Dark Portal 1/Dark Portal 1.adf/TEXT/Bestial-3

Text File | 1992-09-02 | 14KB | 251 lines

@ "BESTIAL INFLUX" (Part Two) By Andrew Campbell 1993



                                 -1-

 Rain lashed furiously across the glittering orange paving stones and
drifted across the roads in thick ghostly blankets. Lightning fired
down from the heavens, momentarilly allowing me a shocking white
glimpse of the houses that lined the street through which I was
running.
 My shoes clatter-splash-clattered along the silvery-orange sidewalk,
my dress had pasted to my body, my nipples had become hard, stiff
bullets and the world had begun to wave and blurr as my vision
transformed into nothing but a sticky entanglement of tears and rain
drops.
 I had no open arms to lovingly receive me. No one wanted to know about
my mind-numbing ordeals, my deathly experiences or put up with my loud,
babyish wails. I was nothing to the people who lived here.
# Nothing.
 An ugly girl is a something that defies nature : girls are supposed to
be beautiful, adorable things ; quiet, timid and soft in nature. A girl
without beauty is a cruel abnormality, like a bird without wings.
 God, I thought desperately as I scampered blindly through the night,
He is the creator of all, the ruler of the heavens and the great
decider of everthing ; He chooses what, when, how and why ; He is the
one and only being that determines who people will be, what they can
do, and what they shall look like.
 Why then, I almost whimpered in that feeble, confused voice enclosed
within my skull, why am I so ugly? Why did you do it to me? Why did you
make me the subject of some cruel, heartless experiment?
 God, or something high up in the clouds, gave a deafening cry of rage
and objection and I felt the earth shudder beneath my feet. Lighting
ripped the heavens apart in bright, silent flashes. Rain, as hard and
as cold as fragments of hailing glass, thumped into my dress and filled
my hair with sparkling diamonds.
 There was a moment when I was so impossibly cold, that I left my
running body and arrived at the party again. I stood before the
chatting, smoking, laughing people and listened to them curiously. The
chair I had thrown was now stacked neatly on top of the table, amidst
the buffet of sickly food and battery-acid drinks. Shelley was still in
her same position, thrown across the table with her legs poking out of
her frilly little pink skirt.
 I looked at Mum. She was a pale woman with short golden hair, clipped
into place impeccably with a sparkling ruby slide. Her dress was tight,
short and revealed much of her cleavage. She had rosy cheeks and a
pleasant smile, but underneath, written on her thumping heart, was the
word "SHELLEY" - in huge bold letters.
 Dad looked at me. I felt deeply for him. He was tall, slim, dark and
handsome - a talented architect - with strong, muscular limbs and a big
chest as hard as rock. His hair was black, neatly combed and matched
the thick bushes of his brows and his dense moustache. He was a man who
forgave children for their mistakes, no matter how serious or trivial
they happened to be.
 "Dad are you cross?" I asked him quietly.
 He smiled at me, as though he had only just become aware of my
presence. "Hello Linda." he said in that gentle story-telling voice
that had soothed me to sleep during hundreds of restless nights.
 "Sorry Dad, but I don't want to be here." I told him, in delightfully
fluent English. "Don't be cross at me, please."
 He grinned. "Hello Linda."
 "Dad?" I waved my hands. "Did you hear me?"
 "Hello Linda."
 "Daddy?"
 "Hello Linda."
 "Dad don't keep saying that."
 His grin broadened, his eyes sparkled and his voice increased in
volume. "Hello Linda."
 Mum looked at me. "Hello Linda!" she said simultaneously with Dad.
 "Please don't say that." I pleaded, frightened now.
 Ignoring me, they said together : "Hello Linda!"
 Then, everyone joined in. Every face whisked to mine, every mouth
curved into a grin. Shelley looked up from her position on the table
with giant smile scorching her face. Paul's mouth had stretched
horizontally, almost to the lobes of his ears. Uncle Colin was now
standing up again, composing the whole lot of them with his over-active
hands.
 "HELLO LINDA!" They chorused cheerfully, voices echoing the room.
 "Don't do that!" I cried, backing away from the table. "Don't-"
# "HELLO LINDA! HELLO LINDA! HELLO LINDA! HELLO-"
 Some of them rose up from their chairs : old ladies with sickly yellow
eyes, old men with grey beards clotted with writhing maggots ; Uncle
Colin with clumps of purplish-red flesh drooping down from the ends of
his fingers ; Paul, now a massive hairy werewolf-creature with a
misshapen head and a crocodile mouth lined with gigantic incisors.
 Shuddering with terror, I backed further towards the door, the party
monsters drifting after me like a swarm of zombies.
 It was when Paul struck me with his yellow, lizard eyes and released
an ear-piercing inhuman roar, that my mind screamed the image away in a
flurry of bright white stars and plunged me back - head first - into
reality...
 ...I was staring through dark trees, listening to the gently
evaporating echo of Paul's imaginary wail. I noticed the rain had
stopped and the thunder had died away, and I stood with my hands by my
sides for a few moments, breathing slowly, contently, as though I were
partially asleep.
 That was when something big came tumbling out of the sky.


