A story that is so horrible it can never be told. That is what I have in my head. It is an evil prophecy of doom with a sinister life of its own. And telling it would only lead to disaster. This festering story that I hold in my mind is my burden, and my burden alone to keep. The only thing that could ever come of revealing it would be a deep horror and resentment that could never be forgotten.
It all began in one shockingly ghastly dream I had as a child. Many of my stories are inspired by dreams. Ask any author, and you'll discover that many of them are inspired by their dreams. Dreams can be a very powerful inspiration for artists of all kinds. But it's the nightmares that are the most interesting. The most inspirational are the worst kind of nightmares, the ones that seem so real while they are happening, and you remember so vividly even after you awake. But this one went even beyond that.
I still remember it all as if it had all happened only the night before. I knew upon waking that this was not just some ordinary nightmare. I knew this dream was to become reality. What a horrible thing for a ten year old boy to know. It was a prophecy of death and destruction the likes of which no human being had ever seen! This dream dealt a very horrible and specific tragedy in particular for one person that I know very well.
Do I tell this person what I saw? Can I give a warning that will prevent these events from coming to pass? The appalling answer to that is a clear and definite, "No!" I know better than anything else I have ever before known that telling this person will only lead to their destruction ever more swiftly! The only thing that will keep this person safe for as long as possible is for me to keep silent and to maintain my secret affliction. And how could I be so monstrous as to try to transfer this burden on to another?
And what of the world? Do I try to warn the rest of the world of a massive cataclysm? Would anybody listen, or would they think of it as the rantings of a madman? I think I know the answer to that. And how would I give that warning without giving away the part about that person who is so close to me? It would all be for nothing except more pain for me, ridicule from outside, and more pain and resentment from a person that I know.
The only thing left to do is to keep my mouth shut, and to never give away any more than I have already told. This torturous burden is only for me to have to bear, and I know I can never share it. It is the weight of the world, and the fate of a friend. But I'm tired. How can I keep it to myself any longer? If you had such a horrible burden, what would you do?
.png)
Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
A Good Night
A Haunted Soul Episode 9
A new night, but everything was different. The ghost was thinking back on the events of the previous night. He remembered trying to save the woman from drowning, and he remembered her death. She had become a ghost like him, and then she had wandered off into the night. He hadn't seen any sign of her tonight. He didn't know if she was still here or if she had somehow moved on to Heaven. It didn't matter to him anyway.
There was something different about tonight. The ghost wasn't sure what that was. He thought back on those long nights, years, and centuries of his captivity in this horrible limbo. It had all been so bad for him. All of the frantic searching was for nothing. He wondered how he had kept it up for so many hundreds of years.
But now he was finished. There would be no more searching for a way to Heaven. It was obvious to him now that the searching was all for naught. If he were meant to leave here then he would have left long ago. After searching for so long, he had just been trying to escape to anywhere out of here, it didn't matter where. But that had all changed for him now.
The prolonged pain and suffering, he realized now, was partially self inflicted. Maybe he could have spent his time with different pursuits. He knew that wouldn't have been much better, but it would have been better. He knew his time hadn't been wasted, but maybe it could have been served better. He decided that it was all going to change now.
He thought again to the previous night. When that new carriage had arrived, he thought it was a beast coming to drag him down to Hell. He realized that not every place would be preferable to his home here. After all, this was his home. Was there really any other place in the world that he'd rather be? Not likely.
The death of the woman was such a shock to him. He hadn't realized that he could be shocked anymore. Maybe he had been meant to help her all along. He hadn't saved her life, but he had eased her into her death. She had certainly had an easier time than he did. He was sure that she had needed it. The ghost hoped that she had made it into Heaven alright. He wondered what it was like.
It was at that moment that a strange feeling came over him. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach, and it began to radiate out to the rest of his body. It was the best feeling that he had ever had! It was. It was his salvation! Tears began to flow from his eyes! He knew! He was going to leave this place now! He was finally going to Heaven! The gateway was waiting for him at the big rock in front of the castle!
The ghost looked up as he walked back toward the castle. The full Moon hung low in the night sky, and it was so bright that it illuminated everything to make it seem as if it were day. The stars shined so clear and bright that they looked as if he could reach out and grab them. It was all together the most beautiful night sky he had ever seen. That's when he thought to himself, "This is a good night."
