The Hollows, page 9
I had no recollection of palming the broken piece of tooth in my hand. The only thing I could see was the woman for a few moments, twitching her head from side to side and moving about the hole, crouched to walk on her hands and feet. Just as I put my foot back to the ground, her head snapped our direction, nose in the air. Her head jerked.
She threw herself our direction, hobbling like an ape through the street, kicking up teeth behind her. The woman’s bone-thin arm had me grasped around the leg before I could react properly. Firm with a quaking desperation, she clenched the skin around my calf, looking up at me. Not the eyes of the sad, dying beauty I once saw, but the horrid transformation left her with jagged, razor teeth, bleeding gums, and marble-sized, black eyes.
I dropped the tooth on the ground and jerked away from her. She let me go and watched me for a moment. Then, the horrid lady-ish thing dropped to the ground, pulling the bone to her chest like an infant, and scurried back across to the hovel, leaving nothing but the sounds of her whimpers behind her.
“Mine. Mine! Teeth, teeth, the beautiful teeth. The children lose them when they sleep!” She cried and cursed just before looking longingly into her fist. What was once a bright smile showed across her lips as tears of joy puddled and dropped from her now normal eyes.
“It is essential that we leave,” The Shadow said.
I looked over at the sound and feel of his sudden panic, “What’s wrong?”
“Move!” Day said in a sharp whisper. Sevens wrapped me in his arms, pulling me backward towards one of the openings in the building behind us. We lunged inside, sending soot and dust flying. He hid me beneath the windows in an empty bottom floor office building that had been dead and gone long before, with mold, cracks, and soot that made it difficult to breathe. I looked out of the window and then turned to survey rest of the floor. Day was nowhere to be seen, all the shadows looked the same.
I knelt on a bed of broken glass, trying to keep my mouth shut as they dug into my skin. The air outside grew colder, ice and fog began covering what little shards of the window were still hanging on to the panes. With the cold and the fog brought a scream. Sevens tried to stop me from looking, but I wiggled through two of his arms and poked my head up to see.
“They come, yes they do. Shush now, Maggie, they’ll hear us,” A voice said behind me. I turned and saw a boy around my age standing against the wall with a single finger pressed against his lips. His eyes flicked up above me to what lay outside the broken windows. I chanced a turn in that direction.
Four figures stood outside of the hovel.
I could see two from the sides, one had its back to me, and one was bent just before the teeth hoarder’s hole. Too tall to be human, the lanky bodies were dressed in what seemed like black on black tailored suits. Tarnished and rusted cufflinks and buttons were dim in the night. That would have been enough to make them stand out amidst the broken-down walls and black cities, but it was their faces that gave away their true nature.
Their ears were missing, flattened against their nearly clear white skin. The muscles of their jaws that connected to their three layers of razor teeth were black beneath their translucent epidermis. Their lips were permanently curled upwards and outwards in a brutal smile that stretched far too wide and far too high up on their cheeks. They had no hair to speak of on their bodies, nor wrinkles or splotches on their see-through porcelain skin. Pressed against their skull, the eyes were hollowed out, replaced by marbles of solid white so shiny that it reflected the scene before them in nearly perfect mirrors.
The tattered, bloody, and torn lady was brought out of her hole gently, it seemed. The man, if you could call him such, held her hand like a gentleman helping a lady out of her seat. One of the other men grabbed her other arm as she came into view out of hiding and gently pulled her to her feet.
She looked up and whimpered, eyes bloodshot and horrified. Every scared breath that was rapidly exhaled was coated in frost as it escaped her lips. Her bones shivered and she fell to her knees, the men letting her fall hard, standing tall and curious.
“They are always hungry, aren’t they, Maggie? You would think they would get their fill,” The boy said behind me.
Their smiles were firm, hungry. In an unrecognizable language, she seemed to plead. She offered what she had, fistfuls of teeth in her hands and dropping them to their feet.
One by one, they tilted their head.
One by one, their smiles grew, ripping the skin on their cheeks with pleasure.
“I guess no more teeth for the fairy. She should have learned,” the boy whispered.
Then, the four men standing around her contracted the circle, swallowing her.
Her cries started as pleading, then a scream, and ending with a screech. That long, never-ending screech grew to deeper, deafening growls. Those growls drowned out the whimpers until they died against the night air.
“Shush, now, Maggie. They will be done soon.”
The growls and breathing lasted for only a minute longer.
When the four things backed away, the woman was lying on the ground, face up to the sky. Her eyes were open, tears still falling from their sides. She didn’t move. She barely breathed. In her catatonic state, they left her there like the other pieces of trash and bone in the streets.
I watched when they left. The mists vanished and the ice melted from the windows, but Sevens held me firm.
“Do not move, child,” Day said from somewhere behind me. I didn’t care where. I did not even care about the other boy. I just stared at the soulless body lying in the street.
“We have to help her,” I said firmly, looking back trying to find where the voice originated from in the veil of shadows. The boy was gone.
“You cannot help her. She has already departed from this world,” The deadpan tone sent a chill down my back. “Look for yourself if you must. But, be forewarned. You will not enjoy this.”
