Fiction Comp #3 - A Midnight Chase (An Original Story)

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“I want a divorce.”

Ivy whispered blandly through the soft, linen sheets. Her voice bounced off the walls of their Genoan hotel room, the finality of her decision etched in every single word she said. Aaron looked up from the outdated edition of Time magazine that he was reading and carefully studied his wife’s face.

“Am I supposed to laugh now? You’re kidding, right?” He smirked expectantly, waiting for his wife to burst out laughing. Instead, she responded with a heavy sigh.

“Aaron, you know how I took care of this relationship. I wanted it to work out,” tears starts to roll on her rosy cheeks, “but I can’t take it anymore, you and you’re – “. Her sentence was swallowed by her sob, never allowing her to finish what she was saying. Aaron stood up and grabbed a pull-over jacket from the closet.

“I’m going out for a walk. Don’t wait for me.” He strode towards the door, leaving his wife in her own misery. He stopped halfway and turned to her, “And by the way, I love your idea of a vacation. This is just great.”

“Don’t you see it, Aaron? This isn’t about me. It’s just that, I’m tired.”

“Then go to sleep.” Without waiting for his wife’s answer, he shut the door and left.

“Perfect timing, Ivy. Perfect timing,” he mumbled as he stepped into the gravel pathway leading outside.

The young couple’s vacation in Genoa started two days ago. It was Ivy’s plan. She thought that it will be good for the both of them to travel together. So despite Aaron’s persistent protests, they sat in a plane for twelve hours and checked-in in this old hotel. Now Aaron wonders if this decision was a part of her Genoan adventure.

First of all, he hasn’t even heard of the place until two weeks ago when Ivy came home with plane tickets that she bought on sale. His failure to provide substantial reasoning and argument left him with no other choice. So, he eventually packed his things and went with her. After visiting the famous historical site Palazzo Reale and attending a mass at Basilica di Santa Maria di Castello, he felt sore and out of place. History and architecture was never his thing.

He tried to convince Ivy to reschedule their return flights, but the quiet conversation ended up like in a drama series when Ivy started nagging him about their previous arguments at home. He remember saying nasty things to her during their heated exchange, but none that he could consider as a valid reason to end a marriage. 

With too much going on in his head, he didn’t notice the changes in his surroundings. The buildings around him started to transform themselves into their older versions -- some vanished completely and were replaced by dilapidated houses -- wiping away centuries of modernization. It wasn’t until he stumbled into a huge rock that he realized he was completely lost.

“What is this place? Hello? Is anyone here?” The place is dead-silent except for the eerie howls of the wind. He tried to get back on his path, but everything seemed completely different. The scene totally looked vintage, like in the old films.

He starts to panic. He groped his pockets to see if he had his phone with him, no luck.

Aaron wandered aimlessly along the lifeless street, trying to digest the situation. He felt a surge of relief when he saw a group of people walking towards him out of nowhere. They all carried torches with them and wore identical robes. His relief was suddenly replaced by fear upon seeing how their number grow exponentially as they get closer to him – three became ten, ten became fifty, fifty became a hundred and so on.

Approaching him now is a mob.

As if their rustic uniforms weren’t creepy enough, Aaron noticed that they all seemed to wear white masks behind their hoods.

Whatever it is that these guys are up to, it’s definitely not good, Aaron thought, breaking into a run as the mob speeds up towards him.

His desperate escape from his pursuers deemed to be fruitless, and his knees are starting to give up.

Confused. Scared. Thirsty. Tired.

Aaron made a quick turn towards a dark, narrow alley where the chase went on until he bumped into a concrete wall. 

No!, he groaned in frustration.

The sound of the men’s footsteps carried on, urging him to quickly turn to their direction. He forcibly filled his lungs with the musky scent of macabre, gulping down every strand of hope that he had a while ago. As their torches illuminated the alley, Aaron discovered an unnerving fact that he failed to notice earlier.

The robed men are not humans.

This realization caught him unprepared, for as the doomed crowd gathered closer around him, he found himself looking into pairs of empty sockets -- the exact spot where their eyes were supposed to be.

Aaron screamed in horror as the unearthly creatures started pulling out their tongues from the each of the gaping holes on their faces.

I love you Ivy, he thought as he began to accept the inevitable.

“I love you too, Aaron.”

Aaron opens his eyes to find himself in their bed. He’s home. He sighed in relief and looked up to his amused wife who is staring at him.

“Have you been dreaming, honey?” she asked as she sat down beside him.

“Oh, no. Not at all.” He gets up to kiss her.

“Ivy, I’m so sorry for being such a jerk. I know I’ve been hanging out with the boys more often lately, but that will change from now on.” Ivy stared at him inquisitively, obviously surprised.

“Are you alright? Are you sick?” she playfully touched his forehead with the back of her palm, faking a concerned face.

“I’m fine. I just… well, I just don’t want you to feel unimportant. I want to spend more time with you.”

“That’s good to hear. Well, I think that THIS is the perfect chance to start catching-up.” Ivy flashed a wide grin as she handed him two plane tickets and went on rambling about how she got the tickets and how excited she is.

Aaron could only stare at the tickets on his hand, freezing completely as he remembered the dream he had earlier --  the Basilica, the old hotel, the divorce, the robed men with empty eye sockets. Of all places in the world, they’re going to Genoa.

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Hello everyone! This is my entry for the Fiction Comp #3 by @kyrios. I hope you liked it. Thanks for reading!