Page 10 of Fallen Thorns
ChapterFour
Death is such an odd term. We see it all around us every day, and yet the concept still terrifies us. I used to spend many a night pondering the theory of life; what existed beyondeverything. Is there really a place we go to when we die? Or do we simply cease to exist? Just like that. Everything we’ve done, the people we’ve met, the places we’ve been — none of it matters in the end because even if there was some plane beyond life where our souls float around in perfect harmony, no one has ever been able to prove it for certain.
As it turns out, your life doesn’t flash before your eyes when you draw your last breath. In fact, it’s the most uneventful last few seconds you will ever experience. There’s no time for regrets or worries. No happy memories or smiling faces or comforting embraces with those you love.
It’s just really, really cold.
I awoke, sitting upright in what appeared to be a battered, leather armchair. Something you see in the corner of the ‘haunted’ rooms in stately homes. An itchy tartan blanket rested across my shoulders, smelling of tobacco and old people. I had absolutely no idea where I was. My overwhelmed senses affirmed this was not a dream or a hallucination. My head throbbed as if I’d been dangling upside down for hours, my skull seconds away from exploding and limbs completely numb.
As the haze began to clear, I took in my surroundings. I was in a dungeon of some sort — no, just a cellar.
The room was quite large, with sandstone pillars holding up the low ceiling. A misty slit of sunlight emerged from the corner of the room. There were, as I came to see a few moments later, other furnishings in the room too: a bookshelf, two in fact, packed with nondescript hardback spines and empty photo frames, a cracked, porcelain sink fixed straight into the wall, and to my right, a bed. A four-poster bed with maroon drapes tied to each post.Where am I?
I was trying to recall my last thoughts before I…fainted? Fell asleep? Was I dreaming?Nothing sprung to mind. It felt like a dream though, I didn’t feelalive. My body feltwrong.Like in nightmares when you try to run but your legs don’t work, or during sleep paralysis (which I unfortunately experienced a lot) when you believe you are strong enough to turn your head or lift an arm but all you feel is a phantom strain. I couldn’t feel my toes, or any part of my body for that matter. So, naturally, I panicked. At this point, my heart would usually try to force its way out of my ribcage, yet I felt nothing. Not even a slight beat.Wake up, Arlo.
Hinges squealed, and before I had a chance to find the source, shuffled footsteps followed and a tall figure appeared to my left, obscured by the shadows.
“Oh, thank the skies! The kid’s finally awake,” spoke the shadow in a rather expressive voice. “Mars, you actually did it! I didn’t think he would wake up, but you did it. You brought him back.”
A sleep paralysis demon was my first conclusion. But then my limbs started to tingle, and I could wiggle my fingers, yet the figure remained.
“Of course I did it, Casper. Happy birthday! You doubt me too much,” spoke another, slightly higher-pitched voice and a second, smaller figure formed in the dark-cast archway, playfully patting the taller one on the back.
Who are these people? Am I losing my mind?
One of the faceless voices flicked on a light and I immediately squinted against the sudden brightness until I gradually opened them again to learn the voices were coming from... ordinary people. A tall black guy with short, unnaturally bright red hair leaned against one of the pillars, arms folded, with a leather biker jacket draped heavily over his shoulders that matched the clumpy, buckled boots on his feet.
The other was a smaller, East Asian person with warm brown skin and silky black hair tied half up, analysing me with a… grin? Two gold studs dotted the bridge of their nose, and as they crouched, I noted they worevinyltrousers. Interesting.
“Of course I did it,” they repeated, grin widening. “Welcome back, kid.” They directed this at me, before reaching their arm out and attempting to brush my hair away from my face. I jerked away before they had the chance.
“Oh, sorry. That was a little forward of me.” They stood back up and retreated, their brow tensed. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
This was too stressful.
“Who are you?” I tried to ask —triedbeing the operative word. The second I opened my mouth to speak, the words came out like a scraping wheeze, my throat parched and dry.
Both laughed, but not to mock.
“I’m Casper,” said the taller one, “and that’s Mars,” he gestured towards them. I detected an American accent this time.Southern, perhaps?I’d never been well versed in accents but the prolonged ‘a’ sound was a strong sign. He continued. “But that’s not what you meant, was it?”
“This is going to take some explaining.” Mars’ brow quirked. “Casper, go and get our guest a nice glass of water.” They winked, and Casper obliged.
“Who...”
Mars stopped me with a raised hand. “Take it easy, you’ve been drained. You’ll feel better once you’ve had something to drink.”
Drained?
They must have sensed the confusion on my face. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now. I’m going to try my best to explain to you what happened, without you thinking I’m completely insane.
Still adjusting to the brightness,I finally realised a single, shade-less bulb dangled from the crumbling, plastered ceiling to light the room. My brain was drowning in a million different things, and my liquid thoughts buzzed together as one.
Mars pulled up a wooden bar stool seemingly out of nowhere. Pulling one leg over the other, their steel capped boots mirrored the shine of their trousers, and I found myself in awe at Mars’ whole ensemble. I glanced down at my plain black shirt and battered shoes. Generic.And that’s not even my shirt. The fabric is wrong. Too harsh…
Casper returned a second later with a mug of liquid that was definitelynotwater, but I accepted it even so. I wasn’t in the condition to be fussy.
“I’ll just be outside, shout if you need me,” he said cheerily, before leaving us alone again.
