Never Say Such Things

Never Say Such Things

A Fall Into Darkness Story

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Copyright © February 2013 Alexia Purdy

All rights reserved

Published by

Lyrical Lit. Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

Cover Design
© by Alexia Purdy

Cover photography
© Lisa_A

ALSO BY ALEXIA PURDY:

Novels:

Reign of Blood

Disarming (Reign of Blood #2)

Ever Shade (A Dark Faerie Tale #1)

Ever Fire (A Dark Faerie Tale) #2

Short Stories
:

Evangeline

The Faery Hunt

Poetic Collections:

Whispers of Dreams

Five Fathoms

Anthology:

Beyond the Never

AVAILABLE via Amazon.com

~Day of Night~

THE COBBLESTONES WERE
slick and the air felt balmy as I hurried along, dodging the hordes of people filling up the avenue. I thought I heard someone say my name, “Hey Alan!” but pretended not to hear because I was late for my next college course. Missing any more classes was sure to lower my average. I didn’t want that, but the day had started off pretty bad and I was already sure crawling back into bed would’ve been a better option than the one I’d taken .

The streets were drenched and
a fine mist from the cars speeding by mucked up my slacks as I stepped too close to the edge of the sidewalk. Cursing under my breath, I tried to shrug it off. I forgot my umbrella and my clothes were borderline soaked. Already a fine mess and there were still a few blocks to go to get to the Langle Stewart building, where my class was being held. The puddles were endless. Dodging one landed me in another, and my socks were now ruined.  Pushing back a dark, black strand of hair from my face, I darted my marbled, brown eyes across the way and huddled momentarily under an overhang awning to the local liquor store.

The rain poured in sheets, getting thicker as the moments ticked by. Checking my back
pack, it was still holding up, luckily. It was extremely water resistant. For how long it would stay dry inside where my expensive textbooks sat, I had no idea. I zipped it back up and stared at the alleyway to my right. It was covered in shadows and looked ominous. The solemn sky was darker than the light on a regular day with the angered clouds swirling down closer to the ground. They moved like soft wisps of greyed-out cotton, soft and light. But, I knew better. I knew they had more to pour down onto me any moment now.

I sighed. I would take the shortcut through the alley between the buildings in hopes of making it on time.

***

“You okay, Alan?”

A soft, familiar voice jolted me out of my revere and I glanced up at the young woman that placed her hand on my old wrinkled one. Her brassy, blond hair looked over processed but was pulled back into a neat ponytail. Her peachy skin was young, but her eyes shined with a knowledge that youth doesn’t possess. She checked my pulse and listened to my chest with her stethoscope. Its cold metal shocked my skin, as did her cold, scrubbed hands. Sitting in my bed at the long term care facility I had lived at since forever, no one but my wife ever visited me. Though, this had always been my own fault.

“Need anything while I’m here?” The nurse fl
uffed my pillow up and tucked the blanket around me.

“No, thank you
, Ms. Landry, I’m fine.” I let out my breath and closed my eyes as the flashes of memory lingered behind my lids. She let out a satisfied sigh and retreated from the room, down the echoing hallway where voices always tended to hover. There was always noise here, never a true silence. It wasn’t something I would ever truly have. Never again, since that fateful day.

~Destined Darkness~

IT WAS STICKY
and the humidity clung to my skin, hair and clothes like a film that wouldn’t come off. I was drenched. The alley offered no better recourse from the storm but it was the shortcut and I was going to race through it. I almost turned around. Why bother to continue? I was going to arrive a sopping mess and would definitely need another shower.

A
bout to give up on getting to my classes on time and call it a day, I stood in the glumness of the alleyway, watching the fat drops of dirty rain plop down from the edges of the roofs above. The smell of mold and old garbage filled the air in its pungent embrace. A small river of water scurried down the center of the path, a worn out crevice, its bed. I almost laughed. Wet chunks of my dark, charcoal hair clung to my face and fell annoyingly into my eyes. I felt a slight of bliss at this most inopportune time. The patter of rain felt comforting. But, it was just a farce, a lie in the real evil of the storm. I fell for its beauty, the slight pleasantries of bad things. I fall for it every time for I had nothing but faith that everything and everyone was good. This was my undoing.

As I turned to head back home, the sky seemed to darken even more. It was late morning, but the morbid skies sucked the light away as if
a late evening’s light had traded for the now. I felt the hair on my neck rise and the gooseflesh contract along my arms as the feeling of being watched made my stomach knot up. I threw my eyes about, finding nothing out of the ordinary in the grime of the alleyway.

Large garbage cans stood rusty and rank with most of their contents strewed about the cobblestones of the walkway. Musty rot clung to the corners where the building met the street. An old stale and ripped couch stood soaked and smelling of old cigarettes and dog hair, flushed to the wall. I wondered briefly if someone slept on it. It was disgusting and I shook the dread away.

As I stepped forward a voice echoed against the walls, snarling and contriving.

“Lost are ya?” the man snickered.