When I looked back, the street was murky, a sheet of black had been thrown over the building cutting off visual to the outside.
I heard chewing.
I smelled blood.
The darkness began to fade away, like a tiny swarm of bugs leaving their prey. When the darkness dissipated, there was nothing left of the woman but bone and teeth.
“That is what the Gray does, Child. They feed and leave what is left to the darkness. It is a shame; the Tooth Collector had been here far longer than the Gray. We must go.” His shadow emerged, separating from the others, disentangling him as he motioned us to deeper into the building.
Silent, the three of us navigated the building’s hallways, careful to avoid the closed doors and stairwells.
“Day, who was the boy from earlier?” I asked.
“What boy?”
“There was a boy in the building with us. He was talking to someone. Maddie or Margi or someone,” I said.
“Maggie,” A voice said behind us.
Sevens turned before the rest of us and positioned himself in front, giving a low rumbling threat. The boy stood there in the center of the hallway. He was much shorter than I thought, standing just below my chest.
“I was talking to Maggie,” He said in a scratchy, pre-pubescent voice. His shaggy brown hair was long enough to shade much of his brown eyes from us, but they were wide and curious. His hands and feet looked too large for his body, like a small child set upon adult limbs, covered in hair and dirt.
“Okay. What is your name?” I asked, giving Sevens a pat on the head and stepping past him.
“Ethan,” He said.
“Where’s Maggie?”
Ethan turned his head to the side and put his hand out, calming down nothing, “It’s okay, Maggie.”
I looked at the empty space he talked to and back at him. He just kept his arm out, fingers wrapped around an invisible hand.
“Maggie says you won’t hurt us,” The boy said, turning back to look at me.
I nodded, “Maggie is right. You don’t have to be afraid.”
Ethan smiled, “Oh, yes we do. Just not of you.”
Day’s shadow moved closer. I could feel his eyes on the child. Wary but not dangerous, his body told me. His shadow moved back towards the hallway that ended in a broken door.
“Where are your parents?” I asked, turning back to Ethan, but he was no longer there. I stared at the empty hallway for a moment. Sevens just looked up at me and quickly turned to follow Day.
We left around the corner, careful to avoid the street that lay the remnants of the tooth hoarder. For the next hour, we winded down tunnels and alleys in a labyrinth of the dead city, eluding other creatures that we heard in the distance. I felt strange. I felt like I was in limbo between deranged and agonizingly calm. What I saw should have destroyed my sanity. Must be the drugs, I kept telling myself. The full length of time it took to round corners and walk streets, I felt someone watching from a distance. Following with curiosity and care.
A dead end stopped us. Two tall and thin stones lay against the concrete and stone. Sevens turned back towards the alley, circling twice before sitting down like a dog on alert for intruders. Day walked to the wall, staring at it for a moment before speaking.
“It is me, Mordecai,” Day’s voice resonated, vibrating.
“And who is me?” The wall answered.
“Seeker of truth. Shadow among shadows. A being who is peeved by both annoying questions and delusional children.”
“Ah, Day, come in!” The voice turned almost cheerful. The wall broke in two, shifted and grinded to where one wall began to slide behind the other, scraping concrete and dust away as it went. A passage was left among the dust, barely lit by small glowing diamonds along the wall.
“Come, child. He will want to meet you.”
“If you call me child one more time, I’m going to find a light switch.”
Day laughed, “A shadow joke. Cute.”
What we came to was out of comprehension. I nearly do not have the correct words in to describe the disappointment that lay before me. In truth, I was expecting more than what stood at the end of the tunnel. I expected, I don’t know, a being of great presence and stature. Maybe I was expecting the presence of a great legend. A God.
What I got was a short, fat, old sweaty man in a beanie and tank top smoking marijuana.
“Hello, hello! Aren’t you a sight?” The jolly fat guy said.
“You’re Mordecai?” I asked.
“You are correct. And you are Serenity. Glad we got the obvious out of the way.”
My mouth just hung open for a second, “You have to be joking.”
He frowned, “You were looking for something different?”
I shook my head, “I don’t know what I was looking for. Definitely not an old hippie with a joint.”
“It’s for my glaucoma,” He said.
“This is who you,” I looked over at Day. He was nowhere to be seen. “I hate it when he does that.”
Mordecai chuckled.
Turning back to the fat man, my voice rose, “I thought there was no happiness in The Hollows. Yet, here you are, laughing and toking it up. Goes to show my mind is completely fucked up.”
His laughter stopped short, “You are not lost in your mind, Serenity.”
“And I also thought you could only tell the truth.”
The fat man’s smile returned, “That is correct. But, only rarely do I entertain beings, human or creatures. They ask too many questions. Someone like me can drive a person mad since I cannot hide any truths or tell any lies. Everything is forward and honest. There are very few that are able to handle complete truths.”
We stared at each other. Him expecting questions and me expecting him to expand upon his explanation.
