Things Will Never Be the Same Again

I drove. Drove as fast as I could away from the house I’d grown up in, the house where I’d learnt to tie my shoe laces, grown my first flower patch and spent so many happy Christmases with my family.
Tears streamed down my face as I glanced in the rear vision mirror, the sun was just rising over the horizon and I could just make out the shape of the white panelled building.
The seemingly endless stretch of bare land all around me gave me the eeriest feeling; I no longer had the desire to be on a farm anymore, not even my farm.

It seemed like a few hours before I found that I couldn’t drive any further, my petrol gauge was flashing its red light at me threateningly. I slowed down and pulled up at the first sign of civilisation. I was in a small village, with a few shops which had just opened up for business.
I didn’t feel like myself anymore, I didn’t know what to do.
As I slid out from the driver’s seat and onto the bitumen I noticed a public bathroom across the road, it looked clean and pretty decent compared to the rest of the village which seemed quite run down. I wondered across and into it thinking it could be a good place to just sit and think for a while.

There were so many things I noticed at once that I could hardly take everything in, my brain felt like it had frozen inside my head.
An amazingly bright, red light was illuminating the room, erupting from one of the four cubicles, there was a dark figure amongst the light and one of the toilets seemed to be moving. I grabbed the nearest wall and leaned heavily against it for support.
“Right, well that’s sorted you out.” A voice spoke as the red light vanished from the room and the toilet stopped quivering at last. I hadn’t even thought about moving an inch from where I was, hadn’t considered at all, however when the man turned and noticed me for the first time I regretted it, a lot. “Oh, hello there.” A man with brilliant red hair grinned as he strolled out of the cubicle and over toward me.
Now my whole body felt like it had been frozen, I couldn’t even get out a sound.
“I’m sorry if I gave you a fright, didn’t realise there was anyone around,” He said in a soft tone “Should have been more careful...” He muttered, turning his gaze from me and looking at the entrance to the bathrooms. “Never mind though, this will all be over in a jiff”

The man pulled something, which resembled a long stick, from his coat and slowly moved to point it toward me. I felt my eyes widen so much they felt like saucers. I knew what was going to happen, I’d seen it before, only a day ago.
“Please, don’t,” I managed to whisper. The man looked quite shocked, like he had been expecting a completely different scenario.
“Please don’t kill me,” I was ashamed to feel my eyes filling with tears, the man stared at my with a mixed look of shock and pity on his face.
“K-kill you?” He stammered in a low voice “Why on earth would I do that?”
“Isn’t that what that thing is for?” I choked out, nodding to the thing in his hand. “That’s what it does, isn’t it?”
The man carefully placed his hands behind his back and stepped toward me so we were only separated by two or three steps; he seemed to tower over me.
“Why is it you think that?”
“That’s what happened the last time I saw a man with one of those,” I closed my eyes and the tears flowed down my cheeks. When I opened them again the man was steadily crouching down to my level. I slowly registered that I was sitting on the ground and cowering into the wall, it seemed odd that I’d moved without realising.
“When did this happen”
“Yesterday,” I replied, closing my eyes again as another stream of tears broke out.
“Right, could you explain what happened to me? Perhaps we could go somewhere else?” He asked, glancing around the bathroom.
“No! Here’s fine!” I yelled, sitting upright. There was no way I would go anywhere with this man, not when he was carrying one of those things. The man looked very startled, like I’d taken him off guard; he leaned back a little from me. “I-I will tell you, if you promise me something,” I managed to say in a calmer voice.
“What would that be?” He asked, looking apprehensive.
“That you don’t kill me”
“I promise,” He said straight away smiling, I realised there wasn’t much point in trying to strike a deal. The man probably couldn’t be trusted anyway. But at the very least I’d delayed my death a few extra seconds, I shuddered at the thought.
“Ok.” I took a deep breath and tried to get my thoughts straight.
“Well, yesterday, my Dad and I were out doing the shopping, when we left the house in the morning everything seemed normal.” The man was watching me with the greatest concentration “But when we returned and pulled up in our driveway we knew something was really wrong, the front gate was open”
The man was smart enough to hide the smile he was fighting. “Sorry, how does that show something is wrong?”
“We live on a farm,” I stated, he still looked confused. “Well, anyone who has ever lived on a farm knows how important it is to close gates, it’s pretty basic. If you open the gate you have to close it again.” I shrugged. “We know that, everyone we know are farmers, so they know that too, anyway” I knew I was getting carried away as the man’s eyebrows started to rise and disappear under his hair.
“My Dad told me to stay in the car while he checked out the house. I stayed as long as I could, but the waiting was horrible, I just couldn’t stand it. I followed him into the house and just as I stepped into the front door there was the most-“ I paused.
“Please go on” He urged in a comforting tone. I guess he thought I was too afraid to speak, but really it was just that I had to search for the right words to use.
“The most terrifying person I’d ever seen, at least, I think he was a person. There was something about him, he just looked...”
“Like he shouldn’t be alive?” The man prompted, looking quite afraid.
“Yeah, I guess. Um, I didn’t get the best look at him, my Dad was lying on the ground telling me to leave, I was kind of distracted by that. Then the, uh, person pulled out one of those, you know, what you had earlier. Um and then, he, um, muttered something and my Dad kind of, well, he just-“
I closed my eyes and leaned back against the wall. The man in front of me looked like he didn’t quite know what to do.
“I’m so sorry” He stammered.
“No, it’s-it’s ok” I shook my head, trying to clear it of the nasty images that were floating around. The green light which had appeared was the hardest to forget.
“Do you feel like you can go on?” He asked looking genuinely sorry; I nodded and continued as the scene played out in my head.

