Fate: Where Hope Dies

Do you ever find yourself in a low place? Where bills are piling and you find yourself drowning. Drowning in a world that feels built against you. A world that, for every stroke, another hand pushes your head further down. Making sure that you understand your place in the depths below. This is common for many, but some, like myself, decided to push and fight. Sometimes, however, fate has a way of reminding you of your place.

It was the dead of night. I, and others, were lying in wait. Our shelter a black matte van hidden just behind some trees. Across the way from us: a convenience store. This would be the night that our lives all changed. Our job was to hit this store and collect the safe’s funds. The job wasn’t anything new, as we were hired for this every now and then. Nothing felt out of the ordinary. The place was scoped out earlier by some of the crew. The security was minimal. If they had weapons, then they were well placed out of sight. I went over the plans with the crew. There were five of us. Two of us would man the van and be on lookout. One of us would go inside acting as a normal customer. Something that we did instead of wearing masks to conceal our identities was wearing make up that specifically altered our faces. This would look like adding moles, bags in the eyes, contouring our face shapes to be appear different on cameras. Going in with ski masks would have tipped off the clerk too quickly. This was something that worked and worked well. Finally, myself and one other crewmate would engage the clerk. We had in ear comms so we would be able to covertly communicate with one another. Jobs like this required it.

Lastly, we made sure we all were armed just in case. A knife and pistol were what we all carried. Concealed unless it was a situation that demanded it. We haven’t had to harm anyone in any of the jobs that we did. Tonight was different.

It all started as planned. Three of us entered in and within five minutes of blending into the atmosphere of the store, we made our move. The clerk reached for below the counter, but I pulled out my weapon to cease their movement. They complied. From there, the third crewmate began to hop over the counter. They were quick to locate the safe. It wasn’t anything large, but regardless, we began threatening the clerk to open the safe. The clerk went along with our demands. The safe was opened and we began to collect what we could with some garbage bags.

What we didn’t know, is in that moment, while the clerk was conversing with us, they pressed an unknown emergency button hidden just under the counter while we weren’t looking. This mistake on our part wasn’t totally unforeseen. We always prepared for something like this. What we didn’t prepare for, was the clerk also carrying a concealed weapon. It made sense to do so. It was the dead of the night and they worked all alone. I don’t blame them at all. This, however, resulted in an exchange of actions and bullets. The clerk got a shot off and punctured the arm of the crewmate that was by my side. They dropped to one knee wailing in pain, but I was able to scoop them up quickly after pistol whipping the clerk. It wasn’t a daunting task due to the clerk clearly never actually firing on someone before. They had a sense of disbelief that allowed me all the time I had needed to act.

We got the money and got out of there, but not before the police began to pull up. Lights of blue and red flashed on our faces. Fear began to settle in, and fate seemed to attempt to remind us our fate. I wasn’t someone who would concede so easily. We quickly got into the van and dashed out. The police heavy in pursuit. This was new to us. We always talked about this possibly happening, but never really expected it due to our clean track record of hits. Fear began creeping into all of us as we barreled down the side roads.

We needed this. If this was a failure, we would go to jail and everything we built, our very foundation, would crumble. We fired some shots from the back and miraculously, we managed to hit a tire and damaged a windshield. Cracking it to the point that visibility was no longer possible. The police had been slowed, but not dismayed. Just deterred, if only for a few moments.

We gained space between us and them. Enough that we were able to pull off road and followed a dirt path. No idea where it lead to, but anything to divert ourselves from a cold cell had to be better.

As we travelled, we came across a old dilapidated home. Seemed abandoned. We talked amongst ourselves and decided to park around the back of this house and turn out all the headlights. The sirens are still able to be heard but as time passes, the noise began to become more muffled until finally: silence. We made it through another job.

We collected ourselves. I looked over the arm of the injured crewmate and was able to pull out the bullet with some tools before treating the wound. After all was said and done, the open wound was now sealed and what was left to do was figure out how to go from here. We couldn’t go back on the road so soon. Even though it was pitch black and the van was meant to blend in with the night, there was always a chance we could get clocked and chased down once more. It wasn’t worth it. We decided to just camp out in the van in case the house wasn’t abandoned and filled with squatters. That was the plan, but not how the night commenced.

As we settled into the van preparing ourselves for night of worry filled slumber, a thump was heard on the side of the van. I sent one of the crewmate out to check out what the noise was. I told them to use a knife so as not to draw any attention with gun fire. They nodded before opening the back door and venturing out. After traversing the perimeter of the vehicle, they began to head back inside. While holding the door to shut it a scream belted into the dark empty night. We looked amongst one another, but no one seemed to be hurt, but someone was missing. That was when I saw it. I saw the body of the injured crewman being dragged to the house. What was a closed back door of the house was now open and whatever was dragging them hid with the shroud of darkness. We started to chase after them, but as soon as the body passed through the door it shut. Screams could be heard from inside, but within seconds, it was snuffed out.

