.

He couldn't die. Not now.
He still had to go to college and join a cool fraternity. He still had to have those three boys and two girls with Rose so that they could have a big family.

He still had to love her and grow old with her.

So he couldn't just die yet.

With these thoughts in his frenzied mind, he ran through the tunnel and found himself in the forest. Regardless, he continued into it as the shadows of the trees blocked the light of the moon and hovered around like a convocation of robed figures. He ran on, ignoring the tiresome plants and trees as they clawed and grasped at him leaving bloody openings all over his body.

He could still hear the creature's cry as it came closer and he could also hear his body's protest. Exhaustion and weakness stole through him and played the music of death with his limbs. His breath fled and eluded him, his whole being seemed on the verge of crumbling yet he held on by sheer strength of will.

The only coherent thought he held on to was the mantra that kept running through his mind;

Rose... Rose... Rose... Rose... Rose..

...her pink lips and blond hair. The way her hair would shine under the sun's smile as the flowers all bowed in shame. The way her blue eyes would widen each time he kissed her as if she still couldn't believe he loved her. The innocent twinkle that would always appear in her eyes when she spoke of her dreams and of their future... together. The way she would shriek whenever she saw a rose flower and say,

"That's my namesake! "

He stumbled over a root and he fell heavily to the forest floor, his body finally giving up. The creature's fierce pursuit became even more fierce as it realized that its weak prey had fallen down somewhere and all the young boy could do was lie helplessly on the ground like a broken doll as he heard its steps draw closer.

Everything had lost its meaning and his eyes had begun to close.

Then he saw the moon.

Rose had once said,

"The moon reminds me of you, you know. Each night I would look out my window and when I see it, I would remember you because you are as pure to me as the moon. Just like the sun reminds you of me. "

" Oh Rose! "

He choked out as he coughed out blood and slowly arose, his whole body shaking. The strength of her smile raised him up and he found out he could think more clearly.

Stumbling towards a wide tree under the guarding eye of the moon, he thought of using a different strategy. He would only run to his death if he kept this up.

Fixing his mind's eye on the face of his lover, he decided to fight instead. Although he was already half-dead, he would fight for his life and for his future with Rose  and for their five kids and for John and Carl, his two friends who had been taken by that thing.

Using the last of his strength, he climbed the closest branch of the tree, his haggard moon-kissed face glistening with blood and sweat under the light of the night. His torn and tattered cloth stuck to his body as a result of the excess blood and sweat and his breath only came in short, hollow gasps.