The Gloaming - Part 4

... Continued

The Gloaming

There were people in the village. As alive as they were before the… ‘they’ had come. And these people were going about us as if nothing had happened. What was going on here? Did we dream this whole thing? These questions swam around my head but I didn’t have the energy to utter them.

The man and the boy brought us to their home instead of taking us directly to their home and this confirmed what I had been expecting. That she was still dead. My mother hasn’t miraculously come alive as they seem to have. And both of them walking ahead whilst whispering about us but I didn’t bother to comment on this either.

The man’s wife took us into their house but not before appraising the miserable state of us. She fed us and showed us the ‘gifili’ and gave us fresh clothing. She, unlike her husband, didn’t ask any questions.

It was hours later that I remembered about the plan we made to return before high tide. I whispered this to my sister and she surprised me again by shrugging. Seeing my look she softly added that maybe things were back to normal. That what we witnessed was maybe an illusion or maybe just a figment of our imagination. And before I knew it, the dreaded time was upon us. This time there was no reddish ting across the sky. There was nothing eerie or foreboding about this sun set. But still…

Dusk time came and everything was normal… One hour after twilight; everything was still normal. Two hours, three hours went by without anything happening. Finally it was time for bed. After dinner the woman showed us to a vacant room in the house where a makeshift bed was made. And we slept, reassured that maybe... just maybe that everything has gone back to normal. And we did sleep on, till the smell woke us.

They were here. I should have known that it was a trap. I lay still afraid to make a noise, afraid to move. It had been an illusion. No one had survived. They made the illusion to bait us. The last surviving victims in their murderous rampage.

The stench grew stronger and a deathly cold bony hand clasped around my mouth roughly and I heard my sister gasp before I knew that they had her too. Then I remembered something. I should’ve noticed before… there still weren’t any animals on the island.

The Gloaming - Part 3

...Continued

The Gloaming

I started to slowly tread into the water. I didn’t know I was being brave or stupid. We half walked, half paddled to the other island. And there we stood trembling with cold and fear. But the creatures didn’t follow us to this island. The curse was within our island only.

I didn’t think I could sleep that night but somehow we did. And when we awoke to the sounds of crows, of birds, I immediately knew that we were safe on this island. I woke my sister up and together we crept towards the beach.

All was still and quiet on our island. Not a sound came from it. It was silent and eerie. Maybe I was right last night. Maybe our island was cursed. Maybe someone wanted blood for something someone did. Oh maybe it was us all along. Maybe someone within the village brought it on, someone who has done some unspeakable crime against nature.

We stayed on our small island for three whole days before hunger and thirst took its toll on us. At first I thought someone sailing nearby would see us and rescue us but to no avail. And by the end of the third I made up my mind. I felt we had no choice. While huddled together to sleep under the moonlight I told my sister my idea. My sister protested as I had expected. But I asked her what were to do. We’d surely starve to death if we weren’t rescued soon. And that seemed a bleak hope. Finally after much arguing we agreed to go but only during the daytime, and to leave before nightfall.

The next day we waited by the beach waiting for the low tide to come, watching with apprehension at the quiet island that used to be our home.

When low tide arrived at nearly noon we walked slowly, hesitantly towards it. I knew the risk. I knew we can’t stay long. We would have to leave as soon as we can find some food and water. If we missed the low tide then we would have to wait for it after sunset. And that is something neither of us wanted to contemplate for even a second.

Suddenly a movement beyond the trees caught our attention. I took my sister’s hand, both of us too afraid to go on further. There was something there. My sister began to whisper that we should head back. But I was too afraid to even move.

Where ‘they’ waiting for us? Was it a trap?

The trees moved again and out came a small boy. He was smiling and beckoned us to come out of the water.

I was shocked. What was going on here? I recognized the boy as one of my neighbors. My sister tightened her hold on my hand. I sensed that she felt as confused as me.

Again there was a movement behind him and out came an older man. He too was my neighbor. In fact, it was the boy’s father. The man called out this time, demanding what we were doing out in the ocean alone.

I felt my sister move. I couldn’t believe it. She was heading towards them. I held her back and asked whether she has gone mad?

She turned to me and said that maybe ‘they’ were gone. Maybe these people survived… just like us. I didn’t like it but I also didn’t like the idea of starving to death and I definitely wasn’t going to let my sister go to that island alone so I went alone with her.

We hesitantly approached them. But they smiled as if amused at how frightened we were.

The man asked what happened and why we were so afraid but I only shook my head and this only made the man more concerned. Silently they led us back into the village. I steeled myself expecting a blood soaked empty village but the scene that met us made me draw in a sharp breath.

....Continued

The Gloaming - Part 2

... Continuation

The Gloaming - II

First thing we heard was this strange howling. We thought it was the wind or maybe the coming rain but I realized the unearthliness of the sound. It was nothing made by nature. After much begging I urged my sister to accompany me to the beach. At first I noticed nothing except the growing foul stench in the air and slowly as my eyes adjusted to the darkness I saw ‘them’. A group of people, by the hundreds it seemed, were making their way along the beach from the north side. As they got nearer it chilled me to the bone to know that they weren’t at all human.

There were beings; dark, mysterious beings. Some short, some tall, some crawling, some seemingly not touching the ground. And they were coming at us from the far off side of the beach. They were the ones making the hideous noise. The stench was coming from them.