                                   -2-

 It appeared from the clouds in the shape of a dark coconut and sank
behind a distant line of black trees before hitting the ground with a
dull thud.
 There was no explosion, no bright light or anything that might have
indicated to me that a meteorite or a comet had crash-landed ; just a
simple thumping sound - like a large brick reaching the bottom of a
deep pool of water.
 It was the deadly silence afterwards that scared me. I could hear
nothing anymore... no rain pattering against the leaves, no wind
howling, no distant thunderous rumbles.
 It was as though the object, whatever it was, had taken away all the
noise from the world in a micro-second. I became aware of the chilling
darkness that surounded me for the first time since I had escaped from
the party. I was standing alone in a dense wood with nothing to aid my
vision. Everything was pitch-black apart from the bluish-purple clouds
that were drifting like the ghosts of whales through the unsettled
skies. I couldn't even see the ground on which I was standing.
 I have to hear something, I thought wildly. I have to know that the
world hasn't gone completely silent. I have to make some sound right
now or I'll explode.
 "Uhhhh!" I gasped and heard both of my ears pop consecutively.
 I was panting and the woods were alive with tiny dripping sounds and
creaking branches. There was a light wind rustling the leaves of the
trees, creating a sound that resembled a rough sea.
 My limbs stiff with freezing cold, I began to take several blind steps
forward, reaching out with my arms as I made unsteady progression. My
mind was numb and malfuctional with confusion : how had I arrived here
in this place? What was that black shape I saw fall from the heavens?
How am I going to get back home? Do I want to go back home after what
happened at the party?
 I heard a thumping sound.
 My body froze in a walking gesture, left foot raised off the ground.
Even though my hair was drenched and half-plastered to my face, I felt
several strands quiver and uplift with shear fright.
 It took me a full minute to realise I was listening intensely to my
own frantic pulse ; my over-active heart beat, so loud it sounded to be
crashing against the prison-bars of my ribs, desperate to be released.


                                 -3-

 I remember heading towards the line of trees behind which the coconut
had fallen, but I don't think I ever reached it. Several times I
tripped and fell, and in most instances I scrambled up from the soggy
ground and trundled onwards without any hesitation. But I eventually
collapsed through lack of energy and ignored my thoughts of returning
home. I was so cold and disorientated and hurt, the only thing I could
manage to do was submit myself to the woods - at least until dawn.


