After the Fall - 1. Story

After The Fall

By Johnathan_Colourfield

Taking shelter from the storm wasn’t exactly what they had planned for their Saturday evening although they knew it was for the best. The sky wasn’t supposed to end up like this.

It was predicted that there would be forty days and forty nights of pure sunshine. Pure lustrous sunshine. So everyone was prepared for a great summer’s evening but it was not going to happen like that. Nature had this irritating ability to play with people’s emotions. Nature always wins. Much like the house. Nature’s house. Her rules must be obeyed.

The winds were gathering from the east and the great frosts were flowing from the south, both combining to create a great storm. A storm at the end of the rainbow. A storm of great complexity. For this was no ordinary storm. Its sole purpose was to bring four people together and to bring them together for an unavoidable event.

Each of them, by natures hand made their own way to the house. It was Grayson’s house so he was bound to be there. Kathryn was cycling toward her home at the end of the lane when the storm began to grow around her and with gale force power lifted her and her bike and threw her across the pavement only to land her in Grayson’s garden. The force of her landing caused certain injuries which were quite intrusive. She had to be treated. Grayson was staring out of the window looking at the gathering storm and he saw Kathryn crash into his garden, her bike being taken away in the wind. He knew there was something that was not quite right about the storm. Something was watching them. For some reason, as he helped Kathryn into the house, he felt she knew exactly who it was but she wasn’t going to reveal it ever.

Tonight was the night she was going to die. And she wanted it. She wanted it so badly.

The third victim of the never ending rain was Charlotte. She was a touch older than the others and she could drive. She was making her way down the street through the iced wind. This was when the wind, as with Kathryn, built itself upon the speed of the car and caused her to skid. Charlotte thought she was going to crash. She tried to hit her brake but it would not budge. The entire car had been frozen in ice and there was nothing she could do about it. She braced herself for the crash but there wasn’t one. She opened her eyes and looked at the ground in front of the car and saw that she was floating.

A crash of thunder released the car from the wind’s grip crashing it into a huge oak which in turn fell into the road right in front of Grayson’s house. Charlotte wasn’t injured, but she was stunned. A boy called Matthew, the fourth in this evening’s events, was passing the car as it crashed. He pulled Charlotte out of the window of the car and got her onto the ground.

Yet again, another event outside the house of the evening’s events.

Grayson, again, walked out and offered Charlotte a place to stay for the evening until the storm passed over. The thunder had grown to incomprehensible noise and electricity cables were breaking and it was as if the world was falling apart.

It was by complete chance that these four teenagers were to come together. Charlotte, the brains. Grayson, the religious. Matthew, the righteous and Kathryn the secretive.

But it was unavoidable for the events of the evening to unfold.

For something was going to happen that evening, something that was inevitable…

Something that not even the gods could stop…

For the fallen are coming, they are coming back and he is not pleased. It is beginning to happen again and it wasn’t the most pleasing of events. It had all happened before.

This time he wasn’t going to lose.

Sheltering from the storm, they all gathered in the living room and got up close to share their body warm. Grayson’s heating had stopped working when the electrical cables had snapped.

Grayson saw Kathryn starting to cry a little. Her wounds had started to hurt again. So he walked out into the kitchen and grabbed some more towels. His mother was a doctor so he knew all these little things about caring for people. He loved taking care of people, he loved looking after others. He had a common compassion for his fellow man. A very certain compassion for his fellow man. He couldn’t explain it, he just wanted to care

Charlotte stood up and walked into the kitchen to give Grayson a hand and to give him a shoulder to lean on. She was his best friend. He was very different and he never spoke to many people apart from Charlotte. He was afraid of saying something silly and scaring Matt away and Kathryn was just always depressed so it was a waste of time talking to her because it would make her sink into an even deeper depressed state. He needed his outlet and she was it. She looked in surprisingly good condition for a girl who had just been in a car crash.

She did look remarkably good. Stunning in fact. The fates must not have it in for her. She must be well liked.

