Day Into Night

Day Into Night



Prologue



“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.” ~Vincent Van Gogh.

Probably some of the most profound words I’ve come across over the spectrum of my life. Not only in this did I find myself curious, but also the “Night” in its entirety. How can it seem as though you’re being watched when there’s no chance of anything else? How can you stand in the middle of a field, miles away from other tangible objects and civilization and yet feel constricted. The feeling of the night, the darkness weighted, coming down and wrapping its arms around you. This was the start of my exploits about the other world, concealed under the blanket of shadows.



Chapter 1



My name’s Gabriel Stours. It’s funny, people pronounce it a million different ways and it’s not until I correct them by saying, “Say it like ‘Stores’, like the ones you shop at” Do they understand the pronunciation completely. Currently I am a night school teacher, funny enough, because until I was thirteen I was absolutely terrified of the dark.  The reason for this was what I still believe to this day to be a ghost sighting. It feels almost like a dream, all past memories do though. I remember waking from a dream, good or bad I cannot specify, but I turned half dazed towards my open closet and there it was. Not floating or moving, but just standing there, gazing at me as if it was a guardian defending me from whatever evils laid in waiting under the concealment of darkness. That’s the one thought that has continually stayed with me and is what originally sparked my interest in what does the night truly hold. Before I get ahead of myself let me start at the beginning. It may be a cliché to say, but it started out as a day like any other. Other than being a night teacher I work at the department of motor vehicles. Not the most glamorous job, but it puts food on the table and it doesn’t really matter to my fiancée, however I don’t know how I could live with her as my crutch. It could just be my male instinct, but I have the compulsion to be the breadwinner and the one to hold her whenever she is scared or lonely. My fiancée though… I knew it was meant to be ever since we started dating in high school, sophomore year, and now we are 22 eagerly awaiting our wedding and we feel like nothing can bring us down. In my eyes, she’s the most beautiful woman in the world. Slender and glowing with a charming smile that just warms my heart every time. With long brunette hair and eyes that plunge deep into my soul she is truly the girl of my dreams. She is the light shining down on me and the wind to which I spread my wings and fly. Her magnificence flows in my blood stream and keeps me running day after day. She’d always been there for me and she had stuck with me throughout the events that would end up changing my life forever.











Chapter 2

         

I had finally rid myself of fear, especially that of which I expressed towards darkness. And so on a late sleepless night I got up to take a stroll down the cobble stone streets. I got up as quietly as I could, kissed my beloved gently on the forehead, slipped on my night robes then a jacket and headed out. We had just found a place to stay and an apartment was one of the few places we could currently afford. I honestly wouldn’t change it for the world. An antique cottage styled apartment complex beautifully accented by the surrounded cobble stones, trees, cedar lining and rustic boutiques. I stepped out of my door preparing to descend four flights.

Slowly I turned to close the door and shut it. I did so with the precision and meticulousness of a doctor as to not wake my ever so gently resting princess. I waited and waited until I finally heard the door click shut. I looked, pulling my sleeve over my hand to clean off the gilded 606 hanging on the door. Taking a step back I greedily admired my handy work and saw that there was something reflecting in the numbers. I knew it couldn’t have been me. I was standing just of center and out of the way of the light. It was something else. I turned and looked only to be dissatisfied by the fact that I was alone in this wooden damp hallway. I stepped closer and looked deeply into the gold room numbers. “What the hell?” I muttered softly to myself.

It was a girl, a small girl. She couldn’t have been more than six. She was standing there in white gown like pajamas. She was balancing on the rail faced right towards me, her toes doing the best they could to latch around the smooth metallic pole. I whipped around to grab her and pull her down to safety. There was nothing there.

