The Truth Behind Those Eyes

Chapter Thirteen

On the muddy bank of the lake, in the pouring rain, Nikki remained trapped within the confines of her own mind.

Encased in the hallucination she headed towards a large open area. Squinting to get a better look, she was approaching some sort of town square. The broken remains of four park benches surrounded a huge stone water feature, which in turn was bordered by a patch of dead, brown grass.

As the storm grew in intensity around her, Nikki withdrew into the new world in her subconscious. With each passing second her dream overshadowed reality until she was no longer aware of the soggy earth she had collapsed upon nor the wind that whipped the rain against her face.

She took a long deep breath and instead of the scent of wet soil she could smell the sulphur hanging over the town she was looking at. Eyeing the new vicinity with keen interest, she found herself captivated by the majestic ruins.

Frowning Deeply, she puzzled as to what could have happened here to turn this beautiful place into such a devastating mess. It wasn't like the fall out after a war, it was more like the towns people all just upped and left, decades ago.

Moving forward, she paced around the massive water feature - the statue of a man, decapitated from years of erosion. He stood with his hands clutching his lapels, and his coat tails sweeping down to his knees. His attire was distinctly eighteen hundreds and he looked very impressive. At his feat lay two large dogs, one with its head resting on its paws, the other alert and staring across the square.

Nikki followed the masonry beasts stare and found herself looking through a shop window. The faded sign hanging above read 'Braowers' but gave no indication as to what it once sold. However, something remained, hanging in the window, long since put there and left to fester.

She ambled over to get a better look, curiously peering into the many shop windows along the way. Smashed glass crunched beneath her shoes like gravel.

Nikki's eyes drank in the sights surrounding her. The ghost town was far too ostentatious to have simply been deserted and she wondered if it had once been hit by the plague or disease. Whatever the reason, it was mummified in a perpetual state of decay, it's buildings and landmarks hauntingly silent.

She neared Braowers but her focus was on the rest of the beautiful little square. She saw past the decomposed wreckage what it must have been like it its hay day. She imagined well-dressed ladies and straight-backed gentlemen strolling along arm in arm. She pictured the boutiques lining the streets, full of expensive clothes, perfumes and food and for a brief moment she was lost in her own fantasy.

All too quickly she was snatched back into the rotting, crumbled town as her gaze fell upon the objects in the window. Her hand flew to her mouth and she staggered away from the mauled and putrid carcasses dangling limply. The remaining flesh and muscle clinging to the strange skeletons giving off a sickening smell making her stomach churn uncontrollably.

The two animal corpses hung from meat hooks, their heads snapped back and barely still connected to their spinal cords. Huge gashes ran the length of the bodies, effectively splitting them into almost two halves. The faces, with their gaping mouths and drooping skin were black with large chunks, quite obviously removed by brute force. Their dead eyes, bleached milky white with time, gazed at the top of the window awkwardly.

Nikki gagged and heaved. Who would do such a thing and then leave the bodies to hang in a shop window? She turned her back to the unfortunate pair but couldn't stop herself seeing them. The image burned into her memory.

She stumbled away from her gruesome discovery, over the uneven street, trying desperately to break free of this hallucination. She needed to get away from the square and back to the safety of Josh; the urgency to see his face suddenly overwhelming her.