Into the Void

Chap #3 - Butcher's Shop

"~ You shake your head and walk away ~"

Dear Lord above,

Please help me and my sister... No, wait, let me start again.

Dear Lord above,

Please help me help my sister live through these hard times. Please give her food to eat and a will to live after I die. Please tell my mother and father that we love them, since I know they're in heaven with you, if there is such a thing.

Please... please...

I finish silently, realizing there's nothing left for me to pray for. My only will now is not for my own survival, but my sisters. We walk silently, side by side in the woods, away from our one story house. our footfalls occasionally snap brittle sticks, the startling sound ringing through the otherwise silent forest. My eyes dart around nervously, and each sound, however small, startles the living daylight out of me; I distrust the deep shadows that could potentially hold darker creatures.

"Raina," my sister's unsteady voice pulls me out of my nervous state, reminding me that I had to be strong for her. Casting my eyes into hers, I see the slightest touch of fear. "Are we going to die?" Her voice strikes something in me.

"Not if I can help it," I comfort her. I smooth her golden curls. We reach an unspoken agreement to stay quiet after this, for I'm afraid that something deadly is lurking in the dense trees.

We walk for a long time, but I'm unsure of how long. I only have the sun as a guideline. Finally, I see what I'm looking for. My eyes meet a strange sight. Only he would hoist a teddy bear on a flagpole and use shoelaces as curtain ties.

A glad comes into view, the afternoon light filtering in through the green canopy above. Foliage borders the area, making me feel...enclosed. A squirrel shoots out from behind a tree, making me jump and reach for Ella instinctively. She smiles with an expression of glee; we haven't been outside in the woods for around three years now.

The dwelling that we're currently staring at is a crooked one-room shack with an old loft. It sits here alone, looking a part of these woods. A stream trickles by placidly, glittering in the warm sunlight. Pebbles cover the base of its waters and looming shrubs make it look like about the safest place in this whole clearing. It looks like it would be a fairly protected shelter. A breeze ruffles the trees nearby and beside me, Ella shivers, craning her neck to look up at the dilapidated structure. Hay and straw stick out in great tufts from various cracks in the hayloft. The windows are boarded, but the faintest glimmer of filth-encrusted glass peeks through the splintering wooden planks. Rotting wooden walls and a crumbling roof that is missing the majority of its shingles give the home the curious appearance of being abandoned. I study it wearily, coming to a decision.

"Ella," I begin, "I want you to stay out here, close to the stream though, okay? I'm not sure how safe it is in there." I lied for my sisters sake. Truth is, while I doubt the stability of the shack, that's not the reason I don't want her coming inside with me.

Is he even here? Did a void catch him, steal his light away? Is the house actually abandoned? Because it sure looks empty.

I worry a void has caught him, leaving his body to rot, and the darkness inside of him wanders outside, lurking in the shadows, pulled into the void - only to become one...

Our survival depends on his existence. I hope he's not gone, too, like all else to whom we had been blood-related.

Our grandpa used to live in this one room building, moulding weapons as a lonely blacksmith, and over the years we had grown fairly fond of him. Yes, he was - is! - slightly insane. But does that make him any less brilliant? Of course not!