Knocking on Hell's Open Door

      Knocking on Hell’s Open Door

By

Rhys Causon

 

  The wind rushed through the grass on the moor as rain flew towards the ground. The Land Rover skidded down the slick winding country lane as Mick Irwin struggled to keep his eyes open after a long day. 

  “Wow… settle down Jessie,” he murmured to himself as the wheels clipped the grassy verge. “Easy now.” He pat the steering wheel in a sleepy manner, “How’s our little friend doing back there?” Mick glanced in the rear view mirror and looked at his assigned partner for this task, Arthax Jenkins; self appointed ‘Pest Control For All Things Paranormal’ and this was clearly not his first run in with pesky pixies or troublesome trolls.

  “He’s fine, mate. At least I think it’s a he, could be wrong.” Arthax replied, “Just try and focus on the road. Because I’m not going to run around the bloody countryside chasing after a rogue fairy again if you lose control and crash.” Beside him, sat a disgruntled looking creature dressed in what seemed to be very weathered clothing scraps that were formed to be reminiscent of old miner outfits, with the added accessories of rope around their wrists and ankles, laced with iron filings to make the attempts at escape just that bit more painful should it try to.

  “Trust me, I’m in no mood to find that little annoyance again if we crash either,” Mick said as he yawned, “but I need something to keep me awake.”

  “Why don’t you just stick the radio on?” 

  “And listen to what station? The signal round here is crap and even if it wasn’t, do you expect anyone to be playing music that will keep me awake?” To emphasise his point, Mick turned the radio on which sounded more like a plastic back rustling in the wind rather than anything coherent.

  “Well… ok you got me there. No one really stays awake to radio static.” Arthax rubbed his eyes in an effort to actually stay awake himself. “Anything you want to talk about? I think we’re passed the small talk phase, Mick, so what do you really want to know?”

  “Well…” Mick stopped and groaned as if thinking of how to phrase the next sentence.

  “Well?” Arthax pushed for the next part.

  “Well… I was thinking. We all got involved with the Paranormal and Supernatural somehow, whether we wanted to or not,” Mick paused again, reflecting on his own introduction to the shadowy side of the world “and I was just wondering how you got into it.”

  Arthax leaned back and stared out the window, “Hmm…” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “…don’t remember…” a tone of avoidance in his voice.

  “Bollocks!” The word launched from Mick’s mouth, “You can’t tell me you don’t remember.” He glanced into the rear view mirror again and saw the fixed expression of pain on Arthax’s face. “Ah… sorry, clearly painful.”

  “Yep,” Arthax twisted the section of rope he was holding to keep his mind occupied instead of hearing the screams of pain that haunt his silent moments. He found himself staring at a raindrop as it slipped across the window yet eventually found himself looking at the reflection in the window. He shifted his focus and looked into his own eyes. 

  A voice spoke in his mind. Not his own monologue but the voice of someone Arthax had not seen in years. 

  Tell him. The tender voice said. If anyone can handle the truth, it’s him.

  Without thinking, Arthax’s hand gripped the quill of the black feather that hung from a chain around his neck while he gripped the rope tighter. Letting out a long sigh to steady his nerves Arthax began to speak. “Fine…”

 

  So you want to know how I got into this sort of life, eh? Well okay but I’ll let you know now; this story isn’t exactly the cheeriest fairy tale you’ll hear.  

 

  I can say this… I wasn’t always the charming, charismatic prick you see before. Nope, at one point I was the kid that loved to learn all about the folklore of the world, who wanted to set out n search of fairies… Not like a Disney-fied Tinker Bell though. No, I wanted to find ones like Spriggans in Cornwall, the different kinds of the Tylwyth Teg in Wales. I wanted to record the existence of Fairies that were playful tricksters, baby stealers and the Kings and Queens of the seasons.

  I never found any of them of course… well not until I was already in the life I’m in now, and obviously no “normal” kid wanted to play with the fairy hunter that took themselves way too seriously.

  That is, aside from Lindsey Presley. She was someone special. 

  Not in a romantic way though. Don’t go making assumptions about what she meant to me ok? Ok. Couldn’t even think of being with her like that. It wouldn’t have been right.

  We used to be as thick as thieves. Though definitely would have looked an odd pair. Me, the scruffy blond beanpole of a guy who only ever seemed to wear the same three black t-shirts and a long leather coat because yes, I had seen the Matrix and thought it was cool. And her, the small but colourfully dressed, red haired girl following him about in her denim dungarees. Both of us on the hunt for creatures that the rest of the town refused to believe in. Fairies. 

  Though I don’t think her folks liked her hanging around with me. No, not because they expected her to end up pregnant, as need I remind you… it wasn’t that type of relationship but they didn’t like her chasing fairies. 

  No, instead they wanted her believing in other things that people had trouble in believing in. They wanted her to be a good Christian girl and follow all the words of teachings of the Bible and all that… which is fine. They never tried to force it on me so they weren’t too annoying to be around. I’ve always said I don’t have a problem with Religion unless you “feel a need to talk to me” about it. 

  Honestly my life probably would have been very different had they persuaded me to crack open The Good Book. 

  Now that I think about it I’m amazed they didn’t call her something like Mary or Rachel or something like that… considering they called her brother Luke. Maybe I’m just thinking too much about it to distract myself from telling this story. 

 

  Speaking of Luke though, I think I should say… he’s actually the reason I’m in this life. Though not because he showed me all the stuff that got me started. 

  Honestly I wish he wasn’t, if only for her sake. 

 

  I suppose I should get to that then really… can only stall for so long. 

  Ok then… here goes.

 

  It was a warm summer afternoon, the dry heat of the day giving way to a warm night. I was sitting on a tree stump, waiting for Lindsey at the edge of a forest we had been planning to explore for a while. As I waited was reading a book.

  I’d found it in a second hand bookshop. It had been stuffed at the edge of a shelf causing it to look very sorry for itself in a beaten up leather cover. 

  The seller claimed it was written by some “madman” who claimed they had visited different realms and dimensions and had been traveling to all sorts of places, sort of like the Michael Palin of Multiversal travel, though read more like fiction in her mind. 

  Which makes sense. Can’t exactly jump into different worlds that easily, can we?