A new night, but everything was different. The ghost was thinking back on the events of the previous night. He remembered trying to save the woman from drowning, and he remembered her death. She had become a ghost like him, and then she had wandered off into the night. He hadn't seen any sign of her tonight. He didn't know if she was still here or if she had somehow moved on to Heaven. It didn't matter to him anyway.
There was something different about tonight. The ghost wasn't sure what that was. He thought back on those long nights, years, and centuries of his captivity in this horrible limbo. It had all been so bad for him. All of the frantic searching was for nothing. He wondered how he had kept it up for so many hundreds of years.
But now he was finished. There would be no more searching for a way to Heaven. It was obvious to him now that the searching was all for naught. If he were meant to leave here then he would have left long ago. After searching for so long, he had just been trying to escape to anywhere out of here, it didn't matter where. But that had all changed for him now.
The prolonged pain and suffering, he realized now, was partially self inflicted. Maybe he could have spent his time with different pursuits. He knew that wouldn't have been much better, but it would have been better. He knew his time hadn't been wasted, but maybe it could have been served better. He decided that it was all going to change now.
He thought again to the previous night. When that new carriage had arrived, he thought it was a beast coming to drag him down to Hell. He realized that not every place would be preferable to his home here. After all, this was his home. Was there really any other place in the world that he'd rather be? Not likely.
The death of the woman was such a shock to him. He hadn't realized that he could be shocked anymore. Maybe he had been meant to help her all along. He hadn't saved her life, but he had eased her into her death. She had certainly had an easier time than he did. He was sure that she had needed it. The ghost hoped that she had made it into Heaven alright. He wondered what it was like.
It was at that moment that a strange feeling came over him. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach, and it began to radiate out to the rest of his body. It was the best feeling that he had ever had! It was. It was his salvation! Tears began to flow from his eyes! He knew! He was going to leave this place now! He was finally going to Heaven! The gateway was waiting for him at the big rock in front of the castle!
The ghost looked up as he walked back toward the castle. The full Moon hung low in the night sky, and it was so bright that it illuminated everything to make it seem as if it were day. The stars shined so clear and bright that they looked as if he could reach out and grab them. It was all together the most beautiful night sky he had ever seen. That's when he thought to himself, "This is a good night."
Good Night
Monday, September 26, 2011
A Death On The Grounds
A Haunted Soul Episode 8
The poor ghost thought he was seeing a creature from Hell! It had two giant, round, white eyes that glowed so brightly in the night that they illuminated all that was around them. The creature growled and bellowed like the sound of a hundred angry wolves. The ghost was sure it was here to take him to that very worst of places. He had wanted to escape to the next life ever since his death so many hundred years ago, but he had never wanted this!
The creature had come in through the entry road through the forest, and it was coming closer and closer. The ghost knew he had done nothing so horrible to deserve a place in the netherworld, but this beast could only be here for one reason. The ghost was terrified, and he wanted to escape but had no idea where he could go.
But just as he was about to madly flee in terror, the creature stopped in its tracks, ceased its noise, and closed those horrible bright eyes tightly shut. It was then that he saw them. There were people getting out of the beast! The ghost then realized that this was no beast at all. It was really some sort of carriage with a monstrous animal caged inside to pull it around. He wondered how they pacified the creature to make it stop.
The presence of the people made the ghost's curiosity now outweigh his fear of the beast. After all, it wasn't often that he had gotten visitors over these long centuries. The last had come well over a hundred years ago. And he cherished every moment when he could overhear their conversations, even if none of them had ever known he was there. So he decided to walk over and see why these people had come to his castle.
The people had stopped in the same spot near the edge of the forest where most others had always seemed to prefer. The ghost wondered why nobody ever went to the castle. He had overheard it each time that this was because they said someone had seen a ghost out here on the grounds. He wondered who this someone was, because if that person saw him then why did he never find that one here. The people would come, camp for the night, see nothing, and leave the next day. It all seemed pointless.
As the ghost eavesdropped on the conversation of these new people, things seemed to go about the same as the other times. There were five in this group this time, three men and two women. The people mentioned how long it had taken to get here, as usual. The ghost didn't care. They spent the same time as others had, talking about nonsense around the campfire. None of this was holding any interest for the ghost. But then he noticed something odd.
One young woman who was sitting a little bit apart from the others kept looking in his direction. The ghost had the odd impression that she was in fact looking at him. This was more than a little unsettling to the ghost because no one had ever done this before. He decided to test this, so he moved to another spot. Sure enough, she was now looking in the direction of his new position!
