(Author's Note: BeastSage here, just wanted to let you guys no that this will be the new norm where I'll be putting out chapters once a week alternating between stories to keep things interesting for my brain. Hope yall enjoy.)
Warning: This chapter contains depictions of depression and self-harm. Reader discretion is advised.
Click... BANG!!
Thud...
You know, life has a funny way of kicking you while you're down. Even after giving up on it, I'm now stuck watching my own failures on fast forward like a depression montage. My life since childhood has been flashing by, always pausing long enough at memorable moments for me to feel every emotion of that time as if I were still there. The bullying in middle school for being a fat nerd, the screaming fights before the divorce, the disappointment and consistent distance of my father, the constant support of my mom, who struggled to make a living after the divorce with 2 kids. Then came graduation, hopeful, so naive, reality hit like a sack of bricks to the face. My federal tuition fund wasn't enough for the college I wanted, so I started working instead.
Ten years, with nothing to show for it... I even tried to go back to school online at some point, but a bedbug infection and a car crash that totaled my vehicle sent me into a downward spiral. I dropped out with a $10,000 bill and nothing to show for it except depression and anxiety. I had insomnia from stress and burnout from the sleep deprivation, which just led to more stress. A vicious cycle that had me paralyzed, and I couldn't see a light at the end of the tunnel. I kept pushing and working because I had family I wanted to be proud of me, but it seemed the more time went on, the more life kept burying me deeper into debt and stress. I felt like a failure and a burden. So I took the rifle I owned and finally pulled the trigger.
As the depression montage went black after the gunshot, I felt like I was being yanked like I was a ball of yarn coming undone as a kitten ran with the string. The air streamed past as if I was on the world's largest roller coaster and had reached terminal velocity, and color seemed to bleed out of everything as dark smoke swirled in pitch black darkness. Images rushed past, faces of people in old-timey clothes, smiles that seemed to stretch too far. Rotting shambling figures reaching for me. What looked like an older woman in a black wedding dress and veil was standing in the distance. A cackling laugh echoed around me, then she was right in front of me, and I felt her grip my throat and could make out the crazed grin upon her face. I blinked and she was gone the scene had changed to what looked like a little girl's playroom a little brunnette girl was sitting in a rocking chair in the corner holding a porcelain doll the doll had on a white dress with a red bow at the waist, had brown hair tied in pigtails with red ribbons, and a make up covered face with smile that seemed eerie. The little girl, herself, was looking at me with milky Grey eyes and a smile. "Do you want to play?~"
Then I was gone again, and a house appeared in my vision, except it was on fire, and a figure with yellow eyes looked out from the burning window before the house exploded. A man with tears streaming down his face dropped to his knees as a younger boy, also crying, held a baby in his arms in the distance as paramedics looked them over. The visions went black before I heard three knocks that seemed unnaturally loud, and I took a startling breath in as cold air hit me. I was alive again, I tried to say what?!, but- "Waah!"
───
Blue Earth, Minnesota
Jim Murphy was the local pastor for the small town of Blue Earth, Minnesota. A quiet man whos was married to his faith and frequently left to spread the good word of God. But to those in the know, he was a psychic, exorcist, hunter, and to those in need, sanctuary.
Jim was just locking up his hunter's stash in the hidden basement of his church when three echoing knocks cut through the silence.
Knock.. Knock.. Knock..
The sound seemed to come from all directions, and Jim ever the paranoid hunter grabbed a handgun full of blessed iron rounds, and made his way upstairs.
Keeping the pistol hidden in the pocket of clerical jacket, he approach the front door cautiously. With a glance through the peephole seeing nothing, Jim opened the door. There on the steps lay a child swaddled in blankets in a basket. The blankets were already beginning to frost over with the biting cold of mid march night.
What gave jim paus was the child's eyes?They were a bright green, almost seeming to glow, and seemed to carry a weight beyond their years.
"Who left you out here, huh?"
If Jim didn't know better he would've sworn the look the baby gave him said 'Why are you asking me?'
"For now, let's get you into the warmth, huh?"