Fear And Oblivion

• Sophia Kovac, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2013

I woke as I heard the deafening scream of my parents. Darkness had engulfed my room
and there was a sense of sheer terror hanging in the air. I quickly ran to see what had my
parents so terrified only to be grabbed by a pair of hands and pulled toward to front door. I
thrashed about, managing to escape the wrath of the figure holding me hostage and
bolted. Fear and adrenaline were coursing through my veins, willing me to run faster. As I
neared my parents bedroom I could fear the terror, thick in the air.
What I saw next, no one should ever have to encounter. My parents were tied to wooden
crosses, fire licking at the soles of their bare feet. Only clad in their pyjamas they had looks
of fright etched onto their faces. Twelve figures, there identity sealed by hooded cloaks
surround my parents. Each holding a torch and chanting unintelligibly.
'NO!' I screamed out, desperately trying to prolong my parents lives but the figures didn't
react.
'Ashlynn!' My parents cried put in unison, thrashing around trying to escape the ropes that
were tying them to their deaths. Their desperate attempts became shorter and weaker as I
felt them slipping away from me. I fell to the ground and sobbed. Crying myself into a state
of oblivion.
I felt two strong hands grab my own and pull me away from my parents towards the front
door and the front yard. Once there I saw nothing except a sad version of my usually lush
and green garden which was now a eery grey.
The twelve figures surrounded me as I fell to the ground, too weak to hold myself up any
longer. All I could think of we're my parents slumped on the ground, there bodies burnt to
cinders and that my fate may very well be the same as theirs.
While I was thinking, the hooded figures had set up my death. A cross stood lone in the
middle of my front yard, looking not at all pleasing nor inviting but terrifying and eery. I felt
myself being hoisted,up, my mind screaming at me to fight but my body too weak to do
anything but close my eyes and accept that this was the end for me.
I felt the figures moving around me and a smoke filled up my senses, awakening me a,d
restarting my desire to fight for my life against these mysterious figures.
They started chanting the same unintelligible words as they did to my parents. The tallest
of the figures stepped forward, holding a book resembling a bible, his body language
unsympathetic.
'Ashlynn,' he spoke 'tell me where you keep the necklace or suffer the same fat as your
parents so unfortunately had to.' His voice was velvety and smooth. Not at all as I
expected it to sound. I was so overcome by by shock I lost my ability to think or speak
coherently.
I finally managed to whimper 'I-I don't know what you're talking about. What necklace?'
'You know what I am after Ashlynn. Don't play dumb with me, just give it to me.' He spoke,
still eerily calm.
'I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME!' I cried 'Which probably means I can't give
it to you. So please, just kill me. Let me be with my parents.'
'As you wish.' He whispered
He knelt down in front of me an lit the fire at the bottom of my cross. I closed my eyes and
let oblivion over take me once again. I felt flames lick at the bottom of my feet and quickly
rise. Writhing and blistering the skin and flesh on my body. I wanted to scream out in pain
but a strange sense of tranquility overcame me. I no longer felt the pain in my body as it
disintegrated into ashes but felt my soul being released. Al the pain anger and repent I felt
had dispersed into obscurity.