Walking Backwards

|Before It All Began|

FINALLY PUBLISHING THIS! 

Wow. It had been a year since I published the teaser to this and I just logged into my account and remembered! This can probably be considered a longer teaser, though, but it's just a 'flashback'. There will be plenty of flashbacks within this work and all of those flashbacks will be italicized just to differentiate them. I hope this turns out alright... I'm kinda nervous. I may issue a chapter once every week, writing it throughout the week and then publishing it every Saturday, which is when I'll have time to proofread and get it out there! There'll be so set time, unfortunately, but most likely between the afternoon and early evening!

After a long wait, I present you with this. It isn't much, nor will the first few chapters have much to offer, but I'm hoping it'll all get much better. I don't like writing extensive Author's Notes, but I thought this was necessary!

Hope you like this and if you do, leave a vote, comment, add it to whatever library! You'll get a slice of strawberry cake! :3

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At first, I thought it was the usual dead baby possum, one of those near-fetuses with fine, grey bristles all over their bodies that I often came across every now and then whilst walking aimlessly in the forest in the back of my house. I wondered how it had gotten in my bedroom, on top of a pile of familiar Chemistry hand-outs that I had never planned on doing anyway. I peered closer at my study desk, at the baby possum.

I scrutinized the possum carefully as if it would somehow make up for the hazy yellow 60-watt light bulb above me that hung like the very silence in the air. Still, I could faintly see... I saw the possum's arms, its legs, the body... and then I gasped.

The possum wasn't a possum at all. And it wasn't even dead. It was a fetus, however -- I was certain about that. Its body was tiny, small, and wholly undeveloped. It was vaguely simian, vaguely human, with the apparent consistency and coloring of chewed-then-swallowed-then-regurgitated red and black licorice mashed together. It pulsed and twitched on the papers, hunched what looked like its shoulders, shivered, laid still, convulsed again... It opened its tiny mouth which looked much like bite-sized monster jaws and fine, pointy teeth were let loose, appearing to have been stuck together with a mucky substance that looked like glue, closed its mouth, opened it again and let out a hoarse, husky whisper.

"Damien," I thought it said... "Damien, wake up."

Its black grimy eyes rolled back, squirming around in its eye sockets in a frantic hurry, shook, and flopped. Maybe it was dead, I wasn't too sure. But I didn't dare to check. This isn't real, I reminded myself. I knew in the back of my head that everything here wasn't, but these days, you could never be so sure.

I backed away and exited the room. The silence was scary. You know how some people love the silence? I was one of those people. Too much silence, however, will make any hearing person go insane, no matter how introverted or solitary you claimed yourself to be. We were naturally surrounded by sounds, be it the sound of you breathing, your heartbeat, speeding cars... except this time, I couldn't hear anything at all. I huffed, but the silence did not break. I slammed a fist against the wall, but no sound was made. It was like... actually, I have no idea what it was like. It was just... odd.

Then, something that wasn't real caught my eye. Something large, like a bear, but it moved way too quickly, like a mouse. It was just around the corner, where my older brother's room was. Matthew liked to be alone, and it was always best not to bother him no matter what, but there were no rules to be broken where I was at that moment.

I slowly opened my brother's bedroom door and the familiar sound of the door hinges sang into my ears. I jumped at the suddeness, but felt at ease at the same time. My footsteps echoed in the small room. Just sitting on the edge of Matthew's bed was the thing. The thing that was large like a bear and as quick as a mouse. But it didn't look like a bear, nor a mouse. It looked like... Matthew. But it wasn't Matthew, I knew at least that. It may have looked like Matthew, but Matthew was sound asleep underneath the covers with his face turned towards the ceiling. He opened his eyes at the sound of my voice calling out to him.