We all started panicking. Half of us wanted to go in and get them. The other half wanted to take our chances on the road and get out. Unfortunately, we were stuck. The tires, at some point, where stuck in mud. This made no sense as there was no rain. The dirt from the road was so dry that it brought up clouds of dirt made dust when we first headed towards this house.

With no other option, we grabbed our supplies and made our way towards the house. The closer we got, the more dread filled us all. Some of us commenting how stupid this was and that it wasn’t worth it. It didn’t matter. Our feet marched on until we finally all arrived in front of the door.

Myself and one other braced ourselves on each side of the door. The other two spaced out and in front of the door. With a count of three fingers, I slowly reached my hand to the doorknob. It turned and the door creaked open. A chill invaded the air. My spine felt like it was shriveling to intense cold. I could tell everyone else was feeling this. Regardless, we marched on. Fear and hope were hand in hand.

Upon the flashlight making contact with the innards of this decayed home, the door closed itself. In an instant, the lights began to flicker and the creaking could be heard from every corner and crevice. Almost in rhythm. We all lost composure. The door was sealed though. There were some windows and furniture. When we tried to take a chair and smash a window open, it broke apart as if we made contact with plexiglass. These windows looked ages old, but somehow withstood not only a chair, but in an act of desperation, a bullet. Not even a scratch. The bullet didn’t even ricochet. It just fell. Like it was caught before contact.

While every one else was trying to figure what our next steps should be, I finally suggested that we move forward. It was clear we were stuck, but there may be another way out and our crewmate was still possibly alive. As much as I knew they wanted to protest, they all accepted my words. There was no turning back, we were here and we had to make due.

I offered to take lead. We made a diamond formation as we progressed through the house. We wanted our backs to be as covered as possible. It only took mere seconds for one person to be taken, we didn’t need to find out if it could be done again. The wallpaper, upon inspection, was torn apart by time and faded flowers decorated what remained. The floors wooden with a consistent pattern of planks meeting one another. The lights in the house were all attached to chandeliers that were missing some bulbs. Everything in this god forsaken place seemed aged. It had to be over 100 years old.

At last, we approached a set of stairs leading down to what could only be understood as the basement. There was a door, but it was wide open and a trail of blood led down to what I can only describe as a void. Even when shining the flashlights down the flight of stairs, it couldn’t penetrate. Whatever was down there would only be uncovered by a will to persist. No light would work. After taking some deep breathes and mustering up the courage, I, as well as the crew, began our descent.

We reached our destination down at the bottom of those stairs and what awaited was unexpected. We found ourselves walking past a doorframe and into the outdoors. It was as if we left the way we came in. Our van wasn’t there though and it was mid day. Not a cloud in the sky, but there was no sun. The sky wasn’t blue, but grey. Then we realized: the house. When we looked behind us horror filled our beings. There was no house, just a doorframe showing the stairs going up, and a deep dark. Once again, I flashed the light to see back up the way we came, but was met with a wall of black. I don’t know what it was, but somehow, we all felt this aversion to any thoughts of going back up. It was foreign to us. Like a compulsion to continue. By the time we realized that we had started walking away, upon realization and looking back, the door closed. We were stuck, all we could do was move forward with hearts heavy with regret. Regret of taking on the job. Regret of ever coming here.

A sense of terror slowly interweaving with curiosity takes hold of us. We proceed on as nothing awaits behind. We travel back towards where the dirt road would have led back to the main road, but it was gone. At the end of the dirt road was a hard cut line and on the other side of it was more grass and trees. This continued to baffle all of us as we tried to process what we were seeing. A voice called out to us. A oddly friendly voice. We all turned to find that right behind us by short distance, was a woman. They were dressed as if they were a flapper from the 1920s. We asked for who we were speaking to, but they didn’t answer to that. She looked over us before then saying “You aren’t supposed to be here”. As we asked for elaboration, but all she said in response was that this was a place in between. Puzzled, we all tried to ask more questions, but she turned and looking said simply stated “Follow me if you want to understand”. We didn’t really have any other options, so we did.

As we followed, we all could start to see other people from various different time periods. They didn’t seem like threats. They just seemed lost. After what seemed like tens of minutes, we reached a clearing where in the middle was a doorframe. Identical to the one before, but when I opened the door, it was stairs. Only they were going down. We looked to our guide, but her face was rid of emotion and only gestured down the stairs. So, we ventured further.

