Days Gone By

Still. So still in the city tonight. Twelve o’clock; when all that is good slinks away like a beaten dog and black, black shadows are alive with the dead. Twisted poetry in broken English. Flesh and blood and staring faces.

So alone and despairing. Strong as steel but collapsed inside. He laugh’s under a street light, a voodoo smile of one who lived and died a while ago and yet somehow still lives. He makes his way home where he can be shapeless in the dark and paint his face in the colours of joy.

Of course, there is no joy in this world. Not anymore. He stares out an upstairs window, unmoving, yet seeing nothing, lifeless and sick, slumped in despair. Outside, quiet streets lined with nondescript houses passed by, abandoned cars by the dozen on busy roads, fields stripped bare of life, a young family running through the street, struggling to flee the monsters which lurked in the dark.

As the time passed he paid no attention to these sights.

He hears gunshots … a girl crying … sobbing and begging…

He could not help; there was nothing he could do…

He turns his back to the outside world, making his way over to an old arm chair and falling into its embrace. Closing his eyes, he feels himself drifting off to sleep for the first time in a long, long time.

*****
He found himself in an old steam-train carriage, staring out of the window watching as the scenery sped past. He felt dazed, as if everything was some unreal dream. The inside of the carriage was standard, if a little old-fashioned. Cushioned seats stained with food, drink and cigarette-burns. The carriage itself, predominantly wooden and distinctly early-1900s in design, was decorated in brown yet the air smelled distinctly modern, and of people. A voice came over the train's announcement system announcing that the next stop was approaching and any passengers due to depart should prepare to do so. Nobody moved, for there were no passengers to move on the entire train. There was him and him alone. He did not acknowledge this, and had he known he was alone he would not consider it strange either.

The train approached a rectangular field, marked off by barbwire fences with the train tracks cutting through the middle. A beautiful white horse galloped alongside the train. He stared at it longingly, wishing he could be riding on its back. The horse's head turned towards him, its face a perfect picture of feral innocence. The train began to exit the field, and the horse was following. While there was nothing obstructing the path of the train, directly in the horse’s path was the fence.

The horse had not seen it.

But he had.

He stared open-mouthed with fear as the horse continued to gallop towards the fence,hoping that the horse would see the fence and stop.

It didn’t.

The horse ran straight into the wire, the steel barbs cut long red lines of pain into its flesh. As it struggled, more wires bound its neck, muzzle and legs like steel brambles, coiling the doomed creature like a thousand black snakes. Blood flowed freely, the shrieking horse’s legs buckled and it fells right into the wiry mess. It writhed in agony, wrapping itself in yet more of the deadly wire.

As the train passed the horrific sight, he stared back at it until it disappeared over the horizon. Only then did he hang his head in sorrow, tears flowing from his eyes.

****
His eyes snapped open, sweat dripping from his brow, breathing heavily as stared disorientated around the room. He was back in the apartment. Falling back into the chair, he rubbed his temples impatiently. It was the same dream, the same horrific dream that seemed to haunt him every time he closed his eyes. It was as though he could never escape the horrors of the world, even in his dreams.

He glanced over at a locked door on the far side of the room; a scratching noise was coming from behind it. He sighed, taking out his gun and slowly walked towards the door. There’s nothing he can do for her now. She’s gone. Probably has been for most of the night now. He felt his fingers curl around the cold metal of the door handle, switching the safety off before making his way inside.

Notes

So that's the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed it!

Please feel free to Rate/Comment or Subscribe to this- It will get better I promise xxx