  The book was about 100 years old and you could tell it was. The leather cover and binding were barely holding on, the pages felt like dead, crunchy leaves on an autumn floor and I was surprised it was still in one piece. Well almost, a couple of the pages were missing but it didn’t help fill in details anymore than the pages that were there. The prose in the book read like some lesser H.P. Lovecraft story. All, “unseen dimensions”… “feelings of being followed from the shadows” and “cries of despair on the wind”. 

  Yet I had to admit, something about the way it described the mysterious places made it feel so real that I started to question if the unknown author had actually traveled to the “Shadowland” or “Blinding World”, as they had been called. 

  Honestly the Blinding World sounded rather boring. Just a lot of golden light and shining creatures, sounds more annoying to traverse when compared to the ashy places described in the Shadowland sections. 

  After flicking back through the book to reread some of the descriptive paragraphs I noticed that some of the pages were stuck together. Not a surprise with this sort of book. But what was a surprise was what I found on that page. 

  There was an illustration of a circle, with a border of, what looked like, runes surrounding it and an X written on the inside, I assumed the X was to indicate where something would need to be as I peered across the page and saw a small handwritten scrawl above the printed ink of the book.

  Don’t.

  “Hmm…” I couldn’t help but make some sort of reaction. Mostly out of curiosity as to what I was being told what not to do. My eyes drifted down a couple of centimetres and read.

 

The doors between worlds are not as inaccessible as we once thought. Should we choose to, we can simply hop across the threshold as if waking from a dream. 

I have found ways to follow my dreams and see those lands that give me the peace and happiness I seek.

Should you ever need to find a missing person, who may not be on your level of existence the following…

 

  “What are you reading, Artie?” A voice cut through my concentration. 

  I almost dropped the book in surprise but kept hold of it, catching it by the corner of the cover awkwardly as I’d caught it between my middle and ring finger in my left hand. I quickly readjusted my grip to keep hold of it as I looked up and, despite the sun’s blinding angle, saw Lindsey standing there above me, her eyebrows raised in curiosity but something about her felt off. 

  “A book…” I said slowly as I attempted to work out what was different about her.

  “Well I can see that,” she said, an angry tone in her voice, “I meant what book is it? I can’t see a title.”

  “Oh it’s…” I flipped the book over to read the title but saw there wasn’t one, “uh… just a kind of old journal I guess.” 

  “You’re reading someone’s journal,” Lindsey arched an eyebrow, “I thought you were staying away from books written in that way after you disliked Dracula.”

  “I can’t help that I don’t like stories written from multiple perspectives. But this is different,” I shoved the book into my bag, “The lady behind the counter said it was allegedly written by some guy who went mad. Spent his last few years in an old sanitarium.” I stood up and opened the front of the book, “Though I’m sure it had a title page.”

  “Oh… ok,” she looked down. And that’s when I could tell what was wrong with her. Her brown eyes were puffy, bloodshot, the make up around her eyes smudged. I gently took her hand.

  “I’m going to guess the answer’s bad… but has something happened?” I asked slowly, carefully, sensing the next sentence could be hard to take in.

  She looked up; the dams in her eyes fit to burst, took in a deep shaky breath and with a rattling voice said, “It’s Luke…”

 

  He’d been found, slumped against his bed but almost like he’d fallen out of it. His eyes were open but glazed over. There was nothing that could be done.

 

  Now I don’t know about you, but I have never known how to react to that sort of news, so when I just froze with a slightly confused look on my face, it was clearly not what Lindsey wanted me to do.

  “Oh, Linds, I’m sorry…” I pulled her into a hug, held her tightly and attempted to stay standing as she fell into me more than I expected. “When did this happen?” 

  “Last night,” she cried a lot quieter than I expected her to be, “the doctors said it could have been a possible reaction to his new medication but they won’t know yet until things are done.”

  Medication? I never knew Luke was on medication. But I guess you never know everything about other people and their lives. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if he was on something, he had become a bit distant in the last few weeks.

  “What kind was he on?”

  “Some sort of antidepressant,” she leaned into me again.

  Aah, that could explain it, I thought. I’d read that if it wasn’t the right pill for your internal chemistry, it could be worse for you than nothing at all but I wouldn’t know from personal experiences.

  “Well at least now he’s at peace.” She sniffed and wiped the tears away. “At least that’s what I would hope anyway, its not like you can be sad in Heaven right?” 

  “Yeah,” I pulled her in for a hug again, “pretty sure that he’s learning how to play a harp right now,” but I couldn’t help but think about it can be a difficult road to Heaven. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be making it there myself just by being who I was. 

 

  We must have stayed there for hours. We hardly spoke but decided to not go through the forest that day, which was completely fair. I knew I only needed to be there for her in that moment.

  I walked her home and watched her until I knew she was inside her home. I waved to her mother, who looked at me through the window with a polite and thankful smile, before walking home myself. 

  I needed to do something for her. And my mind floated back to that page I was reading before she showed up. 

 

Should you ever need to find a missing person, who may not be on your level of existence…

 

  My parents weren’t in, as both worked late shifts, so I had a few hours to myself. This gave me more than enough time to go over the book and see if I could find a way to help her. 

 

  Three hours of looking over the same pages and digging through the house for the stuff I needed, I was ready to try out a small version of the ritual from that page. 

  I borrowed the small mirror from the bathroom, as the book said I needed something “held within a frame”. I had to get creative with making the circles and runes but I had the advantage of having so many clothes I never wore so after some shaping and molding, the clothes held the shapes I needed. I checked the circle against the diagram and when I was finally happy with it, I stood in the middle of the circle.

  I just needed to think of someone I couldn’t see. So I went with the obvious choice.

  I thought of Lindsey.

  I pointed at the mirror on the windowsill, lifted the book and read aloud.

  “Through the veils of the worlds beyond ours, let me see the one I seek,” I read in a half commanding voice. 

  It’s not a surprise it didn’t work… the mirror just reflected my own face back at me. I saw Mirror Me frown at me as though judging me heavily as real me thought that maybe it wasn’t just the tone of my voice that made the ritual fail. 

  In all the best stories magic needed an object to focus through it and channel it, whether that be a big branch of a staff or a poxy, little wand. Maybe this was one of those spells or rituals. 

