A light touch trailed along my skin, the gentlest whisper of my name coaxing me to open my eyes. I groaned, convulsing, my flesh clammy.
“Kelly, please.” After several moments, my eyelids fluttered opened. I blinked, my vision slowly going into focus. “Thank you,” he whispered, planting a kiss on my lips softly.
“Daniel?” I croaked, my body burning with rage.
“It’s me,” he murmured. “You’ll be okay. Don’t move,” Daniel added when I tried sitting up. I flinched at the sizzling pain, letting his gentle hands guide me back onto the ground.
“You saved me.”
He ran his finger along my cheek, wiping away the tears that glided down my flushed cheeks. “Yes. I should have been here, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” I assured him quickly.
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here, and you’re safe now. I won’t let anything else happen.”
“Don’t make a promise you can’t keep,” I rasped.
“I’ll make sure I keep it, Kelly.” It tore at my heart how sure he sounded.
“Okay,” I said, dropping it.
Daniel opened his mouth to say more, but was caught off guard by a bloodcurdling scream. We stared at each other, frozen for a minute before my boyfriend grabbed a hold of me, hauling me onto my feet. He took my hand, helping me as we raced towards the sound.
When we got there, my best friend cautiously stepped from the shadows, fear cracking around her.
“They’re gone,” she whispered, her arms wrapped tightly around herself as a shiver racked her body. “Everyone. They’re all dead.”
“What do you mean dead?” I demanded, leaning against Daniel for support. “Some of them has to be alive.”
“They were killed by a beast. I saw it happen myself.”
“All of them?” Tears raced down my cheeks as realization overtook me. Grief for our lost ones gnawed at me.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“I-” I stopped, my breathing abandoning me.
“What?” Daniel’s voice shook as he spoke that one word. It broke my heart to hear the sorrow in his voice.
A roar suddenly collided against us, and I staggered into my boyfriend. He caught me as my eyes fixed on a beast that loomed before us, its beady eyes glowing crimson as they locked on us, hunger gleaming in them.
“Run!”
The cry split the night as the three of us bolted, running until our muscles were burning, until we felt safe.
Heather Kirchhoff lives in a small town in Missouri with her three parents, siblings, an energy-filled dog, and three cats. She became a bookworm back in sixth grade when her teacher suggested the Phantom Stallion series by Terri Farley and instantly fell in love. She loves reading paranormal stories, plus some love ones here and there. Besides reading and writing, Heather likes to go for walks-especially in the woods-hunt, fish, spend time with her animals/family, and listen to music. Writing is her passion-it helps her escape the world for a while, as well as reading-she doesn’t know what she’d do without it. She just loves it. When she isn’t writing, Heather is doing odd jobs, reading, taking walks, or spending time with her animals/family. Heather is currently a junior in high school.
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DQT46YI
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Last-Night-ebook/dp/B00DQT46YI/ref=cm_rdp_product/280-8322625-1605137
Author Page (if allowed): https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Heather-Kirchhoff/376618135776063
The Site
By Patrick Van Slyke
© 2013 by Patrick Van Slyke
Her real name was Laurie but she only answered to Blackmoon. Her parents gave her shit over the name and they gave her shit over her looks, but she didn’t care. They didn’t understand her anyway. Oh, she knew it was a cliché, parents not understanding children, but in her case it was real. They worked hard to stay away from her and she worked equally hard to stay away from them. Eighteen couldn’t come soon enough.
It had all started in Junior High. Till then things had been good, but once she had been introduced to new ideas and philosophies it didn’t take long for her to realize that life was pain, just an effort in futility.
She dressed the way she felt, dark, torn. Goth was what the other kids called it but they didn’t get it either. It wasn’t Goth or Emo or any other type of style. It was life. Life was a sick chore and her clothes worked to make her outside look like her inside. In fact, she had tried to end her life a couple of times, or at least pretended to try, and she had gotten lots of attention, but it wasn’t the attention she wanted. She wanted people to understand her pain but instead they just committed her to the ‘return to a joyful life inpatient unit’ and after a few stays she had learned her lesson. She wasn’t going to try again, until she was ready to really do it. She wasn’t sure when that would be but she was pretty sure it would be soon.