I had turned and raced out the door I’d just come in, aiming for the car because I knew my Dad had left the keys there. I was nearly at the driver’s door when the man appeared from the doorway to the house. I saw him edging his arm through the air, taking aim. I was standing directly in the middle between our garden shed and the car. I dived to the right, behind the shed and heard the immediate hiss of what sounded like a fire erupt around me. I opened my eyes and realised the shed was alight with green flames.
All of a sudden a huge gust of wind roared from the other side of the shed, forcing the flames forward, they were licking far closer to my face than I would have liked, I threw my hand out in front of me to save my face from being burnt off.

I screamed and howled in pain as my hand burned and stung, feeling like I was holding it in a pot of boiling water. My skin was twisted and stretched; when I finally opened my eyes it looked horrific. The skin was crawling and bubbling, almost like it was actually being rearranged.
“So he just left? The person who cursed you I mean”
“Cursed me? Uh, I’m not sure. I realised my life depended on my getting away as fast as possible, luckily we have the edge of a forest which runs into the corner of our property. I made my way there and hung out in the trees while I waited for him to leave” That was putting it lightly, I’d had to endure 18 hours sitting high up in a tree trying to keep my sanity, while the whole time I worried about how my Dad was and praying that hideous man wouldn’t find me.

“Well, how’s your hand now?” He frowned, glancing at my hands which I had tightly wrapped around my knees.
“Fine now, actually better than the one that wasn’t hurt, it feels, almost, stronger” I glanced down at the floor, avoiding the man’s gaze. I knew how all this sounded, like I belonged locked somewhere in a padded cell. But I was still hopeful that this man of all people would understand, he seemed to know something about what had happened to me. The whole time I’d been talking he hadn’t asked many questions, hadn’t thrown me any disbelieving looks. I was grateful for that.
“Right well, I think it would be best if you came with me.
“Go where?” My voice sounded very high pitched, I felt my heart starting to race. This guy sounded genuine but it still seemed completely ridiculous to go with him somewhere.
“That is a very good question” The man frowned watching me. “Can we meet back here in a little while? Say ten minutes?”
“I guess so… why?”
“I need to get advice from someone, I will see you soon” I didn’t even get the chance to tell him there was no way I would go anywhere with him, just as I opened my mouth to utter those exact words there was a small pop and he was gone.