The Interstice

Four years ago, my brother was taken from me. Right in front of me.

I still remember that very day.

~~~~o0o0o0o0~~~~

It was cold, just entering the end of autumn. We were both just walking together, sharing each other’s company while walking our dogs. We were silent. I don’t know what he was thinking about, but I was envisioning drinking green apple cider, eating cheese-flavored popcorn, and watching a horror movie.

“What do you want for your birthday next week?” I remember asking. Roy smiled with a twisted quirk on his lips that spoke of sarcasm and mischief.

“Dunno. A joint?” he joked. I remember rolling my eyes.

“Not happening. Got another request?” Roy laughed, a deep bark of a sound.

“Sure. Maybe let’s go out to eat? Your treat, of course.” he jabbed.

“No shit. It’s your birthday. Why wouldn’t I-” but something cut me off. It cut us both off.

I don’t know how to explain it, but it felt like an Earthquake. But at the same time, it didn’t. No trees swayed from tremors, no ground rumble and rolled, no distant roar from rocks falling off the mountains. Nothing. But something was cracking.

It was the air. The literal air was cracking open like someone was tearing paper in half. But there was a static in the air, a metallic, crackling sound that accompanied the forming fissure.

“What the fuck is that?!” I heard Roy exclaim. It was difficult to hear him over the static.

The fissure started to grow larger, now exhaling a black light. There was a sudden silence, not even the sound of the river or the wind penetrated the dome of silence. And then I saw it.

It walked on two legs, like a human. But the legs bent at the knees in the wrong direction. And those legs were long, very long, and very thin. Like insect legs, but less joints. I stole a look at its feet. And they were small, deerlike hooves that held too many cloves. The said cloves each had a sharp, curved nail, a talon, at the tip. The creature’s feet looked far too small for such a tall, towering body. Following up, I saw what looked similar to a penis, but it was shaped wrong, too thin like its legs, and spiraled. I saw no testes in the crest of the things’ crotch. Was this thing a male?

The torso was also long and thin, tapering at what I think is its waist into a sharp-edged hourglass, with no curve or softness in the form. The waist was tiny, wasp-like, but so small that I could wrap one arm around it with ease. I reached the chest, noticing they were bare. I saw breasts, symmetrical and looked too large for such a thin body, but they weren’t overly large, near the size of Gala apples. There was a lack of teats on those breasts but held a tiny slit, almost as if their teats were inverted.

From painfully thin shoulders, the things’ arms were also long, close to the length of its calf. Its hands were thin and long, tapered like skinny candles. The nails were petite like they were treated with pedicured acrylics. Feminine nails. And then I finally saw the head.

“What the fuck is that...?” I muttered, steadily placing myself in front of my brother. Our dogs long since run off home.

The head was human-shaped. Human-like. The thing had large, anime large, eyes that seemed to absorb light., but eyes too large to seem fully human. They also had a mouth, red and bow-shaped, also human in appearance. The nose was small, near non-existent, but small and button-like, kind of like the nose on a cat, but a matching red as the lips. And Hair, but it wasn’t like any human or animal hair that I had ever seen.