Thankfully, there were some kids at school who understood her. They felt her pain and understood the futility of life. It was when she was with them that she felt understood. They looked alike, dressed alike, acted alike. They wrote the same kind of morbid poetry and music. Everyone else was just posers. Only the true Pain kids really got it.
“My parents are such hypocrites,” her friend Rage had commented one afternoon as they smoked behind the school. If they got caught they would be suspended but they didn’t really care. ”They run around like corporate tools, buying this and buying that, thinking that it will bring them happiness. I don’t know how they can look at themselves in the morning every day.’
“My family is the same, and my brother is the worst. He’s Mr. Jock and all he thinks about is sports. Like they matter, when there is so much suffering in the world. I just don’t know how much longer I can put up with their phony acts.”
“I know just how you feel. I’m glad we have each other to talk to. It is like holding a real conversation. Not like those other idiots. And school is worse. Essays on weather patterns? Really? God, it is the epitome of stupidity. It would make more sense if the weather turned on us and crushed out mankind.”
Blackmoon nodded in agreement. “Someday it will change,” she foresaw. “Someday people will see through the veil of their capitalistic slavery and really understand the pain that is behind everything.”
“Say, that reminds me,” Rage said, almost with animation. “There is a new website on that you have to check out. It is called “Into the Dark” and it really makes sense. It looks into different atrocities every week. It really brings home the hopelessness of humanity. You’ve got to see it. It’s awesome.”
“Fuck yeah, that sounds awesome. Maybe it will bring my ignorant family around. They just don’t understand pain. What’s the address?”
Rage had been right. “Into the Dark” was instantly Blackmoon’s favorite site. She tried hard to get her family to watch a clip, and her brother had even sat through half an episode before he had blown her off. Everyone hated the site and Nightshade knew why. It was real. It showed starvation and war and pain and death. It showed what she stood for. Someday, she thought. Someday she would leave this cookie-cutter phony life and join those really living. Hopefully, sooner than later.
“Hey! Wait up. Fuck, Rage! Did you see the clip on the site last night?” Blackmoon asked weeks later. They had been seeing much less of each other since the semester change.
“What site?”
“What site…?” she laughed. “You know. Into the Dark!”
“Seriously? You still watch that?”
“Of course,” Blackmoon answered confused. “I never miss it. I check out their website every day. They have the entire episode catalog. When I am in my cage at home I watch them non-stop.”
“Jeese, dude. There is more to life
than just watching people get splattered. Sounds like you’re getting obsessed,” her friend cautioned. “I mean there is some good stuff in the world, too.”
“What are you talking about, Rage?” Blackmoon spat viciously. “You’re the one that turned me on to the show in the first place. Haven’t you watched it? It talks about hopelessness and despair. Yeah, it’s heavy stuff, but it is stuff we stand for.”
“I don’t stand for that stuff, Blackmoon; not anymore. That is the way things are but the idea is to try to bring awareness and try to bring change.”
“But that’s how it is. It’s impossible to change it.”
“I don’t think so any more. Are you just going to sit around mopping? We can change things. We can make things better.”
“That’s not how you used to feel. Remember? ‘…school is the epitome of hypocrisy?’ Wasn’t that you?”
“Sure it was me, but people change. I want to be part of the solution, not just live in the problem. Being part of the solution is learning.”
“We can’t change shit! That’s what set us apart, that understanding. It’s the world that is the problem and it can’t be changed.”
“No, dude, that thinking is the problem. And that thinking can be changed. I don’t want to think that way anymore.”
Blackmoon looked at her friend in disbelief. “You self-righteous bitch. I see you are dressing differently now too,” she said scornfully.
“Well, I did remove all my piercings. I didn’t like them anymore and people couldn’t take me seriously. But I am still using my clothes to explain how I feel. I feel hope.”
Blackmoon shook her head. “You aren’t the same person anymore.”
“I guess I’m not. If that means you don’t want to be friends anymore I get it. Listen, Darkmoon. I know I am the one that turned you on to the ‘Into the Dark’ but I am beginning to think that it is too much. You know, too depraved. Anyway, I am trying to lighten up a bit, try a bit harder in school, try to fit in a bit more. I know you probably think I’m a sell out and maybe I am but I think it is time to start growing up a bit. Life isn’t that bad.”