Again in frustration and confusion I turned to look at the reflection and see the mirror child who had captured my full attention in the current moment, only to devastating results. All I could do was watch in shocking and terrified awe. She flew back off the railing and down. Her arms and legs straightened, thrust forwards as if something had grabbed her from the back and taken her to only God knows where. This time, my others senses came in to play other than my growing questionable sense of sight. I heard a loud thud. Maybe she was real. Maybe my mirror child wasn’t just in my imagination. I looked down to see blood splattered everywhere. I rushed downwards panting harder with every passing stair. Maybe it was the exercise or maybe it was the girl, but I felt constricted and short on breath, getting shorter. Eventually, in a descent that seemed like forever, I arrived at the bottom. “Oh God, oh God”, I muttered frantically, “please, please….” I took the final steps with my eyes closed, afraid of the sure massacre that should be awaiting me.

I pried my eyes open. Nothing. The devastating crime scene was nothing more than a freshly mopped marble tile and the occasional cobweb in the corner. Then the strangest sensation hit my arm. Almost like a burn. I checked myself and was mortified. Burned, singed in my arm was a terrifying message. You can save us. Save whom? Why? A blink and a cringe, and the message was gone. “What is going on tonight, I must be more stressed than I thought. I could definitely use that walk now.” And so I did. I stepped out onto the stoop directly in front of the apartment, closing the wooden door behind me. The air was brisk and sharp my vocal chords were shredded with each passing wind. Still, it was a refreshing cold and it was one of those moonlit nights under a blanket of stars that reminds you how lucky you are to be alive and has a man reflect upon his whole life. I began my walk on Independence Avenue. All the streets here are some derivative of a patriotic term. I never liked it personally, but it never really bothered me either. I’ve always liked the way though that it felt to walk under the dimmed streetlights. One after the other the light comes and goes with a pull and tow and it feels like a dance of the flame, the flicker of life and a friendly reminder of its frailty. I checked my watch. It read 12:37. Then I had my first experience. All the lights burst at once, then…nothing.





Chapter 3



         When I awoke I found myself lying in the middle of straw field. Down from a hill. Just an empty hill. Not even realizing it at first, but everything’s empty. Nothing around absolutely nothing. Then there she was. The girl from the stairs, she was just fine standing, her young hair afloat with the wind. I slowly rose from the irritatingly scratching wheat with my mouth agape. And with every blink I took she grew closer and closer until, she was gone completely from my sight. I couldn’t believe it, what was going on. Then came a faint innocent voice.

“Down here Mister”.

And with that I quickly flashed my attention downward onto her pale skin. All she did was cock her head to the side and smile. Just a simple innocent smile.

“Watcha lookin’ for?” 

For probably the first time in my life I was at a loss for words.

“Mister….” 

She said in a giggling attempt to gain my attention. So I knelt next to her. “Hi…where are you’re parents sweetie?”

“They’re not here”.

“Well do you know where they are?”

All she did was turn and point to the same empty hill. Only now there was the addition of a cottage. A plain cottage.

“Are they there right now honey?”

“No they left, they said they had to go shopping.”

“Have they been gone long?”

Unexpectedly she broke into tears. “I haven’t seen them in fornever. Where are they Mister? Where are Mommy and Daddy?” 

With Every single tear, every bead of liquid streaming down her face, my heart re-broke and I almost followed her actions. I could feel my eyes begin to water and my vision begin to blur. I knew, however, I needed to stay strong. It was the best thing for both of us. All I could do was respond in complete uncertainty as to what the outcome of our search for her missing parents.

“I don’t know, but I promise you we’ll find them together.” I don’t know why I agreed, but I felt like I had to. Like the world wanted me to be the guardian of this young girl.

She led me to the cottage where instant exhaustion forced itself over me. I fell on to the coach and quickly was fast asleep.

Again I woke from a trance like sleep. Somehow I was in my bed next to my beautiful fiancée. I turned over to look at the clock. 12:37. Not a minute had passed. I don’t know how that could be. A leathery feel made its appearance in my hand. It was my wallet. I opened it and out fell a picture. It was a Polaroid of… The Girl! Her parents are in it as well only there’s something wrong. She’s maintained the same innocence, but her parents looked at least 30 years older than they should have been. Maybe a message, maybe a mission, but what’s for certain is that I may a promise to a little girl. Real or simple in my dreams, I am going to find her parents.



