Broken Souls

Chapter One

As I walked, the haunting sound of the rotting ground beneath my heavy brown leather boots crept to my ears, along with the crunch of dead leaves. The wind sprinted past, making my long, golden ponytail wave franticly. The bittersweet cold stung the tears streaming down my face. I plodded on. My heart dragging me down with every step as my uneven breaths fogged the air. The field was a dead nothingness…the ground smothered in soil. Once it was covered in the joyous laughter of children playing, but even that memory had been ripped from my brain now. The sky was dull as always, the dark wolf seemed to have gnawed all the colour that once shrouded this world. As my crystal eyes gazed upwards, I saw the full moon gazing at the pitiful world below. Either way I looked on this hellish Earth, I just saw the same thing for miles and miles…but in a moment, something appeared in front of me. The place I was heading. I glared upon the large tree I was heading towards, and I watched as its skinny arms flailed about in the breeze…and the layers of chipped bark form the old trunk slowly started to peel like paint. The ancient oak was leafless and lifeless…just like the rest of this world…the one that once held laughter and life. Just then, the angry cry of a crow evaded my ears…and I looked up just in time to see it swoop past, its black coat almost shimmering in the glow of the moonlight. I watched it as it perched onto one of the lower empty branches, and its evil eyes stared at me. I felt a shiver race down my spine…those eyes…they seemed to gaze right inside me…and pierce a hole into my very soul. As I moved closer, I realised the crow was not just looking at me…but it had seemed to shift its attention to my other half, who lay dead in my arms…

As silence surrounded me…I looked down at my twin sister. My mind blanked...a sheet of white clouding my: mind, vision and thoughts. I couldn’t see her clearly because of the tears welling up at the brim of my eyes. She was gone. The only person I had to live for…she was dead. I wanted to die with her. That’s how I felt. She had left me truly, and utterly…alone. I stopped before the great tree looming over me, and I looked up, only to see the crow still watching close. Turning my attention back to the mangled body in my arms, I knelt down beside the black empty hole I had already dug in the ground, my light blue jeans getting a little dirty in the dry soil. I bent down, and tenderly kissed my sister’s frozen forehead, before lowering her down into the ground…which I knew one day we would all return to. I wiped my eyes. That was it. She was gone…like so many other things. I looked, shaking, towards the pile of soil I had used to dig the grave. With a trembling pale hand, I started to fill the hole back in…watching as the spots of Earth fell gently onto my sister’s body. In my head, her cries echoed on…bouncing around inside my brain. Memories stirred…and her voice carried on…and on…and on…yet I knew I would never physically hear her voice again…or see her smile…hear her laugh. One moment it was there, and the next it was all gone…washed away by the tide of death. I looked at the Crow once more, and I shook my head, tears streaming down my face once more…and in my strong English accent, I spoke to the Crow… “Why am I sad? We’re all going to die…You’re going to die…I’m going to die…I’m going to die…it’s going to happen. What difference does it make if it’s tomorrow, or…eighty years from now? I’m going to die…there’s no way out…there’s no way out…there’s no way out…”

Wiping my tears, I stood weakly, staring at what once was the soil of nurturance and life, now it was just an empty shell of times gone by. “Your gone…what have I to live for now?” I said to myself. I knew talking to myself wouldn’t help much…and that I would probably go insane if I continued, but myself was the only company I had now…well…that wasn’t entirely true. I had my dog…and as I turned sharply to look behind me, there she was. Her legs were ginger like biscuits, and her fur was black on top, with white underneath. Down her long nose, she had a single white strip. She was unique…she was mine. I love her…my little baby. I watched, smiling weakly as she slowed down beside my sister’s grave. Using her wet nose, she sniffed at the ground, whining sadly. “I know girl…” I said sadly patting her head “I’m going to miss her too. But I promised her I’d carry on living…and I will…and you’ll be right beside me as always. Right Clover?” Her head turned to look at me, her eyes full of sorrow, yet determination. With a small, reassuring bark she started to trot back. I took one last look at the grave, and drew the sign of the cross over my aching body. Then, I turned to walk back to where I had come from, Clover close beside my heel. My brown coat’s sleeves were rolled up, so you could see the white, long undershirt underneath. Although the front of the coat was short, the tailcoat on it was pretty long, reaching down to my knees. Behind me, it fluttered in the gust of wind that tried to force me back, but every step I took was me fighting against this world. I wouldn’t stop. Nothing could stop me. The sight of my sister’s grave was horrible, and burying her had sucked all the innocence that had remained in my soul. This sight…was the stuff nightmare’s…but none was there to see it….except the black Crow, perched on the branch of the old oak tree.

