From Dark Corners

Short psychological horror story Written by Michael Maimed

Grief has poisoned my mind. It has broken my world. My mind was once a verdant landscape. So full of life and love. A world of bright vivid color and full of laughter. All that went away after my brother died. At first, the change was slow but as I slid into depression the landscape of my mind rapidly changed. There is no longer laughter in my world. No more were the smiling faces of friends to greet me. There were no soft grassy meadows to find comfort in. There are no more bright and vibrant colors to please me. My mind’s landscape has become barren and rocky. A sand-blasted wasteland devoid of life and comfort. The grey sky above me rumbles with the promise of a storm that never comes—lightning flashes and fierce winds buffet me. Their origin is a distant horizon where a roiling storm swallows the grey sky.

I huddle in the middle of this desolate wasteland weeping and alone, shielding my eyes from the sand being whipped up by the gusting wind. That’s when I heard it. A voice carried to me from the dark storm on the horizon. I ignored the voice at first, so wholly consumed by my misery I was. It wasn’t until the voice took on a familiar tone that I paid it any heed. The voice carried to me on the wind was the voice of my dear deceased brother.

“Why do you suffer alone brother?” the voice, little more than a whisper, asked.

“Nobody cares, and I don’t either. They all left me. They gave up on me. Now… Now I’m all alone with my misery as I deserve.” I wept in answer.

“They went away. Or you pushed them away?” The voice of my brother taunted me.

“No!” I stood and screamed, “That’s not true!” but my denial was weak and hollow.

“Come now,” my brother’s voice cooed. “We both know that’s not true now. Don’t we?”

I cried out as if the truth were painful. I began sobbing. “I pushed them away okay. There! Is that what you want to hear? Yes! I pushed them away.” The words were bitter on my tongue.

“But why did you push them away? Didn’t they care?” The voice of my brother prodded. “Why would you do that?”

“Because they couldn’t help me,” I screamed toward the dark storm. “For all their condolences and their ‘sorry for your loss” bullshit, they couldn’t ease the pain. So, I just stopped. I turned my back on them.” I stood and sobbed in the middle of that desolate landscape, no longer caring about the sand and wind that stung my eyes.

“I understand brother.” The voice of my brother consoled me. “I know how to ease the pain.”

The words gave pause to my hitching sobs. “How could you? You’re gone. You died.” The words felt like a slug to my gut.

“You’re right, brother. I am dead. But there is someone here with me that can ease your pain.” The voice said.

“What? Who? Is there someone with you?” I took a few steps in the direction of the dark horizon.

“Oh yes. I know all about your pain you poor soul.” This new voice was feminine and sweet, calming. “Come to me and I will ease your pain. I know the torment you must be feeling, and I know how to make that torment stop. I can bring the colors back to your world again. Do you want me to do this for you? You have my promise that I will ease your pain. All you have to do is come to me.” The new voice finished soothingly.

Before I knew it, my feet were already moving in the direction of the voice. Its promise was too much for me to resist. “You can help me? You can make the pain go away?” I asked in desperation. I shuffle toward the darkness that swallowed the horizon.

“I did promise didn’t I?” the voice said seductively. “I never break a promise that I make. Come to me. Come and let me ease your pain. Let me make it all better.”

“Okay. I’ll come.” I called toward the dark storm. “I’ll come to you. Then you will take the pain away.”

“Of course I will.” The voice answered sweetly.

So, I started forward as fast as my feet could carry me against the battering wind. Time lost all meaning as I trekked across the blasted landscape. My shoes had long ago worn away and my clothes clung to me in tatters. The wind died down eventually. The sandy ground gave way to a rocky jagged landscape. I was forced to scale mountainous outcroppings of jagged stone. The sharp rocks bit and tore into my hands and feet. Rocky snags bit into my flesh when my bloody hands or feet lost their purchase. All the while the seductive voice uttered encouragement to me, urging me onward. I just kept climbing and moving up and over each jagged obstacle. Though the pain was horrible to endure, I kept on, not caring about my ruined hands and feet. As I crested what must have been the hundredth jagged peak I saw a vast dark ocean stretching out as far as my wind burnt eyes could see.

“I am here,” I yelled to the dark ocean below me. “I made it.”

