It has a hideous face sadistic smile and is clearly a demon. There is a red hot piece of iron in its hand and the shaft is pressed against David’s thigh. His skin sizzles and pops from the heat and the sweetly sick smell of human flesh fills my mind. David recoils from the iron and his face twists in agony. His eyes are pleading for mercy and he is helpless to escape the torment.I call out his name but he can’t hear my voice. To my surprise the demon turns as though it can hear my voice. A faint smile forms on its lips and it grows into a wide grin. It turns around fully and whispers to me. “I know you watch from the other side Ivy. We will meet soon and you will know the torture without death”. With that, the entity released my mind and I am back.
Had it not been for Jen holding onto me, I would have collapsed on the floor, as the whole room whirls around me. My eyes are burning and I am stifling the screams that are forming in my throat David.
I catch a glimpse of Lisa knocking her chair over as she gets up. She is at my side in an instant and I lose my train of thought as she peppers me with questions. What about David? What did you see”?
I don’t want to hear Lisa and push the sound of her droning out of my mind. After a few minutes I can’t take her mouth anymore.“Would you just shut up for a minute? I said. Her face fell and she looked shocked. She reminded me of an angry pit bull and I half expected her to show her teeth.
“Give her a few minutes Lisa. Can’t you see she is upset”? Said Jen Jen stood between Lisa and me and she gave Lisa a go to the devil look. Jen always lightened and brightened the atmosphere with her no nonsense approach to problems. Jen has a temper and she has no patience for Lisa. She only toleratesher for Bill’s sake.
I have never encountered anything as horrible as what I had just seen and felt ill prepared to deal with it. Its hell to know small parts about some event but not knowing for certain what’s really coming. Since I was 4 years old I haveseen things that don’t belong in the natural world. It’s been cool at times but I have to take the bad with the good. The hardest part is coming to terms that my supernatural gifts have only thus far served to make my life more difficult. I hold onto the hope that someday there will be a benefit.
I don’t know exa ctly how long it takes me to collect my thoughts but the next thing I know we are walking over to the table. To my surprise, Lisa brings me a cup of coffee. She sits just across the table from me without saying a word. After a few sips of coffee I recall what happened. It’s difficult to get the story out in a coherent flow with Lisa ready to pounce at any moment. Jen gave me an apologetic look and let out a sigh. It takes most of my concentration to ignore Lisa’s gaze.
“I was taken into the realm of the dead. It’s impossible to say where I started but there was a murky mist that I passed through. Once the mist cleared, I was in a swampy area, and water was all around me. It opened up and there were clusters of trees off to one side that turned into an expansive forest. At the edge of the forest was a cave that led to an underground cavern. Inside the cavern was a lake of fire and behind the lake was a camp of sorts.
I stop for a moment and my voice becomes very quiet. “I saw David there. I think he is alive”. Lisa was instantly beside me and leaned down close to my face. She put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed hard. Ididn’t flinch and met Lisa’s searching eyes. There was nothing I needed to say as my eyes held the horror of what I had seen.
The hot tears Lisa been holding back rolled down her face and there was a terrible pain in the pit of her stomach. Lisa’s legs betrayed her and she collapsed to the floor. She felt as though she couldn’t catch her breath and the sobs came hard. Lisa hated herself for what she had done to David. When he needed her most she walked away and left him to sacrifice his life for her own. She realized after he was gone that she had thrown away the most precious thing in her life.
Lisa put her hands over her ears as her thoughts cut into her mind like arrows. Images of David flashed across her mind. She remembered the night he took her body and pressed her hard against the wall. She had stiffened and protested but he held her tightly as though to never let go. The weight of his body crushed her and she felt suddenly awakened. Passion was ignited and it was as though they had become one. He possessed her, almost savagely and tore down all the barriers in her mind. She was vulnerable to him. He had seen deep into her being and accepted her for what she was. To be loved when there is nothing in it for the other person but the hope, that maybe someday, they could be loved.
