Ah, first thing I've actually got around to publishing...
It was dark. Dark, dark green. Feet pound on crushed leaves, echoed by another. Branches whip at identical faces, tearing at exposed skin.
Nights are filled with terror.
Tangled fingers are ripped apart, and smoke fills the sky.
The lamps are always lit.
Up, up, up. Up the mountain, through the trees, passed evil eyes glowing from inside dried out skulls. "Run little boys."
Hands tremble in daylight, bodies shake at night.
Pigs' heads on sticks, pale bodies on red stained sand, shells smashed on the rocks.
Such horrible things cannot be unseen.
"You can run little boys." Up the mountain, boys run, fire climbs, painted faces peer through vines. "You can leave me," wooden spears slice the air. "But I'll never leave you."
Wounds have healed, scars have faded, yet eyes remain fearful.
"I'll always be here." Cold eyes through thick paint, shaggy hair masking human features. "You cannot escape."
They are never apart, never without the other. Especially not at night.
The trees blaze, but the fire pit is black and cold. Parachutes drag bodies through the burning flowers.
They are eighteen, men, but their fear is that of a child.
Voices that sang now growl and snarl. Hands that held books wield weapons. Pigs' heads covered in blankets of flies.
Clasped hands twitch, faces scrunch in unison, and blankets twist around drug filled bodies.
"You can run little boys."
The drugs can't block the dreams.
The fire looms before them, throats fill with smoke.
Twin screams fill the air, twins shoot up in bed.
"The fire's gone out-"
"-but the ground burns!"
Sam and Eric cling to each other, hands curled into claws, eyes wide, hair matted with sweat, ears deaf to words of comfort.
"You can run."
They never sleep for long.
"But you can't hide."