by Nate Allen
Chapter 18
Today is December 24th, 2014. Today is the end of the world. Ash falls heavily from the sky; the town of Miles is burning; the bodies lay gutted and skinless.
All that remains is one Insane man formerly known as Grant Jonathan Smith weakly crawling through the cemetery where his father is buried. His Crave is all he has. He's hungry. He's dying. There is nothing left. Everyone is dead.
His eyes are squinted, black, and beady. His teeth are rotten and bloodstained. And his face is squeezed tightly by pale, livid skin. It hurts. Everything hurts. He looks up to the sky. The sun is out, and snow is sifting through the clouds. It's ending. His chest tightens, his lungs shrivel, and his heart slows.
Grant looks up to the sky, coughing up blood while screeching in pain. "I'm sorry," it slips out with his final breath?
As if he is created again, Grant wakes up in a field of green. Chelsea is running after a joyful Kali Marie. Bobby is sitting on a bench next to his father. Both are happy. The sky is blue, the sun is bright, and the breeze is warm.
Chelsea turns around, glancing at Grant, but not recognizing him.
"Chelsea!" he yells, waving his arms in the air. "Kali!"
They don't look at him. They don't notice him.
Kali begins to wander over to him. Her eyes are glowing blue, and her face is lively. She puts out her arms, coming toward Grant. Her hair has grown, and she even has a few teeth. She smiles, now running.
Grant gets down on one knee, and puts out his arms, waiting to grab her and never let go. She comes closer and closer until wandering through him.
"Kali!" Chelsea calls. "There you are. Come here!" Chelsea runs over to Kali. Her hair blows across her face. She brushes it away, smiles wide, and grabs hold of Kali as she walks through Grant. "There my little girl is. Let's go over and play with Bobby."
They run over to the bench. Chelsea sits Kali in Bobby's lap. He bounces her up and down on his knee. Kali giggles.
Grant turns, seeing his mother and father lying together on a picnic blanket. Hannah is with them, cuddled in between.
"Dad!" Grant yells desperately. "Mom! Hannah!" No one looks. No one notices. To them he never was. He has been discarded from their memories.
But, suddenly his father gets up from the blanket and walks over to him. "It's beautiful isn't it, Grant?"
"You can see me?" he nearly cried. "Why can't they?"
"Because, son, you never existed to them. Not even I can see you."
"Then why are you talking to me?"
"Think about it."
"I do-don't know."
"You aren't here. This is what you could have had. I told you to choose. You chose wrong."
Suddenly, his eyes open to find that he is chained to a table in a dimly lit room. He looks around, seeing stone walls smeared with blood. Everything is silent. The air is cold. His body immediately begins to shiver.
Many doors open around him and in walk sloth men, holding long knives. They gather around the table, and slowly start cutting his skin.
"Mrk Frong Dore. Cos Legk Nith. Codor Sie Fore." they chant gleefully. One sloth man stabs a sharp, bent claw into his gut, and pulls out his innards. All at once they begin to eat him, screeching with delight while laughing.
Grant closes his eyes, trying to numb the pain.
But, all he sees are clouds.
About the Author
Since starting off on this journey nearly ten years ago at the age of sixteen, Nate Allen has three works of fiction under his belt as well as a collaboration with M.J. Elliott nearing release. He currently lives in South Carolina with his wife of nearly five years and his two year old little girl.
His mission in life is to use the pain from his past to bring hope to as many as will listen. There is much more to come. If you want to join him on this lifelong journey, you can find (and follow) him here.