The Lily Pad

I dropped to my knees and felt a relief wash over me, but my eyes stayed on the lily pad.

I stood there on the edge of the water, the silence surrounded me as thick as a blanket. All was still, the water didn’t move, no rustles in the trees, just silence. I would have thought it felt peaceful, if it didn’t feel so thick. I understood the phrase, “you could cut the air with a knife” a bit more in that moment.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. Something was drawing me into it. It pulled so, that I’d blink and try to be more aware of my surroundings, but couldn’t lift my eyes. I was listening hard for even a small chirp from a bird or that lovely song the crickets made at nightfall. I could have sworn it had just been bright as day, but now the sun was setting. My eyes stayed on a single lily pad while I tried to tune in my other senses. I could feel the temperature drop a few degrees as the sun continued to set. What was it about this lily pad? My brain was fuzzy and I couldn’t seem to think straight. How long had I been standing there for? It sure was getting colder and seemed to be getting even quieter. How was that even possible?

Where had I been going? What had brought me here? This is so bizarre, my brain seems so fuzzy right now. I can’t stop staring at it, blinking again I couldn’t lift my arms to rub my eyes, they felt like they were burning, burning so strongly. The sun seemed to have set completely now, but the pond was giving off some type of radiating light, or at least it appeared to be. It was freezing now, I thought I was shivering, how long had it been again? It was floating there, right in the pond, a single lonely lily pad in the small pond. Where was this pond again? I can’t for the life of me remember where I was or what I had been doing, I just knew that this lily pad was there FOR me. What was I to take from this?

I felt a pain in my legs, I realized my entire body was shaking, I dropped to my knees and felt a relief wash over me, but my eyes stayed on the lily pad. I could hear the water lapping at the shore, but hadn’t it just been quiet a second ago? I sense an excitement, having heard some type of noise within the thickness of the silence just a second ago. The lily pad appeared to be getting closer, that was a good thing right? My mind couldn’t seem to form any other functioning thought at this moment, my focus on the other senses gone, all I could see was that the pad was actually just getting bigger. I felt that was a good thing, but I did feel even more of a coldness throughout my body, a deep deep coldness that I could feel within my bones. Another phrase I now understood with more clarity. I chuckled to myself and almost jumped at a noise. Noise! Was that caused by me? The silence felt so powerful that it felt like I was almost being pushed down.

Down. I did feel like I was being pushed down. What a peculiar feeling right now. My neck felt strained as it continued looking at that lily pad. Was it even bigger now? My neck was killing me even more now. The lily pad HAD to be closer.

I am so cold, it’s so quiet and dark….

Where did it go?

The Road Untraveled

Standing in the middle of the dirt roadway, frozen solid. The air had gotten considerably colder…

Walking down the dirt path roadway she marveled at how enchanting the road was. Trees bordering all down the road, as far as you could see, with massive tree covers completely enveloping the roadway, creating a type of calmness that made her feel as if there wasn’t another soul in the world. It was colder under the tree cover, but also quieter and dimmer.

As she walked on, she almost giggled to herself as she considered she was more sauntering than walking, she kept getting distracted by the forests lining the roadway. Something would catch her eye and then she’d catch herself standing and staring at seemingly nothing and have to jolt herself out of the trance to continue walking on.

She noticed there wasn’t any animal noises, no birds chirping or rustling of any forest critters, just her and her soft steps along the roadway. She looked up and could see glimpses of sunlight in patches, but most of the covering was pretty well entangled together above the road.

She kept on for a bit, still marveling at how quiet it was and how it seemed to have no end in sight. It really did bring her to a calm, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She kept on, losing track of time when once again she snapped out of her trance and realized she wasn’t walking anymore. She was standing in the middle of the dirt roadway, frozen solid. The air had gotten considerably colder, she even had goosebumps on her bare arms. She looked around, she didn’t see anything, nothing moving, no wind blowing through the tree coverings, nothing at all.

She suddenly felt as if someone was watching her, as if someone was almost on top of her. She slowly turned around, knowing for sure she was going to be looking straight into someone’s eyes.

There was no one there.

However she realized she hadn’t actually walked that far down the forest roadway. Mere feet in fact. Puzzled, she went to turn back around to continue on her way, when she caught a glimpse of a black figure towards the beginning of the forest cover. She stepped towards it, but it was gone in an instant. It must have been a shadow playing with her eyes she told herself.

Shrugging her shoulders she turned and continued on down the forest roadway. She wasn’t going to get distracted again, she would pay attention. It was very clear just how quiet it had become under these giant trees and their expansive branches, leaves, and coverings. She didn’t make it very far when she felt a Strong sense that someone was about to grab her, she instantly whipped around to confront whatever it was. She was getting irritated now. Probably some kids messing with her. Once again there was nothing there. Again she noticed she wasn’t very far from where she had been last time. Hell, had she even made any progress? She’d been walking at least 15 minutes since the last time she stopped, it had to be!

She wondered if she should just go back the way she came from, but had been enjoying the idea of her walk today and going through this roadway. So she turned and kept on her way. She went at a quicker pace, almost jogging, breaking out a sweat. She just needed to get on with it. She refused to turn around, and paid attention to landmarks with certain trees and ground plants. She knew it had to have been her brain playing tricks on her, so she just kept going.

After awhile she tired, slowing down to a stroll again. Even after working up a sweat she was chilly. She paused to catch her breath and pull out her bottle of water. As she was drinking she was telling herself it was silly to be nervous, knowing full well she was going to turn around and check her progress but not wanting to.

