v02
Macabre Enthusiast.
Prologue
Even the iron still fears the rot
Hiding from something I cannot stop
Walking on shadows, I can't lead him back
Buckled on the floor when night comes along
Daddy's left and momma won't come home
Hiding from something I cannot stop
Walking on shadows, I can't lead him back
Buckled on the floor when night comes along
Daddy's left and momma won't come home
“6 years, has it really been 6 years since that putrid waste died? I could’ve sworn it was just yesterday.”
Tracing the footprints his weary boots crunched on the snow once before, he walked through the forest where it all happened, albeit surreal, not that he grasped the concept of it. Fingers glazing over the cold decaying wood bark, marked with claws of the wildlife that remained surviving. Some other marks, these being of humans, like himself. Strange… How void his insides felt when his fingers trailed the rims of arrow struck holes, bullet holes. His mind raced with ideas of what a bullet would do to the human body, would it destroy him? Would it make his insides explode?
Funny thing, he once had a firearm in his hands when it happened. Desperately grasping a handgun that was way too big for his two shaking hands, aim barely trained on the man that kneeled beaten on the green carpet, on flowers that didn’t deserve that treatment… to be stomped on and squished. Incomprehensible words of mercy dripping out of those old man’s broken lips, for he had done nothing but collected crops that weren’t his.
Warm words touching his ears, his eyes glued to the foolish man on his knees. Warm hands touching his body, from his waist to neck, shoulder to wrist, big hands gripping tightly to squeeze. The sudden pain stole a gasp from him, a whine escaping his lips.
“Hurry up. And shoot. Him. Les.”
Her voice rang out, poisoned with anger, that same anger that scared Les’ nightmares today. The grip on him only tightened, and Les’ mouth hung open, letting the whines slip right out in agony. The pain, so unreal, yet so warm and inviting, the warm ghost of a human touch upon his own cold, snow-white pale skin.
“HURRY UP!”
The voice rang out again, this time so loud, it seemed his ears could bleed by how close her mouth was to his ear. Les’ body trembled at the instructions, tears finally flowing down his dirty face. His mouth let out another whine, his head turning to the side with tightly shut eyes, dropping the gun on the green carpet of the once serene forest.
The next sound was a gunshot, Les was grabbed by his shirt and pulled forward, he came tumbling onto his face, then another gunshot, and he turned around. His elbows holding him up on the ground, eyes looking up at the confrontation of the pained old man and the old woman that was Les’ world. His world fell, just as she and the old man fell. The old man laid on his back, eyes wide staring into the sky while his hand clutched at the knife lodged into the side of his neck, pools of blood seeping out right through his fingers and into the dirt beneath them. The woman laid on her side, her hands clenching at the side of her abdomen and chest, groaning with pain but not allowing it to make her scream.
Les quickly crawled to the woman’s side, tears blurring his vision of her, of his world. But she ignored him with ease, she rolled into a prone position before she propped herself up on all fours, one hand remaining on the wound that was bleeding profusely. Before she fell on her side once more, the fall stealing her breath. Eyelids fluttering to fix her sight, she shut her eyes before she opened them again, lazy sight turning to look up at Les, who sat on his knees by her side, tears falling off his chin onto his lap.
“Stop cryi–”
A cough stopped her in the middle of her sentence, blood and saliva spewing in Les’ direction, staining his already dirty face with blood. Les flinched as the blood made contact, he opened his eyes once more to find the old woman, her unoccupied hand covering her face as she continued coughing. Her hand abandoned her wound, to reach for Les’ face, cupping his cheek as it slid to the back of his head. Her bloody hand grabbed a fistful of blond-white hair of Les’, pulling him towards her, hitting his forehead against her own, showing no pain or remorse towards the boy.
“This is all your f– ack– ucking fault! You ungrateful– bra–..at!”
Les cried at the pain, he had shown no resistance before but after this hit, now he did. In an attempt to retract his head from this close proximity hold the old woman had on him, he only cried louder, when her grip became stronger, pulling on his hair.
“You were a-as useless as ever! A f–fa… failure just like your father was!! You look…just like he did– PATHETIC! A PA–THETIC–CK WASTE OF BREATH!!!”
As Les cried, his hands clutched onto the arm of his old woman that still had a hold on him, way weaker than any of those before, more shaky.
“P-P-Please… I won’t do it again, please, auntie, I won’t do it again! I promise I won’t do it again, I’ll behave, I’ll be a good boy! I’ll do your chores– I’ll go hunti–”
A sudden shove to his chest sent him to fall back on his ass, hands barely catching him when he did. Les sat straight to look at his auntie, green vibrant eyes wide as they continued crying waterfalls, cleaning the impure dirt and blood on his face. The woman, with one last look of disdain towards the boy, turned her eyes elsewhere.
“Leave me… ah-..alone.” Her voice spoke once more, this time it wasn’t strong, it wasn’t firm and authoritative. It was weak… fearful. In fear of succumbing to her end.
The words rang out, as if they were instructions; Les stood on weak legs. His hands clutching at the edges of his ragged clothing, biting down on a lip to keep his cries to himself, eyes glued to the puddle of blood under his auntie. Les bowed in respect to his elder, shutting his eyes tightly, allowing the tears to fall from his face. The things he wanted to say, the sorries he wanted to express, the need of his auntie to ask him to stay, those rare chances it would happen.
With a turn, and his first step in the opposite direction of the gruesome scene, was how he finally let go of a world he wasn’t meant to be part of. Not any longer.
