False Memories (Part 1)

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

DISCLAIMER: the events and the characters mentioned in this story are the product of the author’s imagination

I guess it all began the moment I slammed the door loudly, causing the tiny rivers and streams of stone dust and chalk to run down onto the floor. I quickly scrutinized the tiny crevices and cracks around the doorframe – eternal remnants of my mood swings and our bitter quarrels… I ran down the steps diving into the silver moonlight that stole all the colors of this world except for black and white… 

I could discern the catlike silhouettes in the silver slits of windows. All the voices from different flats were mixed and united in one preaching chorus, and all the graffities and scribbles that casually adorned the staircase during the day now were turned into magical patterns and figures. Like cavemen, we continue on and on to mark our achievements, wishes and feelings, etching them deep into the wall.

The entrance door swung open, welcoming the wet, damp wind to fill the darkness. A few rare cool drops of rain fell on my face, mingling and mixing with tears, calming me, reviving and suddenly filling everything with a sense of hope again. I went out, looking up at the sky and breathing deeply, trying to regain composure. My jacket was unzipped carelessly, my strides were long and bold… It was an attempt to become one with the wind, one with the coming storm, to cast off all formalities, reject the laws of physics, and fly over the earth in elemental fury.

A burning array of yellow windows was outlined brightly against the gray carcasses of the buildings, almost indiscernible in the surrounding darkness… I wish I could say the same about the drunken crowd of people, who were shouting and cursing loudly, while checking out the surroundings with an immense hunger for destruction. So I halted for a moment, praying to become invisible. 

They hadn’t noticed me yet, but it wouldn’t be long until they did. Sadly, the lantern’s bright light probably illuminated me too, making me stand out of the darkness. What was even more unfortunate was that I definitely looked weird – panting, unzipped, dressed in home clothes under the jacket, frightened as hell. In other words, a perfect target for an attack. I cursed my love for drama and irrationality silently. Why couldn’t I simply escape to my room after the quarrel? Why did I run outside? Idiot.

These guys finally noticed me and shouted something threatening. One of them jumped to his feet and slowly but decisively moved towards me. My eye caught the light reflected from the blade in the guy’s hand. So I slowly retreated, shivering from the cold and dread. 

One step, another, until my nerves gave up completely, and I simply turned around and ran, ran, ran towards the trees – gathering all the forces that were left in me. It didn’t matter for me where to run – just anywhere I would be hidden.  

I didn’t know how long I was running, and I didn’t know if my pursuer had even followed me. I found myself in the forest – thick and uncanny, with its gnarled branches and boughs, full of constantly rearranging shadows. It was especially eerie in this moonlight, which distorted the trees, twisting their dark shapes and turning them into living nightmares and demons.

I felt watched and observed, and I was sure someone was chuckling and moving behind my back. At some point, someone reached out to catch me, grasped my arm and cackled dreadfully above my ear. I even felt the fingers touching my shoulder. ‘It’s better not be the guy with a knife,’ I wished and looked back abruptly, only to find nobody. It was only a crooked mossy branch, its dancing shadow, and a frightened bird…

I went forward slowly, trying to find any clear path or road, but there was none. At a certain moment, I realized that I was lost in the middle of nowhere, and there was a small chance of getting out. At least right now, when it was so dark. I felt exhausted – seriously – how long can anyone struggle, fight, be afraid, and hide, especially after an already somewhat tiresome quarrel. 

I would gladly sleep right under that tree, and as quickly as this thought appeared, I saw a clearing right in front of me. There was something dark looming on the ground. Unsure whether this was some large overthrown trunk with protruding roots, or a witches’ hut – who could possibly tell it in this dim moonlight – I advanced closer. 

But alas, it was just an overthrown tree with its boughs. There were four more lying around. In truth, except for those tree trunks that glade seemed to be completely deprived of vegetation. Barren, naked, desolate. But here and there, you could see intricate patterns composed of sharp triangular stones.

I leaned against the nearest tree. I knew it wasn’t the best place to rest, but I was exhausted; the pain in my feet was killing me, and it was long time until sunrise. I would never find the way out of this place in such darkness. I rubbed my temples. Somehow, I felt dizzy and very relaxed despite the cold, damp forest that surrounded me. I felt cozy even though I had no shelter, and rare drops of moist were dripping right on the top of my head. I was so at ease, I wasn’t afraid when I felt a soft touch on my face and shoulders – it was delicate and light like the blow of the wind or a brush of a feather. The melodic, chanting whispers filled the place: ‘I am you, I am you, I am you’… The trees echoed: ‘you are me, you are me, you are’… The murmur filled the whole glade, the whole forest.  ‘We are the one you and me’, ‘we are the one, me and you’…

‘The one, the one, the one!’ – the last words sounded like a muffled thud… My body became heavy, and my thoughts slippery, so I just curled up under the tree with my eyes closed and allowed these whispers and chanting (or was it just the wind playing with the leaves?) to lull me to sleep.

© MarvellousNightmare on Coconut Doesn’t Exist

You can contact me via leomoria93@outlook.com