Otherworld: Station One. - 4. Winter 4

I tried not to think about Mel cowering in her room, or even worse, the living room with her parents, frozen and watching her with unblinking eyes.

 

As I ran, my laptop banged against my hip. “Pretty sure I’ll have a bruise there” I joked, trying to calm my nerves. My watch had stopped at seven-thirty, which meant there were plenty of people on the streets.

 

I had to stop myself from placing my hands on either side of my face to block out their glassy expressions.

 

Mel’s house was at least ten minutes away, but without the blessing of time I could only guess how long I was taking. With every step I felt the familiar leaking of sound recognition, the slap of my feet against the ground gradually melted into a dull white noise.

 

“This is getting real old, real quick” I groaned. The words as they left my mouth lost clarity as they entered the air. And to top it all off, the ringing hadn’t stopped.

 

I made it to her house and she was sitting on the front step shaking all over. As I got closer she glanced up and gave me a weak smile. “Why…” she whispered. I didn’t have an answer for her, she didn’t seem to mind though, like she hadn’t expected an answer.

 

She stood up and came to my side. “Where do we go?” she asked.

 

“I don’t know, it just said for us to go find them.” She nodded. “My hearing is fucking up again.” I growled, “I’m getting sick of it and it’s only happened twice!”

 

“I wonder why it’s happening.” She said.

 

“I was thinking,” I started, ignoring her comments. “do you think we should go back to the football field?”

 

“Why do you always do that!” She shouted shoving me.

 

“Do what?” I asked lifting my hands up in my defense. She growled and flicked a hand through her hair.

 

“You never listen to anything I say!” She pushed past me and started down the street, towards the field I guessed. Ignoring the guilt in my gut, I jogged to catch her.

 

“Mel, I’m.. sorry..” I started, but she wasn’t having any of it.

 

“If you get to the point where you can’t hear anything just tap me twice on the shoulder.” She said robotically. The cold-shoulder, ouch.

 

So we stayed in silence for the trip. My hearing was on the cusp of completely deaf so even if she did say something I wasn’t totally sure that I’d even hear her, which would probably just piss her off.

 

We passed the school and Mel broke the silence. “What the hell..?” she wondered. I followed her eyes and gasped. The school was covered in mist, that wasn’t unusual. What chilled every hair on my body was the decrepit state it was in.

 

From what I could see, the rooms towards the back of the school, which we were walking past, looked like world war three victims. One of the roofs had collapsed onto the woodwork sheds, the sides of which were tainted by black looking rust. The tennis courts had large tear marks in the fence surrounding it.

 

“Wanna check it out more?” I asked. Mel didn’t really answer me her face was a battle between her curiosity and fear, instead of giving in, she pushed the wrought iron gates open and slipped inside, I followed her, struggling in the small gap she had created.

 

We started down the driveway that allowed teachers to park at the back of the school buildings. The road had become severely cracked and in some places there were great depressions, like I would have guessed an elephant walking in sand would make.

 

“I think we should split up” Mel muttered peering into one of the classrooms, where the majority of the windows were broken and the shutters were loose on their hinges.

 

“Are you crazy?” I exclaimed. “No one ever splits up in these kinds of things.” Mel looked at me with her lips twisted in contempt.

 

“Grow up.” Man, she could hold a grudge. “It was your idea after all,” she muttered. “We’ll just have a quick look around, why don’t you go over to the year twelve center, see what you can find.”

 

If she was going to be cold, then I figured I’d be just as bad. “Fine, what am I looking for then?”

 

Mel shrugged. “I don’t know, a person probably.” I scoffed and turned to walk away. “Eli,” she called out. I stopped with my hand on the crumbling fence and glanced back at her. She suddenly didn’t look that confident. “Be safe.”

 

I rolled my eyes and walked away from her. Then I was alone, yet again. I wrapped one hand around my bag strap and hugged it closer to my chest, if only for a little bit of comfort. The path I had to take followed past the library building.

 

The red colour of the bricks were was leaking out onto the ground, it created small puddles of a charcoal black that as I walked past seemed to attract themselves to my feet.

