Zyvic's Short Stories

The Resurrection

Ace Sullivan, the tall and reserved rabbit-man haunted by his dreams, was here at the door of this makeshift tomb to let the crazy sociopath plaguing his nightmares loose into the world again. Ace had always questioned his past internally. He just couldn’t grasp why his dreams always felt so real to him, or why Ray, the man that was executed just two days ago for being seconds away from blowing everything and everyone up, was such a frequent figure in them. Something small and quiet that’s been in the background of his mind for a very long time has been growing increasingly loud in more recent weeks. The evidence was slowly stacking up, convincing him he’d somehow died and was revived by Ray in the forest before he met anyone he knew now. Of course he’d never tell anyone this kind of hunch. Considering how recent this big scare of Ray snapping and almost blowing up the entire community was, and how stressful and emotional his execution was, Ace was certainly not about to say anything that might make his friends think he was going crazy too.

His first clear memory has always been waking up in the forest in terrible pain and looking up to see Casper, the man that eventually became his husband, offering to help nurse him back to health. With this vivid memory, his recent repetitive dreams about the glowing red orb he found in Shy and Ray’s house, and most importantly the words Ray so clearly stated during his execution “I’m the reason Ace is even alive”, everything was starting to finally make sense.

So here he stood in front of Ray’s tomb. The execution room they put together just for him. In a community of seven people that think they’re all close friends with each other, there’s really no need for an execution room. That was until Ray betrayed everyone. After Ray’s execution, they sealed it like a tomb for a few reasons. Primarily because no one wanted to give him a proper burial. Partly out of fear he was only playing dead, and mostly out of sheer anger with him for ruining so many lives. Ace so clearly remembers hearing Shy’s breakdown about Ray’s confession that he never loved him, despite their many happy years together. Hearing such a close friend break down like that was heartbreaking.

Keeping his morals in mind, Ace had his trusty battle-axe with him. His rough plan was to kill Ray again when the answers he needed were spilled. He had ‘The Artifact’, as he remembers the glowing orb being called in his dream, his dream journal, and a few extra tools to get inside stowed away in the messenger bag slung over his shoulder while his axe was in his left hand propped up against his shoulder for better stability as he picked the lock to the tomb with ease. It was almost second nature despite his lack of experience with such a task.

Once he cleared the door, he pushed it open and started down the narrow steps, uncertainty building with each step as he thought about the endless stressful possibilities and problems that could arise. It had only been a few days, but that’s exactly the issue. It’s been a few days. Ray was likely decomposing down there and given how little anyone knows about this artifact, Ray could just not remember anything or act unpredictably. As Ace approached the door at the bottom of the steps, the terrible smell of death hit him. Unfortunately, he knew that smell well enough to push on. Raising tons of animals with his husband, death happens. Of course it doesn’t make the smell any better, but Ace knew he had to do this regardless. He picked the lock of the second door and pushed it open before he had a chance to second guess himself. This was the room he was in two days ago, watching through the window as Harper snapped and went far too rough with him during questioning. She ended up killing him before they could stop her. No one had the courage to stop her.

As Ace peered through the window to get a look at what he was about to deal with, seeing Ray’s terrible condition reminded him of two days ago. He vividly remembered watching helplessly as Harper beat him, not wanting to face backlash from her for interfering. How Lee looked away and covered her eyes, unable to watch what was happening, only there to support her best friends and ensure everyone else would be okay through this awful time. How Pierce was watching just as helplessly as Ace was, comforting Lee in the process. Given Pierce’s past with Harper, Ace could only imagine he was thinking similarly that day, unable to intervene when such a fury had her heart set on destroying that man with her own hands. Everyone went quiet that day. No one said a single word to each other for a while, the tension far too thick and heavy in the air to get any clear words out. He still felt terrible Casper didn’t even know about the threat, the execution, or anything Ray did until early this morning when Lee came to their door with the news, upon Ace’s request. Ace had to act like he didn’t know either. He never wanted to lie to his husband, but he couldn’t tell Casper he was keeping such a big thing from him.