  I looked around my room for something that I could use that reminded me of Lindsey (and not miss should it be used up in the spell) and spotted a golden hair clip in the shape of a tiny Jesus on the Cross. Lindsey had told her mother she had lost it but really she had left it here because she didn’t like it, I thought it was oddly funny. I don’t know where her mother found Crucifixion themed hair clips, and maybe I don’t want to know either, but I can understand why she didn’t want to wear it. 

  I picked it up, looked at it and pictured Lindsey clearly in my mind. I gripped it tightly in my hand, holding my clenched fist towards the mirror again. 

  “Through the veils of the worlds beyond ours, let me see the one I seek!” I practically shouted at the mirror and immediately felt a burning in my hand. I opened my hand without thinking and noticed the clip glowing slightly as it hit the floor. 

  That’s when I it became obvious to me that the room had darkened.

  Did the sun go behind a cloud or something?I thought before looking up passed the mirror, to the window behind it and was looking at what could have been a projected image of Lindsey. 

  I stepped forward; Lindsey was lying on her bed, a pile of scrunched up tissues next to her on her bedside table and more tears already flowing. 

  “Oh Linds… I’m sorry,” I whispered to her but then thought to myself, Can she hear me?“Lindsey?!” I knocked my fist against the image as well to really try and get her attention. 

  Nothing. No reaction. 

  She was clearly sobbing out loud but I couldn’t hear anything from her room. No doubt she would have been playing some sort of music in an attempt to cheer herself up. I could see that the fan on her bedside table was on but couldn’t hear the blades whirring around.

  I put my hand to the image and felt the coldness of the glass pane under my palm, rather soothing on the still tingling scorch mark on my hand. 

  “Hmm… strange. Not much of a doorway to another world.” I turned back to check the book yet before I touched the book the light from outside again, the image in the window had faded. 

  I admit, the spell didn’t go one hundred percent correctly… but still, it worked… In a way.

  “Ok, clearly need to maintain a focus at the same time. Well, learning something.” I muttered to myself as I looked out the window. A raven was sitting on the fence below. It looked up and stared at me.  

  I picked up the book and checked over the notes on the rituals pages again. It was clear all the details weren’t included, as a Focus wasn’t mentioned. 

  Maybe there’s a reason for that, I thought, What about a family member?

 I turned back toward the window, closed my eyes and pictured my grandmother who had passed away recently.

 “Throw the veils of the worlds beyond ours, let me see the one I seek!” 

 I felt my body heat up inside slightly, almost as if my blood system was in a kettle that was just starting to boil.

  I opened my eyes as the heat built up inside me and when it reached a point I could barely stand, a blinding golden light replaced the window.

  I couldn’t help it, I couldn’t stop myself and the only words I could say in that moment were… 

  “Holy Shit!” 

  Guess it’s a good thing the other side couldn’t hear me. Nan would not have been impressed.

 

  I dropped the focus on that one almost immediately and collapsed back onto my bed, feeling both hot and drained but somehow full of energy at the same time.

  “Ok… Breathe. Just relax.” I picked up the book, “whoever you were that wrote this, I don’t think you were mad.”

  Now I had a more solid plan for how I could help Lindsey. And hopefully… she would like it. I didn’t know what would happen at that point obviously, I expected this to be an excellent plan with no drawbacks.

 

  So when I asked Lindsey to meet me the next day I picked a place where I knew no one would be. There was an abandoned church just outside of town, The Church of the St… something… I never did find out what it’s full name was. The name had been scratched out for years and frankly how the building was still standing, I’ll never know.

  The dilapidated, ancient building hadn’t been used in years, unless you want to count the teenagers who used it as a place to smoke, drink and just hang out in but even they had stopped going there eventually. Probably after the police discovered the not so legal stuff that happened there. They always ruined the fun.

  I got there a few hours early to set up what I needed to. I had a feeling the circle would take a while to sort out this time. With the amount of random crap on the floor in this church, I wasn’t wrong. 

  There was glass from the broken windows, years worth of dust, dead leaves and other debris from the people that had stayed here at points in the past. I hadn’t really thought of needing to clean the place up so I used what I could to clean the middle of the floor. Begrudgingly I used my coat, it was long enough to clear a big area at once but then it made my duster coat a dusty coat. 

  You don’t have to laugh; I know it’s a terrible joke.

  After that I needed a way to draw the circle… not easy when you’re on slightly uneven ground with nothing that would help you draw on stone. I was improvising; of course I was going to hit bumps in the plan. But I’m good at improvising at the same time. The floor was stone and at some point in the past part of the wall had been broken. I picked up a chunk of rubble and scratched the floor, leaving a chalky mark behind it. 

  That’ll do.

  I strode to the middle of the room and scratched an X in the middle of the room, giving me a place to work from when making the circle. So after a good thirty to forty minutes of slowly crawling around the dusty ground, feeling my knees crying out in pain, my hand cramping, almost unable to open it again and my fingers numb from holding the rubble in awkward positions, I had finished the markings. 

  “Ok…” I let out a long sigh, fell backward gently onto my butt, wiped the sweat off my forehead and face and checked my watch. I still had half an hour before the time I told Lindsey to meet me. “… Now what?”

 

  I looked around the room trying to find a frame that was on ground level but the only thing I could see that worked was the front door. Any other available door wasn’t at a good angle to see from the middle of the circle. 

  So once we start, we’re stuck inside I guess. Well… until it’s dropped of course.

  I sat in silence again… tapping in my foot in excitement but the beating of wings interrupted the silence.

  I looked around and saw a raven sitting on a section of the wall that was jutting out of the wall. I guess it was an old light holder or something. 

  “When did you get in here?” I cocked my eyebrow at the bird. 

  The bird peered down at me, cawed loudly as a response but ultimately stayed perched on its rock.

  “Well ok then, that told me.” I pointed to the stocky bird. “Listen up, Berenice, don’t shit on my circle.” 

  Yes, I named the bird after a character in an Edgar Allen Poe story. 

  No, I don’t know if it was a female bird.

 

  I checked my watch again. 

  Ten minutes. 

