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The Haunted world

Fearing a lifeless world despite our attempts to create one.

By Jacob BrayPublished 3 years ago 10 min read
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Through her wet nose she inhales the cold air, freezing the lungs and throat trying not to dry cough in the night time chill. The edges of her ears are freezing just as much as the tips of her fingers that are hanging out of her fingerless gloves, clutching her locket. Hannah lays curled up, hidden under a large cloak that is sprawled out in the middle of a field.

With the ugly sounds of the moans from the horrors flying overhead, she hopes that she is not spotted.

In the glooming light of the quarter moon, the disfigured, translucent ghosts with faces warped like surreal humanoid figures from a nightmarish dream, fly with their outstretched arms and legs. Their limbs bend from joints that are not at all proportioned to that of any human, poking out from the rags and clothing that hang off them like ragdolls. If it wasn’t for their bellowing vocals, they would sail as quietly as clouds.

As long as she stays covered and quiet, Hannah will be invisible to the eyes of these monstrosities that glide gently above her.

When the morning breaks open the night sky, they’ll be sucked back to where they had come from. This is how Hannah has been tracking them. Following them all as they become intertwined streams of light being dragged from her home in America, to the central tablelands of NSW in Australia.

It all happened 2 years ago. Suddenly and unexpectedly. Like a dust cloud, it took less than a week for those horrible creatures to encase the world in gloom and despair. Immediately they were drawn to any power source like some kind of grotesque swarm of mosquitoes and sucked the life out of power plants, car engines, anything that had some kind of artificial life.

During the mid summer season, wearing her cargo shorts, a shirt and carrying her backpack, Hannah was riding her bike from university at 9pm. Hearing the awful cries of those beings passing above her, through the dazzling lit up streets of New York city, everyone began scattering. Gently the lights blacked out across the city. Hannah’s stomach swirled like the creatures above as they began circling the people below them. As the world becomes quiet and dark, the eerie howling and screeches of those ghosts above grow louder and they begin to crash down to Earth. Their empty eyes lock onto those scrambling in the streets.

Riding on instinct, Hannah was pedaling hard. Across sidewalks, down lanes, hearing the cries and screams of the people around her… Taking a sharp turn, she runs into a man trying to flee. Hannah and her bike go flying and she rolls up against a tree on the outskirts of central park. Belly down and with grazes on her elbows she brushes her hair away from her face and looks up toward the man. He is crawling furiously, trying to get to his feet but as swift and agile as eagles swooping on their prey, several ghosts pass through him, emptying the life out of the man who simply falls to the ground.

Eyes wide open, Hannah runs deep into the darkness of the park, not once looking back.

Over time, like others she would learn that the ghosts would haunt man made places.They would seek out only humans and leave other creatures alone. People abandoned towns and cities to live with mother nature. The night skies were always patrolled by the ghosts above and people still had to hide from plain sight. Like a child, the safety of a blanket was enough to shield the fragile body from being seen. Encampments soon popped up at campsites over the country. During the day, generators worked hard for these places. At night all was quiet.

However, just as the horrors of the dead at night plagued many, the horrors of humanity grew like cancer in the form of gangs and faux communities. For a young, attractive woman like Hannah, often there were expectations of her from men. Within these communities and the gangs that chased the vulnerable, were met with no remorse from the muzzle of her guns. She was strong willed with a heart of gold. She was studying humanitarianism, wanting to do something good for the world. Her father however, was her polar opposite, believing in the honesty of guns and that the world would only be free to those who conquered it. His military conditioning had ingrained into Hannah at a young age and sadly for her, it was what protected her from the very world that she wanted to save. The world that she still wishes to save.

As a child, Hannah had the best mother a girl could ask for. Mother would make the family travel every summer to a new state and do the ‘touristy thing’ as Hannah’s father would put it. She would reveal the world as though every mountain, every star, every flower, the colours of the world, the warm sun, cool winds… Everything was to behold in awe and excitement. The world was magical. She showed her family how to momentarily feel the life of any scene they found themselves in.

It was this magical spirit that both Hannah and her father loved about her. Hannah would appreciate how she could coat anything with fantasy and make you feel like you belonged in a world full of adventure.

Hannah’s mother died because of a robbery gone wrong. Full of fear but needing the money, the robber was questioning himself, hesitant with his actions. Mother stepped forward asking if he was okay. The clap of the gun firing smacked her in the belly. mothers warm hand left Hannah’s, as she began clenching the wound while she fell. The robber cursed, apologized sharply and fled.

