Life, Death, And Decite

Chapter 1: The Voice

  The man walked along a narrow road, crying out for help, asking for the simplest thing, food. Something he could never have enough of. The silence filled his head and encouraged his fear, it screamed at him for being out this late and for not being home, but he didn’t listen, he couldn’t, he had become immune to the voices in his head, the voices of reason. He yelled and screamed into the dead of night, into the void that was up above, but no one ever replied. Until that night. A bright light shone, one that would be unnerving to most, but for this man, it was his savior. 
    “I seek the one who has cried into the void for too long, for the man who has suffered more than any other man, where is this man who has been broken beyond repair?” asked the Voice, this time it wasn’t in the man’s head, but rather all around him, as if water had suddenly filled his ears and all he could hear was the swish, swish, swish of it.
    The Voice was strangely calm and had an authoritative undertone which implied that someone would sooner lose their head than speak against it. Yet, the Voice fit perfectly into the night, as if it had sat there and studied the starless void for far too long. 
    “I only do these things because of the dire circumstances,” The man spoke hesitantly, unsure if he had fallen unconscious or not. When no reply came he spoke again, 
    “I only need some food for my family and I, my wife is expecting our thirteenth child but food is hard to come by in our household.” He finished and waited for a response, seeing if this Voice would help them in their time of need. 
    “I can give you everything you need and more, but it will come at a price. I will give you and your family enough food for the rest of your lives, but I seek a child, one that I can raise as my own.” the Voice said.
    The man took several moments to process the proposition. Realization dawned on him as he quickly nodded his head.
    “Then I will give you my thirteenth child for exchange for feeding the rest of my family.” The man looked to the center of the light and held out his hand, signifying a handshake. The light transformed into a beautiful man who took the poorer man’s hand in a handshake and quickly disappeared in a burst of light and a whirlwind of crashes. 
    Unsure of what to make of his previous encounter, the man started heading back to his cozy home filled with sleeping children and an expecting wife. Surely the deal wasn’t a mistake, the man already had twelve children, what difference would a single unborn child make? Would he trade any of his living children for food? He already knew the answer. Each of his children were precious to him, he would sooner give his own life then let one of them die. Then what difference did this unborn child make? He asked himself again. There was no real emotional connection with it yet, no memories, nothing. So then why did the man feel as if he betrayed his family? They would never know, only him and the Voice knew about the deal, and the man intended for it to stay that way. 
Much too soon, he saw the fence outlining his property, and heard something startling.  Screaming and wailing from inside his home. The man sprinted to the house and ran to the smallest room, belonging to him and his wife. Throwing the door open, he rushed in and immediately fell to his wife’s side along with his three eldest children. 
    “What’s happening?!” shouted the man, but none of his children seemed to know the answer.
    His oldest daughter went out of the room and headed to the kitchen, frantically searching through cupboards and drawers. Finally finding what she was looking for, she ran back into the room.
    “She’s going into labor! Get me a water bucket!” Screamed the eldest, leaving everyone dumbfounded. One of the sons quickly got up and ran to the well, while the other son sat and comforted his mother. 
    She couldn’t be going into labor, thought the man, only four months had passed since finding out about her pregnancy. It was impossible! They hadn’t even told the whole family yet. 
    The first son ran back into the room with a bucket of water that was slightly less than full and fell to his knees beside the daughter. As the man looked at the daughter, he found all of the things that resembled her mother, the same straight nose, the same hazel eyes with flecks of gold, and the same determination that her mother had. Determination shone through both women’s faces as they struggled with giving birth to the premature child.
      After what felt like hours of staring, the man heard a baby’s cry for breath and looked up to see his child. The child was as beautiful as his mother and seemed to glow. His child was perfect, he could already imagine the memories that they would make and could only imagine what kind of personality the boy had. Was he determined and outspoken like his mother? Or adventurous and strong-willed like his father? Perhaps he would be wise like his grandparents. Or maybe he would develop his own personality that fit him just as beautifully as he physically was. He looked at his glowing child and came forward holding the child’s tiny hand in his own. Memorizing his features already noticing similarities to his mother. 
   Before the man realized what was happening, the baby’s glow became a shine and the baby was becoming less and less visible through the haze of bright, unnerving light. The boy was no longer visible through it all and the ball of light went up through the roof, into the heavens and beyond never to be seen by the family again. And that’s when the man remembered the bright light and the deal with the ominous Voice. 

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Yay! My first story!
Anyways, sorry if there were any mistakes or if it didnt make sense, I'm still learning! I have most of the story outlines already I just have to write it all! Let's hope I make it that far. My hope is that the story will get better as I learn to write better, and hopefully longer chapters too.