The strands of hair were very thick, thick enough that I could count them individually from a distance. And they seemed to move, twitching like the very strands were alive. They moved as if they were feeling around the air and environment. Reminds me of catfish whiskers. But the hair was also long, draped down to their waist. I can see those ends twitching and prodding about, some even reaching out to us.

The thing smiled at us, and the mouth seemed to hold too many sharp teeth, too many curved teeth that were like a small dog’s. There were a lot of those teeth, all small. And then it took a step closer to us. All in all, the creature towered at the height of possibly twelve feet. I could feel dread beginning to form in my chest, like a ball of lead at freezing point.

“Get away!” I shouted. But I was confused. Why hadn’t my brother said anything?

“ꛈ ꛃꛎꛘ𖢧 ꛅꛈ𖢑. ꚽꛈꚴ𖤢 ꛅꛈ𖢑 𖢧𖣠 𖢑𖤢.” I flinched as the thing spoke. Its voice was warbled, flat, and soft while loud at the same time. It shook and resonated inside my head, as I can see, literally see the words it spoke in vivid detail inside my head.

“No! You can’t take him! You are not taking my brother!” I screamed while covering my ears from its voice. The thing scowled.

“ꚽꛈꚴ𖤢 ꛅꛈ𖢑 𖢧𖣠 𖢑𖤢, ꛎꛘ𖤀 ꛈ ꛃꛈꚳꚳ 𖢑ꛎ𖢉𖤢 ꚲ𖣠ꚶ 𖦪ꛈꛕꛅ ꔪ𖤢ꚲ𖣠ꛘ𖤀 ꛎꛘꚲ 𖤀𖦪𖤢ꛎ𖢑ꕷ.” The voice resonated, demanding.

“Fuck off! You are not taking him!” I shouted once more. The thing scowled again and raised its hand.

“ꚴ𖤢𖦪ꚲ ꛃ𖤢ꚳꚳ. ꛈ ꛃꛈꚳꚳ 𖢧ꛎ𖢉𖤢 ꛅꛈ𖢑 ꔪꚲ ꘘ𖣠𖦪ꛕ𖤢!” With its hand, the creature knocked me out of the way, nearly forcing me off the cliff that lined the river.

“Roy! Run! Run for it!” I screamed at my brother. But he didn’t budge. I then stared at my brother.

“Roy?” My brother was staring at the creature, his eyes were blank, dull. He held his body limp, relaxed like he was at peace with some deity. Or drugged. He didn’t move, didn’t flinch as the creature used its very thin hands to hoist my brother up like he was a cat.

“ꚲ𖣠ꚶ ꛎ𖦪𖤢 𖢑ꛈꛘ𖤢, ꛘ𖣠ꛃ. 𖢑ꚲ ꛤ𖤢𖢧.” The creature then cradled my brother to its long chest, rubbing his face near its’ breasts.

“Let him go! Don’t take him! Give me back my brother!!!” I was screaming, but my voice....it sounded so faint in the absolute silence. The creature turned and looked at me, smiling as I struggled to get my feet on the soft soil of the cliff. It then lifted one of its feminine fingers and pointed at me. A light, a light of a color I cannot describe, began to form at the tip of the finger. Something was humming, and the light shot at me like a beam. I screamed as the beam fractured the soil under my arms, making me fall and try to find my footing. I let out an animalistic snarl as I stared upwards at the thing.

IT then took steps towards me, light footsteps so shallow they didn’t leave an imprint in the earth. I watched it kneel at the lip of the cliff, just inches from me. I can smell the thing’s odor.

It was like ozone, burning ozone, and burning sugar. All blended in with something similar to rotting meat, and mold.

“ꚳꛈ𖢧𖢧ꚳ𖤢 ꘘ𖣠𖣠ꚳ. ꚲ𖣠ꚶ ꛕꛎꛘꛘ𖣠𖢧 ꕷ𖢧𖣠ꛤ 𖢑𖤢 ꘘ𖦪𖣠𖢑 𖢧ꛎ𖢉ꛈꛘꚽ 𖢑ꚲ ꛤ𖤢𖢧. ꚳ𖣠𖣠𖢉 ꛎ𖢧 ꚲ𖣠ꚶ, ꛎ ꚳꛈ𖢧𖢧ꚳ𖤢 ꛕ𖦪𖤢ꛎ𖢧ꚶ𖦪𖤢 𖣠ꘘ 𖦪𖤢𖤀 ꘘꚳ𖤢ꕷꛅ ꛎꛘ𖤀 ꛕꛎ𖦪ꔪ𖣠ꛘ. ꛃꛅꛎ𖢧 𖤀𖣠 ꚲ𖣠ꚶ 𖢧ꛅꛈꛘ𖢉 ꚲ𖣠ꚶ ꛕꛎꛘ 𖤀𖣠 𖢧𖣠 𖣠ꛘ𖤢 ꛎꕷ 𖢑ꛎꚽꛘꛈꘘꛈꛕ𖤢ꛘ𖢧 ꛎꕷ ꛈ?” it was smiling, baring all too many of its tiny teeth at me.

“Give. Me. Back. My brother!” I gritted out. The creature then laughed, a sound like shattering glass, and screeching train brakes. Then with barely any effort, it pushed me over the edge and into the river.

When I came to, someone was pulling me onto the shore, already stripping my body free of my freezing clothes. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t feel anything but the coldness, and a white-hot burning from my right eye.