The ghost had not been able to communicate with a living person for several centuries now, so he wasn't sure exactly what he should do next. He decided that maybe he should think about this for a few minutes, so he turned and walked away from the group. What he didn't notice was that the strange woman had gotten up and walked away from the group as well.
When he finally looked up, he noticed that the woman had wandered out into the darkness near his location, but more closely to the swampy area of the lake. There was no way her friends would be able to see her out here unless they summoned their monster to open its eyes again. The ghost ran toward her as she approached the small foot bridge that crossed the suddenly deep area of the edge of the lake.
The bridge was here for two reasons. The first was to serve as a nice observation platform. but the real reason was because there were many dangerous deep holes under the water in this area. One misstep could be very dangerous for an unwary person. And it was now the darkest time of the night. The woman had no idea how much danger she was in.
The ghost had only looked away for a second. But when he looked up again, there was no sign of the woman. What had happened to her? The ghost had a sick feeling in his stomach. He knew just where to look. As he got closer, his fears were confirmed. He found her floating on her back just a foot under the water. Her long dark curly hair was floating out straight in every direction. The woman appeared to be unconscious.
Panicked beyond all rational thought, the ghost quickly reached down into the water and pulled the woman out! As he set her down on dry land, he realized just what he had done. The ghost looked back into the water and dropped to his knees. The woman's body was still floating there in the water at the edge of the lake. She was dead! What he had pulled from the water was her ghost!
He looked back over to the woman he had pulled from the water. She was now standing there staring off into the darkness with no expression on her face at all. In a panic, the ghost turned back to the corpse floating in the water and then looked back up at the ghost woman. He just stared up at her dumbly as she wandered over to a big stone that marked the place where the road turned to lead up to the castle. There she sat down.
Finally the ghost got up and ran over to her and hysterically yelled, "You're dead! I think you fell into the water over there and drowned!"
The woman dully looked up at him as if seeing him for the first time and blinked. "Oh. Uh, yes, that's what happened. I think I slipped on a slippery rock or something," she said listlessly.
"But you're dead! Don't you care?", the ghost yelled again. "What about your friends! They'll be looking for you!" The ghost had no idea what to do. He felt as if this was the worst thing that had ever happened.
The woman answered with a far off expression to her voice, "I guess my friends will eventually find my body in the lake. Maybe they won't. Does it matter?"
The ghost was finally calming down, but only slightly. He was now remembering that he had similar feelings at the point of his own death as the woman now seemed to be experiencing. "Well, I don't really know what to do for you," he said in a quiet voice that trembled just a bit too much. "I've been dead and stuck here for several hundred years. I don't know if it will be the same for you or not. But you can go anywhere here on the castle grounds that you like. The castle is over there if you'd like that better."
"Oh yes, I know all about you. We came here looking for you, but I guess that's all over with now," said the woman.
With those words the woman got up and wandered toward the castle and into the night. The ghost just stood there watching. He really didn't know what to do. He felt horrible for the woman, even though she didn't seem to care. He heard one of her friends call out to her. The search had now begun. Even though something very significant had happened, the ghost knew that very soon morning would be coming and he would disappear once again.
The poor ghost thought he was seeing a creature from Hell! It had two giant, round, white eyes that glowed so brightly in the night that they illuminated all that was around them. The creature growled and bellowed like the sound of a hundred angry wolves. The ghost was sure it was here to take him to that very worst of places. He had wanted to escape to the next life ever since his death so many hundred years ago, but he had never wanted this!
The creature had come in through the entry road through the forest, and it was coming closer and closer. The ghost knew he had done nothing so horrible to deserve a place in the netherworld, but this beast could only be here for one reason. The ghost was terrified, and he wanted to escape but had no idea where he could go.
But just as he was about to madly flee in terror, the creature stopped in its tracks, ceased its noise, and closed those horrible bright eyes tightly shut. It was then that he saw them. There were people getting out of the beast! The ghost then realized that this was no beast at all. It was really some sort of carriage with a monstrous animal caged inside to pull it around. He wondered how they pacified the creature to make it stop.
The presence of the people made the ghost's curiosity now outweigh his fear of the beast. After all, it wasn't often that he had gotten visitors over these long centuries. The last had come well over a hundred years ago. And he cherished every moment when he could overhear their conversations, even if none of them had ever known he was there. So he decided to walk over and see why these people had come to his castle.
