Gray Creature Boy Falls
Where suddenly the ground opened up in front of me, I realized that it was the edge of a cliff. The drop seemed a two thousand foot distance from the top to the bottom. Everywhere was gray and some kind of storm was brewing. I was standing close to the edge and I shifted through the air and floated close to the cliff wall as I looked upon it, up and down.
A grayish layer of mist shrouded the ground like a haunting impedance. There was something already present but it could not be seen. As I dangled there, surveying the surface, I couldn't make out anything because I was still too far up to distinguish any movement on the ground. All I could see was a thick fog and some kind of rock protruding from the ground that ran a fourth of the way beside the cliff wall. It splintered out from the cliff wall and rose out separately, leaving a gap between it and the side of the massive cliff.
I returned my gaze to the top of the cliff where I stood close to the edge. I saw something or someone. I couldn't tell what I was seeing because it was a blur. I walked towards the figure, my hand extended because the figure stood dangerously close and I knew, whatever it was, didn't belong there and could fall unless it was as I was. An observer. As I neared I could see it was like a person, but not human. With almost the body of a twelve year old boy, the figure had a gray transparent skin tone and very dark hair. The eyes were abnormally big and round. It seemed to have a creature-like stature, for its unusual, uncanny way to blend in with the landscape I was seeing below. I paused and shook off a chill so icy that I sensed that I froze solid. Suddenly the strange being turned and plunged down the cliff. I could not tell if it was a move of self-destruction or if the sudden awareness of my presence made the creature boy do this. I ran over to the place he had stood and looked down.
The fall, it seemed, took much less time than normal for the fact that the cliff was very high up and where the creature boy had struck was over a thousand feet below. Everything being so gray and very little light for the immense cloud cover, I could still see the red streams of blood almost sparkle against the protruding rock that he had landed on. Having landed on his back, and because the rock surface on which was struck was smooth and just barely the width and length of the creature boy himself, I could see that from the force of the fall, the spidery arms were completely thrown out from their sockets. Red streams trickled down from each side to the ground. I choked back tears in horror, and wondered why this would be.
On the ground, on either side of the rock formation, lay each arm. I was mortified and I cried out. I felt I was in a state of shock because for a moment it came to me that he fell to let blood flow to the ground because something was just waiting for the scent. The gray creature boy fell as an offering of death it seemed. I looked upon the face and knew it was too late to save him.
He seemed so fragile and near death when he stood atop the cliff but I could not understand why he was so startled as to choose to fly over the edge so quickly. I saw that his eyes were still open, almost completely black except for a small lining of white around the iris. It looked demonic but not in a scary, twisted sense. In a way that appeared to be the work of demons, but not a demon within or of itself. As I looked upon the tragic face it almost seemed that it was still alive. I cringed and thought if it is still alive it must be suffering beyond comprehension. The face so cold and lifeless, so void of any breath of light, like a mirrored reflection of the mist that surrounded the foot of the cliff. Coldly there came a sinking sense of pain and despair from below the cliff. I went over the side, hoping that by some unseen miracle that there was something I could do.
I floated there above the figure and peered deep into the face and saw a slight movement. To my horror it did seem that it was still alive but barely hanging on to its last breath for whatever reason that I could not fathom. I spoke to this boy creature and told him that I would save him and make him whole again. I couldn't take it anymore and I drifted down towards the bottom of the cliff to find some way out of the place, this area of doom.
Now closer to the ground, in the thick of the mist, I could see the ground for the first time. The soil layer was more like clay, of gray and dull brown colors with so much moisture that it almost had a muddy texture. Dead, twisted trees scattered the landscape. Small hills and clay-like piles were here and there. I froze and knew the small grayish piles were hiding something grim beneath. Through the mist I saw a little pathway, like a road paved by dry dirt and rocks.
Almost immediately rescue vehicles came speeding through the dense fog. There were ambulances, fire trucks and even a few army jeeps, coming to rescue the gray creature boy. I watched from beneath the trees and stayed about two or three feet off the ground. Suddenly out of underground spores, holes and cracks in the ground where the grayish piles had begun to open, there came an army of scorpions. Huge, black menacing scorpions. I looked toward a fire truck that was ready to stop. I knew that if the scorpions didn't puncture the tires that they would wait until someone got out of one of their vehicles to strike and devour them. The blood from the creature boy was well absorbed into the ground at this point and the scorpions were hunting for more blood. I hovered above the floor of the great cliff but had somehow moved further away from it and found I was almost a half mile from it now. I felt the uttermost urge to flee. I looked as more scorpions rushed out from the ground.
They were fiercely hungry.
I awoke.
Circa 1997
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