(Part 3)
I don’t know how long has it been, I lost track of time, it could have been only minutes, hours or days, i don’t really know, but one thing I am sure of: the moon still stares at me like an ominous glowing eye on the foggy sky, I’ve seen the roots given to me dry and rot on the floor of this cage, i witnessed the villein walk endlessly near me, my nails are big enough for me to try to claw my way out of this hellhole, but they are not strong enough, I’m not strong enough. It seems days have passed, maybe weeks? Heavens, I don’t know, but the moon stands still. I’ve always found comfort in the night, but this is something different, this isn’t the night, this is darkness itself. This place is cursed.
The last thing I saw before they locked me up in this ditch was the dead body of my girlfriend lying in the mud, with a stare as blank as the moon itself being bathed in the guts of my friend’s boyfriend as he tried to escape. It was quick. He fell lifeless on top of her and without delay they threw their body in the well. After that I lost all hope, all of my friends were dead, my wife was dead and soon, hopefully, so would I be. I’m too coward to do it myself, I can’t find means to escape so they can butcher me like they did with the others. I tried starving myself to death but the moon is my witness that this damned place just won’t let me die. I can’t kill myself, I can’t dream, I can’t scream and I couldn’t save them.
The thoughts of injuring myself and bleeding to death were starting to come back, just before I heard the door creak. But this time no one came through, no spoiled food, no blank stares, no one. I waited for a few minutes before getting up. “Is this a dream?” No, it couldn’t be, every night I tried to sleep I would wake up seconds after covered in sweat, this is real. I opened the door just a little more so I could stick my head out, and I saw it.
Every single one of them was looking at the sky, their eyes reflecting the moonlight as bright as ever. I heard a soft murmur coming from them but I was not willing to stay and find out, the time is now, this is my chance. I rushed on all fours to the nearest tree stump and quickly began to crawl my way through the dirt. I was sleeping in my own shit, the mud was a soothing welcome on my skin. I don’t know exactly where i was in the village, all of the houses looking the fucking same, all of the houses looked the same! I had to think, even if I managed to enter the woods I could not see anything in front of me if it were not for the moon, my car was totaled, I didn’t have my radio or my cell phone. If I could only find the well, I could go to my friend’s corpse and grab the radio. If I were lucky maybe he had something on him… I couldn’t bear to touch his body in that state at that moment… I don’t know even if I will have the guts to do it now.
I didn’t know what the fuck was going on but they were still looking up, whispering, I don’t care what was that, I was sick of it, running crouched made my legs start to hurt like hell, and when I noticed I was sprinting behind the houses, In the distance I saw the well and the house the corpse of my friend were, the adrenaline in my veins made me ignore everything they were not fast, they couldn’t catch me now. Rushing through the open field I felt a gust of wind bring to me the smell of rotten flesh and for the first time I was happy that death was welcoming me. The busted door was still on the ground making the entrance easy for me, I threw myself on the ground and without even checking out I started to stick my hand on the carcass. I had nothing in my stomach to vomit, I had no time to waste and nothing to lose anymore.
All I could find was a small flashlight and a shiv that was nailed to his rib cage, better than nothing. I was starting to make my way out when I noticed behind me a shadow blocking the moonlight, and I knew that it wasn’t a cloud. Screaming I got up turning my body with the shiv in my hands aiming for whatever was behind me and I hit an old man in the neck. Making a rattling sound I saw the moonlight in his eyes fade away as I dropped him on the carcass and rushed out of the house. One more time all eyes were on me as they started to slowly walk towards the house I was on. “Not this time.” I don’t know where I found the strength to go on, but no matter who stood before me, I was killed. I killed them like an animal, I screamed from the top of my lungs, they needed to pay for what they did to me, to us!
I let the rage consume me and that was my undoing. I started to feel exhausted and I realized I hadn’t escaped yet, I didn’t even try to run. My hatred for them lured me into the mouth of a trap, I was near the well and they were swarming around me muttering more of that nonsense. But it felt good. Damn, did it feel good. I didn’t care what would welcome me in the afterlife, I had my taste of revenge and I knew they would kill me for it.
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR, COME ON!”
I shouted as they began to approach and reach out for me, I thought I was ready. I was not. Fear began to poison me where the rage once was. I struck the shiv in the shoulder of the first that touched me but soon they grabbed my arms and I couldn’t fight anymore. I was desperate, they began to push me down against the well as I struggled to free myself, their whisper was inside my head, I thought I was going crazy as I saw the moon blink at me. I faltered, they lifted me on the edge of the well and started to push me in. I begged for them to release me, I begged for mercy, I humiliated myself and once again I couldn’t do anything. I was ready to die, to meet my friends, but not like this.
I fell, I tried to grab the wall of the well that tried to devour me with its void only to break the nails out of my finger making me scream in pain, I realized halfway through that this is what I wanted, wasn’t it? I closed my eyes welcoming death for the second time and I hit the water on the bottom. Death abandoned me once again. But luckily for me, I wasn’t alone down there.