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Time-Loop Murder
#WritcoStoryPrompt9
The cry was faint but I heard it loud and clear it as I walked past the dark bushes. My steps faltered. It was late and I wasn’t sure if it was a smart thing to stop and inspect the source.
I had to walk dead center through the backside of the FaeDistrict, which had lost it's wit and whimsy many moons ago. 'Nope, nope, nope,' I thought only half resolutely to myself. 'It's late. I'm tired. So not my business.'
I started walking again, determined to make it to my two-bedroom condo apartment before my favorite show began. I barely made it half a block before the cry came again. This time is was even louder and more insistent. More desperate.
"Dammit all to Hades," I cursed quietly to myself. And to the nuisance crying in the bushes.
I turned back, on my heels, and crepted toward the shadow-cast bushes. The cry was hard to place, like that of an infant or injured animal, yet not. The not knowing did nothing to sooth my tired nerves. I worked, pretty unsuccessfully, to convince myself it was the non-existent wind.
The cry came again just as I made it to the brush and reached out towards the leaves. I jumped out, and right back into my skin. The irriation I felt afterward, almost washed away the fear. But not quite.
'Fuck it,' I thought, gathering my wits, and screwing up my courage. I plunged my hand deep into the leaves and twigs, phone flashlight at the ready, and looked down to the the possible horror possibly lurking within.
Instead, I was faced with a much more terrifying nothing. There was nothing. No injured rabbit... no abandoned baby. The warm, weightless relief of not having to remedy either of those situations, quickly dissolved into the hard, grounding fear that I had been tricked.
Before I could react, the burning, stretching, tugging power of a portal yanked me free of my reality and landed me into a new one.
'Younshould've keeping walking, you idiot,' I told myself with feeling.
The slip, as these type of booby-trapped portals had started to be called, dumped me, on my ass, right in the middle of a field filled with golden poppies. I rocketed to my feet, fully aware that the Rogue Fae were most likely camofuflaged somewhere within the poppies.
The RF was the violent, ruthless fae gang that had created the slips to begin with. They used the slips in order to kidnap mortals to do with as they liked. Some made deals and let you go with a steep price. Many just ended up as statement to the mortals that the fae were here to stay.
The Rogues had began as a peaceful demonstration group, fighting side-by-side with the mortals for Fae Rights to live amongst the humans. The group, who once had spearheaded some of the most effective and peaceful demonstrations in history, had dissolved over the centuries into a gang of fae thugs responsible for extortion, fae-ring kidnapping, and time-loop murders that would make their Mistress Hecate blush.
Now, here I stood. It the Golden Poppy Ring. Stupidly, within their clutches and waiting to be sliced up and robbed. The RF's favorite MO was to returned their mortal victims on a popular, public setting, usually mangled beyond recognition.
"Please," I called to the seemingly vacate fields. I chose the diplomatic route of utter surrender, before any limbs could be severed. "Takes anything that you wish! I offer it to you freely."
No answer. Not promising. The moon chased the sun out of the sky, casting a shimmering pale silver glow onto the golden poppies. It was just enough light to illuminate the ominous, reflective yellow eyes, hidden within the flowers. "I see you little fuckers!" I was pretty proud I kept most of the fear out of my voice.
The gold dust shook free of the poppies, as the RFs moved in one fluid, synchronized movement toward me. I looked all around me for a viable escape and saw none. I was trapped just the way they wanted it.
The creatures with the yellow eyes, were shaped like men, but with wide-slooping, bat-like wings, protruding the their backs. They emerged from the thick golden field, about five or six in a cirle; I couldn't quite keep my eyes on all of them as they closed in on me.
"I told you," I said, with much less calm in my tone, "take it all!" I dropped my purse, complete with my cash and credit cards. I shook all the dwarven gold from my pockets.
"That and more we shall take from you," they said in perfect chorus. A chill ran straight through me at the sound of their haunted, melodic voices.
"Why? What do you mean!?"
"Punished are you, for words untrue. Recompensation do they seek, for you payment missing this week."
"Shit," I sworn with every feeling in my soul, as the confusion, caused as a side effect of landing in a fae-ring, lifted and I remembered everything.
I'd been through this all before. The cry in the bushes, the slip, the golden poppies, being completely surrounded by the RF; all of it. I knew what was coming next and I knew why.
