December 15, 2020
Edward sat in front of a calm, serene river. It was sometime in the summer, where the sun was just about to reach its highest point in the sky and there wasn't a cloud to be seen. The air was fresh, the flowers were blooming, and the river gently rolled through the rocks beneath. Sitting next to him was a bag of potato chips and a cold beer. What more could he ask for?
"Let me out! Let me out!" A muffled voiced screamed from a car behind him. Edward looked back to see his old car parked up above the bank of the river. He felt annoyed. Someone had followed him to the river and was seeking to disrupt his peace. It was a rare thing - getting peace. Yet, it always seemed like people found away to interrupt his, no matter how hard he tried to keep it.
"Who's there?" Edward asked.
Kicking and banging came from his car's trunk. It sounded distorted, almost like what he was hearing wasn't real. He reached into the back pocket of his cargo shorts and pulled out a hammer. Edward looked down at it, confused. Why did he have a hammer?
Cautiously, he approached the trunk of his car. Who was in his car? Why were they in the trunk?
"Let me out! Let me out!" The voice said once again.
The closer he got, the more contorted and wrong it sounded. The kicking and pounding continued, but the screaming stopped.
"Hello?" Edward said once more, feeling shaken.
He grabbed onto the handle, feeling its icy touch. The pounding stopped as well and there was only silence.
"Who's in there?" Edward asked.
There was no reply but, instead, very faint breathing.
They're waiting for me. Waiting to strike me.
He pulled the handle slowly and flung the trunk open. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing in the trunk.
What... What the hell?
Edward slowly turned around and, before he could see anything, felt a pair of arms pull him into the trunk. He wailed and screamed, trying to hit whatever was behind him. His efforts were futile as he descended into darkness.
"Let go of me!" Edward shouted. "Help! Help!"
A large black silhouette appeared above him, followed by a much smaller silhouette that looked like a little girl. Edward couldn't make out any features but could hear the little black silhouette humming.
"Please. Please help me," Edward begged. They wouldn't help him. The little silhouette continued to hum while the larger figure slowly closed the trunk of the car.
"No! No, please!"
The trunk closed and Edward was left in the darkness, not even a single beam of light to be seen. Sitting in silence, Edward felt the temperature lower quickly.
Suddenly, a glimpse of moonlight appeared above his head and snowflakes were gently floating to the ground.
Edward couldn't make sense of all of it. Where was he? Was this some kind of bad dream? Reality wasn't making sense to him anymore. He looked around, seeing nothing but an abyss of darkness surrounding the trees. He just wanted to go back to the river. Feel the warmth of that day. Smell the summer breeze. Hear the sound of...
Audible screaming echoed through the forest. Edward ran through the darkness, searching for help.
"Edward, no!" The voice shouted.
What followed was a blood curdling yell. Edward ran as fast as his legs could take him but never seemed to get closer.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," A voice said. Edward turned around and saw himself staring back at him.
Before having a moment to speak, his double plunged a knife into Edward's heart. Blood spurted out of his mouth as he fell to his knees, looking up to his double. It was the eyes of a man without remorse, without guilt, without humanity. The eyes of his double had the same dark abyss as the forests surrounding them. Edward fell to his back and watched as the snow covered his corpse.
His double cried above his corpse as he pushed his knife to Edward's facial features. Then, he watched as his double pulled out thread and began stitching Edward's mouth... Upper, lower, upper, lower. Then came Edward's eyes. First it was his right eye... Upper, lower, upper, lower. Then came his left eye... Upper, lower, upper, lower.
He could no longer see.
No longer hear.
No longer smell.
No longer breathe.
All Edward could do now was feel a rope tie around his body as he got pulled in the snow.
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Once more, Edward's eyes opened. He looked up to see an older man dragging him on a sleigh. His whole body was cold. All he could think of was the embrace of his wife - the warmth that she brought him. At least, the warmth that she brought him many years ago. Although, Edward could faintly remember another time he embraced her. It was at a house. No, a mansion. The warmth of that night was all that was keeping Edward from freezing to death.