 

It pooled around my shoes and when I took a new step it trailed after me. The library itself seemed to be in an all right state. There was no one around, but I couldn’t make a proper judgment as the windows had darkened, but I figured if I went around to the back I would be able to see inside.

 

From the front of the library I walked down the left side and where there was a set of lockers and the year twelve-study center. The center was a pale yellow with a ramp leading into a small foyer, from the foyer there was a door into a larger room with couches.

 

I walked up to it and peered inside. It was almost completely black, with a small glimmer of light towards the back. I couldn’t see much more so I kept going down towards the lockers which were made out of blue wood that had started to rot. The locks were on the ground and some were even snapped in half.

 

The stench around here was absolutely disgusting and I could taste bile rising at the back of my throat, So far, there was no one around and I was growing more and more unsettled with each second ticking by. With unending silence pressing against my ears I could feel the solitude. I didn’t think humans were meant to be stuck in silence.

 

I stopped for a moment. I could hear something. It sounded like footsteps but there were too many to be just one. So I slid into one of the locker bays and hid myself. The footsteps stopped at where I guessed the ramp to the center began.

 

I strained my failing ears but heard nothing else. I wanted to leave, to go to the football field and figure out what was happening, but I felt frozen in place, like a giant’s hand had gripped me tight and was slowly forcing the air out of my lungs the same way it had gone in.

 

That’s when I heard a snarl. It was guttural and rumbling, it triggered my primal instincts that I had to fight back into place. It made me want to run.

 

The air had started to reek of garbage and gasoline and a new sound of metal clinking and dragging its way across the concrete met my ears.

 

Whatever it was froze for a moment, and I thought I heard it sniff the air, tracking a scent unknown to my senses I prayed it wasn’t mine and when I heard it turn and start moving the other way I let out the breath I hadn’t realize I was holding.

 

I waited, and waited, and when I was sure it was clear I stepped out and moved backwards making sure it didn’t come back. I must have hit a step I hadn’t known was there and I started to fall. I hit a wall that moved with me and I stuck out a hand to steady myself and felt fabric beneath my fingers.

 

I gripped it and felt it pull down as I kept falling. It toppled on top of me and I almost screamed. It was a boy. Frozen in time his head turned as he landed to stare at me. I recognized him, he was in most of my classes but usually sat away from me.

 

His name was Alex; he was built well, and usually wore some type of singlet with a large sports bag over his shoulder and an angry expression that looked like he’d always been receiving bad news.

 

I’d heard he was regional boxing champion, but that was a rumor, I didn’t know if it was real. I instantly relaxed despite having this random boy laying awkwardly across my legs. I took a moment to collect myself.

 

A shrill ring broke the silence. I jumped and Alex slid a little more down my legs. My head darted every way until I shamefully realized it was my mobile, I pulled it out and checked it.

 

“Get out of there!” Someone was watching and I knew not to second-guess whoever it was. I stood up and was about to leave when I looked at Alex, I didn’t know if he would be harmed by whatever was around.

 

“What do I do…?” I whispered. Mel answered for me. She sped around the corner, her eyes wild, hair whipping about and she was running towards me. The ringing in my ears burst into a cacophonous boom as the thing I was afraid of barreled around the library tearing towards us.

 

I barely registered its long feline body and its ten inch barbs along it’s back. I grabbed Alex’s arm, which was surprisingly light, hoisted him over my shoulder and ran.

 

“GO GO GO!” Mel urged. There was something stuck in her arm, and I thought it might have been one of the barbs. She grabbed it with her opposite hand and gritted her teeth as she wrenched it out. There was no blood except from around the wound that closed instantly with a bubbling acid like texture.

 

We rushed past the tennis courts and around the portable classrooms, the iron boundary gates were just ahead. Mel dove through first and I shoved Alex through after her. I turned back and saw the creature, with its eyeless face and unhinging jaw screaming towards us. I pushed myself through the gate and as I turned to run again my left foot was stuck just inside, apparently it decided this was a perfect moment.

 

I looked up nervously, sweat beading on my forehead and I wiped it away with one hand as I grabbed hold of my leg with the other and wrenched it through.

