Land of the Dead

Grey mist everywhere. Grey, grim, gloomy. Everywhere he looked, the view seemed the same. The distant horizon only helped reveal how the “sky” was a little lighter than the ground. The shadow figure moved across the scene, that of a boy, resembling an illusion, kind of like a hologram, maybe like a ghost. He took long strides, the light mist swirling around him as he went by. Eventually, he could make out silhouettes in the distance. He quickened his space, for he recognized it as his destination.

            It was a junkyard, surrounding an abandoned, shabby concrete house. Such sites were scattered around in this strangeland. But he had heard, from the wisest of the dead, that one of them contained a special object…one that had a mysterious link to the world of the living. He searched around the debris…broken instruments, shattered and dusty mirrors, worn-out dolls, lifeless trees, cracked pieces of china, moldy electric gadgets…among the descriptions he was given of the object was the square shape. As he continued, he reached an old TV set. To his surprise, it was the only item that seemed to have any sign of life. Its screen was lightened, but blank, a dirty white color, all the while emitting a continuous small sound. He got closer. Sometimes, the screen would flicker, revealing wavy lines…suddenly, human figures materialized for two seconds, disappearing quickly. The boy shot out his hand to turn the knobs about, trying to adjust the image. The TV crackled, sputtering robotic sounds. The picture returned, first weakly, gradually looking sharper. There was a group of friends laughing as they walked about a suburban town on a beautiful day, their schoolbags slung on their shoulders. Many carried skateboards. Palm trees swayed in the breeze as a train passed over their heads on an elevated rail.

            He had waited so long to find this, to have a glimpse of life. It was more beautiful than he’d imagined. Yet he had been deprived from it, even before he could have a small taste.

*if you're going to listen to this song, please ignore the lyric video so you can appreciate the music, which is what really has to do with this post. I suggest you use headphones :).

Afraid

Mara didn't have a choice, but to learn to live with the fact that she saw rotten faces on the windows and mirrors every night of her life. She could not tell her parents, growing up; for one time that she did, she ended up hospitalized in a mental institute thought to suffer schizophrenia. She knew what she saw, and she knew it was not only in her mind.

One of those tormented nights, Mara was combing her hair sitting on her bed. She wouldn't dare to face the mirror, and to prevent the curiosity she forced herself to look down at her feet. Slightly, the teenager felt her hair in the back of her head be dragged to her shoulder. She automatically looked at the mirror and saw an old lady sitting behind her grabbing her by the neck. Mara fought it back, but every time the strangling just got stronger and there was nothing she could do about it. She managed to throw her comb to the door in order to make some sound, but it was useless. If it hadn't been for her big brother opening the door without notice, she would've died that night. He was startled to see her so purple and breathing so hard. Of course he hurried towards her and asked what was wrong, and of course she lied.

Other near death occurrences took place in her room and to the rest of the house; but only she saw them. The most horrifying part was when one day she felt someone following her to school. That day she had multiple horrible encounters; in the classroom, in the bathroom, in the cafeteria, and even in her car when she looked through the rear mirror and saw little twins on the back seat. They were ginger; their faces were in state of decomposition, bloody and there were maggots. One of them smiled and approached to Mara. She screamed and lost control of the weal, which made her have a horrible accident.

She survived the crash. On the bright side, she killed herself when she went home.