Technically, they chose the perfect place to hide from the storm because Grayson’s house was just on the edge of a beach, near a cliff top with crashing waves against the rocks when it was high tide. There was a pathway around the cliff so that you could rock climb but this was not on the agenda for most people who were to climb the rocks. Their intentions were of a suicidal one. A place where people went when they knew they were going to die. This was the house that was closest to the deaths and as a child Grayson had witnessed many suicides and murders and he loved it. The element of danger. The feeling that not everything was going to plan. The inevitable feeling that they are going to die. All of them.

He was in his own personal heaven.

Charlotte noticed that he was staring out of the window and she knew what he was thinking so she gave him a huge hug and kissed him on the cheek.

“Oh… Charlotte…”

She smiled and rested his head on her shoulder, “Tell me what is up honey?”

“I keep having these dreams…”

“About a hidden purpose…”

“About a hidden pur… how did you know I was going to say that?”

“I… I don’t know…” She clutched at her top in absolute shock. “What else?”

“The dreams are about a fig…”

“About a figure whose light is so dark that the world would die if his true name was known. Oh I see it now, the future is planned, and it is inevitably going to happen. The clash will be made and the future will reveal itself in due course. Middle of the lights. Middle of the lights. Red. Red. Red...” She stared at him wide eyed and backed away slowly

“Charlotte, what the fuck was that?”

“I… I really don’t know. Excuse me… I need to powder my nose.” She ran out of the room and up the stairs.

Grayson had no idea as to what to make of what just happened. He decided to just ignore it and returned with the wet towels and bandages to treat Kathryn.

“You took your time,” Kathryn said.

“Well I’m sorry if Charlotte came in and freaked the bejeebies out of me”.

Matt intervened. “Well let’s just leave it shall we? Kathryn let’s get you sorted out.” Matt smiled at them both.

“Good idea. Let’s get her on the couch. Not much use having her on the floor is it?”

Grayson cracked and picked up her arms.

“You know I can fucking walk. I’m not an invalid,” Kathryn sniped at them and stood up slowly, but fell into Matt’s arms. “Okay. So I’m a bit weak, crashing your bike isn’t something that you do on a daily basis.” She sighed and sat down on the couch with the help of Matt.

“Is Charlotte alright?” Matt asked.

Grayson replied “I think so.” He looked behind him and up the stairs wondering what had happened to make her run off in such a rush and not even give him the reason why. He had never been in this position before. It was new to him. And it scared him. Charlotte, his rock was always there for him. It was his turn to be there for her. He took himself quietly up the stairs, careful to make sure he didn’t step on the boards that creaked so she wouldn’t hear him ascend. He turned toward his own room and knocked on the door.

“Charlotte? You in there?”

“No. Go Away.” He tried to open the door but Charlotte had locked herself in quite securely, probably with a chair against the handle as well as the lock.

“Honey… are you okay?” Grayson asked in concern.

“You don’t even care so why are you asking.”

“I do… I do care. What is wrong? Just unlock the door for me.” he said.

“You really don’t. I know you really don’t. I mean I see the way you look at her.”

“It isn’t like that,” Grayson said.

“That is what every guy says.”

“Just let me in and let’s talk about it. I know it is something much worse than that. It’s not like you to get like this over little things.”

“Okay… stand back and I’ll undo the door,” Charlotte said. She slowly opened the door and embraced me and I gladly returned her hug.

“Oh Grayson… I don’t know what to do.”

“What is up?”

“I’ve been having bad dreams again,” she explained.

“What bad dreams?”

“Oh… dreams about everyone dying… all of us… dreams about us all being lost forever. And then just now…” She burst into tears.

“You don’t have to tell me anymore, if you don’t want to.” Grayson rubbed her shoulder gently and she looked up at him and smiled.

“Thank you… but I want to. I need to.” She buried her head in his chest again and she continued to speak. “Just now… when we were talking. I saw something. I saw… someone. It was something in the distance. Approaching. It was the solution to all my dreams. It is coming here. It is coming here Grayson and it is coming for us!”

“Now Charlotte, I think you have had a bit too much…” Grayson started to say.

“I’m not pissed.”

“No need to swear.”

