Fallen Memories

• Zeah Locke, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2015

I feel the ground beneath me as I run. The tarmac gradually dropping in temperature; the heat of the day escaping it. The dark trees and shrubbery swirl on either side of me as the moonlight illuminates the scene. I hear pounding with very step I make, the noise echoing through the otherwise quiet night. I run for what feels like forever, though perhaps it has been never? I run away, away from everything; myself and chasing wind.

In front of me everything seems flat, and yet I feel myself sinking into the ground, and before I know it I am falling, falling through a dark void. I hear the wind filling my ears. My bright green and blue hair soars above me like a flame and through the wind I hear something in the distance. As I fall I begin to spin and soon the wind feels almost silenced by an ear-splitting undecipherable noise. I see a blurry light rushing towards me as the noise begins to clarify. As the light gets closer I see it is a hand reaching through a door; leading to a candlelit room.

I fumble around for a few moments before grasping the hand; my body rushing forwards through the door. As soon as I enter the room I realize the noise was in fact me screaming and I quickly cover my mouth to stifle it, and yet the scream continues; getting louder than before. I look around the room, only to find a man’s face. As soon as I see it, the scream ceases. The face is so familiar, surely even amnesia could not stop me from remembering it. “You?” I mutter as I look into his piercing green eyes. He looks at me in pity. “Yes.” He says, and as soon as the words leave his lips I fall through the floor; back into the dark pit that seems never-ending.

This time though, it is different – instead of wind I hear a static sound, and in almost no time I am not falling, but hovering and walking through a dark hallway lined with doors. I feel myself drawn to an ornate one on the left. I open it only to hear a loud noise erupting through the static; ceasing it – and then I see him. I cry out as his corpse falls before I am devoured once more by the ground.

The static noise returns, along with yelling and a consistent beeping and yet again I find myself falling. I sob and cry as I fall; so alone. The noises are ever getting louder and clearer until I can make out some of the yelling. “The doctors… If you don’t...” I hit cold grass, everything is quiet. I close my eyes and open them again. “You. You’re awake.” says a man. A wave of recognition passes over me, and then it is gone, leaving me cold, afraid, empty. I look into his piercing greens eyes and whisper, "Who are you?"