The Next Horror

Updated: Saturday August 18, 2007

Chapter 16: Twisted

(Time: Unknown, Place: Hope's Mind)

Damien walked around a murky place. He had gone through several parts of Hope's mind. All bent in bizarre ways that he could barely tell one from the other.

This one was in a swamp. But strangely this swamp was inside a huge brick house. At first it looked like a normal brick house made of grey bricks and a wooden roof. But inside was mud, vines, animals, and everything that was in a nasty swamp. Worse the door suddenly disappeared and everywhere there was a dense fog.

Damien moved carefully wary of alligators passing by.

Suddenly he saw something that made him gag.

A man covered in mud and whose face was almost skeletal was tearing into the body of a teenage girl.

That girl was Hope.

The man coughed out pieces of intestine and Damien immediately vomited.

Suddenly the man turned to face him.

Damien could sense everything at a standstill.

Damien looked around warily as swamp water, mud, and vomit flowed around him.

Suddenly all the creatures started moving towards him. Including the alligators.

The man however stayed right by Hope whose eyes were open and staring into nothingness. Her stomach completely torn open.

Damien looked around panicked.

Then he noticed something. The man wasn't eating Hope anymore. More so, the man was now staring at him.

Then the man pointed at Damien.

"Come," the man said.

His voice sounded omnipresent. Like a ghostly voice from a boom box that was deep and booming yet soft and eerie at the same time. The scratchiness of it only made the voice more creepy.

No way. (Damien's thoughts)

But as the creatures got closer Damien saw no other choice. He ran to the patch of land that the man with Hope sat on. The moment he reached it the creatures coming towards him vanished. Except for the alligators that swam off until they were almost out of visual distance.

"Pay me," the man said.

"What?" Damien asked.

The man pointed at Damien's right arm.

"No way!" Damien refused.

The man roared.

Suddenly hands popped out the ground grabbing Damien.

"Pay or suffer," the man said.

"Let Hope go," Damien said.

"No," the man refused.

"I will not agree to anything unless you let her go," Damien said kicking at the arms pulling him into the ground.

"She can never leave," the man revealed, "her mind's too damaged."

"Fair can fix her," Damien insisted.

"Magic can't fix," the man said, "even Ennis can't," he continued, "not anymore," he added.

"I won't leave her trapped here!" Damien shouted, "her body like an empty shell."

"You want her conscious," the man said, "that's different."

"How?" Damien demanded.

"Your arm," the man said.

"No," Damien refused almost waist deep.

"Then both of you die, eventually," the man said simply.

Damien was nearly up to his neck when he finally relented.

The man stretched a hand and pulled Damien out.

Then he rested Damien beside Hope.

"Will you keep the deal?" the man asked.

Damien nodded.

The man held back his head and regurgitated into Hope's stomach.

Damien was so disgusted that he vomited right on his clothes. The smell made his vomit even worse.

"New eh?" the man asked in reference to Damien' s reaction to the smell.

Damien eventually stopped vomiting. By then Hope was sitting up conscious.

"Damien?" Hope asked.

"Your arm," the man said before Damien could respond.

Damien held out his arm.

The man immediately bit into it.

Blood oozed as the man tore off piece of flesh with his teeth.

Damien's screams rang throughout the swamp.

When the man stopped Damien's arm was completely gone. The man even ate the bones.

Damien lay on the ground sobbing. The pain where his arm once was, tremendous.

"It will go away Damien," Hope said stroking his air.

"Hope," Damien said between tears.

"I'm right here," Hope said stroking his face.

"It hurts," Damien said crying.

The man laughed as blood ran down his face and rotted teeth.

"She will be conscious when you leave," the man said, "but she's stuck in this world mentally," he continued, "you came too late."

Damien cried even harder.

"He eats psyche, sanity, mental energy," Hope told him, "physically you'll be fine, mentally…"

"Will I die?" Damien asked.

"Mentally if you can't stay a float," the man said.

"Then I chose to live," Damien said.

"Smart choice," the man responded.

"Get up," Hope said standing up.

A sniffling Damien slowly got to his feet.

Hope handed him a vine.

"Pull on it and you'll be free," Hope said.

"Hope?" Damien asked.

"You succeeded in awaking me," Hope said, "there's nothing else you can do."

"Hope," Damien said tearfully.

Hope smiled.

Her teeth looked just as rotten as the man's.

"I'm his now," Hope said her voice giving off a soft booming, "you have to move beyond me."

Damien shook his head.

"Stay and the gators will return," the man said, "I can't stop them forever."

"I'll get you, you bastard," Damien said tearfully. "hold on Hope," he said and kissed her cheek.

Hope nodded then suddenly started humming a haunting melody.

The man smiled approvingly and hummed along.

Damien closed his eyes sadly and tugged the vine.

I'm sorry I failed you Hope. (Damien's thoughts)

Damien jumped up.