Mother lasted for only several days after, insisting Hannah to never judge those who were reckless, as they simply do not know any better ways at the time. She hoped the robber would understand his actions and change for the better. Such an admirable human being. Mother would give Hannah a locket on the day she passed away. A heart shaped locket that had their family photo of a fun time they all had at a fast food restaurant. A selfie capturing one of those happiest moments anybody could have with their parents, a brief moment, but one filled with the deepest feelings of pure happiness.

Hannah’s father became emotionally silent after mothers death and would handle Hannah like he was training a soldier for war. Hannah grew frustrated being shown how to handle a gun and where to shoot, how to survive on her own. Men would do her harm was the idea that father was driving into her head and Hannah’s life was no longer ‘normal’ with intimidated boyfriends. Friends would be kids doing foolish things that Hannah was never allowed to do.

Father wasn’t angry at the world, he simply grew to fear it and what it could do to his daughter. Hannah could see this, though despite understanding her fathers intentions, out of teenage angst, she would leave at age 16. They never talked since.

She hopes he is surviving just like he taught her.

Hannah navigated her way through different countries and different seas. The sounds of the different birds and animals brought her all kinds of intense emotional experiences that could never be explained.The skies at night, when given the chance to peer at them, were of luminescent colors of purple, orange and blue. Something you’d expect from the Aurora borealis but it was everywhere. The people she met were sometimes welcoming, other times aggressive. Though, using the skills given to her by her father and the mindset from her mother, she was able to instill a glint of hope and courage to many along the way. They were the remains of a dying species against something they could not fight with brute force or science or whatever humans use to combat evil.

Hannah finally arrives in Australia 2 years later. The atmosphere is far different from any country she had passed on her travels. It was full of emptiness. Perhaps that was her humanity not seeing another person. In the empty streets of Sydney, she knew she’d have to find somewhere safe and found a nice little park to settle in for the night. It was the first time spending a night in a city since New York. Through her cloak Hannah could see the waves of purple and deep blue clouds above. And like fish in the ocean, the ghosts gently pass by the buildings without a care in the world. It would almost seem beautiful if it weren’t for the hungry haunted moans echoing down the quiet streets lined with the lifeless megalithic buildings, reaching up toward the wonderful colours above.

Weeks past and Hannah is lying in the field at night. Clutching her locket, the chill is freezing her lungs and she knows she is close now. Under the quarter moon with the usual groans from above, she slowly falls asleep.

The midday sunshine wakes her from her heavy slumber, half of the day has already passed. Sluggishly she continues on her way through the fields. As the sun descends, she finds herself in the shadow of a small hill. Climbing the hill the evening rays of light blind her. Using her hand to cut out the glare, she looks down. Hannah gasps.

At the bottom of the hill, Hannah could see something small sitting on a large stone.

“Bwarg?”

It’s eyes are drawn to Hannah.

Clouds cover the sun that sits on the horizon and Hannah’s heart races as her fingers quickly feel for her gun and swings it out in front of her, aiming directly at that… Thing. With long, thin limbs, big greenish triangle ears, dark yellow body and small black disk for eyes, the little goblin began to glow. One ghost, two ghosts, suddenly a stream of ghosts are pulled out of the goblin and up into the air, spiralling around above Hannah and the Goblin. The blue sky was turning pink and purple.

Her hands trembled. This was it. This was the source of the horrors that preyed upon the world and she was full of so much fear. It was her responsibility to end this, representing humanity and it’s survival. All she needed to do was pull the trigger...

“Bwarg?”

That curious sound. The goblin sat staring at Hannah innocently. It then hopped off the stone and picked a white flower from the ground. There were many flowers that surrounded them, Hannah didn’t notice just how full of wildflowers the field was. Like sprinkles on a landscape cake. It was… magical. With her finger on the trigger, Hannah began to realize something familiar as she looked down at her gun. She was representing humanity, out of fear.

The goblin made its way to Hannah, offering her the flower. What did it want? What was it doing with the ghosts?

She knelt down and put the gun on the ground. She accepted the flower with one hand and the Goblin took her free hand. It felt so warm. Warm like Mothers hand. The Goblin looked up, followed by Hannah, both watching the haunters of the night above them woosh quickly into a whirlpool of light before being sucked right back into the goblin who closed its eyes tightly shut, wanting to hold them deeply inside.

Hannah turned her gaze to the goblins face. Its eyes slowly opened and like a flicker book, Hannah suddenly began witnessing humanity fleeing the lifeless, man made lands to find refuge in the natural world. The ghosts were the fears of humanity, but also their saviors. Hannah shook her head and took one more look at the goblin who fell into a pile of white glowing dust and flew straight into the starry night above. The world was haunted, no more.

supernatural
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