I broke, what seemed to be my fifth deal with the the top Boss RF herself. So, it seemed, she had gotten creative with her punishment. Goddess-knew how many times I had tumbled my way to certain death now. 10, 20, 100 times!
The circle of ravenous RF closed in the space around me. There wold be no negotiating. No begging, no pleading, no crying. WHat was done was done. Cross the Boss, long may you pay.
The RF fell upon me, grabbing, ripping, strangling. I could hear a couple of them gathering up the fallen gold as the rest of the group killed me.
The RF assault ended as quickly as it's begun. I was left. Half-naked, blood pouring, and mostly dead. A graceful figure, I'd seen time and time before, glided to me from somewhere in that golden poppies abyss. She glided to me and looked into me. Her experession was that on a triumphant cat, playing with a dead mouse it'd finally caught.
"Please," I choked past the blood in my throat. "Have mercy, let me die."
"Because of your cowardice. Because of your betrayal, you shall live this punishment now and now again. You broke our deal. My son is gone! You shall always pay."
I only got a flash of the brillant silver of the Boss's fae-steel blade before she swung it down on me with all her might, with that same fluidity. There was a brief second of white-hot pain, stars in my eyes, then cold, black, dead nothing.
I came too, sloped and drooling, on the office sofa. The room around me shook as I realized my manager had been rousing me awake for minutes now. "You ok?" The concern in his face made me squirm with embarrassment.
"Fine. I'm fine," I snapped unintentionally, pushing his giant hand off my shoulder. "I just had a pretty insane dream is all. There was a portal, and blood..."
I cringed as the look on my manager's face disintergrated into frightend concern. "Maybe you need to go home and rest. I'll cover the rest of your shift."
With little energy to argue, I gathered my things from my assignd locker and headed in the direction of my condo. I'd just crossed the company line, past the overgrown bushes, dripped in darkness, when I heard it.
The cry was faint but I heard it loud and clear it as I walked past the dark bushes. I got the distinct feeling of deja vu as my steps faltered. 'Nope, nope, nope,' I thought to myself, with a nagging familiarity I couldn't shake. 'It's late and I'm not sure if it's a smart idea to stop and inspect the source.'
© LaKeisha Hart
#fantasy #horror #thriller #writco #writers #writer #shortstory
The cry was faint but I heard it loud and clear it as I walked past the dark bushes. My steps faltered. It was late and I wasn’t sure if it was a smart thing to stop and inspect the source.
I had to walk dead center through the backside of the FaeDistrict, which had lost it's wit and whimsy many moons ago. 'Nope, nope, nope,' I thought only half resolutely to myself. 'It's late. I'm tired. So not my business.'
I started walking again, determined to make it to my two-bedroom condo apartment before my favorite show began. I barely made it half a block before the cry came again. This time is was even louder and more insistent. More desperate.
"Dammit all to Hades," I cursed quietly to myself. And to the nuisance crying in the bushes.
I turned back, on my heels, and crepted toward the shadow-cast bushes. The cry was hard to place, like that of an infant or injured animal, yet not. The not knowing did nothing to sooth my tired nerves. I worked, pretty unsuccessfully, to convince myself it was the non-existent wind.
The cry came again just as I made it to the brush and reached out towards the leaves. I jumped out, and right back into my skin. The irriation I felt afterward, almost washed away the fear. But not quite.
'Fuck it,' I thought, gathering my wits, and screwing up my courage. I plunged my hand deep into the leaves and twigs, phone flashlight at the ready, and looked down to the the possible horror possibly lurking within.
Instead, I was faced with a much more terrifying nothing. There was nothing. No injured rabbit... no abandoned baby. The warm, weightless relief of not having to remedy either of those situations, quickly dissolved into the hard, grounding fear that I had been tricked.
Before I could react, the burning, stretching, tugging power of a portal yanked me free of my reality and landed me into a new one.
'Younshould've keeping walking, you idiot,' I told myself with feeling.
The slip, as these type of booby-trapped portals had started to be called, dumped me, on my ass, right in the middle of a field filled with golden poppies. I rocketed to my feet, fully aware that the Rogue Fae were most likely camofuflaged somewhere within the poppies.
The RF was the violent, ruthless fae gang that had created the slips to begin with. They used the slips in order to kidnap mortals to do with as they liked. Some made deals and let you go with a steep price. Many just ended up as statement to the mortals that the fae were here to stay.