If he was to die, Edward would at least try to die on that happy memory. It had seemed that whatever happy memories he had were fading away in these moments. He could faintly remember the smell of cinnamon and the taste of hot chocolate. Where that memory came from, he wasn't sure. Instead he thought back to his mother. She was smiling; yes; she was smiling. Why was she smiling though? Edward clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, desperately trying to remember.
Then he awoke once more. He was in a cave with an old man sitting across from him, sharpening a knife.
"Where am I?" Edward asked.
The old man chuckled at him as the fire burned blue. "You really don't know, huh?"
"Know what?" Edward asked. He looked around, seeing the abyss of darkness. "What is going on? Why am I here?"
The old man laughed and pointed his knife to another man sitting to the left of Edward. This man had no face and wore a dirty white t-shirt.
"He's been here for a while too, you see. Can't seem to remember why he's here anymore. Doesn't seem to know the path forward?" The old man said.
"The path forward? What are you talking about?"
Silence was the old answer that Edward would receive. He tried to relax himself while he stared into the blue flames and listened to the sound of a knife being run across a jagged stone. He felt uneasy. Not because of the old man sitting across from him - but because of the man without a face to his left. This... thing was staring at him. What Edward didn't understand was how it was staring at him. The thing had no eyes, yet Edward could feel a cold hard gaze piercing right through him.
He doesn't know the path forward.
Edward looked back to the old man, trying to ignore the faceless man. The more he looked upon the man, the more familiar he seemed. Yet, he could never quite identify why he seemed familiar.
A hand grabbed Edward's. He looked over to see a girl with jet black hair sitting next to him. Her face was covered by her long, luxurious hair but he felt like he knew her as well.
"Am I beautiful, Edward?" The girl asked.
I'm a loyal man. I'm a married man.
"I'm sorry, I'm married," Edward replied, jerking his hand from hers. A wide smile showed up on her face and she reached for his hand once more, pulling it back to her with a surprising amount of force. She placed his hand on her stomach.
"It's yours," She said. He looked down at her stomach. It was abnormally large, even for a pregnant woman.
"No, no. You're wrong. They're not mine." Edward said, jolting up.
I'm a loyal man. I'm a married man.
"Triplets," The girl giggled. "Oh, Edward. You're going to be a great father."
Edward clutched his hair, feeling pieces of it fall out. He didn't even know this was. She's a liar. She was lying to him.
I'm a loyal man. I'm a married man.
I'm a loyal man. I'm married.
"No, no, no, no," Edward mumbled. "You're lying. I don't even know who you are."
The girl put her hands up to the center of her forehead and peeled the hair back to behind her ears. Her beauty was unmatched as her brightly lit purple eyes looked back to him. Her smile was, simply, gorgeous. Never had Edward felt more attracted to any woman in his life than the woman that sat in front of him. It was Rebecca.
Edward looked down at her in horror.
Impossible.
"You're... you're dead. I watched them kill you," Edward said while frantically breathing.
Rebecca stood up and grabbed both of Edward's hands this time. "Nobody killed me, love. Nobody could ever separate us. Never."
I'm a loyal man. I'm married.
A loyal man. I'm married.
"No, I saw them kill you, Rebecca! I saw it!"
"Who?" Rebecca asked, smiling widely.
Edward looked over to the faceless man who wasn't so faceless anymore. Instead, two pitch black eyes rested in the eyeholes, looking right at Edward. The rest of the face was blank, all except for those terrible black eyes.
"He... it..." Edward looked back to Rebecca who was becoming more disfigured. One of her eyes was bloodshot while blood was dripping from her mouth. A clump of hair was ripped from her scalp and her nose was broken. She was no longer so beautiful.
"What's wrong, Edward? Don't you still think I'm pretty?"
A loyal man. Married.
A loyal man. Married.
"Get away from me," Edward said. "Get away."
Rebecca started giggling sadistically, all while those black eyes from the faceless man stared at him. "I love you, Edward." Rebecca said.
"No. Please, no."
Edward tripped backwards into the darkness of the cave, watching Rebecca transform into something so ugly... so grotesque... Edward couldn't even describe it. Bones ripped from the skin. The neck twisted violently, spurting blood onto Edward. Nails turned to monster like claws. Rebecca's mouth opened, revealing large sets of sharp teeth.
