Válmörde

• Sunny Johnson, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2018

Travis' eyes slowly began to open, his surroundings fading from blurriness and coming into clear view. He felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead, irritating him. He began to lift his hand to wipe his brow when a small, hairy burning feeling stung his wrists. Travis looked behind him to see that his hands were tied together in a knot to the trunk of a tree. He tried wriggling his arms hoping to free them but to no avail. He eventually stopped struggling and thought of the dream he had, of the prisoner Decius being beheaded by a supreme leader named Queteuse. It was all very strange. He thought that it couldn't be real as it was just a nightmare, but the events that unfolded felt so realistic. And weirdly enough, although he just viewed who the prisoner's killer was, Queteuse, he felt as if he already knew him, a memory inside his head that refused to appear. Suddenly a hideous creature came out of nowhere and opened his mouth, fresh black saliva dripping out of its mouth, making Travis scream. Its skin was dark grey with green veins and looked like it had been badly burnt in a fire.
"Here we are!" the creature said. His voice sounded like oars scraping on ice. "Dinner is awake! Dinner time! I haven't had a large meal in quite some time..." He opened his mouth and sets of sharp fangs extended out of his gums. He leant in closer towards Travis, making him scream louder.
"Hiomur!" another creature shouted, walking out next to the creature that was in front of Travis. The creature looked almost identical to him. Travis could only tell the difference because he was wearing a different coloured piece of animal skin for clothing, and he was holding a wooden spear. "What are you doing?"
"Merely having a small taste of our feed Osasz" replied Hiomur, leaning back and retracting his teeth back into his gums.
"Chief gave you no right! He said we feast after the ceremony! It is the tradition!" Osasz spat, literally. "We wouldn't want Gniets to strike us down with lightning bolts for not acknowledging him for this meal!"
Hiomur grunted.
"I don't think I would like being struck with lightning bolts," he said. "That would hurt."
"Then you shall come!" Osasz said, gripping his spear harder. "Chief not like no-shows! You know the consequences! You do not want to end up like Feevz do you?"
Hiomur glared at Travis and then turned to Osasz.
"No, I do not," he said eventually. "Quite unfortunate yes, yes. Poor Feevz!" He cackled with laughter before turning back to Travis.
"Rest assured tasty one, just because I haven't eaten you now doesn't mean I won't eat you later." If looks could kill, then the one Travis received from Hiomur would have ended him swiftly. "I will personally ask the Chief to keep you alive so you can die painfully watching us feed on your flesh!"
"And his organs, don't forget his organs," Osasz said, licking his dark lips with his grey tongue. 'Those are the best parts."
Travis desperately had another go at trying to free his hands from his bonds before Hiomur grabbed Travis' face with his hand, his long fingernails piercing slightly into his flesh.
"You have a funny smell about you boy," Hiomur said. "Where are you from?"
Travis found that ironic because that was the same question he had been asking himself.
"I...don't remember," Travis replied.