Chapter 4



The morning came and the world ran the same as it had always before. I don’t know why I find that information confusing. It just seems after what happened, or what I thought happened, last night that everything should somehow be different. I carried on though. I got dressed, had breakfast, kissed my fiancée and told her I loved her with all my heart before I left. I was definitely not looking forward to the long day I had in front of me.  This was for a couple reasons. First of all I am truly starting to loathe my department job and the second reason is that my mind will be filled with a constant recap of what had happened. I just can’t seem to wrap my head around the whole idea in its entirety. Did I beckon what had transpired onto myself or was it some bizarre judgment He was passing over me.

I arrived a couple minutes late, but I was sure no one would notice, or for that fact even care. It was Saturday and eleven teenagers all passed their driving tests. I couldn’t believe this, when I was a kid it was almost impossible to get a license. It almost seemed as though the instructors were intentionally failing us. Nonetheless, I had to stand behind this counter administering instructions to half-baked, half-dumb teenagers. All who looked like they were going into epileptic shock as they posed for the picture.

Just one left to go. As I was typing out his information into the computer, the screen wiped black. I had no idea what was going on. I tried to gain the attention of my co-workers, but they maintained their diligent work without flaw, without waiver, my plea had gone unnoticed. Then typing came across the blackened screen, “ You’re becoming like us, like us damned children of shadows, embrace it my friend and you shall become one of us children.” Again it wiped then static. The lights dimmed and flickered in a seizure-inducing manner. A received a quick head rush and was once again standing in the middle of that damn wheat field. I can’t become angry or frustrated, I can’t become one of them. There was something different though. Wheat was scarce in this newly renovated world. The land was barren and scorched, charred by what I can only joke to be napalm. I slowly wandered back up the hill for a second time, making my way towards the cabin. I don’t know what will be awaiting me, but I have an unsettling feeling as though I should without a doubt turn back. I stopped immediately at the top of the hill and surveyed the surrounding, desolate grounds. A seesaw, a swing set, play equipment and balls. None of this was here before and turning back towards the swing set was another uneasy addition.

“Oh my God” I yelled in surprise. There, stood a boy, around the age of ten. Clothes darkened, tattered, and shaded with dirt. Holes revealed his dirt tarnished skin and a scar on his chest that appeared centuries old. His jeans were the same story and it seemed as though he’d been buried underground for years. However, there he stood in full form, blood stained to his face and now, to my recent realization, his clothes as well. His hair is the darkest shade of dirty blonde and he is wearing the most demonic, teeth bearing, grin I’ve ever seen. Through my peripherals I can see him twirling and fiddling with some sort of item. What is it?

  Muttering softly to my soft I questioned, “A knife?” It was rusted and covered with dry blood. He could tell my confusion and started to speak as if to relieve my stress although creating more anxiety than I already have.

“ I told you you’d be one of us. I know your problems and I have a quick remedy for them.” The boy said it all through an evil chuckle as he extended the knife.

“ This world, you know, is not real. It’s just a temporary escape---”

“Look kid I’m not killing myself” I exclaimed cutting him off mid-sentence.

He looked puzzled at first and then just smiled and calmly corrected, “ Oh, this knife isn’t for you mister, it’s for mummy and daddy. They’ve been treating me and my sis something awful….” He stopped, paused for a second regaining himself and continued.

“Won’t you take this knife and liberate two caged souls? Won’t you cut through the chains and bleed out acid of redemption?”

Just like that in a matter of minutes, this boy changed his articulation three times. First from a well-poised speaker to that of a scared child then back again to a silver-tongued devil.

Ordinarily I would have never considered the option of an atrocity such as this, but I knew this dreamland that’s captivated me so could not possibly be real. Also, as a child, my parents abused my sister and me. They beat us, put out their filthy cigarettes on our arms and worked us to exhaustion. It wasn’t until I was 18 and she was 15 that we were both set free in our own ways. My savior was and continually is fiancée. Back when we had first started dating she had been my angel and guardian and she helped me cope with the pain and even housed me after my sister’s dreadful liberation.