  I had some time so looked at the rest of the outfit. My favourite black band t-shirt, showing the album art for the Operatic Pyros’ album ‘Bob’s Big Cabbage’, was caked in dust, my jeans looked beat up and torn (brought pre torn) and my old beat up leather boots definitely looked as old as they were. I brushed myself off as best as I could, coughing as the air was filled with dust again. As my coughing fit continued I stepped outside to get some fresh air and bumped into Lindsey Presley as she turned the corner of the building to enter.

  “Oof… Careful,” she gripped my elbow to hold herself up. “You ok?”

  “Oh yeah…” I spluttered out, ”Just the dust, you know?” I flashed her a cheeky smile and looked at her, backlit by the sunlight coming through the door. She was wearing her hair up in a ponytail; she wore a creamy coloured jumper that seemed a few sizes to big for her (looking back on it I guess it was Luke’s), which clashed with the shorts, and flip-flops she was wearing.

  “I may not know fashion but I don’t think those go together or could you not decide which season to dress for?”

  “Hmm,” she sounded unimpressed and dodged the question, “Why were you playing in the dust then?” Lindsey asked as she turned into the main room and almost immediately seeing the circle scratched onto the floor. She stopped abruptly and I almost bumped into her again. “ And what’s that for?”

  “That is why I wanted you to be here, Linds,” I said as I moved passed her, picking the book up from the middle of the circle. “I think I found a way for you to see Luke one last time.”

  “Pardon?” She just blinked at me, I’m not sure what was going through her head but her eyes told me she did not believe what I had said at all. “What do you me-“

  “Here me out,” I picked up the book, “This book… you know the one you saw me reading yesterday… the one written by a guy who everyone else thought was insane for claiming he could see into other realms…” I stepped closer to her, “What if he wasn’t insane at all? What if he found a way to see the places mortal eyes weren’t meant to see?” I put the book into her hands, “What if he could open a window to Heaven?” I felt a huge smile creep onto my face. I could tell I was getting excited. I wanted to get on with the demonstration.

  The pause was both too quiet and too long… so much so that when Berenice cawed again I was thankful I hadn’t become deaf.

  She squinted her eyes at me and frowned at me. “Are you serious, Artie?” Her voice wasn’t exactly the tone I wanted to hear. “Do you think this is funny?”

  “For once, I’m not trying to be funny,” I have to admit I sounded more defensive that I wanted to, “I’m trying to help you, Linds,” I looked her dead in the eyes. “You said you hoped he was at peace, now you can verify that.”

  She opened the book to the page with the ritual I had copied onto the church floor. “Sure, if you’re telling the truth I can. But….” Her eyes flit between the circle and the book, “…what if he isn’t there?” 

  I had not really thought about that. For every mention of the Blinding World (what I assumed to be Heaven going by what I’d seen at that point) there were just as many Shadowland mentions. If not more. 

  “Well, we know there’s not a chance he’s gone there.” I pointed downward, “You’re parents made sure you were both on the right path to go to…” I shifted my hand and pointed to the ceiling, ”…there instead.”

  “I don’t…”

  “Linds, it works.”

  “How do you know?” She sounded angry and on the verge of tears, like her throat wanted to not let any other sound out.

  “Because I saw my Nan, Linds.” I took her free hand in both of mine, relaxed my shoulders as much as possible while I was still buzzing to try and show her that I was telling the truth. “Only for a moment and I’ll admit it was a bit overpowering to see but I saw her in place surrounded by a golden light.”

  She looked me in the eyes, “Really?” She asked that one word slowly but with a tone that implied she was starting to believe me.

  “Yeah,” I practically gasped it out with excitement, I pointed at the page, and started to pull her into the circle. “All you need to do is read that sentence right there, while looking at the door and thinking of your brother.” I turned her to face the doorway, “Though I will say you may feel a bit hot while opening the window.” 

  “Sorry? Hot?” She twisted her head to me. 

  “Yeah…” I paused, “It might hurt,” I gave a weak attempt at a reassuring smile, “But only for a moment.”

  “Are you sure? I’m sure I can handle pain better than you,” She side eyed me and smiled a little. “After all us women have to go through…”

  “Ah-de-da-bah,” I quickly placed my finger on her lips to cut her off, “Let’s not ruin the moment by talking about periods eh?” I took her hand in mine and squeezed it playfully, “Now what do you say? Should we give it a go?”

  “Sure,” she said with a hopeful smile and a little bit of a giggle.

 

  “This is where, looking back, I should have practiced more before having Lindsey perform the ritual… maybe things would have ended better. Hell, almost anything could have been a better outcome,” Arthax looked back out of the window, his eyes drifting over the trees in the Land Rover’s beams as he heard the echoes of screams in his mind. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to think of anything to drown out the past.

  “You don’t need to keep going buddy,” Mick said from the front, he had been driving slower than he had preferred to but it was safer in the rain. “Take your time, Arthax. There’s still a while to go yet before we get back.”

  Arthax took a deep breath in, held it for few seconds, and released it. 

  “Ok… Let’s get on with it.”

 

  “So again, face the doorway, focus on Luke and read that line right there.” I pointed at the line she needed to say. 

  “The ‘Through the veils’ one?” She questioned as she held the book in front of her. 

  “Yep, that’s it.” I gave her a little space but stayed within the circle should she need help. 

  “Ok.” Lindsey took a deep breath and began, “Through the veils of the worlds beyond ours, let me see the one I seek!” 

  I watched her stand firmly as she looked at the doorframe. I noticed her body seemed to lock up so I placed my hand on her shoulder and whispered the spell myself to help her out.

  She let a little grunt of pain out as we both watched a slit start to open in the doorway. It was almost like someone was cutting through cello tape that had the consistency of jelly with a blunt knife.

  And if whoever was holding the knife was drunk. 

  The edges of the slice were jagged and seemed to be flapping in some unfelt breeze.

That’s not normal from what I’ve seen so far. “Hmm,” I didn’t realise I’d let out any sort of reaction.

  “What was that?” Lindsey asked with some strain in her voice.

  “Nothing, keep focusing,” I furrowed my brow in confusion but also thought of Luke to help her open this window. 

  The edges of the window appeared to awkwardly rip open more and from what I could see within the tear, it did not seem anything like I’d see so far.

