Part two of my cringy short story, because I can
The light of the Violet Moon had begun to dim as malicious clouds that blended in with the blackened sky had begun to roll in, gazing down on the derelict town with vile intent. The sound of tin garbage bins being knocked over echoed throughout the town as Kajus groaned in pain as he propped himself up with his hands, drawing a sharp breath as he winced slightly. He grimaced. His vision was blurred, as if just being able to see after exiting a dream, or surfacing after being submerged in water. It was eerily quiet in the town, save for the squeaks of rats nearby. Shakily he pushed himself up, rubbing his forehead as he stumbled to his feet. His legs felt as if they burned, unsteady and uncertain as the blurry world spun around him. Kajus took a moment to focus on an object that was laid out before him. His vision slowly refocused, having focused on the sight of the metallic object in front of him as it glittered and sparkled in the ever-diminished light of the Violet Moon. He squinted his eyes slightly for a sharper image as he took a sharp inhale to ease his heart which pounded against his rib cage, the act forcing him to produce a hacking cough. He stumbled back as his legs threatened to give out from underneath him as he resorted to put his weight on the rough brick wall beside him. His eyes focused on the image more until at long last the world ceased swirling around him, the object of his focus having become clear now. The reflection of the moonlight forced him to look away. His mind raced as he attempted to collect his thoughts. ‘A..a garbage can? When did I..? I don’t remember coming out of the house..’ He found himself in a somewhat claustrophobic alleyway. Sweat that felt as if they had burned like acid dripped down his forehead as he fumbled his way out towards the street. The wall to his left acted as a support till he reached the entrance to the alley, his head swam as his ears rang. His forehead burned with the sensation of having been potentially hit. He lightly touched his forehead as he winced once more, a small hiss escaped him as he glanced at his right palm to ensure no blood had come from his forehead; he found it scraped and reddened, but slightly glistened with what he hoped to be sweat. The world slowly swayed lazily left and right before his eyes with each step he took, as if rested on a hammock in the warm days of the summer months.
‘I’ve must have been sleep walking again. At a time like this too. Could… could have sworn I’ve locked the door so I couldn’t get out if I did.’ He leaned more against the corner of the alley for a moment as he looked out onto the street, a vague purple hue infected every corner of his vision as he stood in bewilderment and abject horror. Trash, articles of clothing, broken pieces of bricks, and wood chips that had once belonged to home, stores, and inns were strewn across the ground. If only those were the only things that had been thrown about…
Misplaced limbs. Arms that reached and grasped at distant memories, hands that desperately held onto whatever had remained of their loved ones and normalcy, slumped cadavers that accepted the end, spilled intestines and gore from half eaten torsos that wrapped around the rubble, walls, and the street like grotesque ribbons for a equally morbid parade, legs gnarled and twisted like broken tree branches, snapped at the calf as the shattered femur was exposed for all the world to see. And most strikingly, a somewhat intact, but very evidently mauled corpse of a young girl. Her head tilted upward with a slack and slightly split jaw, one of her eyes missing as she appeared to silently scream at the sky and moon for salvation. Just a few inches away from what remained of her right hand, a stained teddy bear, whose stuffing was slightly ripped out. All appeared to glisten under the Violet Moon’s light with a sickening red hue that persisted even through the purple that encroached on Kajus’s vision.
It should have been dried by now.
The building just across from him looked as if a dragon had come through. What remained of the wooden skeleton was seemingly singed while cobblestone rubble lay beneath it all, more than likely having crushed whatever was below it. Save for a somewhat rotted arm that reached past the ruin, as if to grasp hopelessly at the Moon above. Reaching for a heaven that has long forgotten them. Luckily, the level of destruction that had befell the building appeared to be an outlier. Though, the rest weren’t exactly perfectly standing. Derelict buildings that sported collapsed sections, shattered windows, cracked walls, crumbling roofs, and splintered door frames. The select few that had the least amount of structural damage seemed to be completely sealed up, windows, shattered or not, were boarded up giving them a condemned look. Kajus was not exactly excited to test his luck with them anyhow, no telling if the doors were locked to keep something out, or keep something in. Or potentially trapped.
The metallic scent of blood and the stench of decay filled his nose and forced him to gag as he squeezed his eyes shut and turned away from the street, pushing his hand against the house to his right.
He had known of the carnage that had taken place.
He had heard the screams, the shouts of guards.
He had the absolute displeasure of the unsavory sounds of things only beyond this world could possibly make.
He had not witnessed the aftermath of it all… not until now.