It was a cold winter night. I was walking home under the light, ever so slowly, descending blanket of snow. I could feel the cold’s dagger-like reach and I had a painful sensation of pins and needles all over my body. The air was rich with a thick permutation of smoke, wood, coal, and the sweetest of all, fire. Smelling it, the icy walkways seemed like an eternity. I had eventually returned home and opened the door. As I took my first steps inwards I instinctively ducked as a fine piece of china went spiraling over my head. Then from down the hall I heard a scream. Sis… I thought to myself. I pounded down the hall to the staircase. At the bottom, my sister lay mangled in a bloody mess. I later found out she was threatening to jump in spite of our parents. She was standing on the square wooden railing as our drunken father, fed up with her antics, decided to end them once and for all. In devastation and shock, uncertain of what to do, I ran, blazing out the door and eventually flopped face first into the snow. That was the last time I ever saw my parents, however I still have the burns as a rough memento.

I still to this day look back with regret and remorse over my cowardly inaction. However, here was my chance to remedy my mistake and avenge my sister. I reached out and grabbed the knife, engraved with “Boushcwa”. I noticed this detail as I spun the knife in my hand. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

Turning towards the screen door I took a deep breath. Would I be able to do this, or would I even want to? As I grabbed the knob I paused and severely considered turning back. It wasn’t right. I couldn’t do it; I had to deny his request. As I was slipping my hand of the rusty knob he panicking at the thought of a future with his dreadful parents and said something that stopped me cold in my tracks and sent chills through my body.

“As your sister died she didn’t just scream for help. She screamed your name Gabriel.

I turned the knob.



Chapter 5



As the rounded handle of the knob turned the most gruesome screech emanated from its rusted lock. In turn the newly tattered screen door opened nearly falling off the hinges. The air reeked and with thick with the stench of alcohol. A puff of smoke thrust itself blinding my senses. An obvious discomfort, one though that I had hoped to forgot from decades passed.

When I opened my eyes I found myself in a familiar location. The air was brisk and the time late. I heard arguing from down the hall. In unprovoked anger I began gripping my dagger with such a fury and passion that my palm began to bleed. Then a glare took my distraction away. It came from beneath my, just catching my lower lid and working its way up. The knife, which should have been weathered down by anguish and time, was clean, brand new as if it had been recently purchased. I knew what I had to do. I made a sprint down the hall, disregarding the noise I was making.

“Dad!” I yelled in anger “Leave her alone!”

“Yeah? So what’s are you going to do about dis?”

His arrogance only forced me to grab the knife harder. And the situation flashed before my eyes in an instant. This was going to happen.

“Baby sis, please get down, your big bro’s gonna take care of this.”

Without uttering a word she sat down on the rail as to not fall off and then reached her foot downward stepping off.

“Thanks. Now go down stairs and into your room, I’ll be down in a sec.”

She plainly nodded her head with a fountain of tears bursting over her cheeks.

“Don’t you go you little bitch, I’m not done wid yous yet.”

“Oh yes you are” I exclaimed catching him in mid turn towards me, plunging the blade handle-deep into his stomach.

He fell like a rock into my arms, the weight instantly bringing me to the ground. He was now writhing in convulsions. I had to force myself onto him to keep him from struggling.

Nothing preceding this had any real merit to it at all now thinking about it. Everything felt weightless like it would as if it was a dream. Only holding him down actually felt real.

Then, in an annoyingly reoccurring manner, the lights burst creating utter blackness.

Then they flashed on revealing me to a mob of people screaming.

“Call 911” A woman shouted.

“Somebody get him off of the poor guy” grunted a man.

Looking down I found myself on top of and constricting a beaten and bloody man.

“What’s going on?” I questioned in what I thought to be an honest way.

I was then unexpectedly thrust upwards.

“Yeah, like you don’t know.”

