Underworld (Dark Passage) (2 page)
Read Underworld (Dark Passage) Online
Authors: M.L. Woolley
The room is sultry and it feels like I am inside a tomb.
I settle into the deep cushioned sofa, close my eyes
and let my mind wander. It’s tempting to drift off to
sleep but doing so means the risk of dreaming. The
dreams usually start the same but there are variations
with each one. They start with a misty fog, and I find
myself walking into some unknown place. There are
twists and turns as I walk through uncertain terrain,
and suddenly, the fog lifts and I am approaching a
village. The sun is beaming down on cypress trees
that grow adjacent to a field of lavender. The purple
heads sway softly in the breeze and the sweet scent of
lavender captivates my senses. The hills roll gently
and vineyards dot the horizon. Vines, heavy with
grapes can be seen for as far as the eye can see.
When I reach the city I am delighted with what I see.
It is as though I have stepped back in time. There are
cobblestone streets with rows of small, ornate houses.
They have flower boxes hanging from window sills.
They are filled with colorful nasturtiums with trailing
vines that wind around the small terraces. Narrow
stairwells wind up to rustic wooden doors and lines of
fresh laundry is drying on clothes lines.
I make my way down narrow alleys that converge on
dusty streets. The streets make their way around a
labyrinth of stone houses and small businesses. I
expect to see friendly faces, and children playing, but
the place seems like a graveyard. I enter one of the
hovels, and on the elaborately carved table, is a large
book. The pages are turning by some unknown force.
There is a glow emitted from it and I have the
impression that the book is alive. I make my way
toward it but it’s just out of reach. I exit the home and
start to walk along the small shops.
Baked goods are displayed in the window of a bakery
and the smell of warm bread hangs in the air. The
village is obviously occupied but not a single person
can be seen. In fact there is no sign of life- not even a
stray cat.
As I walk along, enjoying the quaint village sights,
the sun is covered by a dark cloud. I look up and
notice that the sky has not one but several dark clouds
forming. As I watch the clouds grow in size and
intensity I can hear the whooshing of wings. The
clouds are coming closer but they are not storm
clouds. Advancing toward the village are hundreds of
winged creatures.
The sleepy village comes to life and villagers emerge
from hiding places as chaos erupts. Villagers are
running as hooded figures ransack homes. Blood
curdling screams come from every direction and red
blood seeps onto the cobblestone streets. The smell
of fresh bread is overtaken by the metallic odor of
blood.
Then, from nowhere, a young woman appears and the
world seems to stand still. The girl is slashing at the
hooded figures and the bloodshed is immense. The
bloodcurdling screams shake me to the core but I am
a mere observer looking through a window of time.
I am looking into a demonic netherworld. The girl is a
mere shadow of myself, in some other place, that I
don’t remember. My counterpart fights until her
strength is almost drained. As she falls to the ground
there is a light and a smile cuts through the darkness.
My heart races as a man appears at her side. I know
his face and his eyes hold all the answers. Longing
wells up inside me to be next to him and it is at this
point that I always wake up in a cold sweat.
I know. I know. The whole thing sounds crazy right?
The most-messed up part is that it’s probably
something that really happened. It’s not that I have a
rock-solid reputation for being the most-sane person
but this is over the top-even for me. Not only is my
real life challenging but my dream world is one giant
mess.
I resist the overwhelming urge to go back to sleep.
Taking a deep breath I glance around the room.
Everyone is at the big table playing cards. It seems so
familiar, as though they are out at their favorite
restaurant having a glass of wine and swapping the
latest gossip. I think about how different I am now,
than I was just a year ago. The gritty reality of my life
snaps me back to the present and my head is reeling.
Change comes, as the night turns to morning, whether
we’re ready for it or not.
I could feel eyes on me and heard footsteps
approaching. Jen must have sensed something was
bothering me and came over and sat beside me on the
sofa.