Forcing herself she turned around, breathing out a sigh of relief seeing that she was now deep within the forest roadway.

She froze suddenly when she also realized that she couldn’t see anything beyond a few hundred feet. It was as if everything was part of a giant black shadow, as if she was staring into an actual abyss. She took a few steps forward, back towards the way she had come, the blackness getting closer…5455124131_4050ace8fe_bAs she kept inching forward she realized that the blackness, the shadow was actually moving, writhing.

She inched closer until she was about 5 feet away from the edge. She was staring into a wall of black nothingness, the entire forest she was facing seemed to have disappeared, becoming one with this blackness.

It was eerily quiet, yet she could have sworn she heard a non stop whispering coming from the blackness. As she was focusing on the sounds she realized that the blackness was not only moving within itself, but moving towards her.

She stepped back, another step back, hesitant to turn her back on the wall but knowing she needed to move, and move now. Turning she was relieved to see the normal forest in front of her. It no longer had a calming effect on her however, she could feel the tension under the canopy of trees and started running.

She ran as fast as she could. She ran until she couldn’t feel her feet and kept on running. Finally when she couldn’t go any farther she collapsed to her knees on the ground, trying to catch her breath. She felt better, even though she still couldn’t catch her breath. She didn’t know what the hell that was but she felt better knowing it was farther away.

As she caught her breath she got to her feet. Man she needed to hit the gym more she thought to herself. She turned around, and stood in disbelief. The black wall was almost fully surrounding her now, mere inches away from her, she instantly started backing up, but still couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She heard the whispering again, but it was more fervent, anguished, almost tormented.

She didn’t dare turn her back on it now, she knew that whatever it was, that IT wanted her.

She kept backing up, fascinated with how the blackness was writhing, turning into itself right in front of her eyes. She realized how cold it was, freezing almost, she had to get out of there. Knowing she needed to move she slowly turned, ready to run for it,
but there was only blackness.


© 2017 Mj Gale

 

The Corridor

Running down a long corridor. Lights are slowly flashing, as I’m running and running. There doesn’t seem to be an end. All of a sudden I run flat into what seems to be an invisible wall. Throwing me back a good ten feet. I land on the ground, dazed, still not understanding what is going on. I look up and don’t see anything except the long empty corridor.

I don’t feel as if I should be running, instead I feel a pressure to sit still, very still in fact. As I’m sitting there this white entity starts to materialize right about where I ran into the wall that wasn’t there. It’s almost a peaceful entity, a small little tornado gathering upon itself to make itself bigger and bigger. Then, I hear this awful gut clenching noise, not quite a scream, nothing I have ever heard before….and this dark entity materializes right next to it.

The noise is getting louder and I put my hands over my ears, but the small movement seemed to attract the attention of both entities and I froze again. I could tell the dark entity was larger than the other and it was so very dark. The lights were still flashing slowly, it was almost disorienting. The darker entity seemed to be trying to take over the white one, which was still gathering upon itself but wasn’t getting any bigger now.

The noise changed, became more staccato like and the dark entity just seemed to jump and envelope the white entity in a split second. The atmosphere completely changed and I knew that even frozen and not moving, it sensed me. I knew I had to run. I jumped to my feet and started running the way I had come from, running and running…


© 2017 Mj Gale

Iron Grip

…knowing that whatever waited at the bottom was going to be better than what was chasing me

Running. Running up and up. Up a Dark abandoned stairwell. Running and running up. Something is chasing me. I can’t hear it but I know it’s chasing me, so I keep running. Up and up. I finally reach the top and burst through the door at the top and onto the roof. It’s night. There are no stars, no city lights, just rough outlines of buildings in the distance. I can’t tell if it’s foggy or just that really dead of night.

It’s still chasing me, so I slam the door shut behind me and run across the roof. There’s no where to go. Looking everywhere. I suddenly see one of those construction tubes leading down….knowing that whatever waited at the bottom was going to be better than what was chasing me, I dive in headfirst. As soon as I start to slide down….an iron grip; a cold freezing hand grabs my ankle and immediately stops me…

I keep trying to scream but no sound comes out as I’m pulled out of the tube, and that’s when I realize there is no actual being there, but I can still feel the grip around my ankle like it was made of steel. As I’m raised upside down out of the tube by this invisible entity….just darkness….and then nothingness.


© 2017 Mj Gale

Beneath My Skin

I can hear tiny little noises, almost like a scurrying.

I am at an empty old high school. It’s really dated, but not abandoned, I think it’s just the weekend. I’m walking around looking for some type of book, can’t seem to remember where I left it…
I walk into a random room, and I am startled to see three students standing there in lab suits, full on hazmat. They look at me horrified, and just say “run…. run before they get you!!” So I turned and ran. I had no clue what I was running from but I ran as fast as I could…
I ended up running down into a dark hallway, for all the logical reasons.
Now I’m cornered, lost, and I can hear tiny little noises, almost like a scurrying. I turn around. It’s dark but I can still see the floor, and there isn’t anything on the floor at all…  All of the sudden I feel hundreds if not thousands of tiny little things crawling all over my body. I can’t see anything on me but I can feel them.
They’re burrowing directly into my skin. I don’t see anything on me, but I see my skin starting to bleed and seep. Then the lab coats show up and just look at me horrified through their masks.”They’ve gotten her” they say, and I ask what “they” are, they respond “the parasites” then one of them pulls a gun out and shoots me
and everything goes black.

© 2017 Mj Gale