Looking back in the mirror I saw my computer screen reflected. I tried my hardest to remember what it said for future dissection. Rehtaf ruoy era uoy.

What the hell does that mean?



Chapter 6



An hour passed before my fiancée arrived to bail me out. It wasn’t the most exciting car ride I’ve ever had, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything anyways which just made her even angrier. All I could think about were those jumbled letters. I never had been good at linguistics, but it was still irritating.

When we got home I walked in the house without saying a word and walked to the desk, which was in our living area. Also known as our kitchen/den/mud room/bedroom. From in the draw on the far left I pulled out a marker and wrote the letters on the palm of my hand. Then rushing into the bathroom, at the thought of my brilliant idea, I flicked on the lights and held my palm up.

“You are your father”

At that moment the world seemed to split and cut with static almost as if it were television station. It returned to normal almost as quickly as it had came. Standing behind, but only in the mirror was the girl, or my sister, nothing was clear to me anymore. My perfectly logical world was spun upside down and irregularity and doubt filled my head.

“You are your father, but not in physicality. You are him not in essence, but you are him in the way that you had perceived him to be.”

“What are you talking about? I saved you, or my sister, or whatever, from him. He was the monster, not me.”

“You saw in there what you wanted to see and what that boy told you to see. You saw me Gabriel, you did. I was at the bottom of the staircase that night, but our father wasn’t the one. The boy was. He pushed me. Not daddy. Yes he was drinking, but he tried to save me from that savage. Now that he’s not there I have no one to protect me anymore. Thanks to you Gabriel.”

“No, sis, I can still save you, I can still do something I can”---

“Can what? Change what happened? I think it’s a little late.

“No, I”---

Just like that she vanished.

That bastard. He played me and I bought right into it.

“Gabe. Honey? I’m sorry babe, can we talk about this?”

“Ye-yeah baby, just one second.” Finally words came to me. They were even almost a complete sentence.

“Look let’s just”---

“Let’s sit down first” I suggested “Might as well be comfortable”

“Ok.”

So we sat, but she couldn’t wait. Half way down she blurted out shocking news.

“I’m late Gabe.”

“Woah, what? How late?”

“Only about five days, but still I’m scared. You know I always support you, but I’ve just been a bit on edge about this. I didn’t mean to snap honey.”

“Look babe, no one is ever happy and nice all the time, there’s always at least one moment where they lose their cool and you’re no exception I’m sorry to say.”

“Ok” she said through an immerging grin. “I think you might be a daddy.”

“Yeah…  heh, good thing the wedding’s only about a week away”

“Why’s that?”

“No one will know we were rockin’ in high school”

“You are so crude!”

“Yeah, but that’s why you love me”

“Yeah, I guess”

Just like that my day was turned around. The prospect of me being a dad, the jokes we share, and my loves smile. That’s really all I want or ever need. Through squinting eyes forced by my grin I saw an orphaned looking boy crawl up next to my fiancées chair, poising a knife at her stomach.

“Honey! Watch out!” I screamed as I lunged forward. The boy disappeared.

“What’s wrong, what are you doing?” she asked in confusion

Startled at the occurrence, I managed to only spit out a small fragment of an answer.

“ Uhh, nothing honey, don’t worry about it.”

Where had he gone now and what is that bastard planning. Then softly a humming arose. One almost soothing. One that gradually become unsettling as rhythmic vocalization took the form of lyrics

         There, from behind me, came a solemn off pitch song.

         “ What would you do, for the woman you love, The one at night, who keeps you snug. If I plunge this deep into her soul and leave it there for you to pull. Red lights, blue lights and sirens sound. And this little orphan boy is no where, to be found.”

         “What would you do Gabriel?” he said twirling his knife. “What would you do?”



Chapter 7



         I found myself, gazing in disbelief at this corrupted boy standing in my home. He was still playing with his damn knife and had a grin shooting out the side of his face. Crooked even, with intended evilness. I had to do something. My wife’s life may be at stake and I’d had enough of this run down beaten child. This was it. The final point. The ending chapter to our horror story.