The Rogues had began as a peaceful demonstration group, fighting side-by-side with the mortals for Fae Rights to live amongst the humans. The group, who once had spearheaded some of the most effective and peaceful demonstrations in history, had dissolved over the centuries into a gang of fae thugs responsible for extortion, fae-ring kidnapping, and time-loop murders that would make their Mistress Hecate blush.
Now, here I stood. It the Golden Poppy Ring. Stupidly, within their clutches and waiting to be sliced up and robbed. The RF's favorite MO was to returned their mortal victims on a popular, public setting, usually mangled beyond recognition.
"Please," I called to the seemingly vacate fields. I chose the diplomatic route of utter surrender, before any limbs could be severed. "Takes anything that you wish! I offer it to you freely."
No answer. Not promising. The moon chased the sun out of the sky, casting a shimmering pale silver glow onto the golden poppies. It was just enough light to illuminate the ominous, reflective yellow eyes, hidden within the flowers. "I see you little fuckers!" I was pretty proud I kept most of the fear out of my voice.
The gold dust shook free of the poppies, as the RFs moved in one fluid, synchronized movement toward me. I looked all around me for a viable escape and saw none. I was trapped just the way they wanted it.
The creatures with the yellow eyes, were shaped like men, but with wide-slooping, bat-like wings, protruding the their backs. They emerged from the thick golden field, about five or six in a cirle; I couldn't quite keep my eyes on all of them as they closed in on me.
"I told you," I said, with much less calm in my tone, "take it all!" I dropped my purse, complete with my cash and credit cards. I shook all the dwarven gold from my pockets.
"That and more we shall take from you," they said in perfect chorus. A chill ran straight through me at the sound of their haunted, melodic voices.
"Why? What do you mean!?"
"Punished are you, for words untrue. Recompensation do they seek, for you payment missing this week."
"Shit," I sworn with every feeling in my soul, as the confusion, caused as a side effect of landing in a fae-ring, lifted and I remembered everything.
I'd been through this all before. The cry in the bushes, the slip, the golden poppies, being completely surrounded by the RF; all of it. I knew what was coming next and I knew why.
I broke, what seemed to be my fifth deal with the the top Boss RF herself. So, it seemed, she had gotten creative with her punishment. Goddess-knew how many times I had tumbled my way to certain death now. 10, 20, 100 times!
The circle of ravenous RF closed in the space around me. There wold be no negotiating. No begging, no pleading, no crying. WHat was done was done. Cross the Boss, long may you pay.
The RF fell upon me, grabbing, ripping, strangling. I could hear a couple of them gathering up the fallen gold as the rest of the group killed me.
The RF assault ended as quickly as it's begun. I was left. Half-naked, blood pouring, and mostly dead. A graceful figure, I'd seen time and time before, glided to me from somewhere in that golden poppies abyss. She glided to me and looked into me. Her experession was that on a triumphant cat, playing with a dead mouse it'd finally caught.
"Please," I choked past the blood in my throat. "Have mercy, let me die."
"Because of your cowardice. Because of your betrayal, you shall live this punishment now and now again. You broke our deal. My son is gone! You shall always pay."
I only got a flash of the brillant silver of the Boss's fae-steel blade before she swung it down on me with all her might, with that same fluidity. There was a brief second of white-hot pain, stars in my eyes, then cold, black, dead nothing.
I came too, sloped and drooling, on the office sofa. The room around me shook as I realized my manager had been rousing me awake for minutes now. "You ok?" The concern in his face made me squirm with embarrassment.
"Fine. I'm fine," I snapped unintentionally, pushing his giant hand off my shoulder. "I just had a pretty insane dream is all. There was a portal, and blood..."
I cringed as the look on my manager's face disintergrated into frightend concern. "Maybe you need to go home and rest. I'll cover the rest of your shift."
With little energy to argue, I gathered my things from my assignd locker and headed in the direction of my condo. I'd just crossed the company line, past the overgrown bushes, dripped in darkness, when I heard it.
The cry was faint but I heard it loud and clear it as I walked past the dark bushes. I got the distinct feeling of deja vu as my steps faltered. 'Nope, nope, nope,' I thought to myself, with a nagging familiarity I couldn't shake. 'It's late and I'm not sure if it's a smart idea to stop and inspect the source.'
© LaKeisha Hart
#fantasy #horror #thriller #writco #writers #writer #shortstory
