Frights (Scary Stories)

7. Cõrruption

Sixteen. Asha was finally upon the blooming days of 16. Two more years and she will get to decide if she wants to stay in the village, which consist of 217 people, or go out and see the real world. Whether she would or not was not decided yet. Bigger issues were on her mind, issues that every kid in her village had to face when they turned 16. The elders called it, "The Ritual of Our Future." The children called it scary. "The Ritual of Our Future," was when a child of the age of 16 left the village and went into the woods for 2-3 days. The child would wander until they found a cliff, no one ever missed the cliff for it stood 200 feet above ground. The child would then go to the edge of the cliff and slit their hand open, and wait. Close their eyes and wait. Waiting for the thing of Corruption to come. If it did... well it never did.

Asha sat at the dinner table with her mother, father, and 4 other siblings.

"Asha. I know you're scared. I was too. As was your father, and your siblings will be in the future." Asha looked up, "I know mother, I'm not scared of Corruption. I am scared to be in the wilderness alone." As far as Asha knew, no one knew what Corruption was. If it was a being, a god, a animal, or spirit. She just hoped and prayed she would not find out. Her mother put her hand over Asha's in comfort. Father looked outside, "We best be on our way. People are starting to make their way towards the gathering center."

Asha walked nervously behind her parents towards the gathering place. All of the village was there. Her friends sat in the audience, not even they cracked a smile at her. Asha's family took their seats as the elder stood to speak. "Welcome, people of Ledenburg. Today is a very special day for our member Asha. Today is the day we send her off into the woods her very brave journey." The elder went on to explain what Asha must do, when he was done he called her onto stage. She walked nervously up the wooden steps, and over to the main elder. She held out her arm, for she knew what had to happen. She had seen it done many times before. The elder took a small knife from the podium and slit a small cross into Asha's upper arm. She winced in pain. Then the pain was gone. "For protection." The elder said to her smiling.

Asha said goodbye to her family, her friends, and her dog. The journey had begun, there was no going back now. She had walked for 3 hours straight with nothing in her bag except a little bit of food and water. The ground would have to be her bed for the night. Boredom kicked in fast for all there was to do was walk until she couldn't. It was dark before she knew it, then day again. The ground was not a comfortable bed. After eating she started her days journey. It was midday now. Her legs were numb. A sound came from behind her. A wolf? A bear? Whatever it was it was getting close. From behind a bush, Asha could make out a face. A face that didn't look like any animal she had seen before. It leaped towards her. She screamed and began to run. She ran till tears flowed down her face from fear. A log came into the path and she tripped. Falling down a little slope. Branches poked into her skin, and dirt filled her finger nails from trying to catch herself. Finally she stopped falling and everything was still. She braced, but nothing happened. Looking up after a brief period of panic she could see what she had came for. The cliffs edge sat directly in front of her.

Now on the cliffs edge, she kneeled. Knife in one hand, nothing but skin in the other. She breathed slowly and deeply. Thinking that maybe Corruption only came to those who were afraid. "Pure blood, pure blood, pure blood." She repeated as she held the knife to her palm, and slit. She could feel the blood trickling onto the ground. She kneeled for five minutes, then ten, then fifteen. A sigh of relief was let out of her body. She opened her eyes and stared into the never ending fog beyond the cliff. Standing now, she turned away. The wide grin on her face was interrupted by a mini earthquake, or so it felt like. Turning back, a figure in the fog could be made out. Not just a figure, a giant. So big Asha had to look up just to see the silhouette of it's head. Her breathes became shortened and heavier as the object moved closer, the ground shaking with every step. It was right upon the cliffs edge now. Asha saw every detail. It's black skin, spiked hair, yellow eyes, long arms and fingers. Except its arms weren't just arms, they were human faces lined up and down to form a arm. All faces in a screaming expression. Their faces black, looking burnt. The creature smiled. "Hello Asha."

Asha was paralyzed, "How do you know my-" her mouth slammed shut.

The creature continued to speak, "I. Am. Corruption. I am the eater of Gods, and the enemy of his followers. I am everyone's nightmare come to life. I am every fairy tale monster that ever walked. Those who do not believe make me who I am. All of their faces make me, they are ME. Those who do not believe in me shall be shown to believe. But I can not show them. YOU SHOW THEM WHO I AM."

Asha's eyes rolled to the back of her head. She could feel herself coming off of the ground, seemingly levitating in the air. Her thoughts were completely rendered. All of her fears seized as the creature had control. Her eyes rolled back to the front and she could see once again. Suddenly she was back on the stage at the gathering place. Dark clouds blanketed the sky above. She stood at the podium. To her right were lambs, lambs lined up one behind the other as far as the eye could see. One walked up to her, and kneeled. Looking down a ax laid in her hands. Raising it into the air, she slammed it back down onto the lambs head. The next lamb walked up, she did the same. Over and over she slammed the ax down onto the lamb's head. The stage covered in blood. One lamb's blood got into her eyes, blurring her vision. Wiping the blood off and looking back she saw that they weren't lambs at all, they were the people of her village. Asha struggled to breathe. Every breathe coming and going quick. The blood covered ax dropped to the ground as Asha covered her mouth in shock, staining it with blood as well. She could make out her fathers body, her mothers, and her siblings. A voice came from the sky. "BELIEVE IN ME. BELIEVE."

Asha woke up on the cold ground looking up into the night sky. She jolted up quickly and began to cradle herself. Trying to be brave was no use now, she sobbed heavily on the ground. Now her mind wandered. How long had she been sleeping? What day was it? Maybe this happened to everyone. BELIEVE. She did not believe she didn't. It was a nightmare, yeah a nightmare. No, what had just happened to her surely did not happen to everyone. She knew that. Slowly standing, legs still trembling, she began to walk home. That walking turned into running for the thoughts of Corruption flooded her mind. She ran and she didn't stop running until she appeared at the village entrance. She couldn't tell them. Couldn't. She cleaned herself up and walked into the village, hoping she wouldn't get much attention. No one was out, everyone must have been asleep. She walked up to her front door and knocked, her mother answered quickly.

Mother greeted her, but it wasn't much of a greet. She took Asha inside and let her change into her night gown. Then she led Asha to the bed, and spoke to her quietly trying not to wake her siblings. "So? How was it?" Asha sighed, "It was... boring," the two giggled, "Nothing happened. I guess that's a good thing though." "Yeah." her mom said smiling, she went to get up.

"Mother?" Asha spoke softly, "Has anything ever happened to anyone in the woods. During the ritual?" She thought for a moment, "Hmm I believe a friend of your great grandmothers claimed to meet the corrupt thing. But that's been years, who knows if she was being truthful." Asha nodded to show she understood.

Asha slept like a baby that night.

She awoke, rising out of bed slowly. She went to wipe her eyes, but something stopped her. Red stains covered her arms and hands. She stood out of bed and looked down. Gown covered as well. Looking over at her siblings she saw nothing but shapes covered in blood. "No no no." She cried running downstairs. Her parents were sprawled out onto the floor. Blood everywhere. Running out of the house she saw bodies everywhere. Everyone dead. Men, women, and children. Asha looked down, an ax laid by her feet. The ground shook, and here came the figure from before. Asha stood still as it came out of the woods towards her. It stood like a tower in front of her. The creature smiled at her. Asha smiled back.

"What now?" Asha asked Corruption.

Corruption began to shrink, shrinking down until he was just a little taller than her. He was now a regular teenage boy. No different than everyone else who was in the village, except one hand was still burnt black.

"We start over," he said. Holding out his hand to her, she took it. Smiling at each other, they walked across the village of endless corpses.