Status: On-going series of chapters that will result in a completed novel of some sort.
Breath of the Midnight Reaper
Chapter IV: Trance
After P.E. Max and I went back to my room, it was small and the only window was boarded up. I had candles to keep the room lit up as electricity was still running on conserves and there were no solar panels left in our compound, they all got destroyed in the earthquake that hit just after the apocalypse seemed to have finished.
I had incense burning on a small table in the corner of the room next to a beat up, old CD player that played The Beatles. Hey Jude rang through the room and Max plonked himself down on my single bed, lined with grey sheets and an orange doona. He was so clueless. What did Larkin do to him?
“Have you found any new books?” He said scouting through the papers and school books scattered across my pillow.
“No.” I said. My mind was still wandering after what had happened in the shed.
“Harriet?” Max had been saying something to me but I was lost in thought and hadn’t heard. I looked up at him questioningly. “Are you okay? You seemed kind of freaked since before P.E. and you’re usually pumped for P.E, its your favourite part of the day.”
“Yeah I’m fine, its just that… Max?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you remember what happened before we went to P.E?” He stared thoughtfully at the smoke coming off the stick of incense.
“The last thing I remember is walking out of weapons class and walking toward the field… then we started P.E. class... Didn’t we?” I didn’t answer, instead I left Max sitting on the bed and ran out of the 3 bedroom house and back toward the tin shed. As I reached the edge of the field before the road a strange mood came over me. My skin tingled all over and my head became cloudy like someone had put a veil over my face. My breathing slowed and I walked in a trance-like state toward the tin shed. Originally I was coming over here to get answers from Larkin or the muscled man, but now I wasn’t so sure as to why I was walking toward the shed or what I was going to do when I got there.
The door was closed and when I tried to open it the handle wouldn’t budge. I knew I should bang on the door so that Larkin or muscles would come out to me but instead I slowly walked around to the back of the shed where there was a gap between one of the broken, boarded up windows and the shed itself. I poked my fingers into the small gap to feel a small metal object. I struggled to get it out but eventually it came free. I looked at it front and back for a while as I stood still. Why was I doing this? Why didn’t I just leave when the door was locked?
I walked slowly back around to the door and silently put the key into the lock. I half expected it not to turn but it did. I grabbed hold of the handle. It was as cold as ice – which didn’t make sense, the weather never got colder than around 25 degrees anymore. Slowly, I turned the handle. The rusted door creaked incessantly until it was open all the way. I stood in the doorway for a long time, staring into the pitch black shed, still unsure as to why I had come. It took me a moment to feel it, to see it. The familiar breath on my face, the lifeless, black eyes. I tried to scream, to run, to move, to do anything. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I didn’t feel the physical need to. Instead I just stood there, staring into its eyes until suddenly, its cold hands were on my shoulders its nose, cool on my jaw line. I knew I needed to leave. I was not going to be this vampire’s dinner but somehow I felt strangely calm. Like if it did decide to drain me of all life that I wouldn’t really mind. In fact, I didn’t really care at all. Its breath on my neck was neither warm nor cold but it was soothing. In and out, a constant pace.
Without warning it’s grip on me became stronger and I felt something on my neck. In my neck. It didn’t feel real, none of this did. It was like a bad dream. A nightmare. I felt every pulse of blood run through my veins and arteries. I had never been this aware of the movement inside my body. It didn’t hurt. It didn’t anything, it just was.
Just as my eyes began to fall and my body felt limp in the vampire’s arms, I heard a loud screeching sound. It took me a moment to realise I wasn’t in the vampires arms anymore. It was screaming an ear-piercing scream as the muscled man dragged it back to its shackles. I looked up just before darkness over came me to see two glorious green eyes looking down upon me. Larkin.
I had incense burning on a small table in the corner of the room next to a beat up, old CD player that played The Beatles. Hey Jude rang through the room and Max plonked himself down on my single bed, lined with grey sheets and an orange doona. He was so clueless. What did Larkin do to him?
“Have you found any new books?” He said scouting through the papers and school books scattered across my pillow.
“No.” I said. My mind was still wandering after what had happened in the shed.
“Harriet?” Max had been saying something to me but I was lost in thought and hadn’t heard. I looked up at him questioningly. “Are you okay? You seemed kind of freaked since before P.E. and you’re usually pumped for P.E, its your favourite part of the day.”
“Yeah I’m fine, its just that… Max?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you remember what happened before we went to P.E?” He stared thoughtfully at the smoke coming off the stick of incense.
“The last thing I remember is walking out of weapons class and walking toward the field… then we started P.E. class... Didn’t we?” I didn’t answer, instead I left Max sitting on the bed and ran out of the 3 bedroom house and back toward the tin shed. As I reached the edge of the field before the road a strange mood came over me. My skin tingled all over and my head became cloudy like someone had put a veil over my face. My breathing slowed and I walked in a trance-like state toward the tin shed. Originally I was coming over here to get answers from Larkin or the muscled man, but now I wasn’t so sure as to why I was walking toward the shed or what I was going to do when I got there.
The door was closed and when I tried to open it the handle wouldn’t budge. I knew I should bang on the door so that Larkin or muscles would come out to me but instead I slowly walked around to the back of the shed where there was a gap between one of the broken, boarded up windows and the shed itself. I poked my fingers into the small gap to feel a small metal object. I struggled to get it out but eventually it came free. I looked at it front and back for a while as I stood still. Why was I doing this? Why didn’t I just leave when the door was locked?
I walked slowly back around to the door and silently put the key into the lock. I half expected it not to turn but it did. I grabbed hold of the handle. It was as cold as ice – which didn’t make sense, the weather never got colder than around 25 degrees anymore. Slowly, I turned the handle. The rusted door creaked incessantly until it was open all the way. I stood in the doorway for a long time, staring into the pitch black shed, still unsure as to why I had come. It took me a moment to feel it, to see it. The familiar breath on my face, the lifeless, black eyes. I tried to scream, to run, to move, to do anything. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I didn’t feel the physical need to. Instead I just stood there, staring into its eyes until suddenly, its cold hands were on my shoulders its nose, cool on my jaw line. I knew I needed to leave. I was not going to be this vampire’s dinner but somehow I felt strangely calm. Like if it did decide to drain me of all life that I wouldn’t really mind. In fact, I didn’t really care at all. Its breath on my neck was neither warm nor cold but it was soothing. In and out, a constant pace.
Without warning it’s grip on me became stronger and I felt something on my neck. In my neck. It didn’t feel real, none of this did. It was like a bad dream. A nightmare. I felt every pulse of blood run through my veins and arteries. I had never been this aware of the movement inside my body. It didn’t hurt. It didn’t anything, it just was.
Just as my eyes began to fall and my body felt limp in the vampire’s arms, I heard a loud screeching sound. It took me a moment to realise I wasn’t in the vampires arms anymore. It was screaming an ear-piercing scream as the muscled man dragged it back to its shackles. I looked up just before darkness over came me to see two glorious green eyes looking down upon me. Larkin.