Link: https://www.penana.com/story/108221
This is part of my favourite chapter called Seagulls from my story, Photographs.
Teddy, the main demon character, has just witnessed a funeral precession for two demons he knew. In this world, humans and demons are treated differently; with demons being lesser than anything else.
When Teddy notices that the two demons, Yorkie and Sugercane, have a seperate hearse leading away from thier family, he follows behind it in his car to make sure that they are respected in what he thinks will be a nice demon cemetery; and to make sure they get the flowers he has for them.
Warning for gross flies, seagulls, and some brief but graphic imagery of body horror towards the end.
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The route was scenic, raising my hopes for that peaceful rest I had imagined them being taken to.
The road between towns was surrounded with trees. The branches even touched in some parts to create a leafy tunnel with light streaming through the gaps that danced on the road.
The air flitting through my window was fresh, holding just a hint of tangy seasalt.
The scent of it only thickened in the breeze when the hearses wound around the bumpy back roads.
There was no caution taken over the bumps that jostled the caskets in the back.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXlogbilJ4
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Each one slid into he railings by each windows and caused the single piece of red fabric laid down the length to slide from its position.
I followed nervously. The flowers in the back were tossed about haphazardly with nothing to keep them secure. I prayed they would survive the patched road that curved and dipped through its decievingly beautiful landscape.
I felt the tension release when both hearses peeled around a roundabout and continued towards a stretching bridge ahead.
I followed behind, thankful that I had only lost one of the daffodil heads in the rough treatment earlier.
The relief was shortlived though.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZK4ihdVOD
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We passed through the little town on the other side of the bridge and went straight past the church on the hill there.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlVQIuELti
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I saw water sparkling in the sunshine to my right where people played and boated.
There was no sight of a demon cemetary here.
Where were they going?
The road dipped and curved, linking to another bridge that ended where the road turned to dirt on the other side.
The cemetary was over this way?181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUEd1FfWzq
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No, that couldn't be right?
The smell of seasalt suddenly turned sour when I crossed the bridge.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7aRwNMfFRB
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It was a faint change, but still a noticable one that didnt seem to bother the happy few still splashing in the water below.
As the hearses veered to the left, I quickly stomped on the brakes so I could snatch up the flowers and toss them in the front passenger seat to keep them safe.
Then, I sped after Yorkie and Sugercane sliding and bumping thier way over the gravel road to on the last stretch of thier journey.
It was an odd place to put a demon cemetary so far out of town and down such a long unsealed road.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcs444ZnA0
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Nothing had been touched here. The trees grew thick and wild on each side, and there was no sign of housing anywhere on the only stretch of road.
The sour seasalt had turned rancid.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwd2fAvKNMx
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It no longer provoked pleasent images of waves and restfulness.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrk7tfF6aSp
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Winding up the windows and shutting the vents did nothing to deter the stench of boiling rot that seeped in anyway.
It made my stomach churn and bubble.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsYttlFl1cR
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I could feel the vile air coating the back of my throat and festering in my lungs.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1skCmKckl
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It made me physically sick just to breathe.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiuFrLYEsnB
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I could even taste it. It had clung to my tongue like a second film.
This wasn't the way a cemetary was meant to be.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaqVdoiMu18
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This was pure hell.
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Flies swarmed the windows the further I followed down the bumpy gravel road.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nopqll7VZ
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They were like a plague speckled in the air, growing thicker and more aggressive with thier suicide mission into the windscreen.
I hated this.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjvm4Z05fM
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The sick feeling in my stomach wasn't because of the stench anymore.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUtUuK6yISS
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I was dreading where this road was going to lead me to at the end of it.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4AR90EPe0q
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I wanted nothing more than to just stop the car and take it straight home again.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6vop5iwhoN
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I saw the daffodils still on the front seat and contemplated whether it was worth it anymore.
I wanted to give these to Yorkie and Sugercane, but I could tell I wasn't going to get the coastal paradise I had wished for them.
I was scared, more than anything.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1csKTVypk8
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But I was more scared for the demons ahead of me who would never know what happened to thier bodies.
I had to find out for them and myself. Whatever I would find would be my fate when I left to join the spirits again.