I turned around slowly, gripping the strap to my back pack and readying to run. The man was dressed head to toe in black, and a soaked, black ski cap framed his face, hiding his eyes and hair. His face was covered in stubble and his teeth flashed a sinister smile. A flash of metal twirled in his hand as he crept closer, obviously looking to rob or maim me.

Great.

“Er…nope. Not at all, thanks.” I turned to run but the guy grabbed my pack and pulled me down with it. I struggled to grasp my footing and tug back with all my strength. My expensive textbooks were in that pack. No way did I have enough to replace them. What would he do with a bagful of books anyway? His ignorance made me seethe and more determined to win.

“Just give me the damn bag!” he grunted
, as I pulled and kicked him in the shin. His grasp waned and sent me flying back into a cold splash of muddy water. My pants were ruined but I had my bag. I looked up at my assailant as I scrambled to my feet, but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere, anymore.

“What the…” My words slipped out of my mouth as my eyes came to rest upon a scene from a horror movie. A ghastly looking gargoyle with vast wings, like a bat’s, stood on hind legs as its massive muscular arms held up the robber against the rough brick o
f the building. His face turned a rancid shade of purple as the thing squeezed its taloned fingers around his neck, whispering to him just low enough for me to not understand its words. Even the whispers rumbled around like a growl. I couldn’t move. My feet refused to take me−frozen in shock and disbelief. Nothing I’d ever known would’ve ever prepared me for this. Nothing.

“Please…don’t kill me..” The robber’s own breath barely croaked from his lips as he begged the thing for mercy.

“You have no grounds to ask for that. Your soul is tainted. You belong to
me
.”

With that, the demon pulled in a breath, sucking out a vapor from the man’s lips as she snapped his neck. It savored his essence as it dropped his lifeless body with a dull thump onto the wet pavement.

N
o
.

I inched back, trying to pull my unwilling body into motion. It was stiff
, like something held me in its grasp, pushed at me and turned my bones into lead. Nevertheless, I moved back, slowly, away from this unearthly beast.

“Stop.” Its voice boomed in my ears, making me gasp as the rain spilled down harder, stinging my skin and making it harder to see.

“What are you?” a foreign voice asked, making me wonder who would be so brave to demand questions from this beast. The Gargoyle smiled, its stone teeth sharpened to points that nothing but a shark could compare to it. I was surprised to realize it was me asking this of it.

“You cannot leave. I compel you to stay.” Its voice smoothed out into a woman’s voice, but it still echoed in my head like a gong.

I remained in my spot. Unable to even draw a deeper breath than the short shallow ones I could barely manage from my shock. I wanted to run, I wanted to never look back and erase the memory that I’d ever laid eyes on such a thing as this. What did it want? Why me? I was no one. I wasn’t evil or tainted like that robber. I kept to myself, went to college, got good grades, worked part time at the local diner to pay my way through school. I had some money that I’d saved building computers for people while still in high school and doing all sorts of techie stuff. I never did anything illegal. I was incredibly boring−a nothing in the eyes of anyone. Nothing special.

“Don’t be so sure…” The woman’s amplified voice echoed again in my head, maki
ng me reach up to hold it between my hands, as if it vibrated with her words.

“Leave me alone!” I yelled through my gritted teeth. The pain subsided as she gave a haughty laugh and approache
d me. Her stone fingers reached out, grazing my cheek.

“There, there child. No need to fight.” Her hand felt warm and eased the pain of the ringing in my head away. I blinked up at her as my breath slowed.

Her face was human now, but her features still grey and made of stone. Her wings more angelic but veins of granite ran through the carved feathers.

What the hell?

“I won’t hurt you. At least, as long as you do as I say. Understand?”

I nodded
, easing my hands from my head as I watched her shift. Her movements were fluid but her eyes were dead, like orbs of rock. My heart raced in fear. She wasn’t a good being. She reeked of evil and treachery.

“Yes,” I whispered. I wan
ted to run still, but I couldn’t. She held me prisoner already.

“Good. Now, what do I do with you?” She grinned, tilting her head as she studied my face. I looked away, her eyes
haunted me as she dissected into my head. I felt her moving around, seeing my past, my present, my habits, my likes and desires, my dislikes. It was disorientating and made me increasingly dizzy. Her probing was like someone holding my brain hostage, turning it here and there with a nauseating shake. I wanted to hurl.

“Please, let me go,” I pleaded. The muscles
seized down my legs as I dropped to my knees. I couldn’t stand anymore. Her invasion had drained my energy like a sweet draught she enjoyed a little too much. I felt my life waning away. Falling to my hands, I attempted to crawl away but she was in front of me, just like that. Her movements were unseen and brisk as she picked me up and shoved me to the wall, pushing on my chest with her cold hands.

“
I can’t do that, you see. I need you to do something for me. If you value your soul, you will do this for me, whatever it is that I ask. Understand?” She narrowed her gaze, her mind probe done. I felt a bit clearer with her out of my head, but still weak.