The Final One

by Greg Wilburn

the flesh wall for a moment, and I found myself in a small space where a soft green light oversaw a horrific scene.

  Bones. Mountains of rotten bones lied in heaps inside the clock's stomach. I slid down the slimy surface of the twitching and gurgling room and gained my footing. Tears slid down my cheeks as all hope faded.

  I waded closer to the pile and inspected through my tears. I saw the shining green light reflecting near the top and climbed the mountain in search of it. I neared the top and found a small necklace shimmering in the horrid green ambience. I grasped it and wiped the thick film from its surface. The green light shined the message perfectly. "I love you Grandma. Happy Birthday. --Malen" is what the message read.

  Whimpered sobs fell out of my mouth as I imagined Grandma's death at the hands of the clock. I prayed that it wasn't painful, that she had met a quick end. I held the necklace tightly and scanned the heap below. I searched through the corpses beneath me in a panic, hoping to find more artifacts of those I knew. I found item after item, each object resurfacing memories long lost. The absences of my life all added up. The clock, Absalon's malevolent being, had devoured all the people I loved. I could feel the agony of their spirits slowly drowning in the yellow bile of the stomach, begging for release.

  I sobbed at the agonizing chorus of souls long discarded. Mom, who went missing two days after my birth, led me to her favorite rainbow scarf. Dad, who disappeared mysteriously after my sixth birthday, let me find his silver pocket watch. Uncle Tom, who was believed to have drowned in Tallaware River, left me his whiskey flask. Cousin Lisa, who had run off after her parents' divorce, let her pink ribbon drown in the bones. Jenny, my oldest cousin who stopped going to school and returning my calls, left behind her diamond necklace. Joseph, one of my other cousins who was thought to have run away from home, kept a gold coin wedged between his carpals. Marissa, my aunt and the sweet florist in town that gave me a loan to pay for university my junior year, let me find her special locket.

  The quick recollection of my life ended with Grandma. I couldn't imagine how sick it must have been for the only person who had been a shelter and a comfort to me had suffered as she was slowly eaten away.

  Then I wondered how long Absalon had waited for me. How long had the demon within the clock sat there, hungering for me to return? How long had it been perched against the back wall of the hallway, eager to fulfill its obsessive desires? Nothing mattered anymore as I sat there with tearful groans expelling from within me. The clock had me, and I would soon be another pile of bones in the graveyard.

  I screamed in agony as the dissolving bile rose to the level of my feet, eating me away with its acids. I tried to stand and edge myself away from the rising and bubbling liquids, but the peak of the mountain slipped and sent me waist deep into them.

  I desperately clawed at the awful green light above me, which seemed to be a laughing and scornful eye that watched my demise. I reached angrily at it, begging for hope, for anything. But in the silent melting of my body that peeled layer upon layer of me from my skeletal frame, I only felt Absalon's sick smile watch over me, ecstatic to have finally found salvation.

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  Thank you for taking the time to read this story. I hope you enjoyed it and will look forward to the others I bring forth in the future.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  To my family, for all of their support and encouragement.