Eventually, He caught my intention, “If you know where to hide from the Gray and the Darkness, you can survive much longer and have some small sense of pleasure. Very small, mind you, they can sense true joy and happiness. One must not collect too much bliss or their ecstasy becomes something of a compass to the Gray. They will always find you, Serenity.”
“If you were as knowledgeable as you think you are, you’d know that happiness is something lost on me.”
Mordecai bellowed his laughter out, “Which gives us something of a paradox, does it not? If we were all in your head, then I’d know about your past, your present, and your future. I’d know that you have no happiness in your heart, and with that, comes no fear in your mind. I’d know about your parents’ death, at least, the death they told you about. I’d know about your foster families. You know the ones that I speak of. The ones that neglect you first, don’t feed you, beat you when you misbehave, and beat you more just for the fun of it. I would know about the rape, too. Oh, Mr. Charpiot and his little vices. I’d know about the blood spilled on those wooden floors, the stained glass, and all over the walls, spread with your own frantic hands. I’d know everything, wouldn’t I, if I was only in your head?”
Heat and something else rose in my chest, making my breathing hard and quick, “Is this all in my head?”
“Or I could know that because of the other reasons, couldn’t I? Like the fact that I know everything about anything that comes before me. But since you asked. No, no this is not in your head. This is as real as the death of your cousin and the ropes that scarred your wrists. You are not lost in your mind, Serenity. This is not a delusion.”
I shook my head, “This can’t be real.”
“It is,” He said.
The world spun, “It’s not real.”
“I’m afraid it is. It all is. From the moment you arrived to the moment you watched the tooth collector be consumed, it has all been very real.”
The smell of the smoke suddenly seemed harsher, brash, and smothering. The darkness seemed darker. My chest and eyes burned.
Mordecai tilted his head, all smiles and humor devoid from his features, “So why don’t you ask the question you are really wanting to ask, Serenity?”
My mind was spiraling, causing me to fall to my knees, “What am I doing here?”
“You are here because we brought you here, Day and myself. More Day than me, if you want honesty. I never wanted you here. I thought there could have been another way, but he insisted. You are here because you are without fear. You are here because you are unlucky, hurting, and broken. But, even you know that is not the question that plagues you.”
I found my eyes out of focus, hurting and trying to see through the haze, “No.”
“You will ask, Serenity. You cannot help but ask. No one can. The darkest questions always come out in the end.”
Spates of nausea took hold of my stomach. Nothing could stop me from puking at his feet. I gasped for breath and fought against my body to regain control of my shaking, “Am I going to die here?”
Mordecai bent down, gently lifting my chin so we could see eye to eye. The smell on his breath was sickening. As he spoke, the world melted, “Now that is the question that drives people mad. The most dangerous question that drives those to insanity. It is a sad truth, Child. But, the complete truth is this, Serenity. Yes, you most certainly will die here.”
Chapter 5.5:
The Lost Boys
Her lungs spat up a mixture of bile and water, choking her and causing fits of involuntary coughing. She laid there momentarily gasping for the precious air that was taken from her. Not wanting to open her eyes, she focused on her breathing, keeping her eyes fixed behind her lids and cherishing the cool inhalation. Her body was regaining control, slowly pumping oxygen back into her system.
Just a brief moment passed before whispers filled the air.
They were arguing incomprehensibly, debating and shushing like children arguing over a secret.
“Stop it,” One said louder than the others. “Don’t push me. He pushed me.”
“Stop pushing him, Martin.”
“He pushed me first!”
She groaned, “Will you be quiet, my head is killing me.”
The room went silent. It took her a moment before she had the courage to open her eyes. For a second, there was confusion as to if her eyelids had actually opened or if she might have gone blind. That panic caused her to sit up too quickly causing dizziness that made her fall back to the ground. While groaning, she massaged her temples, attempting to regain the courage to sit up once more.
“Is she dead?”
“No, she’s not dead, stupid.”
“Shut up, you’re stupid.”
“You’re both stupid. Step back, let her breathe,” A louder, stern voice said, still belonging to a child.
“We shouldn’t have pulled her out. Why did we pull her out?”
“Should we have just let her drown? The Iktomi would have wanted that; made its life easier.”
“Shh! don’t say its name. Are you insane?”
She opened her eyes again and pulled herself to her elbows. The sky was black. It was always black. Once her eyesight adjusted, she saw the walls, cracked and brown and full of despair. She saw she was surrounded by seven boys, all between the ages of five and twelve, standing in a semicircle around her. Immediately, she pushed herself back away from them, putting her back to the concrete and pulling her knees to her chest.
Two of the boys stepped forward. They both wore matching blue hoodies that were ripped and dirty with oversized jeans and tennis shoes. To the naked eye, they were complete mirrors, completely indiscernible. The only distinction between the two was one had a thick, red stain on his lower right knee.
“Everything is ok, your highness,” They said in unison.
Highness?
She looked them both up and down and looked around at the other boys. Some were standing, others were sitting. One boy in particular, with brown hair and pale skin, had his back to the group, hunched over his knees and was rocking back and forth. He was wearing a light red shirt that was thoroughly pit-stained through and matching shorts.