~~~~o0o0o0o0~~~~

For four years, no one listened to me. For four years, doctors, family members, anyone, everyone, all told me that I envisioned the abduction, to cope with the loss of my brother disappearing. But I knew the truth.

Since that thing pushed me over, I can see it. I could see it laughing as it toyed and played with my brother like he was nothing but a prized pet.

The pain I felt in my eye that day? It turned my right eye all black. The sclera, and the iris, are all now pitch black. It was darker than black. If I must, my eye turned Vanta black. But I can see, everything.

I see the creature mocking me, through cracks in mirrors, through the sidewalk, even in the stones and concrete used for buildings. It knows I can see it. It taunts me.

So, I keep looking into the cracks, catching glimpses of my brother, his dark, copper skin paling to a pale almond milk, like mine. His body is thinning, growing far too thin and bony. That creature is killing my brother. And It is making me watch.

But now, after four fucking years, I found a way to enter the fissure. Better yet, I found a way to find a fissure and to predict where one will show up. It took four years, but I’m about to get my brother back.

Standing by my side, was not a soldier, or a relative, but mine and my brother’s dogs. Both our dogs were getting old, Bear was near nine now. He needs his master.

With my questing, I was able to predict and plan where the next fissure would show up. To my luck, the next fissure was going to show up soon. In the same place.

It took a lot of secrecy, a hell of a lot of secrecy, but was able to buy a knife. It was moon-shaped, like a perfect crescent, and made of bone. Through my Vanta black eye, I knew that the creature could not handle bone. Any type of bone.

Over the years, I was able to gain some access into the fissure, just enough to throw a small object in. I threw in the remnants of a chew bone from the dogs. It grazed the creature, making it scream in pain. I watched as the bone chipped on the edge of the mild tear of reality and flaked onto the creature. The chipped flakes fell and left instant pus-filled boils, and the scent of hot metal and burning rubber. It was the smell of the creature’s pain.

Now here I am, Armed with a pair of dogs and a bone knife. Through my eye, I saw the fissure form.

I felt the world quake, but no movement around. I saw the crack forming, again, like paper being torn in half, accompanied by the static, crackling metallic sound.

Bear started to snarl by my side, along with Bel. The fissure grew, wider and wider, emitting that bright, black light.

I used my Vanta black eye to see. And the fissure was empty. There was nothing on the other side, nothing bipedal. Good.

“Bear, Bel. Let’s go.” I straightened my back and approached the fissure. The crack was weak, it wasn’t going to last long. Once I enter it, I might never return. The dogs whined. I sighed and released the leashes. Bel and Bear refused to go near the fissure, but that was okay. Taking out a prewritten note, I knelt and hugged the dogs, all while tying the note to Bel’s collar. The heeler whined. He knew what I was going to do.

“Go find mama. Home, Bel. Home.” With the command, Bel shot off back to our home, Bear steadily behind him. I stood and faced the fissure. It was already noticeably smaller.

“I’m coming Roy.” I took a deep breath and began to walk into the fissure, feeling the physical touch of the light.

Fuck, it felt viscous. It stuck to my skin as I walked on in. Like muddling through pudding; oily, slimy pudding.

The fissure was longer than I thought, a tunnel. I was walking through a tunnel of slimy light. And the devoid of scent was unnerving. Even a clean room has a scent. An empty room has a scent. But there was nothing. Absolute nothing. Not even the scent of my own body odor.

It felt like I was walking for several hours, maybe days when I finally found the end of the fissure/tunnel.

Walking through, I gasped as I was bombarded with scents. Smells I cannot place. I can't tell if they are good aromas or rancid ones. The black light fizzled away, revealing pillars of rocks that looked like raw flesh, a sky that was a shifting, mottled swirl of colors I could not describe. Colors I have never seen before. I can see creatures; creatures similar to the one that took my brother, walking about, naked and uncaring.

I saw insectoid beings walking on four legs, their chest knobby and spiny with too human faces on what I hoped were their heads. I saw creatures of pure fur, rolling about without legs, limbs, and sound. And I saw humans.

Human beings that are being carried like cats, humans crying as several creatures molest their bodies. Each human had dull eyes like they were trapped in a drug haze. I saw humans lay limp as some creatures cut lines into their flesh, tasting their blood with tube-like tongues. My stomach recoiled and rolled as I also saw creatures pinning humans to the flesh stone walls and benches of silk-looking reeds, raping their anuses, their mouths, swallowing spent semen and even tears of pain cascading from their dull eyes.

This was hell. I am in a literal Hell.

“I’m coming Roy. I’m coming.” Fighting down my disgust and horror, I began my journey.

I was going to bring my brother home. I have to.

Or else I will never forgive myself.