                                 -4-

 I heard the footsteps even before I opened my eyes.
 Dry leaves were crumbling beneath the weight of something very large
and heavy. There sounded to be an odd third footstep too, or perhaps it
was something being dragged along - like a walking-stick. There were
birds chirping away merrily all around me, some of their calls were
distant, others very close.
 Like a newly born butterfly unfolding it's wings, I fluttered my
eyelids open and stared at the immediate view. I was laid sideways
across the ground with both of my hands tucked under my head and I
could see greenish-brown leaves and narrow blades of grass spanning
away from my face at a slightly sloping angle.
 "Jethuth Chrith!" I hissed and launched upright, in time to see the
leaves of a nearby bush frantically wave and dance. A rustling sound
echoed from in that direction and at least three twigs exploded.
 I listened sharply, breath held.
 The rustling noise suddenly stopped, not far away.
 "Hello?" I said, scanning the bushes curiously for any signs of
movement. The feeling of being under scrutiny, being observed, was
overwhelming and unsettling. "Hello? Ith anyone there?"
 There was no movement, no visible reaction to my calls.
 I began to shuffle backwards, waving my head from side to side. My
hair was wirey and soiled and my party frock had transformed from white
to brown overnight. My limbs were stiff and ached terribly, and I had a
lot of trouble moving without emiting painful wails.
 "Is anyone ther-" I began to cough and wheeze. My throat was dry and
agonisingly sore. I was hungry and thirsty ; so much so, I could feel
hot digestive acids desperately eating away at the lining of my
stomach.
 I rose to my feet and patiently allowed dizziness to pass away, then
stared at those enigmatic leaves that had rustled and waved only a few
moments ago.
 "Ith anyone there?" I said weakly. "Pleath... I need help. I think I'm
lotht. Can you help me pleath?"
 There was no response, just as there was no wind. The air was fresh
and pleasantly cool and clusters of dull, greyish clouds lingered
motionlessly overhead.
 Rubbing my throat, I took a step towards the bushes, then paused,
scanning the immediate area. The wood looked so expansive, dense and
complicated... I started to feel uneasy.
 What if I could never find my way out? What if I was trapped here for
ever with that person hiding in the bushes?
 "Hello?" I called one last time before mingling with the leaves and
the ferns. I began to wade, like a nervous swimmer through a rough sea,
across the barricade of thick, wet bushes. Twigs and branches popped
like firecrackers beneath my weight, and the sound of my legs, my body
and my arms - all in motion - formed a swishing, rustling, scurrying
sound like the noise of a vunerable prey walking blindly towards a
predator.
 Running water became audible so suddenly, it was as though someone
had switched on a tap. Subconsiously, before I even laid eyes on the
stream, I knew it was there and I felt unsettled about nearing it.
 But my throat and my sticky, itching body protested against my
feelings and demanded I continued onwards.
 I reached the location with the taste of vomit stinging my throat, It
was as though I had a tub of out-of-date yoghurt swilling around in my
mouth.
 The stream was narrow and filled with protruding moss-coated rocks.
The flow was fast, noisy and somehow comforting. A line of yellowish-
brown dead leaves raced down, battling with the waves and crashing
against the rocks. I tried to imagine some little men surf-boarding on
them as I knelt down, but my mind was too confused and distorted to be
able to think of anything even slightly humourous.
 Deciding that the sickly taste in my mouth was the worst part of my
condition, I leaned over the grassy embankment and cautiously lowered
my lips into rippling water. My technique didn't work very well and
sucked up a few dry leaves. I cupped my hands and slurped greedily from
the water I managed to scoop.
 I scanned the bushes very intensely, before taking off my dress and
washing my sweaty body. I rinsed my filthy socks, wiped my shoes over
with dock leaves and generally freshened up.
 I took a last drink from the stream by cupping my hands again, but
this time I felt something round and solid fall half-way down my
throat. I fell onto my hands and knees and began to cough and spit. The
thing, what ever it was, didn't want to come back up. I sat, wiped my
eyes, took a wheezy breath and prepared to be sick.
 Then, I swallowed.
 The thing, the lump in my throat, washed all the way down my food pipe
and became lost in my abdomen. I coughed some more and then decided to
give up the hopeless battle.
 The bushes rustled again, but this time the noise did not sound very
distant ; it sounded close again. There was a thudding sound too. It
was a gentle, almost pleasant noise, that came and went in three
separate booms.
 My eyes wandered from the bushes to the stream again, this time I
followed the flow right into the darkest trees.
 There, less than a hundred yards away, I saw the coconut.
 It was simply a pitch-black elliptical shape, half buried in leaves
and branches, but it was the definite source of the stream.
 Then I heard a gentle hiss. Like someone breathing close-by.
 I turned around and there was something inhuman standing before me. I
opened my mouth to scream, but I was far too late.
 It shrieked and plunged me into a cold, silent darkness.


# Fear abounds in the next chapter...