Nothing terrified Lisa more than losing the only one who made her life worth living. He was the first thought in her head when she got up in the morning and the last thing she thought of when she went to bed at night.
Lisa shivered as she pushed her body up from the floor. Her eyes had a glazed look in them and she walked to her room trying to hold back the sobs that ripped through her body.
Now it was time for Lisa to take some chances. It meant closing her eyes, leaping into the void and facing the horror on the other side. Nightmares had plagued her and she had heard screams of dying people in immense pain. Their eyes were pleading for someone to help them as flesh fell from their bones. Smoke surged around the charred remains of bodies. The hungry flames glowed red hot in the darkness of the night. In the shadow of the ghoulish light she saw David. He was looking at her with brooding eyes and she could sense what he was feeling.
Her eyes burned but she refused to cry. Crying wouldn’t change the past and it wouldn’t do David any good. Her life before this moment was difficult to remember. Her thoughts were like colorless dreamsShe had become emotionally blind after she witnessed something horrific in her parent’s home. The porcelain doll would be crushed and the ghost of the girl that lived inside would rise from the abyss. In forfeiting her life for David she would find her way to the light.
Lisa would leave the safety of the commune, when the others slept, and make her way into the realm of the dead. Since she was 12 years old life had been a dark, lonely place and she had just been going through the motions. Perhaps today would be the hapless day when a plan for her life would emerge.
Chapter 2
Tonight I dream that I am in the otherworld and pushing forward through a heavy fog. I can hear someone calling my name “Ivy, Ivy” and try and answer but no words will come. I can’t be sure, but it sounds like my baby brother Jeff, who was murdered years ago. Surely he cannot be in this forsaken place where the dead reside. I began to run toward his voice, but the faster I run the more muted the calls. There are suddenly piercing screams and then the fog lifts.
I wake to sweaty palms and a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I am horrified that Jeff may be in the realm of the evil dead and it tears at my heart. His face flashes before my eyes. He is looking at me with his big green eyes, his blond hair almost covering his eyes as he brushes it away. My breath feels as though it has been sucked out of me as I visualize his little face. Why did he have to die so young? It has always haunted me. If I had agreed to help dad repair the roof that day he may still be alive. I would have gladly died in his place. I have wished for years that it had been me that dad knocked down the stairs that day instead of Jeff.
After his funeral I began to have crazy experiences that I shared only once. I got the whipping of my life for“telling lies” to dad. When the ghosts of the old ladies came to visit me I said nothing about them. They became friends, as weird as that sounds, and helped me keep my sanity. I thought of suicide often in the early days after my little brother’s murder.
We were a crazy family and after mother tried to kill dad with a frying pan he moved away. It was a good thing he left, because I would have killed him myself, had he not gone. Mother began to drink habitually after his departure and began to take her anger out on me. I would be on the floor as she beat me with whatever she could find. It never lasted long because she usually passed out from her drunken rage.
One fateful day my old bus rumbled to a stop in front of a bright yellow house. It had belonged to an ol
der couple who raised a few pigs and cows. Today, there was a girl standing at the stop. She had dark hair that fell halfway down her back and the prettiest eyes. The old doors of the bus hissed as they were flung open to let the new girl inside. It was a shock to me when she stopped at my seat and smiled. “Is this seat taken”? I was too shocked to say anything so simply shook my head no.
The pretty girl with the new school clothes sat next to me and the other kids’ jaws drop in shock. Their usual jokes about my clothes and shabby appearance ceased. I sat up a bit straighter in my seat, squared my shoulders and smiled at the snotty girl a few seats up from me. Then the impossible happened. The new girl actually turned to talk to me.
“My name is Je n. We just moved here and I think we are neighbors”. She held out her hand politely and waited for me to shake it. I looked at her like a stupid thing- unable to say anything and shook her hand. “Did you drop this”? She pulled something out of her pocket. She took my hand and placed a necklace in my palm. I must have looked shocked because she put her hand on my shoulder. “Are you ok”?