  All I could see was darkness. 

  I tentatively glanced at Lindsey out of the corner of my eye. She was gritting her teeth, sweat was dripping down her temple and a crazed look was in her eyes, though a determined voice when she shouted, ”THROUGH THE VEILS OF THE WORLDS BEYOND OURS, LET ME SEE THE ONE I SEEK!”

  The tear rippled with energy and the air between the doors frame tore open wider until it fit within the space. 

 

  When the frame was full of this ‘window’ a rush of cold air filled the church. I swear I could hear what sounded like distant screaming. 

  The only thing that was shown on the other side of the tear was a small gnarled tree; its trunk seeming to bend over, the few branches it had looked like the tree itself was cowering from the wind or digging into the trunk rather than growing out of it.

  Lindsey dropped to her knees and I couldn’t blame her. She was exhausted after that. I was only helping and felt more drained than any other time I’d opened a window.

  “Did… Did we do it?” Lindsey panted hard. 

  “We did… something,” I said cautiously.

  My gut was screaming at me that this was a very different situation because again, I could feel a cold wind and hear… something. Both things I didn’t experience when I tried it. I put my hand on Lindsey’s shoulders and told her to stay still for a moment. 

  I stepped closer to the window and did that thing that people do when they check the direction of the wind. You know? Stuck my finger in my mouth and felt where the cold breeze was coming from. Sure enough, there was a breeze, cold as ice, coming from the window. 

  “Hmm…” I looked down for a small bit of rubbish or something to check if there was a barrier. Yet before I could fit anything, Berenice decided they’d had enough of sitting on a rocky perch and took off. They flew right passed where the door was supposed to be and landed on one of the gnarled looking tree’s branches. 

  I felt fear rising up my spine. “We made a bloody door.” I quickly glanced at the book, “This ritual makes doors? What did I do wrong then?” 

  But why did that door lead to a scared looking tree?

  “Well, doors are made to be walked through, lets check it out.” Lindsey was walking right ahead of me and was passed the threshold of the door before I realised.

  “Linds! Wait!” I followed her and once I had passed the church’s boundary, the air temperature was immediately noticeably colder, the breeze making it feel even worse. It was like as if someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over me. My pace slowed as I moved through the doorway, my senses tried to take in as much information about the area as possible. 

 

  The immediate feeling was a sense of despair as I looked around. The chill cut through the clothes I was wearing which only added to the misery of the place. 

  Grey, ashy dust blew on the wind. And I swear the wind was carrying the sound of someone screaming whenever it blew through this clearing. Yet if it was just a little breeze, it sounded more like the sobbing of a person at the lowest point in their life. Everything about this place dragged your emotions down. 

  On the breeze was a strange metallic smell but I couldn’t make out a source for it as I looked around as nothing looked inorganic.

  The tree we could see through the door wasn’t the only one. There were hundreds of them. A thick forest that stretched out into all the possible directions we could go. None of them seemed to look like, what I would call, a normal tree. They varied in size but even though it was the height of summer, not a single tree had a single leaf on its branches. And they didn’t look like any type of tree I’d ever seen.

  Some looked like they had long scratches on their branches while others trunks had the same sort of gouges on them. The occasional tree had tattered bits of rope hanging from near the top of their trunks.

  “Weird,” I watched the rope sway in the wind.

  “Where are we?” I heard Lindsey ask as I turned and started to stare at the scratches in the bark of one tree, swearing I could see sap seeping out of it. 

  “I don’t know…” I hesitantly reached towards the dark sap, oozing from the branch. It can’t be what I think it is, can it?

  “Well, wherever we are… I don’t like it,” Lindsey wrapped her arms around her torso and hugged herself gently. “And I have a horrible feeling this isn’t Heaven.”

    Just as my fingers were about to touch the sap, Berenice cawed again, having flown to the tree I was standing next to, causing me to flinch.

  “Shut! Up!” I whispered loudly at the bird, which just seemed to ruffle its feathers and caw again out of spite. “Oh screw you as well.”

 Lindsey looked around and cocked her head to one side. A slightly scrunched her face up while looking like she was listening to something far off in the distance. 

  “Do you hear that?” she asked pointing into the air in the opposite direction. I listened carefully and could definitely hear something. I knew it wasn’t the wind because it sounded like someone waving a large beach towel or rather, multiple towels at once. Or a REALLY heavy bird beating its wings.

  We looked towards the sound and again I got that feeling creeping up my spine. I grabbed Lindsey’s hand and pulled her behind one of the larger trees. 

  “What are you-“ I covered her mouth quickly and peered out from behind the tree and watched as pieces of dead branches were knocked loose from the tops of some of the larger trees, swearing I could hear screaming again as well, and then something landed nearby.

  The thing that landed was a lanky, sickly pale, humanoid creature; I would guess about seven feet in height, with long, scraggly, dusty blond hair and unnaturally proportioned limbs. From what I could see the creature was muscular in the way a swimmer in built, toned and slim. Its head was on a slightly elongated neck, which craned forward and gave the head a sweeping motion when the creature looked around. 

  It was toned and lithe and wore dark blue cloth over its shoulders and waist that draped down its legs. The cloth clearly hadn’t been washed recently as it was caked in mud, dust and dark stains that I couldn’t see clearly enough to see what they were. 

  From it’s back sprouted at least six, surprisingly, elegant feathery wings. The limbs that grew out of its back were covered in sandy brown feathers, yet the long quills, or whatever they’re called, that dropped from the wings were a very dark brown, practically black in places. They reminded me of a large vulture’s wings that I saw in a bird show at a zoo once. I watched as the creature stretched a little, before it shook its wings slightly before curling them around its body.

  I was unintentionally holding my breath as I watched this thing plod around the clearing.

  “What is that?” I heard Lindsey whisper to me.

  “I don’t know.” The only thing I knew for certain is that whatever it was wasn’t human. 

  Lindsey peeked around the other side of the trunk and I could feel her body language change, it was as if the tension she had dropped from her in that moment. With a slight gasp she softly whispered, “Is that an Angel?”

  I felt my expression change to a look of confusion, quickly looked at her and back to the thing standing before us. 

