SOMETHING DARK TO LOVE

Sometimes the dead do come back.

     She stood there looking out her back door into the forest behind her house. The forest foliage was ablaze in fiery autumn colors. A cold mist swirled about along the ground, curling up around the tree trunks. A flock of Canadian geese arrowed by overhead in the cold grey autumn sky. She took a deep, tired breath. A month had gone by since her husband had passed away.  Actually he had been killed by something, something dark and sinister while they had been vacationing down in Mexico. She had come home without him in a sense, he had been riding in a coffin in the bowel of the plane. She hated thinking about that. It hurt too much. Now he was resting in the cemetery not far from their house.

     What had killed him? She didn't know. It had torn him apart and eaten parts of his body. She cringed to think of it. Her beloved husband food for something dark and ugly. Some creature.   What that creature was, no one knew. The authorities said it had been a pack of feral dogs roaming the lawless streets of the resort town they had been staying at in Mexico. The dark land of death as far as she was concerned.

     The heavy shadowy clouds scudding across the darkening sky parted here and there and she saw the round silver moon shining above. The coming night made her sigh with despair. The nights were hardest for her to take. That was when she felt the pain of her loss more keenly.

She sat in a lounge chair she had placed on the back porch. Birds called loudly from the forest beyond. Coyotes yapped and howled from somewhere in the distance. She heard a diesel truck as it drove along the highway several miles from the house. It was funny how noises carried when night was descending. She settled back in the chair, planning to sit here for a while and think of her husband.

     After a short time she realized she had been dozing. She sat up, alert and a little fearful but not knowing why. She looked around. It was now dark, the sky being at its very dark blue stage. The clouds were few now and the silver moon shone down with it's powerful light. Something was out there in the darkness. She was certain. Her breath caught and her heart pounded with fear. She slowly rose and made to move toward the back door, feeling it would be best to go back inside.

     After only one step she heard a growl, a deep animalistic growl. She froze, her heart hurting now with its pounding. She felt her hand tremble where it was frozen in the act of reaching for the door. The growl came again. She heard the rustling of leaves as something moved across the yard, coming toward the house. She heard a whimpering sound escape her. With a powerful force of will she finished reaching for the door. The growl was loud as if in warning for her not to do what she was trying to do.

    With a strangled gasp she took hold of the door and opened it. The roar was loud and very menacing in sound. Something was coming toward her from the forest, something big and dark. She cried out and flung the door all the way open and before she could go through the opening into the safety of her home the growling creature had reached the back porch.

     It came up the steps with a loud heavy sound and reached out to her. She screamed and flung herself through the door opening, desperate to escape the nightmare reaching for her. She didn't make it. The creature grabbed her around the waist, turned and carried her down the porch steps.

     She screamed and struggled but there was no way she was going to escape. The creature that held her was man size and covered with hair. That she was certain. That she had been able to see in the silver moonlight. But what was it? She didn't know but her main focus was to escape even though she knew she wasn't going to break out of the creatures hold.

     She stopped struggling as the creature, holding her to his back with his arms tight about her, carried her into the dark forest. Silently and swiftly the creature followed a path through the trees that she was very familiar with. She had a cold feeling she knew where the beast was heading. To the cemetery. A new powerful wave of fear rushed into her system and she tried to break free again even though she knew she couldn't. She couldn't help herself. She fought and she fought hard. She could do nothing less. She cried out and finally gave up.

     The dried autumn leaves rustled loudly as the creature made its way through the forest. Here the mist swirled like dark spooky shadows. She could still hear the yapping coyotes and the loud call of the night birds. She was certain she was going to die.

    The creature carried her out of the forest and into the cemetery where her husband was buried. She was certain she would soon be joining him in death. This creature would kill her. To her horror she realized the creature was heading for her husband's grave. She moaned.

    When they reached her husband's grave he set her upon it. Feeling weak and shaky she turned to face her attacker. She had to know what was going to kill her. She stood and looked up at the tall hairy beast and gasped. A creature that looked like a wolf standing on two legs stared back down at her out of glowing white eyes. She felt a scream rising up in her throat. What was this creature? A wolf standing on two legs like a man.

    “Hello love. Are you glad to see me? I'm alive, yes? We will be together again, like we always dreamed to be. We'll now be together as husband and wife. Just like we planned on spending our life.” The creature said to her.

     It was his voice! Her husband's voice coming from this wolfish creature's mouth. She couldn't help it now, she screamed.

     “Come now, my love. Come join me in eternity.” He pulled her into his arms. She didn't struggle now, she was so overwhelmed with shock. He bit deeply into her throat and tore out the flesh.

     With a gurgling sound she collapsed onto his grave, staring up at him out of horrified eyes. Blood pulsed from the wound in her throat. She knew she was going to die. And die slowly. The wolfish creature that sounded so like her husband sat beside her and took her limp hand into his wolfish paw.

     “I love you, my sweet. Soon we will be together again. I will be here when you wake.” He said.

     She stared at him as she felt darkness closing in around her. She wondered that she didn't feel the pain where he had tore out her throat. She felt her blood pouring out of her but she felt no pain. She heard his voice but couldn't comprehend his words.

     He continued speaking, “Then we can love each other again. You will like your new self. Yes you will. Just as I liked my new self when I woke in my grave.” He looked down at her. “Soon.” he said softly. “Soon.”

     Her eyes fluttered closed. She heard his voice as nothingness and blessed numbness stole her away.

Reviews

[R J Askew]

I like the build up. You do it in a measured way, like a painter dabbing on stroke after stroke until we see exactly what you want us to By the time I got to, 'The coming night made her sigh with despair.' I was there with her. The dozing was a good move as it lengths the story and relaxes us in a strange way. She is relaxing in her chair, at home. Surely nothing bad can happen, can it? This is a great dab, 'the sky being at its very dark blue stage'. Then it starts. '...something big and dark.' This is the stuff of all horror stories. The forest seems to represent our subconscious uknown and there are dangers there for us.

[R J Askew]

The action just takes off! The fight, the horror, the realisation of what her fate is. The final quarter of the story is classic WW genre, expertly done. There is a feeling of a timeless myth about it. The last line is actually quite tender. It is a short, short story, but it is all there. Your writing style is, as always, clear and uncluttered, with your focus on the unfolding saga. The dabs of scene-setting details are winning. Well done.

[Eric Cox]

Awesomeville! Cool and with a nice chill to it. Excellent horror story. Cool pen upon this!

[Black Cat Fever]

eeks!!!! This is truly dark and spooky. Excellent chilling horror write!

[Norma M Sutton]

ewww . . . not the ending I expected . . .

[Star Wolf]

Heartbreaking, tragic yet the words for this couple are true, love does transcend death. Awesome and enjoyable story. Good writing and storytelling skills.

[Wolf's Dark Song]

Wow, didn't see this ending coming. A sad story with an ending that can be taken both ways, either positive or negative. I enjoyed this story.