Dozens of tiny hands reached around Edward and pulled on him.
"Perhaps you don't know the path forward?" The old man echoed.
Rebecca continued to giggle, sounding less and less like herself and more like some demonic being. Little children swarmed around Edward, suffocating him while filling the cave with the sound of their humming.
"Aren't our children beautiful?"
Edward closed his eyes.
A loyal man. Married.
But who was he married to?
A loyal man. Married.
He could remember a woman. Yes. It was a woman. But who was the woman?
Loyal man. Married.
She had blonde hair. But what was her name? Rhonda? No. That wasn't right.
Loyal man. Married.
He tried so hard to remember. It had to start with an R. But did she have blonde hair? No. She had black hair.
Loyal. Married.
Rebecca was the only name he could think of. They had children together, three of them. They weren't triplets though. They were born at different times.
Loyal. Married.
Edward suffered as his memory faded from him. Rebecca wasn't his wife. They didn't have children together. He was single. He's been alone his whole life.
Loyal.
What was he loyal to? His wife? His job? His church? God? Edward sat up once more, this time in front of a dark manor. Standing at the doorway was a woman reaching her hand out, beckoning him to join.
He couldn't though. He didn't know the path forward yet.
"I'm sorry," He muttered.
Edward couldn't see the woman's face but he could tell she was saddened by his reply. But she understood. The woman of the manor would wait for him because he was loyal. Yes, he was loyal to the Matthews Manor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edward awoke once more to see a beautiful river before him. The forest behind it was on fire, faceless men walked in a straight line down the bank, and the water flowed red with blood. All was calm for Edward. It was beautiful.
The pounding on his old car once more caught Edward's attention. It did not fill him with the anger it once did. This time, he felt at peace. He knew what had to be done and knew who it had to be done to. Edward had to serve justice to those who would sin.
He reached for his hammer and walked briskly up to his trunk. Several faceless men stood around him, watching. He put his hand to the handle of the trunk and slowly opened it.
Laying there was a man. A man that he had grown to despise for the last few years. But, in these last moments, Edward felt at peace. He no longer knew why he wanted to kill this man or why he had hated him so greatly.
The man's face was bright red with tears streaming to the sides. His eyes begged for forgiveness but Edward would not grant him it. It was no longer in his hands for who deserve mercy. Edward grabbed him and threw him out of the trunk.
Edward watched as the man rolled around in the dirt, trying to escape. It was useless. Before killing him, Edward looked at him once more time. He had thick blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Somewhere, deep in his brain, Edward knew he knew this man. He ungagged him and stood over him with his hammer.
"Edward, please stop. I'm so sorry for everything. I promise you, I didn't know Sarah was married," The man said.
Sarah? Who's Sarah?
"I'll forget about all of this. I won't say anything. I'll...I'll move far far away. Please, Edward. I promise."
Edward looked down to him, no expression to be seen. "What's your name?" Edward asked.
The man looked up at him, confused. "Wh-What?"
"Your name? What is it?" Edward asked once more.
"Ethan."
A blur of red covered Edward's eyes. The rage that was bottle up for years returned to his body. He didn't know this man... but he knew that name. That name haunted him every night. With no hesitation, Edward repeatedly bashed his hammer into the man's skull, watching blood spurt out. The taste of it soon covered Edward's tongue as he viciously swung his hammer to the man's skull.
When all was said and done, Edward walked to the beach where his beer and chips sat. His work was done. He brought a chip to his mouth and tasted its saltiness. Then, he proceeded to bring his beer to his lips, feeling its cool touch. Everything was right again.
The sound of gurgling came from behind him. Turning around quickly, Edward saw Ethan darting for the hill.
How the fuck is he still alive?
Edward chased after him but, somehow, Ethan was still too fast. He ran to his car and turned on the engine. He accelerated, the smell of rubber burning filling his nostrils. He swung his car around and watched as Ethan limped across the road.
This time, he would make sure to finish the job. He pushed his foot to the accelerator. Then, with a sickening thud, the memory was over.
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