Death is a surprise party. Unless you're already dead inside
Oct 6, 2020 1:22:48 GMT -5
Karlie Nash, Carter Shaw, and 2 more like this
Post by Corey Bull on Oct 6, 2020 1:22:48 GMT -5
The slow rustle of the wind through leaves is the greeting sound to everything. As the light comes up, the wooded area takes shape. The dark murky swamp water sits untouched, with no movement on its surface. What lies below is unknown. A green muck sits resting atop the mire. Cedar trees, both healthy and young as well as old and broken, stretch all around. A few birch trees have attempted to make a home here, but their broken bodies tell the tale of their struggles in life. The sound of walking turns the viewer to two figures that emerge in the cold September air. Corey Bull and Valerie walk out of the tree line in a trail that only the animals use. Bull is carrying a black bag and Valerie is dressed in only a robe. They stop at the murky edge and Bull places the bag down.
“So what are we doing here?”
“A ritual of sorts. You did well against Shaw...but more is required. You need to cross a threshold.”
Bull’s voice is deep but emotionless. He knows he didn’t do what needed to be done.
“So where do we begin?”
“Take off your clothes.”
Bull starts to undress as Valerie drops the robe. Standing only in her black panties, sigils are painted all over her body. She pulls out the mask of Bull and sets it in his face.
“Now walk out into the water about 5 feet.”
Valerie pulls out the voodoo skull and sets it on a stump near her. She reaches into the bag and looks out to Bull. He has turned and is facing her.
“And now?”
Valerie smiles and stands up, holding a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun at Bull.
“Someone wants a direct conversation.”
The barrels both shoot fire and smoke, the explosion of gunpowder loud in the calm morning air as a huge splash follows and where once stood a monster now instead is a sinking corpse.
“What an unexpected turn of events..”
A dark landscape, even darker than his mind. The storm seems to rage on just outside of the road he stands on, but it makes no noise. He walks forward, going in an unknown direction. North? South? Does it even really matter? He doesn’t know as he walks on. It just feels like the way to go.
“You are lost.”
A voice, colder than Bulls, breaks through the silence. Bull stops, his masked face turning left and right. A large black cloud coalesces in front of him. It seems to pulse with inner power.
“Who are you? Am I dead?”
The cloud seems to chuckle with a flashing of light inside it, but no sound.
“Yes. As to who I am, I think you already know the answer. So ask me the right question.”
Bull mulls over it a minute.
“Valerie shot me. This is my punishment for not fulfilling my end of the bargain. But I see no grave dug for me. Am I being punished to purgatory?”
More of what could be laughter, if there was a sound.
“No. This is a face to face Bull. I need someone like you to do the things I can not. But you are still filled with a weakness. This inability to go the extra mile, to be the real monster you were meant to be. I had Valerie bring you here so that I could personally amend that.”
“You had her kill me.”
A statement, nothing more.
“Yes, well that is how it had to be. Because in order to do what must be done, I needed your soul.”
A tendril of darkness reaches out and grabs Bull’s chest.
“This is your soul’s heart, the center of your being.”
A wave of darkness rolls down and into the soul of Bull. Bull’s scream is soundless. But his body seems to become darker.
“Your hate, it is thick in your soul. Not specific, just hate. But you need more. You need your inhibitions shut off. I accept all souls. Men. Women. Children. All are welcome here. And he who shall be my reaper must be willing to sacrifice his own morality to do what must be done. I have given you Valerie. I have allowed you the love of those you call family. But everyone else is of no consequence.”
The tendril pulls back into the cloud and the darkness seems to combine with Bull. He seems as if he is going to rip at the seams.
“This is my greatest gift. I have darkened your soul. Your heart is merciless. When you return, you do so as something more than when you came here. You are more than a monster. You are a vessel of destruction. You are chaos.”
Valerie stands at the edge of the swamp, the skull raised high. Her lips move but no sound is heard. The eyes of the skull glow and she continues to scan the water, the slightest look of concern now starting to form on his face. It has been almost ten minutes, is this going to work? Suddenly the water explodes upward, a column of water rising to the air. It crashes down to the water, and slowly a figure starts to rais from the water. Bulls form is bigger then when he entered the swamp, his muscles stretched to their limit. To pinkish scars now reside on his body, right where his heart is. His breathing is steady, every movement seems to be calculated as he leaves the water. He grabs a shocked Valerie by the chin and looks her up and down. His voice rolls out like a thunderstorm.
“Thank you. Now, get dressed, we have work to do.”