 

I tumbled backwards and Mel slammed the gates shut. The creature slammed into (it but thankfully, it held. The creature snarled at us and I saw the barbs on it’s back shiver and quake. After what felt like an hour but was realistically much shorter it turned and padded back inside.

 

Mel looked down at me, the colour gone from her face. With a gulp she said. “No fucking way am I going back to school..”

 

I had to laugh.

 

***

 

Dragging a body with me down a street under the scrutiny of blank eyes was incredibly disturbing. I sort of felt like the mannequin people were going to attack me for taking one of their own, but I couldn’t just leave him there.

 

“What was he even doing at school on a weekend?” Mel asked, her past anger forgotten, I guess that’s what happens when you share a near death experience.

 

“I dunno..” I murmured thoughtfully.

 

“Hmph, we never really know anything...” Mel sighed and ran a hand through her fringe. “So?”

 

I grimaced. “I guess the field?” I suggested. Mel nodded and we made our way there through the mist-covered streets. There was a tension in the air as we walked, not because of us, there was something else. It was a bit like the mist knew what was going on, that we were going to get answers and it didn’t want us to know a thing.

 

Instead of thickening to a smog, the field was getting clearer. There were trails of the mist caught on the roots of trees like strands of clouds We started moving with more purpose and jumped the small fence around the football field. In the middle of it, wearing a pair of grey jeans and a white tee-shirt was a man.

 

I grabbed hold of Mel when we were a few meters away from him. He looked us over, like he was appraising us and smirked.

 

“So, you’re Eli?” he asked, nodding towards me, his wavy gold hair dropping in front of his eyes.

 

“Yeah…”

 

“And you’re Melanie?” he asked turning to Mel.

 

“Mel.” she corrected with a steel-eyed gleam in her eyes. “It’s always Mel.”

 

He then bowed, and I thought that was incredibly strange, “My apologies.” Then he frowned, “Who is that…?” He started walking towards us and touched a hand to Alex’s forehead.

 

“That’s Alex… he was at the school…” I explained.

 

“I see…” He ran his slender fingers over Alex’s face. I imagined he would have had fingers that were meant to play piano, or something equally delicate. But he wasn’t a delicate man, I knew that just from looking at him. I assumed he was maybe nineteen, or eighteen, not too much older than myself.

 

“Set him down.” He murmured.

 

“Who are you?” I demanded first, stepping back with Mel. she just followed me without words. He glared at me, seemingly angry. I looked down at my shoes and noticed that he was barefoot.

 

Look at him! I chastised myself. I followed my own demands and glared back at him. Instead of staying mad, the man relaxed. “I’m Hamon,” He offered. When I didn’t move he continued. “I’m a friend, trust me..” and I did. We could use a friend.

 

I laid Alex down on the grass in front of him.

 

Hamon knelt down next to him and then looked up. “How’s your hearing?” he asked. I hadn’t even noticed, but the noise was gone. He smiled as if reading my thoughts. “I thought so.”

 

He placed a hand on Alex’s chest and then pressed down, I saw ripples form from where the shirt bunched up from the pressure and thought instantly of hills and dunes.

 

The ringing came back again, like a punch in the gut I doubled over as I heard Alex gasp for air. Just as quickly as it came it was gone. I felt a hand on my shoulder and Mel was whispering something in my ear, I think she was asking me if I was ok but I didn’t answer.

 

Hamon looked up at me and smiled apologetically. “This might hurt again..” he murmured. He went back to Alex and did whatever he did before once more. But I didn’t feel anything. Hamon frowned and tried again.

 

“What the…” He stuffed a hand into his pocket and pulled out a handful of,…

 

“Feathers?” Mel wondered. She was standing over Hamon a hand over her shoulder where the beast had hit her. She was too busy watching Hamon and she didn’t notice what I had, Alex was struggling to breathe.

 

“What’s happening?” I asked falling to all fours next to Hamon and Alex. Hamon didn’t answer, and Alex’s eyes were fluttering like a butterfly with Parkinson’s disease. I wanted to help, he looked like he was in pain and my hands where wringing themselves with nerves.