Once upon a time, two little girls, best friends, took
an oath of loyalty. Jen’s voice had always been the
voice of reason-yet- somehow she seems naïve about
how things really are now. She had maintained her
true self despite the hell she had lived in for the past
few years. We had promised to always help each
other, even when the weight of our problems pushed
us to the breaking point. I just can’t put the ghosts of
my past onto her right now. She finally has a slice of
happiness with Bill and it’s time for me to go it alone.
I want to protect her, as she had done for me when we
were kids. That impulse ran deeper than our oath and
I would not smother her with my problems.
I take a deep breath and smile at Jen
. “Not unless you
know where I can get some shopping therapy”-
The rest of my sentence is drowned out by laughter.
We both looked over at the people sitting around the
table playing cards. Candles flicker on the ceiling
and the gloom of the cave seems almost pleasant.
There are snorts of laughter filling the room.
Lisa is telling Bill that he is cheating and that she
wants justice. She is laughing so hard she can’t keep
a straight face. Her face beams as she slaps her cards
down on the table. Not the first time Lisa has created
a ruse to win a game.
I only stare at her through the dim light. Most people
don’t go as far as Lisa in indulging selfishness. Its
infuriating to me to that Lisa could rip someone’s life
apart, leave them for dead and not have a thought of
anyone but herself. I could only stare at her as my
jawclenched and rage boiled my blood. I’m not
surprised by the hateful thoughts that run through my
mind. Yeah, I know. She’s not worth my time.
Lisa is someone who had a great zest for life and an
unprecedented sense of humor. She is extremely
sociable and always the life of the party. Even here,
she stands out from the crowd. She is smart and sexy,
with a great face and genes that any girl would kill to
have. Lisa has it going on every which way. My
temper burns like a new tattoo and I fight the impulse
to tell her to shut up. Jen had made me promise to not
get into it with her so I say nothing.
Lisa is subtle in how she screws people over. She is
able to collect friends like some people collect books
and can get them to do most anything for her. She
always preferred weird guys like David who had
money, and then dumped them, after she had what
she wanted. Strange as he was, Lisa seemed to care
about him, in her own way. I try and imagine, for a
moment, what it must be like to be inside her head.
What thoughts fill her day and what dreams does she
have? I can’t begin to imagine. It crosses my mind
that beneath the cool exterior is a girl afraid of what
the future holds. She is just as afraid as the rest of us
but hides it well.
My mind is reeling and I feel dizzy. Jen grabs my
hand so I don’t fall and I can sense the presence of
spirits. I close my eyes and try to clear the darkness
that is gathering inside my mind. Something takes a
hold of my mind and I am held hostage. I struggle
against the entity inside my head but it is strong and
is taking me someplace I don’t want to go.
I am transported to a dark place with the faint light of
fire in the background. I don’t have to wait long
before my eyes adjust to the darkness. I glimpse
David immediately. His face is streaked with blood
and his eyes are half closed. His arm had a savage
cut, and even from a distance I can see snapped fibers
and ruptured veins beneath the torn flesh. In the dim
light I can see someone walking towards him.
It has a hideous face sadistic smile and is clearly a
demon. There is a red hot piece of iron in its hand and
the shaft is pressed against David’s thigh. His skin
sizzles and pops from the heat and the sweetly sick
smell of human flesh fills my mind. David recoils
from the iron and his face twists in agony. His eyes
are pleading for mercy and he is helpless to escape
the torment.I call out his name but he can’t hear my
voice. To my surprise the demon turns as though it
can hear my voice. A faint smile forms on its lips and
it grows into a wide grin. It turns around fully and
whispers to me. “I know you watch from the other
side Ivy. We will meet soon and you will know the
torture without death”. With that, the entity released
my mind and I am back.
Had it not been for Jen holding onto me, I would have
collapsed on the floor, as the whole room whirls
around me. My eyes are burning and I am stifling the
screams that are forming in my throat
David.
I catch a glimpse of Lisa knocking her chair over as
she gets up. She is at my side in an instant and I lose
my train of thought as she peppers me with questions.