  “What?!” I quietly said to her. As I claimed to be, I could not say she was wrong. The creature definitely had angelic vibes yet at the same time, to call it an Angel just felt wrong. 

  Besides, what would an Angel be doing in a horrible place like where we’d found ourselves?

  As I watched the creature it seemed to be sensing the area around it as if feeling where was different. It walked around, with a strange swaying gait. It’s wings acted like a hood and cloak while they were held around its body. 

  As I was paying more attention to it now, I realised its knees pointed backwards making it seem like it was a giant bird at this point. It was focused on the ground around on of the trees we had looked at. 

  Bugger, we must have left a lot of evidence of something being here.

  It hunched over as it walked and reached down to the ground, seemingly focused on something. 

  “What do you think it’s doing?” Lindsey whispered to me, she had moved a little closer.

  I looked at her, and with a look of both fear and apprehension attempted to find an answer yet all I could do it shrug and open and close my mouth a little, yet only stuttered a little verbally. 

  “I don’t know,” is what I managed to put together after several more seconds of verbally stumbling, “But I don’t want to stick around and find out.”

  It was at this point another strange thing happened, the creature started to talk.

  “Well, well… What is this?” The voice murmured the question curiously. 

   I noticed Berenice was back on the small tree. The bird seemed to mirror the humanoid as it too was hunched over and cawing, their black feathers ruffled again in an attempt to seem threatening. 

  The creature stood up straight in surprise and its feathered wings quivered. Its gaze shifted to the bird and with an extremely fast movement seized the bird in its had. The head tilted with some air of confusion as Berenice squawked and cawed in panic. 

  “Shh… quiet!” The thing hissed.

  The cries of panic cut off quickly as the creature tightened its grip. A rapid series of snapping sounds and the body of the raven slumped in its fingers.

  I looked passed the trunk again and saw the creature craning out towards the doorway, already reaching an arm towards it. Its razor-like fingernails seemed to glance the edge of the portal before the creature recoiled letting out a hiss of pain. 

  It’s smart enough to know what that is, I’m sure of it.

  “Hmmmm…” It shifted its gaze to the limp raven it was still holding, “If YOU got here then maybe…” This thing was clearly planning something yet before I could think of what that might be working out, I watched it twist Berenice’s body before tearing it in half. Blood splattered the ground as they dropped the legs of Berenice and with a sickening squelch; the horrible angel thing pushed its fingers into the upper body of the raven, like some disgusting, macabre finger puppet. It cautiously reached its raven covered fingers to the portal and shockingly the head of the raven pushed through the portal. The hand continued until the bare skin reached the door before once again the creature pulled its hand back with a sneer on its face.

  “Ahh, excellent,” a wicked grin developed on its face and a hint of glee in the tone of its voice. 

  “Aah shit!” I couldn’t stop myself; the curse left my lips a lot louder than I had meant it to. 

  The creature slowly shifted its gaze to where we were standing and there was no hiding the fact that it saw us. It seemed as surprised to see us. There was a strangely comedic pause as the raven covered hand dropped to its side. The raven finger puppet slid off its fingers, leaving glistening blood on the pale skin of its hand and fingers and landed in the dust with a squelchy thud.

  It attempted to regain composure, holding its arms in front of its torso and chest, its bloodstained fingers twitching. It wiped the blood onto some of the blue wrappings around its shoulders but didn’t get all the blood of its fingers. “Well, this is a surprise.” 

  Behind the blond strands that fell in front of its face I saw the creature had unsettlingly big eyes, large purple irises and its pupils were as dark as the space between stars. Its wings unfurled and it rushed towards us, its strange wobbly bobbing walk enhanced by its speed.

  My legs urged me to run but I couldn’t will myself to move. Lindsey let out of a loud scream and I didn’t blame her. The creature gripped the tree in front of us and peered around either side, looking us both in the eyes.

  “Humans?” Its fingers gripped at the trees, leaving scratches in the trails of its long, sharp talons of fingernails. The bark seemed to start oozing that dark sap from the wounded bark. “What are you doing here?”

 

  Ok, time to improvise. Let’s see how this goes.

 

  “Oh, you know…” I said with way too much confidence in my voice as I took Lindsey’s hand again, “Just taking my friend for a walk in the woods, although I think we took a wrong turn a little bit ago.” I pulled her gently and started to move to the slight clearing and portal, “But I think if we just head back that way, we find our way again. Thank you.”

  “Yeah… just… a little lost is all.” Lindsey stammered as she followed my lead. We both gave our best attempts at the ‘Please Leave Us Alone’ smile. If you’ve ever gotten stuck talking to a person on the street, you know what smile I’m talking about.

  “Oh, of course,” It gave a horrible smile while keeping its eyes wide and watched us move, “Yet I cannot just let you leave,” the creature took a deep breath, “It wouldn’t do to let humans return to their Plane of Existence with knowledge of this Plane.” It had moved up to us again and lightly gripped the back of my t-shirt and Lindsey’s jumper

  Plane of Existence? What? Oh great, now I’m intrigued. I slowed our pace but kept moving towards the portal.

  “Planes?” I blew a mock raspberry, “Nah, don’t anything about them? How do they fly? I don’t know… magic?” I can say some really stupid stuff when I’m scared. 

  The creature laughed at the back of its throat, which sounded far too sinister for my liking, “How entertaining. But I know you are smarter than that Arthax.”

  I stopped quickly. I may have not known what was going on by it’s never a good thing when a creature of unknown origins knows your name. 

  I half turned towards the creature and glanced at the out the corner of my eye. “How do you…”

  “Know you, Arthax Jenkins and Lindsey Presley?” Its smile widened and chuckled lightly, “Oh, I’ve heard those prayers in your lowest moments. Even if you didn’t think anyone was listening. Or should I say… Believe, anyone was listening? All of those types of thoughts can be heard here. You need do nothing more than simply listen to the wind.” They let go of my t-shirt and playfully raised the bloodstained hand to their ear and leaned into the breeze, wisps of blond hair swaying in the airflow.

 

  “Lowest moments huh?” The first image my mind conjured was watching the trains in the station at home, thinking all I’d need to do is act like I tripped and it would be all over. But then I thought of everyone I’d be leaving behind. 