“Yeah, Rage, sellout is what I call it. But it’s okay, I mean you got to do what you got to do. I guess we are not going to smoking in the back of the school anymore. Well, I got to do what I got to do, too. So good luck to you.”
“You too. You’re still my friend and I hope you find happiness! Oh, and just a favor, can you use my real name for now on. I’m Katie.”
The split was drastic. The two friends rarely spoke after that and Darkmoon found herself retreating more and more into the site. It was morbid, there was doubt about it, but it matched her heart. The only reason she went to school at all was to keep her parents off her back. The only thing that really made sense to her anymore was her site, ‘Into the Dark.’ It was an articulation of her beliefs, an incarnation of her pain.
“Jeese, Laurie, are you getting any sleep. You look really exhausted,” Katie had asked one day on their way to a shared class.
“Come on, Katie. I respect you enough to call you what you want to be called. I should be able to expect the same.”
“You’re right, Blackmoon. I’m sorry. But I am still worried about you. You look like you’ve lost weight and you look like you’re only about half here. Are you stoned?”
Blackmoon sighed. “Na, I’m just a bit out of it. ‘Into the Dark’ is on twenty-four hours a day so I am not getting a lot done. It just seems so…important. It is difficult not to watch. Have you seen it lately?”
“No, I stopped watching a while ago. It was becoming too morbid and almost preachy. It’s hard to explain. Anyway, it was bringing me down so I turned it off. Besides, Mark hates it.”
“Oh yeah, you guys are dating, right? Hey, he seems like a pretty cool guy. How are you two doing?”
“Good. He is cool. I don’t know if you would be interested but he has a friend that definitely digs you.”
Blackmoon looked over at her friend to see if she was kidding. She was not. Rage, or Katie as she wanted to be called now, had definitely changed. As she had said she had removed all her piercings and her clothes had slowly become more mainstream. Blackmoon had to admit that her friend looked much more attractive and she seemed genuinely happier. Maybe it was time to make some changes in her life too.
Laurie smiled timidly at Katie. “Who would be interested in a witch like me?”
Her friend laughed. “Lots of guys. You’re gorgeous. You just need to work on your attitude.”
Laurie sat up a bit. “You know, Katie. You’re a dumb-ass but maybe, just maybe this time you are right.”
They both laughed.
That night, Laurie found herself being just a bit nicer to her brother and a bit more communicative with her parents. The results were astonishing. It was like she woke up in a new home. As she sat at the dinner table for the first time in months she smiled to herself. Maybe it was time to let Blackmoon go.
In her room she found hundreds of emails from the ‘Into the Dark’ website, just like every night. She deleted them all and consigned any new ones to the junk folder. Her browser was set to go directly to the site that she had spent so many hours of her life watching. This evening, however, she decided to go to the high school website. Maybe there would be some clubs or something she might be interested in. She typed in the address and hit go but nothing happened. She tried again.
Over and over, Laurie tried to get something else to show on her browser, but it wouldn’t leave the site. She turned it on and off, cleared history, everything she could think of, but the browser would not leave the home page. Oh well, maybe some TV tonight.
“No way,” she said to herself as she saw that ‘Into the Dark’ was now showing on her TV. How could a website be on her TV? They were not connected. Every channel showed the ‘Into the Dark.’ It was stuck.
The morbid site was always the same; a black border, boiling with yellow and orange flames and a box in the middle showing a video of some atrocity or catastrophe, with graphic details listed underneath. This evening it was showing children in some country starving, flies walking in and out of their dying mouths. It was horrible. All she wanted to do now was get away, but the computer wouldn’t let her. She scrolled to the bottom and found that the copy-write was Hard-Metal Defense Corp. No fucking wonder. Of course those corporate bastards would want things to seem hopeless.
She tried to get the page to change again, and once again all she saw was the flames and the dying children. It was too much. All she wanted to do was lie down and get the horrible images out of her mind. This time, however, she couldn’t take her eyes off the computer. It was so horrifying. How could such things happen in a world where people were good and cared about their brothers? The flames on the page began to mesmerize her.
Slowly, without thought or movement, Laurie fell asleep.
