Scarlet Reign: Story Within a Story

Ok, not that supply and demand is actually "demanding" it, here is a small supply from Scarlet Reign. Man that was corny. Did I mention it's 1 am here and three hours past my bed time? I'm also tipsy on two Kahlua and Cremes' 

The following is from a scene with Daniel and Kate shortly after Daniel arrives back home in Newcastle to take care of his father's "estate". Kate finds Daniel on the back porch of his father's home doing a little writing. 

“Hey best friend.” I say.

            “Hey yourself.” She sits close and smiles. “Is this new stuff?” She gathers a few papers that lay on the table.

            “Sort of. A little mystery I tinker with over the years.”

           

            Her irises shrank, regaining focus. The purple- grey haze that was her torment raged behind her narrowing pupils. Emily Wichum’s apparition floated through the trees and across the quad. Kate had never believed in the supernatural; this night would challenge her perceptions of such things.

            She followed Emily across the quad and down the steps of the packing warehouse of an old sugar factory. Musty, stagnant aromas excreted from the damp cardboard strewn about the shadows of the place. She slowly made her way through the corridor, keeping aware of slight movements along the edges of her sight. Far ahead an image slowly materialized through the darkness. A large metal box inset into the concrete wall; the metal mesh gate across the opening bent around an object protruding from it. 

As her eyes strained to focus, another image became more apparent. It appeared to be a polyester smock hanging from a hook on the wall. It hovered barely two feet off the floor, oddly moving like a sheet in the wind. There was no breeze here. A strange euphoric, light headed feeling took hold of her. The smock turned to face her then floated away through two closed double doors on the east side of the room.

Kate paused for a moment to calm herself. Her eyes adjusted further to the poor lighting and the metal box took on more shape, the shape of a corrugated box crusher. She could make out a shoe on the end of a protruding limb. The leg bent unnaturally at the shin and ran underneath the huge metal plunger. Fresh crimson liquid oozed down the lower portion of the gate washing over teeth and bone fragments that were scattered on the floor.

“Good lord!” she said covering her nose from the stench. “This person was crushed alive.”

The skull had imploded in such a manner that the eyeballs forced from the sockets. Kate stumbled, tripping over her own feet; she fell backward, passing through an eerie gray mist that hovered in the air. Along the wall lay a small pendant. It was in the shape of a name, a name she knew. It was Lisa’s.

Scarlet Reign

By Daniel Fallon

“Daniel?” Kate’s tone of surprise blends with crinkling paper.

“It’s only a first draft. It’s not supposed to be good yet.” I say.

“It’s not that. Your writing has always been beautiful…” She sighed. “This just isn’t you. I’ve never known you to have a morbid side.”

I hope you enjoy! Thank you for visiting! I really do appreciate all of you for stopping in to my corner of the net.