"You're back," Fair said happily, "you've been out for three days."

"I see that you've succeeded boy," Marilyn said approvingly.

Fair glared at her.

Marilyn became quiet.

"I failed," Damien said sadly.

"But she's awake," Fair said pointing at Hope staring out a window.

"Hope!" Damien cried and ran over to her.

Hope suddenly hissed at him.

Damien stepped back.

"What's wrong?" Fair asked.

"She…" Damien started.

Then he remembered about Hope saying the man ate mental energy.

He took a piece of my sanity. (Damien's thoughts)

"Um, I think I'll just leave her there," Damien decided, "who are you?" he asked Marilyn.

"Someone who knew Fair very differently a long time ago," Marilyn chose to say.

Damien looked at Fair.

Fair shook her head refusing to answer.

Damien sighed.

"Anyway, I met this guy in Hope's mind," Damien told them, "he seems to feed on mental energy," he continued, "mental energy he steals from others by eating bodies that represent their sanity," he explained.

Fair gasped appalled.

Marilyn's eyes widened to the point of outmost fright.

Damien noticed.

"Do you know him?" Damien asked.

"End," Marilyn said.

"End?" Damien asked.

"That's what it's called," Marilyn said, "magic sealed it long ago, God cast it off when getting rid of the evil part of himself," she told Damien, "in doing so caused destruction to several planets," she said, "Mars, Venus, Pluto and Jupiter had life once," she revealed.

"So I guess there really are aliens," Fair said sarcastically.

Marilyn looked at Fair incredulously.

"End is an evil that God cast off and it eventually went off to eat away Neptune," Marilyn revealed, "it found no life on Venus and went on to Earth since Saturn a plant planet had all it's plants taken in order to give God sustenance to create life on Earth," she continued, "End wanted to destroy God's greatest creation," she said, "he was the serpent in the bible, he whispered rebellion into the ears of the angel Gabriel, he…"

"Short version," Damien said sick of the never ending story.

"He's the ultimate danger," Marilyn said, "when Adam and Eve ate of the apple cutting off God's complete Earthy dominion, they made impossible for God to intervene to destroy End since he is Evil in living form," she said, "a millennia and eight centuries later (after causing havoc recorded up to the end of David's lifetime according to the bible), magic sealed him away," she stated, "now he's back."

"Magic sealed him away?" Damien asked, "but he said magic can't stop him."

"What?" Fair asked finally interested.

"Magic can stop him as long has he has no human form," Marilyn said immediately, "oh shit."

"So I guess he has a human form now?" Fair asked sarcastically.

Marilyn glared at her.

"But you called him an it earlier," Damien noticed, "does End has a gender?" he asked.

"No, but it's been referred to as a he for millennia's," Marilyn pointed out.

"Typical, warring, evil, has to be a guy," Damien said.

"Well if he starts wearing pink and talking a lot, End might just discover womanhood," Fair stated.

Both Damien and Marilyn looked at her in annoyance.

"Hope aint my sister and frankly I'm just wondering about this Dr. Ennis character," Fair told them.

"Dr. Ennis?" Marilyn asked.

It clicked for Damien.

"He's End!" Damien realized.

"No I would've sensed him," Marilyn said, "all magic senses End."

"Maybe he's possessed by End," Damien suggested.

"More likely born as End," Fair muttered.

"Oh no," Marilyn said suddenly, "it couldn't have happened, not yet."

"What?" Hope asked.

All turned to see Hope staring at them as she ate a bedspread.

"Give me that you freak!" Fair shouted.

Hope growled at her. Her white teeth turned rotten and her normal eyes now veiny and grey.

Everyone stepped fearfully away from her.

"Oh God," Damien whispered.

"This is definitely the work of End," Marilyn said, "he's planted a minion in her mind."

"Minion?" Damien asked.

"You said something ate sanity in physical form?" Marilyn asked and Damien nodded, "End has always tried to destroy humans then later magical creatures because they rose to get rid of him," she said, "I guess now he feeds on sanity."

"Your humanity's gone if you have no mind," Fair said softly, "most of it anyway," she added.

Damien noticed Fair looking forlorn.

"Gwendolyn always feared insanity, pitied those who fell to it," Marilyn stated.

Damien knew he heard that name before.

"Who is…?" Damien started.

"Stay with Hope," Fair interrupted, "tell me more about End outside," she ordered Marilyn.

Marilyn followed Fair outside and closed the door.

Hope suddenly started humming a melancholy tune.

Damien held his now aching head.

When he opened his eyes he was back in Hope's mind.

"You can visit me here since End has made our link," Hope said.

Suddenly Damien opened his eyes to see himself sitting beside a humming Hope by the kitchen.

Did that really happen? I honestly don't know. What if I'm… no I have to believe I'm sane. But still… (Damien's thoughts)

Done

I hope to finish this in September. June's definitely out, Never updated in July. Anyway, thank you for reading and please review.