I think that's what terrified me the most.
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Gates rose ahead to greet the cars that passed through.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡELwV50xCIS
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They weren't glorious ones at all.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9RtiKG4lPp
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Rusted metal twisted into diamonds stood tall with pieces of plastic flapping against it, and moulted feathers twisting within spiders webs.
To the left was a single rectangular booth.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡghZwE26SMD
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It had no glass where the window frame was, leaving the demon inside at the mercy of the swarming flies.
He did have a cap on that did nothing for the pests he swatted at aggressively.
I pulled up to the booth and drew in my last, stinking breath that wasn't soaked with buzzing flies before winding down the window.
I saw the demon lean down to peer into the car in surprise, his scarred face looking around briefly.
The scar was a nasty thing that looked fresh; gougign along his left cheek and down through the corner of his lip to his chin.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIxRAcFP2w
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The fact that flies were crawling over the folds of skin and burrowing into the plasticy scar itself disgusted me. It irritated him too as he swatted them away uselessly.
"What are you doing here?" the gruff voice choked out quickly "there's no visitors here."
"I came with flowers" I called back, only to make the demon laugh at me.
He spat out the flies that made a dash for his mouth, licking the back of his hand to try and remove the crushed body parts that had been severed by his teeth.
"Oh, you're serious" he breathed, leaning further forward "Look, kid, you don't want to be going in there. It's swarming with bugs and smells terrible. Give me the flowers and I'll make sure they get them."
I looked at his outstretched hand that was missing the second finger, and refused.
The daffodils remained on the seat beside me.
"I'll throw them on for you" he insisted "honest."
I hardened my expression and scanned the mountain of lumpy, black trash before me.
"Just tell me the way the hearse went and I'll go do it myself."
"Damn, kid" the demon blew out a breath, straightening up in defeat "follow the road. You can't miss it."
I wound up my window and pushed onwards once more with the trapped flies battling to escape.
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The road was the same gravel as the one leading here, but much narrower.
Towering black mountains blocked out the view to my left and right when I inched along the road that curved dramatically to the right and straightened.
I saw the back of both hearses stopped on the road. Both were wide open at the back that were void of the coffins or the drivers.
I parked up behind them, trying to see around the mountains that ripped downwards over the crest.
There was no chance I was going to get around the cars. I was going to have to get out.
Hopefully it wasn't a long walk.
I grabbed the daffodils and threw open the door to slide out into the swarm.
I kept my mouth firmly shut, but could still feel the flies trying to wedge under my eyelids and twist into my nostrils. Even my flattened ears did nothing to stop the buzzing deafening me.
But then, there was a new noise.
It was definately mechanical. It was loud and droning continuously as the parts of the machine moved.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQtlBQ5uKq
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I could smell rusting metal and sharp oil over the festering flies.
And then, there was the screaming of seagulls that hovered in the sky.
They were as bad as the flies. They dove and dipped through the infested air to land on the mountains they covered in shit and feathers.
I reached the top of the crest, grateful to finally have some sort of look at which way I was supposed to be going.
But, there was no other way. There was only forward to where a bright yellow escavator was planted on the other side of a massive, gaping pit.
The escavator had its claw firmly gripped around one of the coffins that had the lid swinging wildly with each jerking movement from the machine.
I saw Sugercane's disfigured body tumble out and splatter into the pit that was lined with other battered and discarded bodies.
Seagulls speared eyes with thier beaks, fighting over scraps of skull and disfigured faces.
The humans did nothing to stop them either. They only directed the escavator to the next coffin planted beside them.
The daffodils slipped from my hand as everything suddenly went numb.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLUCWvgsitC
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My stomach churned and bubbled at the sight of seagulls hovering over Sugercane in eagerness for thier fresh feast.
No.
This couldn't be what happened. This wasn't it!
My feet tried to take me back to the car, but stumbled instead. My brain was frozen and unable to even think properly about what I should be doing.
Yorkie came tumbling out of his casket to smash into Sugercane and roll off her down further into the pit.
I saw his limp hand stretching outwards, as if trying to reach what he once loved again.
This wasn't it. This wasn't what they deserved!
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