  My parents. 

  Lindsey.

  Well that would pretty much be it but still. 

  I didn’t want to make them remembering me in that way. As a coward who couldn’t stand up to what was crushing him down. So I’d scared myself straight then but that doesn’t mean I hadn’t still thought about… it. 

  Ropes, razors, just let gravity do all the hard work. There have definitely been times when anything could have done the job. Again, the thought of who would be left behind was what stopped me from committing to a plan.

 

  “Well you seem to know a lot about me,” I could feel the panic building, I unintentionally tightened my grip on Lindsey’s hand, “But I would definitely remember meeting you if I had done so before… So who are you?”

  “Artie… we should just keep going,” Lindsey pulled at my arm as she started to move again, but now I was too curious for my own good. Who was this thing that claimed to know of my “lowest moments”?

  “Me?” the creature’s smug tone was starting to get on my nerves. “My name is Davizeal, the appointed gardener for this…” they gestured around themselves, “…torturous forest.” Davizeal then made a weak attempt at a bow. Clearly they didn’t really respect anyone.

  “Torturous?” Now it was Lindsey that was intrigued. She let go of my hand and stepped forward. “But we were looking for a person who should be in Heaven.”

  “I’m… I’m sorry,” I reached out to her hand but she drew back. 

  “I knew it wasn’t… I knew it wasn’t….” Her voice got cut off from the building sobs. “I just didn’t want to belief this is where Luke ended up!” 

  Please don’t say what I think you’re about to say.

  “We’re in Hell, aren’t we?” Her eyes were close to bursting with tears.

  “Aaaah, finally,” Davizeal sighed out, “The realisation has happened.” 

  She broke down. Her sobs were of pure anguish, despair and a lot of questions of faith answered at once. 

  Davizeal’s wings spread and they rose up before announcing, “You and your precious friend here, find themselves in the depth of The Wood of the Self-Murderers, deep within the Seventh Circle. The Circle…” it grinned maliciously again, “… of Violence.” 

  “Violence? I don’t get it. Why would Luke end up here?” I wasn’t lying. Religion was never my strong point so I was very confused. 

  “Oh, someone hasn’t read the classics, have they?” Davizeal drifted down to the ground and rested upon the small tree in front of the portal. They tucked their arms against his torso, crossed their legs and watched us, the purple eyes leering at us with a smile of true entertainment on their face. “Oh, Miss Presley. Please, do tell Mr. Jenkins why poor Luke would end up here of all places.”

  A stern look formed itself on Lindsey’s face. She stood up straight, “How do I know this isn’t some sort of cruel cosmic joke?”

  “Why would it be?” Davizeal leaned forward, gripping the top of the tree and extending their wings to balance themself. Looking deeply into Lindsey’s eyes they said, “You’re a Believer aren’t you? So what makes you think that…” The creature pointed upwards, “… the One in Charge, would test you? Or that my boss would want to pick on you?” Davizeal playfully pointed at Lindsey, “You who still suffers from an act done by your dear brother.” They patted the tree lightly on the words ‘dear brother’ and finally I caught up.

  He’s the tree! 

  “No. I don’t need to validate you.” Lindsey firmly stood her ground, ”I just want to go home.” She turned towards the portal and started to walk away from Davizeal. 

  “You’re not the only one who wants to go home,” the playful tone in the creatures voice had vanished. Davizeal stood up straight and the scale of their stature became even more terrifying, “and I’ve finally been given a chance to get out of this Plane at least.” Its body tensed, their hands and fingers flexed while six powerful looking wings opened quick enough to cause a small breeze.

  I didn’t even have time to figure out what was about to happen. Before Lindsey had fully turned back to me, Davizeal had lunged at her, launching itself from the top of the tree and tackled her to the ground. With a sickening slicing sound their fingernails dug into Lindsey and were ripping her back apart. 

  I can still hear the screams from that moment whenever the world is too quiet. 

  Davizeal glistened with Lindsey’s blood and instead of doing anything that might have helped her… I ran. I cannot say I’m proud of it but if I hadn’t I don’t want to know what could have happened. 
  “ARTIE!” Was the last thing I heard my best friend say… well, scream. 

  I left her feeling terrified and alone. 

  Her body would end up less than ten foot away from a tree that held her brother’s soul. 

  In Hell.

 

  Adrenaline spiked inside me as I ran. My eyes were focused on the doorway. 

  I felt the air temperature rise suddenly and I knew I’d crossed back over to the Plane Earth was part of and I knew I needed to close the portal. Despite Lindsey being on the other side still.

  I shut my eyes tightly and focused hard. In my mind I imagined a door closing.

  The screaming cut out abruptly.

  It can’t have been that easy. It wasn’t my door.

  I realised I could still feel the chill of the wind on the back of my neck like a ghostly breathing directly onto my skin, I’m aware ghosts don’t breathe, I opened my eyes and shivered out of fear.

  The portal was still open. I knew I shouldn’t have looked but I couldn’t help it. 

  I needed to see what I had run from.

  Davizeal was covered in splashes of blood; their hands and arms covered the most. A light blue figure in the grasp of Davizeal’s right hand. I knew exactly what I was looking at. 

  The bastard had ripped Lindsey’s soul from her body. 

  Why? 

  Whatever the reason, it wouldn’t have been good. I needed to close that damned door.

  I needed to break the circle. I looked around for anything that could help me.

  I picked up a bit of rock and tried to ruin some of the symbols on the edge but that didn’t seem to work as I looked back up and saw that only the edges of the portal seemed to shrink a little. Consistently closing but not quickly.

  I instantly regretted making this circle using Stone Age crayons. 

  The damned Angel looked Lindsey’s ghostly form in the face and smiled sadistically at her. 

  “I must thank you for your vessel. Think of yourself as my lifeboat.” It gestured to itself, “My damned form may only exist in Hell, but now…” It turned Lindsey’s soul to face the portal and me, “I’ll be free.”  

  With a horribly victorious grin that crept across their entire face, Davizeal thrust the soul of my best friend on to a branch emerging from the small tree that the portal focused on. A branch stabbed through her spectral left shoulder

  I’ll admit, I started to panic even more after that. 