“ You want to do this? Then we will!” I exclaimed.

         “ Gabriel, you’re scaring me” my love cried.

         “ This isn’t about you, ok?”

         “ What are you talking about?”

         “ Come Gabriel, It’s been too long, let’s play…” He said smirking.

         “ Ok, let’s do it”

         In an instance we were whisked away to a black room. The only discernable features were he, and the steel floor, highlighted by a circle of lights. Here it is Gabriel. This is the night. It’s where your fear is derived and your mind escapes. Then lighting up were pictures, no, movies of events from my life. They were all good I don’t understand it.

         “These are your highlights. You don’t understand. In order to be afraid you must have an event or object to compare your fear to. Now here’s what you really fear.”

         Flashing up on the screen was that fateful night of my sister’s demise. It showed the outer area of my house, but I was nowhere to be found. Rather, I was inside standing in front of my sister as she clutched the rail.

         “Gabriel, don’t do it” called out my father from the surrounding projection.”

         “We are going to a place where you can never hurt us.” I saw and heard myself say these words, but they didn’t make sense. I have no memory of this happening.

         “Gabe, don’t”---

         “Gabey, please I don’t wanna do this.”

         “Shut up you bitch… your not going anywhere, I’m not done with you yet. I’m sorry please I didn’t mean it. Don’t worry little sis. Big brother’s here to protect you.” Words that cold just stung my ears and the sight of myself then pushing my sister over was acid to my eyes.

         I then saw my father lunge at me cutting me across my chest with a knife.

         I looked down, and there it was. As if magic, just appearing before my eyes.

         “No it can’t be, this is a trick, just as it was before.” I accused the boy.

         “A trick, the only trick was helping you. You killed your father both times. In mine your sister got to live. That me helping you. Or what could be considered you helping yourself” he said pulling down his shirt to reveal his scar once more. “You’ve been hiding yourself, but here I am.”

No this can’t be. It just can’t. I looked up once more at the screen and saw myself set the house a blaze. Running in a desperate attempt to get away only to flop face first into the snow. That’s where it cut out.

“You’re lying. I know you are.”

“Am I really? Look at that Polaroid one more time.”

I honored his request. They looked exactly the same. Only now did I make the connection that they were my parents. “So, it’s the same.”

“Flip it over, you’ll see what I mean.”

Turning over the card I noticed writing on the back. I read it aloud in disbelief.

“Mummy and Daddy- Dead…. Baby sis- Saved….”

“I must commend you on a job well done though. You kept your word. You found her parents. You even reunited her with them. It’s a shame they met under such unfortunate circumstances.”

I felt a gun slip its way into my hand. I had the material and I had the motivation. I knew at this point that our bout was at its end. Walking towards the boy I swung, and kept hitting him until he dropped to his knees. A child once more, looking up at my with his eyes seemingly so innocent.

He knelt there and pleaded, “Don’t do it Gabe, don’t do it. Please Gabe don’t. I still love you Gabe.”

“It’s vein for someone to love themselves, you should know that.” “You want to know what I’d do? Well what I’d do is kill you.”

There was a flash and the world seemed to go numb. 



Chapter 8



The world and time around me slowed and deafness gradually mixed with a crescendo of frantic voices.

“Put down your weapon.” Came a voice muffled by amplification.

I didn’t know what to do. I was thrust back into my world without a clue as to what was happening.

“Lay down your arms or we’ll shoot” came another call.

Again I maintained a stare as if it were that of a deer. Blinded by spotlights the area started to spin.

I dropped what I could only assume to be a gun. Instantaneous with the gun hitting the ground I was mobbed by a pack of officers. As I was forcefully walked to their car. I was finally able to make out pieces of conversation.

“What the hell’s going on here” A man asked an officer.

The officer in an attempt to clear up any doubt addressed the small crowd of neighbors from the area.

At his words, I cried. For the first time since I was a boy, I cried. I sobbed throughout, even as I was being pushed into the cop car.

“Please will everyone stand back, a woman’s been shot.”