I always hated people who could not hold their emotions and was horrified when a tear slipped down my face. Jen took my hand in hers and we rode silently the rest of the way to school.
Thinking about Jeff brought back so many painful memories and I usually kept them locked away. Hearing his voice again had triggered a flood of memories that I had buried in the darkest corners of my mind. I can’t allow myself to feel those things again. They are done and gone and buried in the past. My only tangible memory is the locket Jen gave me when I was 10.
I wear it around my neck for luck and perhaps it has brought me some after all. Why else would the otherworld want anything to do with me? God knows I have lived a wicked life and don’t deserve any better than a push off a cliff. If it wasn’t for Jen I would have jumped long ago. As if on cue there is a knock on my door from Jen.“Ivy-why don’t you join us”?
The door pushes open and Jen walks over and sits on the edge of my bed. She had been spending all her time with Bill since we have confined ourselves in the caves. Can’t say that I blame her after all she had been through. I was happy for her, of course, but I missed my friend. Jen knows me better than anyone else in the world and knows instantly when something is wrong.
She is not pressing me for answers but simply gives me a reassuring squeeze on my arm. We always have had an unspoken understanding that does not require words. “Let’s get something to eat”. She says as she rises from the bed.
“I’ll be right there”. It’s one of those days when I would have preferred to be alone but that wasn’t an option living in a group of people.
“Ok Ivy. If you don’t come out soon I am coming back in after you” she says laughing. I walk into the room as cool as you please. They would never guess the tears I had cried last. Everyone sees who I appear to be but only one knows the real me. In my mind, true strength is holding it all together when you feel like you are falling apart. I don’t know why I do the things I do but I want to do more than just exist. It’s all about taking risks and not caring what people think.
Momentarily all eyes are on me and then everyone returns to their conversations as I sit across from the fireplace. Orange flames snake from the burning log and I watch the smoke curl up the chimney. The popping sound from the log is soothing and takes my mind off of last night. The tranquil moment lasts a few minutes. The silence from the group screams that something is not right.
“Would you like a cup of coffee Ivy? Said Bill
He slid a steaming cup down the long table toward me. Splashes of dark liquid spilled as the cup comes to a stop in front of me. Without a word the powdered cream is passed down as well. All eyes are on me as I spoon some cream and sugar into my cup.
“What’s going on”? I don’ t feel like playing 20 questions today and want it straight. They sat there without saying a word and looked around at each other.
“Come on, Bill. Tell me what’s going on”. I said, meeting his eyes. Bill looked at Jen and then slid a folded piece of paper toward me.
“Lisa is gone. She must have left early in the morning” said Bill I opened the note and read Lisa’s scrawled hand writing. There was really nothing to say. Lisa made a choice and that was that. This really doesn’t concern me and besides Lisa brings on her own problems. I really don’t want to bail Lisa out of her problems when her own selfishness got her to where she is now. I closed the note and pushed it back to Bill and resumed drinking my coffee.
“That’s it Ivy? You don’t care what happens to her at all”? said Jen “Why should I? She doesn’t care about any one but herself and why should we risk ourselves for her stupidity”?
Jen said nothing for a few minutes and I continued to drink my coffee. “You know Ivy, I can’t believe you would say that after all the trouble you have caused over the years. How many times did I pick you up from Saltys bar, hitchhiking, bad dates and your own stupid mistakes?”
“Yea- well I never treated people like dirt either. Lisa is a spoiled bratand doesn’t care a bout anyone but herself”.
“Then tell me Ivy - why is she going to look for David? Why would anyone go into someplace like that to look for someone”?
“There must be something in it for her”. I saidrefusing to meet Jen’s eyes. With that, Jen stood up and p ushed her chair in. “I can’t believe you Ivy. Well- I will go and look for her myself. It’s apparent that no one else wants to help”.