  As I watched I saw the angel pick up the body of Lindsey, her body’s vacant eyes staring at me while her soul was squirming behind Davizeal and was somehow loosening herself from Luke’s branch. She was pushing her legs against Luke’s trunk and pulling herself along the branch. Her jaw was tight and clearly clenched. It was hard to tell if she was in pain or just determined.

  I couldn’t let her soul get stuck in Hell… Even if I didn’t fully believe in it until that day.

  My focus shifted and I realised what Davizeal was doing. They were attempting to wear Lindsey’s body, shoving their legs into the legs of the shell of Lindsey. 

  The portal’s edges were getting closer to each other. I watched a corner stitch itself back together.

  I need to close this thing now, whether Lindsey’s soul makes it or not.

  I looked around, spotted my back and ran over to it and dug through it finding a half empty bottle of water. 

  I ran back over to my coat and grabbed it, while trying to keep an eye on the following things; the rate at which the portal was closing, the alleged Fallen Angel forcing itself into what used to be my best friend’s body and finally my best friend’s soul who had now managed to pull themselves off their dead brother’s suicide tree. 

  I moved quickly back to the circle but stepped on a chuck of rock and lost my balance, crashing to the ground and the water bottle slid across the floor. 

  I looked up to the doorway and watched Lindsey’s soul rushing passed the Angel still struggling to get into her skin. She got hit by one of the wings and caused several feathers to come loose. They blew in the breeze before her as she ran. 

  I grabbed the bottle, opened the lid, poured the water on the circle and grabbed my coat holding it above the puddle on the circle.

  I looked back to the portal. Lindsey’s soul was almost through, she only had a few more feet to go but Davizeal had managed to clothe itself in Lindsey’s skin and was also running towards the doorway. The skin of Lindsey’s body pulled tight like an elastic band ready to snap. The shell looked malformed as the wings were pulled within the body, giving Lindsey’s body a hunched look while also showing the tears in the back of the skin suit. Her eyes had also changed into a bright purple colour. 

  Well… the eyes are the windows to the soul… and hers wasn’t there.  

  “Bollocks!” Out of time.

  I started rubbing at the puddle and hoped this plan would work. Because if it didn’t… 

  I looked at the portal as I scrubbed as hard as I could.

  It seemed to be closing faster.

  “C’mon Linds! Run!” I shouted in desperation.

  My arms starting to burn as I worked at the ground harder. 

  I heard Lindsey’s voice. A cry of desperation, coming from the other side. 

  I saw Davizeal lunging to the portal. 

  The edges closing rapidly until finally.

  The world went blindingly white!

  The sunlight shone through the door of the church. 

 

  The portal was closed. 

 

  I collapsed in a moment of sheer exhaustion. The sunlight was a welcome feeling on my skin. Yet, that moment of relaxation was all too short. 

  Lindsey!

  I opened my eyes, blinding myself again momentarily, pushed myself off the floor and blinked rapidly to clear the spots from my eyes. Thought I saw something, but no… 

 

  She didn’t make it.

 

  I stood at the edge of the circle it felt like someone had reached inside me, grabbed my stomach and ripped it from me. Even though the sunlight was streaming through the doors and windows, I felt darkness creep around me as I stared at the wall across from me.

  I have no idea how long I screamed. It wasn’t just a normal scream. This was a pure primal rage fuelled by lose.

  I came back to reality after I had been repeatedly punching the wall. A bloody pulp for a fist that definitely had some broken knuckles. 

  As I looked at the blood on the wall, an idea popped into my head. 

  I now knew there was one definitive way to get back to her. 

  I just needed to… go ahead with it.

  Yet I also knew I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it when I thought there was nothing to go to afterwards now I definitely couldn’t do it.

  I slumped against the wall and slid down until I was sat on the floor again. 

  And I broke again. The tears would not stop.

  I can’t even kill myself to be with my best friend. 

  Though being trapped in a world with a creature wearing her skin would also be a very different version of Hell.

  

  I must have sat there for about two hours. The sun had set and I was still sat there. At some point I just couldn’t cry anymore. 

  When a random gust blew through, I noticed something out the corner of my eye. 

  A long, black feather. 

  I stared at it before pushing myself to up and slowly walked over to it. 

  It was caught on the madman’s book; ironically the quill tip was pointing at the word ‘Don’t’ that had been added in at some later point. 

  I picked it up and stared at it blankly. Too late for ‘Don’t’ Mr. Madman.

  I wanted to feel something about this singular feather but couldn’t bring myself to do anything other than put it in the book and throwing both things into my bag.

  I flung my coat on, put my bag over my shoulder and stood on the edge of the threshold of the doorway. I watched the blackness of the night sky take over the red sky of sunset, sighed deeply and stepped out of the church.

 

  Arthax let out a long sigh, “So there you go… now you know. I warned you, not for the feint of heart.” 

  “Shit, man. I’m sorry.” Mick softly said from the front, “Honestly, I didn’t expect that to be your origin.”

  “Well, yeah… it is.” He cleared his throat, “Though it’s good to talk about it sometimes, I guess,” he looked down at the fairy sitting next to him. 

  “Yeah, I bet she’d be impressed in what you’ve done.” Mick said as they finally turned onto the main road.

  “Oh yeah,” Arthax smiled slightly as he felt a warm glow within him, “She loves to follow along.” 

  “Loves to?” Mick cocked an eyebrow at Arthax in the rearview mirror. 

  “Yep, I did say she was my closest friend, didn’t I?” Arthax leant forward and practically whispered in Mick’s ear, “You’re not the only one on the team with someone else’s voice in your head, Wolfman. Mines just more of a hitchhiker rather than a overly aggressive co-pilot.”

  “Oh… ok,” Mick nodded after thinking about it for a moment. 

  “From chasing Fairies to meeting Fallen Angels, before befriending a humanoid lizard and outrunning Giant Gorilla people together. Then being picked up by some secret agency to hunt the paranormal and supernatural.” Arthax leant back into his seat again. 

  “Only to end up chasing Fairies all over again,” Mick said jokingly.

  The more things change, eh Linds? He thought as he looked at the window again and into the face of his best friend.

  The more they stay the same, Artie. She answered back.