WebNovels

Acquainted with the Dead

PeachRavenBright
7
chs / week
The average realized release rate over the past 30 days is 7 chs / week.
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Chapter 1 - Chapter 1 : The Crevice

After walking aimlessly for a long time, Alastair noticed a faint light blinking at the distance. He soon started rushing towards the source. As He got within a few feet of the light, he sensed a presence moving on his side, towards the same light. Without a second thought, he hid himself and observed. All he could make out was a shadow of a being slithering towards the light. As soon as the shadow got closer to the light, he saw it with the light illuminating the scene brighter.

A being having the light source on its head, opening its jaws wide open with trays of teeth, munching on the worm that had come near it. It was a similar to an angler fish, except that it was even more grotesque and rivaling the size of a lighthouse. The worm that was eaten was nothing any less weird, for silhouettes of humans were visible from the inside of its body.

How did I even end up here?

It was a Thursday, nothing out of the ordinary. The same 21 year old unemployed dude. Wasting his days after last month's firing. Barely surviving on my parents' insurance claim, after they passed. To find nothing of worth in life. Having no one to call family or friends. I do have acquaintances, no human can survive in a society without human interactions, after all.

Lately, I have found myself falling into a loop of self-pitying and self-loathing. So, I decided to get some fresh air. I left for trekking the small hill range in my town. After sitting for who knows how long at the top of the hill, I began descending. 

Only to find a few sick bastards trying to assault another guy. Without any surprise, the news has always reported that the hill range to be a growing hub of crimes. It seemed that the guy was kidnapped and brought here. So as any normal human, I started gathering all big stones around me and started slingshoting them towards the perpetrators. I always carry a slingshot with me for safety and in memory of my late grandfather.

Being the tasteless crooks they were, they were also cowards. Soon enough, they fled the place. After catching my breath and composing ourselves, we descended down the hill before dusk and reported the incident.

After thanking me, the young guy left. With nothing more to do, I left for the river bank. Going to the river bank has become a habit for me these days. To stare at the starry skies, while lying down, has always brought a sense of serenity to my mind. It makes me remember that the meaningless woes of mine are insignificant in comparison to the expanse and happenings around the world and the universe. 

After my routine stargazing session, I returned to my house. The same dilapidated lifeless building with no character, at the corner of the street. It was like yesterday that I remember when I used play happily, as a kid, with my family. Only for them to leave me, till I was alone, within the span of the last few years. 

But I still live, though just surviving. I live not for me but for them who had to leave before me. For they would hate me if I left soon after them. And thus goes another day of constant contemplation and reminiscing of memories, before I went to bed.

The next time I opened my eyes, I noticed myself falling and I was falling for a very long time. It was pitch darkness around me, with nothing visible around me. After a while, I hit the ground. But, to my surprise, there wasn't any physical pain. After sitting for a while and allowing my eyes to adjust to see whatever that was visible, I began moving. In some random direction with no idea. For the place I fell was very eerie and chilly. And moving in of itself wasn't easy, to walk on sand for a long time was proving to be difficult. 

That brings us to my current state, the problem now is that I don't know how I am here or to be able to breath underwater, or whatever this medium that surrounded me. There was just too many questions in my head. So, before I end up becoming food for the decayed gross version of an angler fish, I left the place without making any noise. Or I thought so.

As I moved away from the place, I noticed sudden illumination over my head, only to find the angler fish had noticed me and was moving towards me at a scary speed. I started running =, barely escaping its jaws by moving in a zigzag manner before jumping into a small hole of some structure. Inside the hole was a whole network of openings, similar to how coral reefs appear, with the only difference to be that this was made of dead biological mass.

After a hour or two, the fish gave up on me and left. But it didn't swim away because it gave up on me. I was sure of it, for it was scared of something. Soon, I saw it a huge, I mean, Huge being moved above. It was like a weird fusion between a shark and a snake, with a size on par with a whale. And it actually worked. The design of the creature was terrifying, like something straight out of a horror novel. It didn't leave without doing anything.