Vengeance For Brimstone

Vengeance for Brimstone

         The land was flat and barren but most of all dark.  Storm clouds floated high above, smothering the bright light that shone for the lucky ones.  Rose wasn’t one of those.  She was perpetually lost to the realm between the living and the ascended.  She yearned to be led to serenity by the beam she’d been told of as a child.  Fate had something else in mind for her; no, it wasn’t fate, it was her friend, her lover, and her murderer. 

         Rose touched the scar across her neck that seemed to ooze endlessly.  She hoped to find the legendary edifice that her fellow tortured souls spoke of.  How long she’d been searching, she wasn’t sure because in this desolate land the dead lived without sense of time.  It flowed by unseen and unremembered.  Still, Rose pressed forward, determined to find it, driven by the promise of vengeance.

         Jagged rocks tumbled down the small hill as Rose hiked to the top.  She strained to see what lie ahead.  She’d imagined something grand and shiny only to find a once-white house, the pillars rotting and windows shattered.  The base of the building faded into colossal roots that spread out, creating a webbed blanket over the soil surrounding it. 

         Her bare feet smashed into the rocks below as she flew over the landscape.  She felt nothing; only the ravenous desire for retribution.  Rose had no intention of stopping despite the lore that the others told.  Using this gateway to return to the living offered only damnation in return.  But to Rose, an eternity in a place void of light or happiness was close enough to fire and brimstone.

         As she closed the distance, the structure that seemed insignificant towered over her, its door ajar waiting hungrily.  Rose hesitated for a fleeting moment then ran head first through the dark opening.  She was sucked into a long tunnel, the wind tearing at the clothes she’d been wearing on the day of her slaughter.  Gripping the tails of her shirt, she pulled it tight and doubted her decision for the first time. Panic struck and she was sure that it was straight to hell for her but before she screamed, the black gave way to a blue sky littered with the whitest clouds she’d ever seen.

         Rose recognized her surroundings immediately; it was the dump site for her lifeless corpse, only this time, she wasn’t dead anymore.  She fanned her fingers apart, gazing down at the fractured nails that decorated her bloody fingertips.  This wasn’t what she’d expected so Rose brought her hands to her neck.  It was sticky and still painful.  The front of her shirt soaked with her blood.  Damn it! 

         Scanning her burial ground, she searched for a way to cover her wounds.  Rose rummaged through the litter scattered throughout the thicket until her hand squished something between her fingers.  She yanked on it.  As it came into view, she realized she hadn’t been the only dead girl in this area.  The woman looked like a porcelain doll, her skin faded and pale, and her hand gripped a red scarf.  Rose tugged it free, wrapped it around her throat, and made her way to Lionel’s cabin. 

         The blue sky faded into a bloody dusk, the white clouds dipped in it.  Rose recognized the laughter drifting on the cool breeze.  Time was against her.  Her chance at retribution only lasted until the moon overtook the sunny day and it was fading fast.  She pushed through the shrubbery until Lionel’s log home revealed itself. 

         She saw him standing on the deck, bringing a cold beer to his lips.  Rose’s gaze drifted beyond him until a cute red-head came into view.  She froze.  The rules for this reckoning were clear; no survivors.  Could she kill this innocent girl?  Killing Lionel would be pleasurable but Rose hadn’t considered that she’d have to murder anyone else.  Then again, if she was here she was all but dead already.

         Rose inhaled deeply, closed her eyes, and focused.  Unaware, her feet propelled her forward and when she opened her eyes, she was at a full sprint.  She lunged, flinging herself between the boards that braced the deck railing and rammed her shoulder into the back of his knees.  Lionel flew forward, reaching out for his victim-to-be but missed, skidding along the hardwood shaving chunks of his face off.  He rolled onto his back staring at her with wide pupils.  He tried to stand but fell back to the deck, his knees separated from the joints below them. 

         Rose stood, grabbing the barbeque fork from the grill and bent over him.  “Remember me?”

         Lionel brought his hands up, shielding his face.  “This isn’t possible.  You’re fucking dead!”

         “Yeah, I was, just not right now.”  She plunged the fork into his stomach, stabbing him repeatedly until her rage faded.

         The red-head whimpered and Rose turned to her.  “Sorry.  I can’t leave you alive.”

         “Why?” she stammered.

         Rose removed the scarf exposing her lacerated throat.  “This is why.”  Tilting her head back, she felt a fresh stream of blood flow from the wound.

         She plucked the pronged fork from Lionel’s torso and brought her hand forward, thrusting it into the red-head’s eye.  Blood squirted around the metal, spattering Rose’s face and her knees buckled.  The woman’s wails pierced her ears and she covered them, wishing the sound away.  She admired the bright stars glowing against the blackness above her, tears leaking from her.

         As the moon revealed itself, Rose heard death’s minions clawing through the boards beneath her.  She braced herself for the torture ahead.  Once they broke through, pain shot through her body as hundreds of talons sunk into her flesh.  Was eternal suffering worth all of this?  She didn’t know but she was certain she’d endure it lying next to Lionel and that would bring a smile to her lips.