The Still by James Michael Rice

Author:James Michael Rice
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: teen horror, teen thriller, characterdriven, hockomock swamp, james michael rice, rebel angels, the bridgewater triangle, the still
Publisher: James Michael Rice

Chapter Thirteen: A Brief Taste of Paradise

I had expected pain. I had expected to see Damon gloating over me, surrounded by hordes of his companions, all smiling in delight as they prepared to feast upon me. I had expected to be tortured beyond my darkest dreams. When the pain did not come, I opened my eyes and saw Brynn sprinting toward me.

“Dylan!” she exclaimed, showing all her perfect white teeth. Wearing a long, summery dress that clung to her curvaceous figure in all the right places, she flung herself into my unprepared arms.

I held her that way for a long time, running my fingers through her silky hair, getting high from the sweet fragrance that she carried, thanking my lucky stars that I had found her once again. Good Lord, what a beautiful creature! Then I thought of Jen Pratty—sweet, innocent Jen Pratty, who was somewhere outside of The Still, unaware of my lust, my hunger, my many acts of betrayal—and I began to feel nauseous in my guilt.

Brynn, as if sensing this sudden change of heart, shuddered in my arms. Pulling away from me, she took a backward step so that we were now looking straight into one another’s eyes. “Where are we?” I asked, scanning our new surroundings. We were standing in the middle of an enormous field of red grass that seemed to go on as far as the eye could see and, above it, there was a baby-blue sky with stars as brilliant as fireworks on the Fourth of July.

“Paradise,” Brynn said, gazing directly into my eyes. “Come, I’ll show you.”

“But what about the theater, and—and—”

Brynn hushed me with a sensuous kiss.

“She’s fine,” Brynn assured me. “Trust me, she’s safe. It wasn’t real.”

She took me by the hand and led me a few feet away from where we’d been standing and suddenly, our surroundings blurred, rippling outward in rings, much in the same fashion as a body of water when its surface has been broken by a pebble in flight. The world around us shimmered, and slowly the ripples smoothed away from the center, converging at the horizon, as the world slowly flattened itself out, returning to the steady reality we humans have grown accustomed to. When the atmosphere cleared, and the ripples had gone, I found to my amazement, that the field of red grass, as well as the brilliant starry blue sky which had lingered above only moments ago, had altogether vanished.

Having passed through an invisible door, we were now somewhere entirely different; a small jungle clearing with waterfalls and strange trees with fluorescent fruits which blossomed beneath a pleasant orange sun set in a sky of bruised purple. There were animals that resembled unicorns drinking peacefully from small pools of water, exotic birds flying lazily through the emerald-green treetops, and there we were amidst it all, standing in a fairy-tale land.

“Oh…my…God…” I stammered in disbelief.

Brynn smiled and led me to the water’s edge. “This is why I joined Him,” she said with distance in her eyes.

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