“Don’t be ridiculous Jen. That place is not safe for anyone to go into. Why would you risk yourself for Lisa after shetried to kill Bill”? I tried to meet Jen’s eyes but she refused to look at me.
Jen hesitated for a minute. “I don’t know why- I just want tothat’s all”.
“Just because-isn’t a good reason Jen. She is not worth the trouble and she gets what she deserves”. “What about David? He needs help too. You said yourself he’s in a bad way on the other side”. Jen’s facial expression relayed that she would not back down. Once Jen had her mind set on something or someone there was no changing her mind.
“Ivy is right Jen. It isn’t safe there and I won’t let you risk yourself to save mycousin. I’ll go and find her and bring her back”.
Jen’s eyes flew open wide and she turned on Bill. Her face flushed red and fire shown in her eyes. I had only seen her like this once before. When John came after me with a knife she flung a large flashlight at his head and almost knocked him out. When he was struggling to his feet, she sprung forward, and held a knife to his throat. She hissed at him that she would slit his throat if he didn’t back off. When it came to things that mattered to her she could be dangerous.
“Bill and Iwill go”. Jen stated this in a matter of fact tone as though there was no room for negotiation. “It should be me that goes because the Shining Ones asked me to lead the group”. I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth and clamped my hand over it.
“It’s settled then. Let’s get our things together and head out now”. Said Jen Bill stepped in front of her and wrapped his arms around her. “You need to stay here. We need someone to stay behind in case we are gone too long. There has to be someone here to pull us back through if we are longer than 3 days”.
Jen tried to protest and was preparing for a fight. She was not going to take no for an answer.
“Jen. I’ll go alone. I can travel faster alone and will not be detected as easily as you and Bill”. I said. Tears formed at the corner of Jen’s eyes. She came up and hugged me.“Ivy-just forget it. It’s not right for you to risk your life for Lisa and David. If it’s not me going then no one should go. We’ll just have to hope they find their way”.
“ No- There’s is a reason I had that dream about Jeff. I think it’s what I am supposed to do. If there is a chance that Jeff needs my help then I need to go. I must do this alone. If I am not back in a week come in after me”.
It was settled. I would go into the realm of the dead to find Lisa and D
avid. I needed to find out the truth about Jeff, and once and for all- put my mind at rest.
Within the hour my backpack is ready. We waste no time walking to the wall where the cave pearls hang and flowing water runs down the iridescent wall. It is a beautiful sight and no one would suspect that it was the entry into the realm of the dead. We have all wondered what the other side was like and now I would find out.
Without a backward glance I step into the wall and to my surprise walk right through to the other side. It is eerily silent and black as night. I stumble forward and began to feel my way along the walls as I walk. I push thoughts of spiders out of my mind as I feel my way forward. I walk for what seems like hours through endless tunnels. The earthen walls smell of dampness and rotting leaves. My fingers have become sore, from brushing the cold walls, as I inch forward in the pitch-black darkness.
There seems to be no measuring time on this side. The growling in my gut is so loud I fear that I will be heard. I stop and take my backpack off and feel around inside for the bread I had packed. After eating half a piece I put the rest hastily back inside and began moving forward again. The endless darkness and smell of rotting leaves has brought on a pulsating headache. I wish I had remembered to pack some Tylenoland what I wouldn’t give right now for an ice cold Coke.
The endless silence is broken momentarily by the sound of a rat. I pause, holding onto the wall for support, the pounding in my head has made me dizzy. My mind is playing tricks on me and I think I can hear footsteps. My heart is pounding so hard that I can’t focus on where the footsteps are coming from. I tell myself it is only my imagination working overtime and force myself to continue forward in the blackness.
Just as I had convinced myself that there is nothing there I hear a pitiful cry that makes the hairs on the back ofmy neck stand on end. I’m tempted to turn around and go back. If it hadn’t been for footsteps, that now were coming faster and louder behind me, I would have turned around.
Underworld (Dark Passage) Page 2