Chapter 1: A Lonely Chapter
The City of Mater... it is called the land forsaken by God, and that was where I was. I was just as forsaken, wandering long empty streets, dusty and relentlessly lonely. My barefoot feet hurt... and everything was getting to me. I had been dumped here with no life to call my own, and I wandered the streets, looking for people.
I had been a slave, and after upsetting the one who sheltered me, I was beaten and cast out near this city. After I saw enough of the desolation, the torturing loneliness of the sky, I knew for sure that this was the infamous forsaken City of Mater. My hopes had plummeted.
I was still a slave, at least to my own body. My stomach burned inside from hunger, my throat begged for water which I didn't have, and tears would not stop falling.
Drip.
Drip.
I couldn't last forever. I had to stop crying. I was loosing precious water as the liquid emotion left a trail alongside my footprints in the dust of the streets. I stumbled along, pulling the rags I called clothing closer to my body. I stepped into a building to shelter from the wind. I was probably the building's first inhabitant in hundreds of years. It was dark, devoid of the light of hope. Fatigue nearly overcame me, but I knew that if I slept, I would not wake up. I sat against the wall, hands cupped on my eyes, trying to stop the flow. I eventually gave up, and instead tried to drink my tears, for they might as well have been the only water in this hell. The salt only added to the nasty taste in my mouth.
A skull sat in the corner. It was as sad as me, so we had a silent conversation. I began to accept the fact that I was probably going to die here. The only question that remained was whether my spirit or body would succumb first. With thoughts like I was having, the prior might as well have already languished.
My scattered thought momentarily sharpened into an acute sense of hope. I left my friend to sit on the floor, for I decided that my body would be the first to die, if it even did. I would leave this place, find the exit. There would be a new life to start in some town, building a livelihood from the ground up. All I had to do was ignore the negativity of the location and leave. I could've sworn I even heard singing...
In time, it became apparent that the song was as lonely as it was hopeful, and that I hadn't just been hearing things. The song was getting louder. There was someone in the city with me, and she sounded as lonely as I was. My motives began to change. I would find that poor girl and take her with me.
As I wandered the streets in the direction of the angelic song, the song kept on increasing in clarity, volume, and beauty. I believe that one of my tears may have even been out of joy rather than despair. The song began to end and fade away. I had to find her quickly.
I turned the corner.
"Could I sing a song for you?"
Iced lightening raced down my spine and into every electric crevice of my being. I had been caught entirely off guard and irrevocably frightened beyond words. This thing wasn't human, with the hinged mouth, eye bulging from cracked flesh, and strange metal headpiece.
I screamed and ran in the opposite direction.
"Human! Wait!"
That was the last piece to be put in place to unleash the festering insanity within. I screeched and failed my body as if possessed. I would find the exit, yes, and never come near this damned place again. I turned my head, and the thing was following me, calling me in that deceiving velvet voice.
"Don't run away!"
I could not run forever. My exhausted lungs, malnourished gut, and distressed mind screamed in protest of continuing much longer. If I ever wanted to keep the life I would began to live, I had to hide and pray.
I turned the corner, frantically entered into the nearest house, and slammed the door behind me. Turning to make sure it closed completely and convincingly. As I stepped back, I failed to notice the ancient debris on the floor. I tripped, and the back of my neck came into contact with an decrepit table. As pain perforated my very existence, I heard the table break and fall to the floor with me. I could now feel nothing but the slivers in my head and some blood on my neck. The door opened, and the thing stepped inside. She knelt down at my side and weeped. I looked at her face, which was still beautiful, though not human. Like a doll's face, yes. A poor, lonely... abandoned doll. She closed her eyes, and began to sing that same beautiful, sorrowful song. I felt the solace before death, and I smiled a final smile.