The people had stopped in the same spot near the edge of the forest where most others had always seemed to prefer. The ghost wondered why nobody ever went to the castle. He had overheard it each time that this was because they said someone had seen a ghost out here on the grounds. He wondered who this someone was, because if that person saw him then why did he never find that one here. The people would come, camp for the night, see nothing, and leave the next day. It all seemed pointless.
As the ghost eavesdropped on the conversation of these new people, things seemed to go about the same as the other times. There were five in this group this time, three men and two women. The people mentioned how long it had taken to get here, as usual. The ghost didn't care. They spent the same time as others had, talking about nonsense around the campfire. None of this was holding any interest for the ghost. But then he noticed something odd.
One young woman who was sitting a little bit apart from the others kept looking in his direction. The ghost had the odd impression that she was in fact looking at him. This was more than a little unsettling to the ghost because no one had ever done this before. He decided to test this, so he moved to another spot. Sure enough, she was now looking in the direction of his new position!
The ghost had not been able to communicate with a living person for several centuries now, so he wasn't sure exactly what he should do next. He decided that maybe he should think about this for a few minutes, so he turned and walked away from the group. What he didn't notice was that the strange woman had gotten up and walked away from the group as well.
When he finally looked up, he noticed that the woman had wandered out into the darkness near his location, but more closely to the swampy area of the lake. There was no way her friends would be able to see her out here unless they summoned their monster to open its eyes again. The ghost ran toward her as she approached the small foot bridge that crossed the suddenly deep area of the edge of the lake.
The bridge was here for two reasons. The first was to serve as a nice observation platform. but the real reason was because there were many dangerous deep holes under the water in this area. One misstep could be very dangerous for an unwary person. And it was now the darkest time of the night. The woman had no idea how much danger she was in.
The ghost had only looked away for a second. But when he looked up again, there was no sign of the woman. What had happened to her? The ghost had a sick feeling in his stomach. He knew just where to look. As he got closer, his fears were confirmed. He found her floating on her back just a foot under the water. Her long dark curly hair was floating out straight in every direction. The woman appeared to be unconscious.
Panicked beyond all rational thought, the ghost quickly reached down into the water and pulled the woman out! As he set her down on dry land, he realized just what he had done. The ghost looked back into the water and dropped to his knees. The woman's body was still floating there in the water at the edge of the lake. She was dead! What he had pulled from the water was her ghost!
He looked back over to the woman he had pulled from the water. She was now standing there staring off into the darkness with no expression on her face at all. In a panic, the ghost turned back to the corpse floating in the water and then looked back up at the ghost woman. He just stared up at her dumbly as she wandered over to a big stone that marked the place where the road turned to lead up to the castle. There she sat down.
Finally the ghost got up and ran over to her and hysterically yelled, "You're dead! I think you fell into the water over there and drowned!"
The woman dully looked up at him as if seeing him for the first time and blinked. "Oh. Uh, yes, that's what happened. I think I slipped on a slippery rock or something," she said listlessly.
"But you're dead! Don't you care?", the ghost yelled again. "What about your friends! They'll be looking for you!" The ghost had no idea what to do. He felt as if this was the worst thing that had ever happened.
The woman answered with a far off expression to her voice, "I guess my friends will eventually find my body in the lake. Maybe they won't. Does it matter?"
The ghost was finally calming down, but only slightly. He was now remembering that he had similar feelings at the point of his own death as the woman now seemed to be experiencing. "Well, I don't really know what to do for you," he said in a quiet voice that trembled just a bit too much. "I've been dead and stuck here for several hundred years. I don't know if it will be the same for you or not. But you can go anywhere here on the castle grounds that you like. The castle is over there if you'd like that better."
"Oh yes, I know all about you. We came here looking for you, but I guess that's all over with now," said the woman.
With those words the woman got up and wandered toward the castle and into the night. The ghost just stood there watching. He really didn't know what to do. He felt horrible for the woman, even though she didn't seem to care. He heard one of her friends call out to her. The search had now begun. Even though something very significant had happened, the ghost knew that very soon morning would be coming and he would disappear once again.
