The Crow – Darkness Within

Darkness. Silence. Nothingness. A crow landed on a fence nearby and light returned…

'Where am I?' I thought as I opened my eyes to see the blue sky above. White clouds were pierced by dazzling sunlight as the rays slashed through them and the sun emerged. The glare made me close my eyes and I though I heard a voice in the distance.

"Filip…" it whispered, sailing on the gentle breeze.

"Hello?" I muttered.

"Filip…" it repeated with more urgency. I knew that voice from somewhere.

"Who is it?" I asked again, trying to open my eyes only to be blinded by the glare of the sun. I tried to get up, to cover my eyes, to move my head, but my body didn't respond. I couldn't feel anything.

Suddenly I heard a pained caw in the distance and a shock ran through my body. All of my muscles seemed to tense at once and I was held suspended by my own body. I could feel my skin tingle, as energy shot up and down my body like a thunderbolt. My eyes opened only to see a black and white image of my own face.

It all happened so quickly, and then it was gone. Everything went dark. I felt weak. Opening my eyes would take too much effort. I don't know how long I lay there, but time ceased to matter anymore. I was slowly drifting in the darkness, until I heard that familiar voice again.

"Filip…" it begged this time. I didn't know why, but I knew I had to reply.

"Who are you?" I tried. My voice seemed to echo in my head, I wasn't even sure if I had spoken out loud. I thought I heard a tiny sob, but as soon as it was gone I wasn't sure if I had even heard it in the first place.

Something landed on my forehead. It was agony I had never experienced before. The impact seemed to run ripple-like through my body, shattering bone after bone in a chain reaction. My mind exploded and my eyes opened to see a dark sky above.

The raindrop trickled down my forehead as my body shook with convulsions. I could feel every millimeter of my body scream at me for release and I closed my eyes and let go.

I felt the pain recede as I drifted away from reality. Yes. This would be easier, much easier. A black and white image seemed to hang in my mind, as I moved further and further. Where I was going, I didn't know, but then I heard the voice again. It was sharp and clear and… screaming.

"Nooo!" Something inside me erupted and I opened my eyes. My strength returned to me and I felt the raindrops trickling down my face. I heard a second caw in the distance and a shuffling of wings as the black bird flew out of sight.

I tried to get up and see where I was but something was covering my feet. I sat up, noticing that I was in a couple-meter deep ditch, and tried to push whatever it was away. My hand brushed something soft and my eyes snapped shut.

I could see a young girl of about seven walking hand in hand with her mother. They looked weak and underfed, but they were smiling. The girl laughed as they were led by a uniformed man into a room full of smiling people.

"Thank God you are here!" a dark-haired and bearded man exclaimed as he saw the two. He pounced on them with a rib-breaking hug as the woman cried into his shoulder.

"Its over," she muttered, "they are finally going to set us free…"

The door closed and the people continued to talk, laughing here and there, exchanging greetings. I knew something was wrong, terribly wrong. I looked around, but all I could see were smiling faces, when suddenly something ripped through my lungs. I stared in shock as I saw the people around me start screaming in agony. The little girl was laying face down, retching and coughing as her parents fell on top of her.

I screamed, but no sound came out. I could feel pressure on my back and face and felt that my nose would give way. My lungs were on the verge of exploding, but I held on.

'I'm not going to die,' I thought as I resisted. My breathing slowed but still I held on. The pressure on my back was getting stronger and stronger and to my utter disbelief I realized that everything else around me was completely still. I tried to move, to look around, but I was stuck on the spot. Why couldn't I move? My nose was straining and as the pain in my chest receded my breathing stopped and everything went black.

Almost immediately, the scene around me changed and I was standing in the empty room with only the girl lying on the floor. Two uniformed men had just left, carrying the girl's parents. Life seemed to creep back into my body and I motioned towards the door to see what they were up to. The girl stood up and followed.

As we emerged from the doorway we saw the two men turn around.

"She survived…" one of them said in shock, but the other merely raised his gun and fired. I felt an excruciating burn run through my right shoulder as the girl dropped to the floor, covered in blood.

"You missed," I heard the first officer say, as I screamed in pain.

"I didn't," the other replied with a bark-like laugh as he aimed and fired a second time. My right leg exploded and my vocal cords gave way as I saw the little girl's knee shatter and spray blood all over the wooden door behind her. I seemed to levitate above ground for a while, suspended by the unbearable pain as the other man ran to the girl, placed his own gun to her head, and…

My eyes opened as I looked down at the mingled body of the little girl and screamed like I had never screamed before. My whole body seemed to crumble as I fell on top of the girl and sobbed.

I had to get out of there.

I pushed her and got to my feet. I stumbled in the darkness and fell, face forward into the mud. My eyes snapped shut again and I was bombarded with scenes of agony and suffering. My body threatened to overload and I got up again to try and climb up the ditch wall but its bank collapsed and I fell back.

I woke up to a pungent smell that turned my stomach over and felt the wet mud around me shift and slide. I got up and looked around, only to cover my eyes, drop to my knees and scream. I was surrounded by hundreds of intermingled, half-rotten corpses.

I attempted to climb up the bank again, anything, just to get out of there. But whenever I tried, more of the bank collapsed. Wherever I moved, more excruciating images filled my mind. Wherever I moved, whatever I did, more and more pain filled every fiber of my body. After a few minutes nothing but suffering remained in my mind and I suddenly felt stronger and stronger. I felt the same strength as before running through my veins and I crouched and with a massive leap jumped out of the mass grave.

August 21st 1941