She awoke to the feel of a merciless sun beating down on her and the horrible smell of dust, feces and death. She shot into a sitting position and cried out in pain. There was something wrong with her. Terribly wrong. She carefully turned in a circle, trying to take in all her surroundings at once. She had to be dreaming. It looked like the desert. She looked down at her skin and found it dark brown, dry and emaciated. She felt a feeling she had never felt, a pain in her stomach and body that told of imminent death. If this was a dream, it was the most painful dream she had ever been in. It was the pain of starvation. She tried to scream out, but she didn’t have the strength.
She looked around and found herself at the edge of a mud village also on the verge of death. There were a few children around, dying just like her. There was no one even to ask for a drink of water. What was happening to her? This was real. She was dying.
She looked away from the village and saw something most unexpected. There was a door just standing b
y itself in the middle of nowhere. It had to mean something. She crawled to it and with her remaining strength she stood and opened the door.
Explosions rocked the floor she was laying on. She smelt burning and she heard crying. She was no longer hungry or thirsty but now an unexplained terror ripped at her belly. She found she had a baby cradled to her body. The baby was crying but she could barely hear it over the explosions and gunfire. She did not recognize her clothes or the small room she was in. Smoke poured in the open window. There was some sort gun lying next to her.
Boots came storming up to the door, the door behind them. She heard soldiers screaming and bullets began to tear through the walls. Taking the baby she crawled to the door on the other side of the room. Reaching up she grasped the handle and as she turned it she felt a searing pain tear into her back. She screamed as she saw her baby torn by a bullet and then she fell through the door.
“Help me!” a female voice screamed out of the darkness. Laurie found she could once again stand; the pain was gone from her back. The child was gone too. Somehow this left a hole in her heart. As her eyes adjusted she realized that she was in a basement with a dirt floor.
“Help me!” the voice came again. She now saw that there were bodies that seemed to be suspended from the ceiling. “He’ll be back any time!” the woman screamed again. “The keys…the keys! Their over there! Help!”
“What…what is going…?” Laurie started.
“Oh, no!” the woman cried. “You’re new, aren’t you? Did you just get here?”
“I…I see….” Laurie started. Now she could see the girl who was calling for help. She was tall, pretty, and she looked like she had been tortured for days. “How can I help…?”
“The keys are on the shelf, over there,” the woman said hopelessly. “But it isn’t going to matter. I thought maybe you knew a way out.”
Laurie quickly located the keys without difficultly in the dim light and unlocked the woman’s hands. She dropped to the ground. “Thanks,” she said, her voice still hopeless.
“What’s going on?” Laurie asked, looking around the basement.
“We’re stuck,” the woman said without feeling. “I was hoping you were someone who could help but I should know better.” She headed for door Laurie had used to come from the war-zone.
“No, don’t go that…” she started to protest but the woman cut her short.
“Yeah, I know. War zone. I came through there three days ago. Better than here.”
“But, where’s here?” Laurie asked.
The woman nodded to the door on the other wall. “Look through there and you will see exactly where you are.
Laurie opened the door and realized she must have woken up. She was standing looking into her room. She began to laugh in relief when she saw the door to her room open. Her mom and Katie came in.
“That’s weird, Katie. She was just in here. She was in a great mood today. I know she would have loved to see you.”
“I see she hasn’t changed from that webpage,” Katie said, looking directly at Laurie. “God, I wish she would give that up.”
Laurie reached out and found thick glass between her and her room. She pounded on the glass and screamed, “I’m in here!” It was no use. No matter what she did the people who loved her could not see her.
“Well, would you tell her I just came to say hello,” Katie said, turning toward Laurie’s mom.
“Of course. You’re welcome to wait if you would like. I am sure she will be right back.”
“No, no I’ll just take off. If you see her please just tell her I love her.”
“If I see her…?” her mother was asking as they left and closed the door.
Laurie watched in horror as her friend and mom left. Slowly, helplessly, she turned to find where she was. She was surrounded by doors. Door and more doors. She looked back out into her room one last time and then opened the next door.
Patrick Van Slyke grew up in the shadows of the Big Horn Mountains in the small town of Sheridan Wyoming. An avid reader, as a child he was drawn to fantasy and science fiction. He attended the University of Wyoming and it was here that his love of Horror began. Patrick now lives in California with his daughter and fiancé.
Check out his other work at www.pcvanslyke.com or https://www.facebook.com/patrickcvanslyke