Long Thaw

"I can't do this anymore...", the girl whimpered out as she drew a sharp breath. wincing in pain she collapsed in the alleyway. She laid there flat on her back in the dark wet snicket, a sharp pain spread from her right side. Blood started to pool from the pain. putting her bruised hand over the wound as the warm liquid speed through her fingers. Slowly getting up, her face grimicing at the discomfort. Limping over to the nearest brick wall her nose began to bleed. "Ugh, damn this.", she groaned out of her busted lips. Sliding down, leaving a crimson smear as she went down. A strong urge to puke overwhelmed her as she released her leftovers all over the ground and herself.

Covered in blood, sweat, and vomit she fumbled in her back pockets for her keys, "Where are they?" Finally finding them after they danced around her fingers. Staggering slowly back home, she arrived at a weathered wooden red door. The cracked red paint peeling away from the humidity, the wood splitting apart from the heat.

Grabbing the lock aggressivly, smearing crimson on the metal. As the door opens she is met with a stagnate black void, walking into the dark as the black swallows her whole. Walking into a musty dark room with one light flickering in what is the living room, in the room holds only a spring mattress and a single light hanging from the ceiling. Cobwebs decorated the corners of the room, mold. Couldn’t complain as it was abandoned with no humans in sight. Sometimes the occaional rat will come by to say hello.

Slumping into the small bathroom adjacent from the living room she washed her face in the sink. Watching the blood run down into the drain she looked up, seeing nothing but a monster. Her ashy hair matted down from all the blood, her left eye swollen shut and bruised, cuts placed upon her pale face while a nice gash on her bottom lip joined in the party. Her right eye that was grey blue now bloodshot red from irritation. Only tasting blood and her ramen from earlier today in my mouth; giving the reflection a bloody grin.

“You know you deserved it.” A soft but harsh whisper echoed throughout the walls.

“SHUT UP!”, she snapped harshly at the voice, folding over as she winced in pain from raising her voice. Collasping on the cold damp floor she hissed out, “You don't know what I deserve. Just leave me alone!”

Laying there her mind slowly drifted away as she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion. A sheet of darkness crawled over her like ants feeding on a corpse, she was sure as hell she felt like one. Her dreams flooded with the past, flashing images of pain and suffering; frost spreading across the land, everything frozen and dead. Standing amongst them a familar face, a man with horns full of sorrow and kindness; she couldn’t hear him but she could read his lips, “I'll come back, I promise.” he mouthed to her.

Frozen bodies hang in their hundreds, no thousands. Suspended in their paroxysm. In disturbing shapes and angles, crying and moaning. Thrashing, and grinding their teeth as the freeze over. Until agony rears through their bodies, their bones crack and crumble beneath the weight. Shrieks strung out across the emerald green sky. A lake, frozen over begans to slowly thaw. A bright burning red light pulsates through the thick green ice, it cracks and groans. Echoing louder than the wails of the dead.

Suddenly lava began to spew out from the cracks, the bright orange red glow lights up the dark dread. Setting fire to the land, burning off the wraiths of the past. The frost and the fire collide, hissing and sputtering aloud. Steam rises as a voice echoed through her ears, "Find the one who walks on the fence of human and fae. There you will find healing with him."

She jolted up from the floor, breathing heavily. Her face covered in tears, stinging her cuts. "Fuck this...I need to leave this god-forsaken town."