I wrote this many years ago when I became serious about writing. It's not my usual genre. In fact far from it. But, like most authors, when something wants to be written, I write it.
The crowds hustled by, everyone
in a big hurry to get home after a long day of work. I almost laughed at the rude
people bumping into each other, as if they had the right of way. No one cared
about the person next to them. They all had their own agenda and thought only
of themselves. Horns honked and cars weaved
in and out of traffic, trying to get ahead of the others, only to stop at the
traffic light, not making much progress. Storm clouds threatened to open any
minute. The wind picked up and lightening streaked across the sky, casting an
eerie glow on those rushing about. I stepped out of the doorway and hurried
down the street, sidestepping those willing to stampede over me.
"The
time has come!" A voice bellowed
through the crackling sounds of thunder. I recognized the voice, had heard it
many times.
Suddenly
the sun shone brightly and just as quickly transformed from yellow to red, the
color of blood. The sky darkened once again. Thunder rumbled. Lightning flashed.
People scattered, running for safety from the storm. The sky turned pitch black
and opened up, spewing forth pellets of hail, ashes, and bits of bone.
A great upheaval shook the earth. The ground
cracked, separated, and erupted, opening graves in the nearby cemetery. Bodies,
dead for centuries, spilled from their tombs and rushed forth into the crowds.
Someone
reached a hand out and snatched the heart from a young man’s chest. Another plucked
out the eyes of an old woman. Body parts floated everywhere. Hearts, lungs,
kidneys, and livers flew about as if they had wings.
A young man reached for a heart, but it didn't fit
into his empty chest cavity. Tossing it aside, he reached for another, and yet
another, throwing them aside, in a desperate search for his own.
Clumps of ash swirled around me with bits of bone
and materialized into a body. It ran off down the street, screeching. People scrambled
to get out of the way of deteriorating bodies that poked and prodded, removing
body parts from others and reclaiming their own missing parts, which they had
donated to others after their death. Everyone rushed about in panic and frenzy.
A form appeared in front of me. A young lady, wafts
of long blond hair clung to her skull and bits of a pink dress still hung from
her shoulders. An evil grin appeared in her bony skull when she turned to face
a man. He stood immobile, fear pasted on his face. He dropped to his knees in
recognition. "Please," he begged, "Please, no."
She approached him, arms out stretched. He tried to crawl
away, but she was too quick. Showing no mercy, she grabbed him around the neck
and squeezed the life out of him. Guttural sounds came from her mouth when she
raised him effortlessly above her head, bowed to me, as if to offer him up, and carried
him to a bridge. Spinning around two, maybe three times, she flung him over,
then turned away and hurried off.
I ran to see where he landed and looked down into a fiery
inferno. Tongues of flames licked its hungry mouth, swallowing the man into the
bowels of the earth. He had killed the young girl, and she sent him on to his
just due.
I returned to the doorway and watched as featureless
creatures rose out of their earthly internment and pursued their killers. Like
the blond girl, they murdered in the fashion they had died. One kicked his predator to death. Another
stabbed repeatedly in a murderous rage. Yet another carried his victim to the
top of a building and flung him down like a rag doll. Their victim’s pleas for
mercy, ignored.
One - a headless creature converged on an elderly
man. It threw him to the ground and, with an axe that appeared from nowhere,
chopped off the old man’s head. It rolled away and stopped in front of me.
A new head grew from the headless creature's neck to
complete the body of a young boy. All these creatures lifted their victims’
bodies over their heads and carried them to the bridge. They repeated the
ritual, like the girl had, each bowing to me, and then spinning around several times,
they threw the victims into the fiery pit below. The massacre and brutal assault
of thousands continued. The stench of
burning bodies saturated the air.
More and more
forms appeared from the clumps of ashes and bones, reclaiming the shape of
their earthly beings. People raced wildly about, screaming as bony hands ripped
their innards from their bodies. The skeletal creatures removed kidneys,
livers, and hearts, and repossessed them.
Across the way, a serene scene with masses of people
manifested itself. I went toward them. They floated on a bed of clouds, surrounded
by a brilliant light that illuminated the blackened sky. They were the good
ones, the believers. The young blond girl, her body no longer a skeleton, took
her place among them, a pure and innocent look on her face.
Other creatures followed, after they had achieved
their revenge allotted to them by their God. They took on angelic forms. The
musical sound of a flute and a harp filled the air. Many of the mortals that
had, moments ago, been rushing about looking to replace missing parts were now
renewed. Their bodies united with their
souls.
Perfect
images rose above me with virtuous, peaceful faces. Laughter and love abounded
among them. They began humming with expressions of pure joy as they rose higher
and higher to their final reward above. A floral scent of roses mixed with
other unidentifiable sweet aromas.
I turned back and watched while bedlam still raged
on the other side. Thunder continued to rumble, mixed with terrifying screams
of the bewildered lost souls. Cadavers chased humans, pushing and stampeding
over them as they searched for their body parts. The evil forces reached out,
trying to grip the victims of time past. The innocents rushed past me, eager to
join with the host of angels.
It was time.
I went back
to them and beckoned to my lost sheep. Flames emitted from my hands and smoke
swirled around my mouth as I reached out to claim the evil ones I called my
own. I denounced them as they fell to their knees, begging for mercy from a God
that they had long ago forsaken.
A flood of water gushed over the earth, sweeping
their bodies into a wild rush of current. Arms and legs tangled, thwarting the
onslaught of water, as they swam for their very lives. Just as quickly, the
blackness and water disappeared, replaced by a sudden flash of orange. It burst
forth into the eternal flames of hell.
We were home.