Once again, upon looking back, the door was shut. What was ahead of us this time was once again the outdoors, but the sky was an eerie faded yellow. The grass and trees were scorched. The air felt heavy. Every step we started to take felt like weights were wrapped around our ankles. In the midst of all of this we found our guide again facing back from us. This time, as we approached, she turned around to show her skin flayed and torn apart. Sinew could be seen under the torn flesh. It was a horrific sight that took us all a back. She stood still, analyzing us. Finally, she had spoke, but not without a new strange action. She pointed at two of the crewmate and uttered a single word. “Burn” she said with strained breath. In an instant I heard screaming. I looked and saw the pointed at crewmates begin to burn alive. Writhing on the ground in a waltz with agony. Then, in what defied reality, their charred bodies regained their untouched flesh. As if what we just didn’t happen. However, this was sort lived as they combusted yet again. Finally, our ghoulish guide spoke again “This is their punishment. An eternity in inferno”. We cried out asking why this was happening. No response. Instead she gestured us to follow her. We didn’t know what to do. Whatever this was that was happening was far beyond us. Maybe this is hell? Purgatory? Some other dimension? It didn’t matter. We were here, and we had to move on. We reluctantly followed yet again to another door. It was the same as before leading down once more to an unknown.

We looked back this time while descending and saw the guide close the door. A light was at the bottom and we flocked to it like moths to a flame. The other crewmate and myself find ourselves in what seemed like the convenience store. Why here? This was a question that rattled itself in our heads. We proceeded with caution as the door once again closed. Everything in the store looked normal. It was fully stocked. Florescent lights lined the ceiling. There was even a clerk. It wasn’t our clerk. The clerk that we had our run in with on the job. No. This person looked different. Like they weren’t a normal human being. They had characteristics, sure. Something was wrong. Finally, we approached the counter and it spoke “You’re finally here. I was wondering when you’d arrive.” Confused, I pressed questions asking where we were and why this was happening. To my surprise, I was answered accordingly. “You trespassed. This place is not meant for those who breath life. This is a place of holy hands and their unholy work” They stated clearly with an air of amusement. Before I could ask more questions, the clerk’s hand went up. “Your three acquaintances were not people are virtuous value and thus were tended to accordingly, as you saw. You two, on the other hand are different. This is not where you all belong, but a price has to be paid. Only one can leave. So choose.” They said. We looked at one another. We both were trying so hard to reason with ourselves and this creature. In the end, we knew this was then only way.

I felt responsible for this. If I hadn’t fought to survive in this way, maybe none of this wouldn’t have happened. After a tense standstill of uncertainty, I broke it stating that I would sacrifice myself. Saying that if I hadn’t accepted this job, we wouldn’t be here. There was protest from my crewmate, no, my friend, but in the end my mind was made. I looked over to the clerk stating that my decision. The clerk smiled and handed me my own gun, which was gone from my side. I took it, cocked it, and pressed the cold barrel against my temple. This was it. If I couldn’t make it out, at least someone could. They could have a better life and learn from this. I pulled the trigger. Nothing. Just a click was all there was.

All of the sudden, I heard clapping. It was none other than the clerk. They had a face that read impressed, but when they spoke the tone was that of a stone cold judge. “You are virtuous, however-” The clerk rose their hand and my friend was dragged into the ground by shadows and dragged out of the store and into the dark outside. The clerk gestured me towards the entrance. With no fight left in me, I follow their suggestion. The dark vanishes, and a world of ice takes it’s place. I look down and my friend is there, frozen just below the surface with a hand out of the ice. The look on their face the same terrified look they had when being dragged away. Looking out beyond is a sky filled with fire. Black and red flames that lie above the cold, unforgiving ice. Three towers of metal and flesh lie at the horizon. In a complete abandon of hope, I look back. The clerk walks next to me. They stop and then look directly at me and say one final word “Begone”.

I awake. Outside the house. Alone. The van left as it was. The only difference is that it’s day now. I look up and the house is still there. Menacing in it’s presence. Realizing that I’m no longer in the house, I go to the van. I grab supplies to burn it down, but when I tried to start the fire and destroy this accursed structure it doesn’t burn. Any attempts to light it aflame just extinguish. This house is beyond what I can understand. I sit by the van, exhausted. Replaying and processing everything that I had been through. Begone was the last thing that was said to me, and I finally decided to follow through. I left and didn’t look back.

Maybe this all was fate’s way of reminding me of my place. That trying to beat the system would only be met in folly. To maintain hope of something better is met with peril. To live is to die.