It was unspeakable, the mangled remains of those who had tried to defend themselves. Broken spears and snapped blades that were covered in a horrific purple substance that remained a liquid despite it being exposed to the air for days on end now. The glittering of it all as the night sky darkened more and more. ‘It’s… all gone. Looks like a riot came through here, or maybe a tornado… Come to think of it, a riot isn’t too far off.’
With his eyes shut to the world, it only made the pungent odor worse. His thoughts scattered and mind unfocused. His feet below him unsteady as he began to walk, using the building's rugged stone walls as guidance. Each uncertain step felt wrong, as if he was too heavy, walking in water. And much, much too loud. The sound of his hands grazing the wall as he felt his way down the street sounded as if he was dragging something wet and fleshy against them. His fingers that stretched out and felt the wall sounded as if an owlbear had begun scratching at it. Too loud, it was all too loud. The squeaks of rats may as well have been shrieks to his ears.
And then, his stomach dropped as he stepped on something that produced a wet crunch under his foot. Heart racing as his stomach twisted in knots. Slowly, he opened his eyes, forced to expose himself to the world once more. Kajus stared down as his vision unfocused momentarily. His eyes wider than ever before.
“W-what?” He muttered with disbelief, and disgust.
He saw legs attached to him that were not his for but a moment. The world was in pale white moonlight. His clothes almost appeared to be animal fur, matted with blood that did not belong to him. His foot inhuman, monstrous, and many times larger than before, resting in the collapsed chest of a fetid corpse. The eyes of the rotted corpse stared into his own.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he blinked, gasping aloud.
‘No. No no no. That’s not- I can’t be-! That doesn’t belong to me!’
In that moment his body felt heavy.
In that moment he saw clearly.
In that moment he saw reality.
He saw himself, the world dipped back into its purple hue, his legs were his own, his clothes not fur, but indeed tattered, his body lighter.
But the blood was still there.
The corpse’s chest he had stood on, the rib cage his foot had broken through, the bulbous eyes that looked into his all too real.
A scream burned in his throat, but his body would not let him do so. He pulled his foot out as he squeezed his eyes shut once more, the scream being replaced with burning bile as he gagged, moving his free hand swiftly to cover his mouth.
‘I…I think I’m gonna be sick…’
Slowly. Carefully. He opened his eyes once more, Looking out to the previously familiar, beautiful, and lively world. All too alien to him now under the invasive light of a moon of which he did not recognize. It adopted a new kind of grotesque artistic vision. The trees that once bore branches full of large leaves that were just beginning to bear fruit, and once carefully tended to flower beds, of the few that remained standing, were withered, twisted into unnatural shapes and stripped of their alluring petals, dutiful green leaves, the fruit having dried and decayed on the stems that connected them to the trees, and sweet scents now stolen from what remained of the flowers.
A creeping, icy sensation overtaking his nerves and his veins as he let go of the wall, the sickening knot that took root in his stomach only worsened. He walked on, he needed his mind to focus. He would need his mind to be clear if he were to make it back to…
‘Where? Back to where? Damnit I remember! Why can’t I remember?! What happened?!?’
Glimpses of memories of nights before, visions of pale white moonlight danced across his eyes, much like what he swore he had just seen. But this time it was different. Huge bat-like wings protruding from behind a monstrous silhouetted figure, the feeling of being knocked down, the fear, the mortal terror of potentially his final moment… His breath had begun to quicken as his eyes widened, pupils dilated to see as clearly as they could under the otherworldly haze of the purple light from the full Violet Moon. He had begun to realize the severity of his situation. His mind was still muddled, but the remembrance of danger was clear as summer days.
“Dammit!” he muttered to himself. ‘I forgot. Can’t believe I forgot. Can’t stay out here like this, They’ll find me like this. Too exposed, and I’ve made too much noise already.’ He had begun walking as swiftly as he could, his legs no longer as wobbly, or at the very least, no longer threatening to collapse under him. He walked along the building he had been using as guidance until he walked past some of the boarded-up windows. Kajus attempted to peer through them for signs of life, unable to see much in the darkness of the home. Just as he had begun to step away from the windows, he could swear he heard voices. Hushed, and sounding as if a child and a woman. ‘Others? There are others?’ He stepped closer to them again. He wondered, would it be safe call to them? No… No. To do so could mean their doom. And the last thing he needed on his consciousness was the responsibility of bringing death to not only a woman, but a child as well. His thoughts broken as he heard the woman inside begin to quietly weep. He strained his ears, heart still as his breath, only just being able to make out the words:
“Not you…Don’t take my baby too..”