The voice said. “ Good. I knew you could make it even when you doubted yourself. But I never doubted you. Isn’t that so?” The voice asked.

“No. You never doubted.” I said breathless and exhausted.

“Just a little bit further and then you can rest.” The voice promised.

I made my way down the jagged slope. The way was treacherous and more than once I almost plummeted to my death after losing a handhold. But each time I found a little extra strength and forced my hands to grab hold and save me from a falling death. Behind me, bloody handprints marked my passage. My raw and bloody feet felt the first relief in what seemed like an eternity when I stepped onto that sandy shore. I collapsed from exhaustion, my breath coming in ragged bouts. I lay there on the shore until I was lulled to sleep by my exhaustion and the lapping waves.

The storm must have grown more violent while I slept. A bright flash followed by a loud crack and rumble of thunder boomed and jolted me from my exhausted slumber. The sky was dark, and the air felt charged here. I pushed myself up painfully with my ruined hands and managed to sit up. My eyes darted about. The dark waters tossed about more violently now. I felt wriggling things in the sand under my body. I got to my feet slowly and noticed that the sand all around me looked as if it was writhing and wriggling. The things in the sand began biting painfully into my bloody feet causing me to cry out. I found refuge on top of a rock jutting out from the sand. How I must have looked like a pitiful wretch at that moment.

 Everything felt wrong here. I tried to remember what had lured me to this dark place. My mind was fuzzy, and I couldn’t think straight. Why did I leave that grey land of sand and wind? It made no sense. Why would I leave the grey light for this place of darkness? This was a hellish landscape worse by far than the landscape I had left behind. I thought I remembered my brother or a voice, but my memory was clouded. I began growing confused in my state of terror.

“Oh good. You’re awake now.” It was a voice booming from the mist that now hovered over the violently churning water.

Was this the voice from before? “Who are you.” Then in a moment of clarity, I remembered something from before. “Where is my brother?” I yelled weakly looking about for him. Then I saw it. A dark, towering silhouette far out in the water obscured by the mist. Whatever the creature was, it was colossal. My body was overcome with fear, and I began to tremble so violently that I nearly lost my seat atop my rocky sanctuary.

“Oh, your brother?” The creature asked in a voice like grating steel girders. Then it laughed in a series of concussive booms that vibrated my bones.

“Where is he?” I asked in desperation. My ears bled freely from destroyed eardrums caused by the creature’s booming laughter. I knew in that terrible moment that my brother was never here. My brother was dead. He had died weeks ago I thought. Or was it a month ago or perhaps a year ago? I couldn’t be sure in my confused and terrified state. I only knew that my brother was gone from this world. He had never spoken to me because the dead cannot speak.

“I’m here brother,” the creature mocked, perfectly mimicking my brother’s voice.

Tears welled in my eyes. “You bastard!” In my shattered state, all I could do was sob helplessly.

“You pitiful wretched thing. How easy it was to lure you here. How pathetic you must feel.” Then it laughed again. The concussive booming blasted the last of my strength from me.

“Nooo.” I cried out in despair. “No, no, no.” I fell from my perch upon the rock and sprawled upon the writhing and biting sand. I no longer cared about the painful biting insects that writhed under its surface. I lay there and I wept, hard-wracking sobs. I felt helpless.

“Poor little thing.” The voice said in a grating semblance of a purr.

I thought to run, but my torn feet wouldn’t manage more than a few steps I knew. I cried out in pain and stared up at the Jagged mountain I had traversed to reach this place and knew it was impossible to return the same way. I hung my head in defeat and wept openly. There was no escape.

“There, there.” The voice said in feigned soothing tones. “ I can still ease your pain just like I promised.”

I said nothing, only wept, tears and snot running freely from my eyes and nose. Behind me, I heard the splash of water as a dark tentacle rose from the water. The tentacle slowly reached out, dripping dark water along its length. I didn’t resist or fight as it wound around me and tightened. It lifted me and pulled me toward the dark figure towering in the mist. A chill ran through me as my toes dipped into the dark icy water. I wept and knew despair as it pulled me completely into the dark depths.

“Now, you are mine.” The voice of despair was the last thing I heard before I was lost to the darkness.