Meadow's Deep - Part 2: Scouting For Answers (Original Short Story - Fantasy / Suspense)

freeinthought (64)in #story • 7 years ago (edited)

If you missed Part 1 you can read it here before reading Part 2: Part 1: The Calling

Meadow's Deep

Part 2: Scouting For Answers

I ran and ran as fast as I could toward the voice that was calling out to me. I didn’t know what the voice had meant by the words it spoke. It didn’t sound hostile and did not sound like it was in distress. I couldn’t explain what was happening but I needed to know. I was determined to understand.

“AIEEEE!”

I was stunned by a loud piercing scream that stopped me in mid stride. It sounded like it was coming from the same direction as the earlier voice. However, it didn’t sound the same. This time it was a softer and higher pitched voice, unlike the deeper more raspy one from before.

“OW…..ARGH!”

This time I was sure that it was coming from someone in distress. I could not believe it. Are there others here? How many could there be? I thought I was alone. In order to find the answers I was searching for, I had to bury my growing sense of fear and continue on my journey. I dug deep, telling myself that this was an opportunity of a lifetime. It worked and I managed to muster enough courage to convince my brain to take a step forward and keep moving.

“Very good, but why don’t you rest for a moment.”

There it was again, the first voice. The reassuring and calm, deeper sounding voice. It was so clear now. I knew that I was getting close. I dare not look back. The last time I did, the place I was leaving seemed so far away. Although I couldn’t remember exactly why, but I recall feeling a bit sad that I was leaving that place behind. It was hard to remember really. I knew that whatever was back there was pleasant and meant a lot to me. I wasn’t sure why. No matter, I needed to keep moving.

Surveying my surroundings, I noted that I was in the middle of a densely wooded forest. The ground was covered by rich, black soil. There was vegetation everywhere and large patches of thick moss were interspersed among the trees. They looked very inviting, like a wonderful place to sit and rest for a moment. My breathing was becoming shorter making it harder to focus on the journey. I couldn’t remember ever feeling like this before. I decided to sit and rest for a moment.

I approached one of the more inviting beds of moss. As I began to take a seat, I felt like the whole world around me was changing. It was changing very rapidly. I could sense that I was going through a profound period of discovery. My life, my entire experience up until now was fading from memory. I was in some kind of transition. But what was I transitioning to? I had grown so comfortable with my life…in the meadow. I remembered the meadow. It was so hard to concentrate on it though. I looked up at the sky as I laid back on the mossy bed. Inhaling deeply, I sighed. A storm was approaching.

Dark clouds were beginning to gather. They looked menacing. I wondered with anxiety about what was in store. I eased my legs onto the mossy bed. It felt good to rest and catch my breath. My body sunk into the spongy moss. It conformed to my shape while its green bristles tickled my toes. Off in the distance I could see a ravine that cut through the forest floor. There was a low rumbling sound like water flowing below. There must be a river or stream at the bottom of the ravine. When I tried looking beyond the ravine to the other side, I was unable to see anything at all. It was dark; an eerie blackness blanketed everything beyond.

“It’s time again. Are you ready? It may hurt, but you have to try for me. Whenever you’re ready you can start.”

The soothing voice boomed in the air once again. I was feeling better. I noticed that my breath had stared to come easier again. I felt calmer, until…

“AIEEEE!”

Oh no. The other voice. It sounded like it was in so much pain. I quickly rose to my feet and ran toward the direction of the ravine. I wasn’t quite sure why I needed to run to the voice with such urgency. A compelling force came over me I suppose. I turned my head back to take a last fleeting look at the warm and comfortable bed of ferns. It was so inviting just a moment ago. I could have laid there forever. What! What was going on!

Beyond the bed of ferns, the trees and the entire forest looked like they were melting into the ground. The sky was crumbling under its own weight as the tree line sank below it. The colors blended. Blue and green mixed with other shades of the rainbow. Everything pooled and somehow drained away into nothingness. Then, it was gone. All of it! The only thing left was blackness. I saw the same blackness on the opposite side of the ravine. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and for the first time I felt genuinely afraid for my very existence.

“AIEEEE!”

I felt an awkward comfort in hearing that scream now. I could relate to the emotion that the shrieks and painful shouts were eliciting. With each scream, I was being lulled closer and closer to it. I did not understand but nevertheless needed to follow through and find whomever was calling out. It didn’t matter though. With the world closing in around me, I had no choice but the follow my instinct. I turned and continued on to the ravine.

“Good. Keep going. Again.”

“AIEEEE!”

I wasn’t sure if the two voices were conversing with each other or talking to me directly. It did not matter. They both spoke to me on a profound and primal level. Realizing that I had arrived at the ravine’s edge, I stopped abruptly. I was running so fast, mesmerized by the voices; I nearly slipped and fell to my demise as I came to a skidding stop.

“Almost there. Almost there.”

Almost where? I was desperate for answers. There was nothing here, I thought. Across the ravine was sheer blackness. There was nothing! It was void of any sign of life. There wasn’t any movement, no color, no sounds, just blackness. Behind me, the melting and crumbling world was fast approaching. It seemed nearer to me than ever. It was expanding at a rate faster than I could out run. Above me, the sky was now as dark as handfuls of the blackest soil. As I stood at the precipice overlooking the ravine, the only thing I could see was a long drop down into raging waters below. I was trapped.

“Hard now. You can do it.”

“AIEEEE!”

As the voices continued, my head started to hurt. There was an intense pressure inside my skull and all around it. It was unbearable. I started to cough repeatedly until my chest was hurting. What was happening to me? I was gasping for air; with each breath it was becoming more of a struggle. I could inhale but it was as if I was no longer breathing in the same air that I was used to. Was I dying?

“Again. Hard!”

“YEOW! ARGH… AIEEEE!”

My world was ending. That much I was certain of. I could only accept it now. I didn’t have any options left. I couldn’t go back and going forward would launch me to my death at the bottom of the ravine. The pain in my head was intensifying. Thunder began booming out of the black clouds above as forceful winds started to push at my back. The world behind me had entirely melted away and only blackness was left. I was terrified and frozen with fear.

“That’s it. You did it. We’re home free now.”

Standing in place, unable to move in the moments before my assured destruction, the voice and its words resonated in my mind. I wondered what was meant by ‘home free now’ and ‘almost there’. I guessed that I would never find out. I once thought I would exist forever. In these last moments of my life, I realized however that the past and forever meant nothing. The only thing that was of any value; that meant anything at all, was the present. I couldn’t remember my past but I was surely living, feeling and experiencing life in the present; even in my final moments.

An unseen force nudged at my back as I looked over the edge of the ravine. I chose not to mount a resistance to it. I just let it happen; I was determined to experience my final moments free and without fear. As I was falling, the pressure on my head and the pain I was feeling began to rapidly subside. Although my memories had all but faded completely, I remember hearing the distressed voice once more. Only this time there was laughter and happiness. I smiled as I plunged into a river of blinding white light at the bottom of the ravine.