We screamed and ran into our village, screaming that ‘they’ were coming. My sister wanted to go home but I knew we won’t be safe from ‘them’ as long as we stayed on this island. Hearing our voices people came out of their house with puzzled expressions on their faces. Some pointed and some called out to us what’s going on. But we didn’t stop. We didn’t dare stop.

A scream suddenly filled the air. Not ours. Someone had seen them. Without thinking I turned around. They were indeed inside the village. I grabbed my sister’s hand and dragged her behind a tree. And from there we stood watching the horror unfold.

The people who had come out to investigate stood there staring at them. And ‘they’ stood staring at the people. But this was only for what seemed a minute, maybe less. They stood within the shadows and almost blended within the blackness of the night but everyone knew they were there. It was almost as if they were giving off this pulsating vibe. Like a rotten heart pumping dirty blood through the nerves.

Suddenly they moved. It was the smaller, the crawling ones that struck first. They had ugly sneering faces with mouths full of sharp teeth. And these creatures ran towards the people closest to them. They tried to run but it was a useless attempt as the crawling creatures were on them within seconds. The whole island erupted in screams. People ran in all directions. And it was the screams that ignited an action from the other beings. The taller ones who didn’t seem to touch the ground flew off towards the sounds. Like shadows that sprung up when the candle was diminished. These beings were fast as they flew but they were also blind and only knew where their victims were from the sound of their screams. It seemed the whole thing was orchestrated. First the smaller beings entered the village followed by the taller, flying ones. Their stage was our island. Their music was our screams. Their act was bloodshed.

Seeing this I slid my hand across my sister’s mouth and beckoned her to follow me silently. We slowly slid out of our hiding place and quietly made our way towards the woods trembling with fear from head to toe. And as soon as we saw the trees we ran for our lives.

We ran and ran. We ran blindly through the forest until the trees gave away to a beach. I was confused at first and didn’t know where we were. Then I saw the little island beyond us, across the sea. My sister screamed that they are coming and sure enough the howling was getting nearer and the stench was getting stronger.

I didn’t know what lay beneath the ocean. Maybe they will grab at our ankles if we were to wade into the sea. Maybe they will drown us. But I didn’t want to muse on this for too long. I grabbed my sister’s hand and made for the water. She let out a strangled scream, panicked and tried to hold back.

I told her in a feverish whisper we should head for the small island and we could walk through the low tide. I promised her we would be safe even if I had no way of knowing that because for all I knew we could very well drown. But I did know we wouldn’t survive on this island. Not tonight.

...Continued

The Gloaming

With nothing better to write about these days I decided brush away the cobwebs in here by publishing one of my old stories.

The Gloaming

‘They’ came for us around dusk. No one knew ‘they’ were coming. Not my family, not my friends, not my neighbors. No one.

But still there were signs. The first of the signs came a week before. A strange flu struck our small island. People became sick. Some died. Some, through medical means, got better. The people who died were better off. They were the lucky ones, I think.

For some reason, my sister and I were safe from the disease. But our mother was one of the first to get infected. The flu took three days to kill her. It was a slow and painful death. She continuously vomited and when there was nothing left inside her she vomited blood. She constantly moaned out in pain when she was awake and sometimes hallucinated. But she wasn’t the only one.

The flu struck here and there. And some did die bleeding to death, while others curiously got better. It was the strangest thing. Neither the medicine men nor the men of ‘fanditha’ could explain it. It was a week of funerals, a week of anxiety, a week of fear, a week of unknown; a week that reeked of death.

Amongst all this my sister and I noticed the most peculiar thing. On the last day before ‘they’ came we realized that there weren’t any animals on the island. No birds, no cats, not even rats. Even if we had gone deep within the woods there weren’t any sign of them. Where had they gone? The foreboding feeling continued throughout the day. We wanted to leave, quickly. But we had no one to turn to. We were orphans and everyone else was too busy caring for their loved ones who had the mysterious plague.

Thursday morning came. It has approximately been one week since the plague claimed its first victim. Everyone went about doing what they did as any normal day. The sick had lessened somewhat. People began to think the disease has passed. But they were wrong. It was only the calm before the storm.

My sister and I were still uneasy. That morning we had already set off towards the thundi of the island. We left the village area and walked along the beach avoiding the woods that had grown quiet, dark and eerie. When we reached the end of the island, the area the locals called the thundi, we saw the tiny island near ours where we sometimes went to swim and play. With all the horror going around and my mother’s death I had forgotten about this place.

The distance between the two islands is somewhat short and if it is low tide we could easily have walked the distance through the sea. I thought again of leaving this place. Of swimming over during high tide to the tiny island that somehow seemed strangely… safe. But the thought fled as fast it crossed my mind and my sister and I walked back to our village not knowing what horrors await us at the time of dusk.

That evening when the sun set there was a reddish tinge across the sky. The reddish glow was everywhere. As if the whole island was bathed in blood. But nothing unusual happened. People were scared, yes, but still it was an hour after sunset that ‘they’ finally came. It was as if they were waiting for total darkness.

First thing we heard was this strange howling. We thought it was the wind or maybe the coming rain but I realized the unearthliness of the sound. It was nothing made by nature. After much begging I urged my sister to accompany me to the beach. At first I noticed nothing except the growing foul stench in the air and slowly as my eyes adjusted to the darkness I saw ‘them’. A group of people, by the hundreds it seemed, were making their way along the beach from the north side. As they got nearer it chilled me to the bone to know that they weren’t at all human.

.......To be continued

Death Making Rounds