Short stories from my creative writing class

#006 - Flash fiction

 Prompt - Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.

My eyes watch over the glittering waves of the sea and my brother stumbles out of the house. His deathly pale face practically glows in the light of the dying day.

His golden hair is wiry and slowly falling out in chunks.

I race up to his sides and hold him up.

"What are you doing! You know you shouldn't be out of bed, at all!"

"Well pardon me for not wanting to stay still in bed while I waste away like everyone else did. We both know that I'm not going to be able to make it through the night."

He leans on me heavily as we walk back to the shoreline. Small koi fish swish around our feet and the gentle mist of the water swirls through and around our bodies. Lily pads dot the edge of the water as something breaks shore in the distance.

Slowly more and more dot float across the horizon line and as the last dying embers of day I sight what they are.

Warships.

I stay silent, while they may be great, the night is greater. In about 5 minutes all will plunge into darkness and the supernaturals will arrive.

Slowly I haul my brother onto my shoulders and haul him back into the house.

As I close the door the crest of night sounds and in the faint distance I can hear the soldiers screaming to get inside the ships. But to my brother all of that is non-existent, trapped with the fate of walking down the ebon hallway.

His dulled gold eyes wander through the room, until he finds what he is looking for. A silver lamp with a set of matches.

"I'm going out tonight, I may not make it far but I want to see the supernaturals, the stars, the moon."

I take a harsh gulp of air.

"Yeah, okay."

Today I will lose my brother, my twin, the last bit of family I have left. And tomorrow? I will either join him or be sent off to war. And if I refused to let him out he would find a way to get out anyways, he always does.

He takes the lantern, the matches, and the camera.

"If I get a picture, you'll be able to see them on this." He waves the camera in my face.

I nod while undoing the chain on the door. The match strikes and lites on the first try, and he brings the lantern to life.

"Hell yeah, extra good luck for me!" His wavering voice alites with a bit of hope.

When he reaches the door where I am waiting he brushes his hand through my blackened hair one last time before he says his goodbye.

"Goodnight brother, and may the night guide your path."

"Farewell brother and may the day await your arrival."

I open the door and he steps into the awaiting black, and as I re-do the locks I hear the faint sound of a shutter clicking. Either he is taking a picture of the night sky or he is taking a picture of a supernatural.

I lay down onto the bear fur futon after turning off all the lights, drawing the curtains, and setting all the precautions in place and will myself to sleep, and yet again it doesn't work. An hour passes and the faint shutter noises continue every other minute, and hope flutters in my chest that he may be spared another day but the loud shriek a couple minutes later proves me so very wrong.

Horror floods my gut as I squeeze my eyes shut and pray for the dawn to pick me up on the wind and blow me away.

As the cracks of bones and slosh of flesh falling in puddles of blood subsides the writhing feeling in my gut loosens and sorrow floods my body.
Cold tears flood over my eyes as the shrieking of victory begins, my heavy breaths are resounding through the room and my soft sobs are quieted by the pillow.

Very slowly does sleep come to me and when I wake, it is the very break of dawn, and the soldiers are close upon the horizon.

I scamper out of the house and very quickly I spot the bloodstains on the ground near the docks, with the camera and broken lantern.

Holding back tears I pick the camera up and look through the roll.
The starry sky, the moon, the soft waters, the reflection, the mist, the floating lights, and the supernaturals.
Wicked claws wearing the faces of the dead, rotting chunks of flesh peeling from their bodies.

Yeah, no wonder why everyone screamed as they were killed.

A half hour later the soldiers were here and I was waiting for them on the public docks with a long rifle in my hands, and as they stepped onto the dock I greeted them by shooting at one of their soldiers.

Return fire is almost sent at me before their general steps out of the fray.

"Is this all they send to protect their home?"

I throw some dust at his face, and manage to hit some of the surrounding soldiers.

"No, it's just me now. Everyone else is dead from a virus. I am the only one that is immune that I know of."

"And in retaliation you throw some dust at me and my fleet, pathetic."

"Not so pathetic when you get sick from the virus and die. It is across every plane of this island, and even if you kill me now, you're still going to catch the virus and so will your crew, once a person catches it it becomes airborne with every breath."

The opposing army seems caught off guard as I continue.

"That and you'll be torn to shreds by the supernaturals without any shelter."

"What do you mean by this insolence child!"

"As we speak the entire island is burning, no more village for you to loot, no citizens here to feed your pointless war."

I smile, and the ever-so gentle breeze of the waves is broken by the scream of the supernaturals bounding this way.
The waves break and the crewmen are dragged into the deep by what lies beneath the waves.

"Nowhere for any of us to run now."

I fire once in the air to draw the attention of the supernaturals over to us.
Within a couple seconds the rush of air past my ears overtakes my balance and sends me flying forward as a shower of blood overtakes the docks.

10 minutes pass and all that is left of the soldiers is tatters of clothing and bloodstains on the docks and pink water.

The supernaturals recede into the shadows as I stand up.

I'm still living.

I turn and trot back to the village and step into the city hall. Hand-carved plaques fill the halls with the names of the dead, I grab a 2 final pieces of wood and start carving. 2 hours later and I am done, I fill the final blank slates on the wall, and slowly I write a letter for the next set of adventurers that wander here, a map of the island, how to grow and treat the crops, the set of rules to follow to stay alive if they decide to settle here, and warning them about the virus and where the burials are.
I write about how the virus overtook the village and finally dwindle down to how I am immune, and how my twin was not.

I sign the letter off, wait for it to dry and seal it up.

Grabbing the long gun again, I walk back to my house.

Once again I look over the crystalline waves, the light still shimmering and refracting the pearlescent waves.

Blood is soaked through my clothing and one last thought enters my mind as I put the gun to my chin.

I'm coming home everyone.

The trigger pulls and everything is nulled.