As I entered the wooden house in the middle of nowhere I called ‘home’, everything appeared to be as I had left it. Dead. Stripped of all life. The floorboards were shrouded in a layer of thick dust, as the last cries of my sister could be heard from the cracked walls…of course, the sound was just in my head…but still…they had been there. To the far end of the room, was my coal fire, a small wave of smoke rising up from the fire that had blazed there not too long ago. In front of the fire was the rouge ripped rugged sofa, where my sister and I had spent most of her last days…as I looked over, I could still see the imprints of her lifeless body stained into it. I knew it would never go…the sight would haunt me forever. Suddenly, there was a squeak as a small mouse darted past my foot and out into the wilderness. “…he won’t last long out there alone…” I sighed as I came in reluctantly. Clover instantly made her way in with me, and I knelt down beside the fire. Taking my lighter out my pocket, I quickly flicked it a few times next to the crispy coal. I blew on it a couple of time, my throat crying for me to stop with every breath I took. Soon, flames were dancing around, cracking comfortingly, warming up my tired body. The soft glow of the flames seemed to make my pale skin shine ever so sweetly, and Clover’s black fur shone like silk in a warm light. The dog curled up next to the fire, and I lay on the red rug next to her, my tight hands gripping around her fur as I snuggled up close. She nuzzled my cheek with her wet nose, and licked my cheek, her tongue feeling rough at her touch. I couldn’t bite back the tears any longer…and for the first time in years…I cried myself to sleep…

Sometime later… (I’m not sure quite when, time was irrelevant nowadays), I opened my crystal eyes slowly. Groggily I pushed myself into a sitting position, and wiped my eyes. Everything was as it had been. The fire lingered on, and Clover still lay by my side. I could see her warm body gently rising and falling as she snored silently, every breath reassuring me I would be ok. I tried not to wake her as I stood slowly. I turned my attention towards the stairs to the left corner of the room. Gingerly creeping over, I placed one foot on the first step. My heart skipped a beat as I heard a rather loud squeak of the rotting floorboards underneath me. Sharply, I turned my head to look at Clover…she was still sleeping, thank heavens. I then proceeded quietly up the rest of the stairs, taking caution with every step.

As I got higher, the house got darker. It was my home…yet this was scary. I’d never been alone before. As the darkness engulfed me, I felt as if I were climbing into hell itself. I placed both feet on the floor as I reached the top. There were two rooms either side of me, both doorways covered by old, pink blankets, the bright colour now faded over time. My room was to the left…but my sister’s was to the right. I felt my body jerk as I shivered, and took a deep breath, before reaching out my right hand and slowly pulled the sheet to the side. With melancholy eyes, I stared blankly into the moonlit room. The window at the back was rather large, with two wooden pains criss-crossing over the window. The bed rested under it, in the left hand corner of the room. To the right, Chester draws sat, and all that lay on it was neatly placed. I took a few steps in…so I was in the centre of the room. And I let out another long sigh. Thoughts crashed up against my head, like the great ocean against jiggered rocks. What life have I got here?  What life have I got out there? “I’m trapped here…” I finally thought aloud. It was true. I knew if I stayed I would only be dragged down by ancient memories of my past…never again would I be able to move forward. Maybe I wasn’t the last human alive? Maybe there were more of us out there! At that moment, I had made my decision. I was leaving my home…there was nothing left for me here. I saw my sister’s leather satchel hanging on the bedpost, and I reached out for it, and slung it over my shoulder, so the strap was in a diagonal line across my body. There was nothing much in my room, so I decided to look around in my sister’s room for things to take. Quickly opening her draws I pulled out a few plasters and medical equipment and stuffed them in my bag, along with food and hair grips and whatnot (things I thought would come in handy). Last but not least…I spotted my sister’s torch. It was screaming at me to pick it up. I thought ‘why not?’ It would come in handy…also it was solar powered so I shouldn’t have a problem with it. I had packed batteries though just in case. I reached for the torch and held it tight in my hand…and stared at it for the moment. I remembered how my sister had always used to use it…now it was mine. I shook my head, thinking about the past wasn’t going to help. Keeping the torch tight in my grasp, I left the room…not looking back. I couldn’t look back…it was too painful…

“Clover!” I shouted, smiling at my dog as I reached the bottom of the stairs. She bounded up to me, jumping up me and licking my face, her tongue as rough as usual. “Let’s go on an adventure!” I giggled as I stroked her. She jumped down and barked approvingly at me. When I opened the door, she pounced on ahead. I stood still…staring at her in the doorway. Suddenly, she stopped, and looked back waiting for me, her tongue hanging out. Taking yet another sigh, I smiled weakly, and confidently took a step…and then another…and then another. I didn’t put the fire out. It would die soon anyway…like so many other things. I shoved my torch into the satchel, and I buckled up the bag. Grinning, I walked briskly away from the place I had spent my whole life, and I spoke to myself once more, in a calm, yet confident voice “one story ends…and another begins. Let’s see what else this world has in store.”