Monday, September 12, 2011
The Lake
A Haunted Soul Episode 7
I am a ghost who has nobody to haunt. A lost soul. I was once the lord of the castle that lies in the near distance behind me. But that doesn't matter now because I have been dead for hundreds of years. I was here throughout the years as the castle slowly emptied, then filled again, then emptied once more. I have received very few real visitors over the years, and none of them could see or hear me. The only one I've had to talk to over these long and lonely centuries is myself.
I wish I could one day see the light of the day once again. My only existence is at night, and I fade away right before dawn every morning. It has been like this every night since my murder so very long ago. My many conversations over the years have sometimes been long and painful because the only one who answers is me. And, yes, I do answer myself! Sometimes I imagine that I am two halves of the same person.
"But why do you do that?"
"Because it is better this way! Don't you see? Now there is always a person for me to talk to, even if you do always float over my shoulder in that annoying fashion!"
"That is not my fault! There is nowhere else for me to go! And stop speaking French all the time! It bothers me when you do that!"
"You are speaking French too. Stop and listen to yourself. We both speak the same language. It's the only way we can communicate."
"Okay, I will just stop talking then!"
This is what I have to put up with. Not only can I not find my way out of the castle grounds, I think this long loneliness has driven me ever so slightly mad. My search for a way out of here began that first night when my expected gateway to Heaven never showed up. At the very least I was disappointed. Devastated would be more accurate though. But I've determined that if I can get off the castle grounds then I may somehow be able to get to the long awaited paradise of the afterlife.
If not for this bothersome barrier that surrounds this place! My home has become my prison! There is no way out through the trees that line the sides of the estate. The barrier is very solid there, I know very well. But the lake out at the front of the grounds is where it becomes interesting. There is a soft spot. It is in the swampy area just to the side of the little observation bridge. You actually have to go into the water to find it, but it is there.
I can't go in very far because the water is very deep in some places. And the barrier does eventually stop me right at the point where I would be under water. I can't exactly explain the soft spot very well. It just feels different to me. Soft. There is just something different about that place. I have the strangest feeling that the exit to my prison might be there. One of these nights I will solve the mystery of the soft spot in the lake.
I am a ghost who has nobody to haunt. A lost soul. I was once the lord of the castle that lies in the near distance behind me. But that doesn't matter now because I have been dead for hundreds of years. I was here throughout the years as the castle slowly emptied, then filled again, then emptied once more. I have received very few real visitors over the years, and none of them could see or hear me. The only one I've had to talk to over these long and lonely centuries is myself.
I wish I could one day see the light of the day once again. My only existence is at night, and I fade away right before dawn every morning. It has been like this every night since my murder so very long ago. My many conversations over the years have sometimes been long and painful because the only one who answers is me. And, yes, I do answer myself! Sometimes I imagine that I am two halves of the same person.
"But why do you do that?"
"Because it is better this way! Don't you see? Now there is always a person for me to talk to, even if you do always float over my shoulder in that annoying fashion!"
"That is not my fault! There is nowhere else for me to go! And stop speaking French all the time! It bothers me when you do that!"
"You are speaking French too. Stop and listen to yourself. We both speak the same language. It's the only way we can communicate."
"Okay, I will just stop talking then!"
This is what I have to put up with. Not only can I not find my way out of the castle grounds, I think this long loneliness has driven me ever so slightly mad. My search for a way out of here began that first night when my expected gateway to Heaven never showed up. At the very least I was disappointed. Devastated would be more accurate though. But I've determined that if I can get off the castle grounds then I may somehow be able to get to the long awaited paradise of the afterlife.
If not for this bothersome barrier that surrounds this place! My home has become my prison! There is no way out through the trees that line the sides of the estate. The barrier is very solid there, I know very well. But the lake out at the front of the grounds is where it becomes interesting. There is a soft spot. It is in the swampy area just to the side of the little observation bridge. You actually have to go into the water to find it, but it is there.
I can't go in very far because the water is very deep in some places. And the barrier does eventually stop me right at the point where I would be under water. I can't exactly explain the soft spot very well. It just feels different to me. Soft. There is just something different about that place. I have the strangest feeling that the exit to my prison might be there. One of these nights I will solve the mystery of the soft spot in the lake.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Announcement
I'll be offline for about a month, but my stories here will continue. I just won't be able to respond to comments like I usually do, and I won't be able to visit any other blogs. Please continue to read and comment though. When I come back I'll be able to give your comments the attention they deserve. I've given a more thorough explanation for my absence over at my other blog The Everyday Adventurer. I hope to be back here soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)