I sat on a large boulder among the field. Surrounding me were large walls of pines and a mountain looming out in the distance. A small stream carved through the meadow and filled the air with a lazy bubbling. I could not remember how I had arrived at this place. One moment I was in my studio apartment downtown San Francisco. Late afternoon, I was sitting enjoying an ice cold beer while staring out my window. Feelings of uncertainty, anxiety and fear from the hole now burning through my bank preoccupied me. I was not paying attention to anything beyond that window pane. I took a sip of beer and the next thing I know I am staring at a gray and snow covered mountain. My hands propped me up on the boulder which was warm to the touch from baking in the sun.
Like falling asleep I did not remember when time ended or when it began. I just was, then was not. I looked around for a moment. There was no one around me. No animals observing my strange idling. Everything was still.
I slid my self off the boulder. As soon as my feet touched the ground it seemed as a symphony of commotion commenced.
The trees began shaking and creaking. The tips whipped back and forth. Tree branches snapped and fell as something scraped and clawed its way to me.
Pain seemed my right palm and I pulled it up to my face. A large circle looked as if it had been carved into it. As I watched, more pain came as marks started to be sliced into the circle. I shook my hand to wave the invisible carver away form me, but the markings still dug into my flesh. The torrent grew closer. The ground shook with massive tremors and I had to brace my self a couple of times as they knocked me to my knees. I turned away from the on coming noise towards the mountain. I do not know where I was going or what I would do, but I had to get away.
I ran.
As I reached the pines at the edge of the meadow I heard the trees opposite of me break and fall.
I turned. I knew It was a mistake, but my mind wanted to know.
It looked like a large slab of black obsidian. Standing just below the top of the trees it damped all light around it. Holding it up were many large arms extending from the bottom. Hands grasped the land and it wavered a bit in its idle stance. Rectangular in nature, it wiggled slightly as it bobbed on the hands, as it was a mixture of organic and stone.
Visible ripples in the air could be seen coming from it. They grew faster and faster then a piercing scream came from forth. I covered my ears, but it penetrated straight to my bones. The thing wailed, but it soon came to a guttering growl. I limped into the tree line, but the scream emitted an emotion of such pain and suffering that I started sobbing. The sound rang something deep within. A family member or someone close to me calling out in their last agonizing breath for something. Redemption, revenge, mercy?
Choking on my own tears I limped forward.
I only had one option which was to keep moving towards the mountain. The wailing stopped, but the sound of hands clawing and grasping at the earth replaced it.
It was coming.
I brushed past the pines with short branches and brush ripping my body apart. I heard it break the first pines on my side of the meadow. Trees bent and broke as the massive slab chased. It was silent besides the movement, no growling, no yelling or crying, the slab moved relentlessly through the pines after me. The tree line broke and large chasm opened forth in front. I barely had time to stop before plunging into the darkness. My heart beat filled my head as my lungs started to try and regain their capacity. My bodies adrenaline slipped for a moment and all the damage I had accumulated from the forest dulled my thoughts. I looked back and forth. There was no bridge, no rope, nothing. The noise was getting louder. I had no idea how fast it could be. I looked towards the mountain and then peered down the chasm.
I had to get across.
I must get across.
A little ways down, there looked to be some jutting rock that I might be able to climb down on. I took my chance and rushed over. Carefully I slid my foot down onto the rock and slithered against the wall. My hands were slick and I could not look past the first step. My foot slid across the rock looking for another step, but it found none. I strained more and more. My mind now focused on survival.
Then my left hand slipped. My feet frantically searched. My right hand struggled, strained and finally gave way. My hands gave, but hands of a different kind grabbed my wrist.
They were black and cold. Their grip was like iron being wrapped around my wrist.
It yanked me up.
I screamed. I screamed a scream that I had heard before.
Mercy.
I began this story with the main character being in a peaceful tranquil place. I meant to make this whole piece about gaining clarity, seeing everything all at once and being in tune with the universe. Well, then this monster showed up somehow when I was writing. It seemed that things were not right in the beginning or this peaceful meadow was not so peaceful after all.
I enjoy the chase or the hunt. When the monster is something that is so unknown I think it makes it more intense. What will happen if you are caught?
Geometric monsters are a lot of fun. Sorta of like an abstract object that in reality should not be dangerous is not chasing you and trying to devour you. Watch those triangles ……