What about David? What did you see”?
I don’t want to hear Lisa and push the sound of her
droning out of my mind. After a few minutes I can’t
take her mouth anymore.“Would you just shut up for
a minute? I said. Her face fell and she looked
shocked. She reminded me of an angry pit bull and I
half expected her to show her teeth.
upset”? Said Jen
Jen stood between Lisa and me and she gave Lisa a
go to the devil
look. Jen always lightened and
brightened the atmosphere with her no nonsense
approach to problems. Jen has a temper and she has
no patience for Lisa. She only toleratesher for Bill’s
sake.
I have never encountered anything as horrible as what
I had just seen and felt ill prepared to deal with it. Its
hell to know small parts about some event but not
knowing for certain what’s really coming. Since I was
4 years old I haveseen things that don’t belong in the
natural world. It’s been cool at times but I have to
take the bad with the good. The hardest part is
coming to terms that my supernatural gifts have only
thus far served to make my life more difficult. I hold
onto the hope that someday there will be a benefit.
I don’t know exa
ctly how long it takes me to collect
my thoughts but the next thing I know we are walking
over to the table. To my surprise, Lisa brings me a
cup of coffee. She sits just across the table from me
without saying a word. After a few sips of coffee I
recall what happened. It’s difficult to get the story
out in a coherent flow with Lisa ready to pounce at
any moment. Jen gave me an apologetic look and let
out a sigh. It takes most of my concentration to
ignore Lisa’s gaze.
“I was taken into the realm of the dead. It’s
impossible to say where I started but there was a
murky mist that I passed through. Once the mist
cleared, I was in a swampy area, and water was all
around me. It opened up and there were clusters of
trees off to one side that turned into an expansive
forest. At the edge of the forest was a cave that led
to an underground cavern. Inside the cavern was a
lake of fire and behind the lake was a camp of sorts.
quiet. “I saw David there. I think he is alive”.
Lisa was instantly beside me and leaned down close
to my face. She put her hand on my shoulder and
squeezed hard. Ididn’t flinch and met Lisa’s
searching eyes. There was nothing I needed to say as
my eyes held the horror of what I had seen.
The hot tears Lisa been holding back rolled down her
face and there was a terrible pain in the pit of her
stomach. Lisa’s legs betrayed her and she collapsed to
the floor. She felt as though she couldn’t catch her
breath and the sobs came hard. Lisa hated herself for
what she had done to David. When he needed her
most she walked away and left him to sacrifice his
life for her own. She realized after he was gone that
she had thrown away the most precious thing in her
life.
Lisa put her hands over her ears as her thoughts cut
into her mind like arrows. Images of David flashed
across her mind. She remembered the night he took
her body and pressed her hard against the wall. She
had stiffened and protested but he held her tightly as
though to never let go. The weight of his body
crushed her and she felt suddenly awakened. Passion
was ignited and it was as though they had become
one. He possessed her, almost savagely and tore
down all the barriers in her mind. She was vulnerable
to him. He had seen deep into her being and accepted
her for what she was. To be loved when there is
nothing in it for the other person but the hope, that
maybe someday, they could be loved.
Nothing terrified Lisa more than losing the only one
who made her life worth living. He was the first
thought in her head when she got up in the morning
and the last thing she thought of when she went to
bed at night.
Lisa shivered as she pushed her body up from the
floor. Her eyes had a glazed look in them and she
walked to her room trying to hold back the sobs that
ripped through her body.
Now it was time for Lisa to take some chances. It
meant closing her eyes, leaping into the void and
facing the horror on the other side. Nightmares had
plagued her and she had heard screams of dying
people in immense pain. Their eyes were pleading
for someone to help them as flesh fell from their
bones. Smoke surged around the charred remains of
bodies. The hungry flames glowed red hot in the
darkness of the night. In the shadow of the ghoulish
light she saw David. He was looking at her with
brooding eyes and she could sense what he was
feeling.