“But trust me I’m not. I saw it. He is the solution to my bad dreams. He is coming. Believe or not.”

“Okay. I’m going to go get you a tissue so you can wipe your tears. Go sit down on my bed and make yourself comfy and I’ll bring you some tissues, a drink of water and a hot water bottle and you can have a nap. I’ll sleep in the hall.”

He left her in the room and headed down the hall into the bathroom and collected some tissues.

**

The storm was of course going to gather. It was coming for them and there was no way for them to stop it. It was mustering its strength in order to land in the correct location. He had to land outside the house with the group of teenagers in it or else we would all lose sight of what his true focus was. The world of an angel is most interesting. The world of the fallen angel is even more interesting. He landed in the middle of the street and crawled across the stormy road in order to reach the one house he was looking for. In order to start a preordained chain of events…

**

“Matt, I’m scared.” Kathryn leaned against Matt and smiled at him.

“I know. So am I. Why is the weather like it is?” Matt asked.

“They say, in folklore, a huge storm would bring a new world of danger and adventure.” Kathryn giggled and rested her head on his shoulder.

“My word. You know a lot don’t you?”

“I like to research,” she said.

Matt suddenly jerked as a vision flashed into his mind and he could see a figure. A figure hidden in darkness. A figure of complete evil and of a tainted purity. He saw the same figure that Charlotte had seen, a figure that was going to knock on the door and end it all.

Charlotte came down the stairs and passed the phone as it rang, causing her to jump out of her skin as she shrieked.

“Calm down girl. It’s only a phone call. Anyway, I thought you were tired?” Grayson shouted down from upstairs.

“No, no. I’m fine,” she said. “Who is going to answer it?”

Matt shouted immediately, “Hell, I’m not and neither is Grayson. I think he’s busy upstairs.”

Grayson was thinking of what to do about Charlotte’s vision.

Charlotte sighed. “Men.” She picked up the phone and spoke to the person on the other side of the call.

“Yes. Everything is fine. Some very strange things have been happening. Oh yes, oh I see. Okay. Thank you. I will make sure to tell him, okay? Okay. See you later. Bye.”

She placed the phone down and sat down in a chair. The others sat and stared at her in anticipation.

“It was Grayson’s mum checking if everyone was okay,” Charlotte said.

Matt groaned, “Was that it?”

“Yeah. That was it.”

From upstairs, Grayson shouted as he had a stroke of genius and ran down the stairs.

“Okay. Charlotte and Matt, I want you to stand and look at each other in the eyes and say ‘there is no such thing as visions’.”

“How did you know I had a vision?” Matthew asked.

“I… I didn’t…” Grayson was starting to know more than he should. The pair stood and stared into each others eyes as Grayson sat by Kathryn.

Without notice, there was a loud knock on the door. The creature that was going to change their lives forever was on the other side of the door. He was smiling, he looked so innocent but with him, Death always followed. And he loved it.

Everybody in the room ran to the other side of the room in fear.

“Look at us. Behaving like big babies. Come on. Who is going to open the door?” Charlotte announced.

Another shriek from the never ending storm. They all once again huddled up in their group, no one answered Charlotte’s question. The creature knocked again at the door.

“I guess I will have to do it.” Charlotte stood and headed toward the door. This wasn’t what she wanted to do. She opened the door and the boy smiled at her.

A smile of dangerous intent.

**

The following morning, Grayson’s parents returned home from work. But what they found was most disturbing.

The bodies of four naked teenagers, hung from their necks, over the stair railing.

All with the message inscribed upon their skin.

“The ones who disobey the rules will be punished. Death is always the option. Avoid the lights. Avoid the dark. I will return. One day. Prepare to pay an even greater price.”

From beyond the window in the corner of the room, a shadow could be seen moving.

A boy with gingery hair…

Many thanks to Sharon who through her direct style of editing and her perseverance has helped this story come further than I thought it would. I would also like to thank 'Comicality' for the inspiration for the boy with gingery hair and also my previous anthology entry 'A Solitary Kiss' for the location of this story. They will return.

© 2010 Johnathan_Colourfield

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