So, I was a surfin' the interwebs (as you do) yesterday, and I found out about this short story writing competition.
It's on the Wexford fantasy/sci-fi festival website thing, admittedly I'm not actually going to enter but I thought I'd write a piece just for the sheer heck of it. Well here it is:
Change
It’s not like I had a choice. Even now, as my life spirals in a direction of complete and utter pandemonium, I’m still not allowed to choose my own path. I still remember the day I was transformed into this monster, this abomination, I am now. But why remember it? Why relive the heartache for the sake of some wanderer, one who doesn’t know me, one who can’t remember my name? I’ll tell you why.
For years after my sudden and violent transformation, I have been afraid to confide in anyone. I was afraid to even approach another living soul in case I was to harm it. And yet here you are. You stand before me, watching my bloodied mass of a body cower and shake, and have a strange look of understanding in your eye. As if you have known of me all your life, as if you have searched for my very being for millennia. So you and only you shall know my story. I must make it hasty though, I feel as though my time is fast approaching.
I used to be like you, carefree, young. A child, as you call it, though I can barely remember what it means. I don’t remember most of the outside world; so long I have hidden away in this hovel with fear of discovery, but I do remember the light. The glorious, glorious light! To feel it shine upon my skin has been my only wish for centuries, but sheer hatred of mankind has forced me to stay here under the surface.
But children are innocent of course, far too innocent to know of the dangers that lurk, say, in a forest. Not just any forest though, one so deep and dark that no sunlight (that light, oh that light!) can penetrate its shady canopies. Though a child I was, I still remember instinct screaming at me. It was so loud that my head felt as though it was being pounded from within, each syllable making the pain grow and grow.
“Run, get out! RUN!”
Curiosity got the better of me though, and I ventured further, marvelling at the strange compositions of fungi, and the darkness between those leaves. I could have stayed forever, but then came the rustling from the bush. That noise was the marking as my fate, had I known then it meant I could be doomed to a life of loneliness and despair I would have fled. Yet I was intrigued, the beauty of the forest had dulled my senses with empty promises of loveliness. So, of course, I peeled back the branches, barely noticing the thorns digging into my flesh, digging gouges of blood. And what was behind those leaves I will never forget, its breath so foul it curdled the very air, the stench of fear and hatred hung around its being. I couldn’t move I was rooted to the spot. I know now what it must have been; it was a creature that preys on the innocent. A creature of pure evil, one that could make me the way I am now.
It sensed my presence, and turned to me. Our eyes met. That was all it took for me. Those eyes, a deep crimson with a large black slit for a pupil, locked onto me and the thought of what this creature could do filled my brain with images of hell. I forgot who I was, forgot what I was and let the feeling consume me, my soul. I felt the numbness spread through my body, but felt no fear. I felt nothing but hatred and I let it empty me until I was just a shell. That is all I am now, an empty shell, fuelled by nothing, love by nothing.
I was created to kill, but something held me back. Whatever it was, I felt it would wear off so I hid here. And now you as you find me, my resolve for good is gone.
You are my prey.
That's it I'm afraid. It's not very good and it says to write 800 words or less. So I did.
This all came from the depressing mood I was in yesterday.
Well when life gives you lemons...
SHUT UP AND EAT YOUR DANG LEMONS!
-DKC/Hannah
Edit: I changed my mind *enters*
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