 

“Fuck…” Hamon swore, “Fuck, fuck, fuck, where is it!” He sifted through the feathers but whatever he was looking for wasn’t in there. Alex started to convulse, his body arching like a current of electricity was surging through him back and forth along his spine.

 

“Hold him down!” Harmon ordered. I sat frozen for a second. “Eli!” I jerked into awareness and pressed down on Alex’s shoulders, “the chest…” Hamon said rolling his eyes.

 

I blushed and pressed forcefully with both hands on his chest. “C’mon, do something!” I exclaimed.

 

“I can’t, I don’t have my swan feather!!” He cried out.

 

Suddenly, that spike in sound returned and I almost blacked out from the blast. I was lucky I wasn’t a dog, the pitch it rang in was the worst I had experienced, it could probably shatter glass.

 

My arms felt like lead and they slid off Alex’s chest. He had stopped heaving and his breathing was steady. I fell sideways and landed on one of Alex’s arms.

 

He groaned and shifted, his eyes flickered open and for a moment, he was still. “Wha...” He sat upright quickly and yanked his arm out from under my torso effectively flipping me over. “Ow!” he raised a hand to his head in pain.

 

“Look at me.” Harmon ordered grabbing hold of Alex’s chin, but Alex shoved Harmon’s hand away.

 

“Who are you?”

 

“I’m Harmon, please, let me check you over, you were unconscious.” Harmon explained. Alex was motionless while Harmon checked him over although he didn’t seem happy about it.

 

“What’s going on!” He demanded as soon as Harmon was done. He looked around and saw where we were and the state the area was in. “I was at school, I don’t remember passing out.”

 

“What do you remember?” Harmon asked.

 

“I remember, fog… only a little bit, I remember thinking how it looked like I could probably touch it, then I was here.”

 

“Nothing in-between?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“Well, I don’t have a lot of time. Eli, where’s your computer?” He asked. I grabbed my bag and pulled it out, handing it over to him. He slid a USB into one of the ports and then passed it back to me.

 

“Look, I think you two figured it out. This isn’t like your average normal town. This mist, it isn’t natural. It came from another world. You all know how God created the earth in seven days?” We nodded, for the most part I knew the basic religious stories.

 

“So did Satan, he wanted his own domain-” I cut him off.

 

“But wasn’t Satan an angel?”

 

“He created it in secret and when God found out he tried to destroy it. Satan stopped him by placing it in another time, like a parallel world. It ran side by side with this one and Satan spent his time there shaping it and trying to find a link to here.

 

He finally figured out that his best shot would arise when God was prepared to start the world again”

 

Mel seemed to have turned white, if I nudged I was sure she would topple like a dreidel. “Start the world again?”

 

Harmon stared at the ground. “Cleanse the world by fire.”

 

“You mean, like, what, Judgment day?” I scoffed. Alex was looking more and more perplexed by the second, but his expression darkened at the mention of Judgment Day

 

“Yes.” Hamon glanced at each of us in turn then continued. “This is the first time he’s tried it and it seems to be working. Eventually Satan will take over everything unless something stops him.”

 

“And how exactly do you stop the devil?” I said.

 

“While this is still the face of your town, you’re technically in Satan’s Otherworld, which means he must be here. I’m planning on finding him, and stopping him.”

 

“And who exactly are you to stop Satan and how do you know all this?” I demanded. “You’ve told us that our home is going to burn because that guy up there!” I yelled pointing upwards. “thinks it’s the right thing to do. And then, if he doesn’t, the guy down there” I jabbed my finger down towards the ground. “will take it over with his things, but through all of this you haven’t told us how you know this and who or what you are!”

 

He regarded me with an ashamed smile and pulled off his tee-shirt. it wasn’t the smooth golden skin, or the relatively good physique that made me feel strange, it was the three feet large wings on his back that shimmered in invisible sunlight blinding me with an intensity I hadn’t known before..

 

Mel gasped. I stepped back rapidly and Alex said nothing and would have been completely stoic ad his eye’s not betrayed him.

 

“It’s because.. I’m an Angel.”