Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26364137-20160515084117

(Originally a submission to HumboldtLycanthrope's 666 word pasta write off, but now rewritten for the purpose of being published on the site)

One Less Soul (1732 words)

“Maya!” Gabriel shouted. The vast forest reverberated his voice; the echo enhancing the sensation of being lost and alone. His mind felt scattered; everything seemed so distant. He felt an overwhelming and bizarre feeling of insecurity lurking within him as he, strangely enough, now was uncertain to how and why he found himself being in these woods in the first place.

The truth was that Gabriel had always wanted to visit the country his ancestors came from. Why he hadn’t done it yet had still remained a big mystery to him, but he had figured a honeymoon was the perfect excuse to finally realise his dream.

Together — with his newly wedded wife, Maya — they had rented a cottage at the skirt of a small village by the east coast of Spain, near the woodlands. However, their envisioned romantic getaway, which was supposed to include late evenings on the porch, drinking wine as they watched the sunset, followed by making love by the fireplace - had taken an abrupt turn to the worse.

Because of urgent matters at the lawyer’s office where Gabriel worked, he had to delay his trip for a few days. Gabriel had still insisted Maya to take their originally scheduled flight, which she at first refused, but after a little discussion she had finally came around.

When Gabriel later on arrived to the cabin in Spain; Maya was nowhere to be seen. Earlier that day they’d spoken on the phone, where they had agreed that she was supposed to welcome him when he reached her destination. There were no trace of there being any kind of struggle nor of her being taken away against her will, but oddly enough; her cell phone and jacket were still in place.

It wasn’t before he had stepped outside he became worried, as he found her left shoe lying on the ground, at the entrance of the woods. Something definitely wasn’t adding up, so he grabbed a flashlight and ran into the forest after her.

The sun was by now long gone; it was dark and cold, but never had Gabriel imagined that Spain would be this abnormally chilly in late spring. How long had he been looking for her? An hour, maybe two? If Maya still was out here, she surely had to be freezing, starving and scared.

Suddenly, his whole body froze; not because of the cold, but of what he saw. In the far edge of his field of vision, a lanky humanoid was standing still — observing him — from a distance in the clearing to his left. Gabriel swallowed heavily; followed by a bloodcurdling shiver running down his spine, as a faded memory — long gone and suppressed — stung him as a wasp.

“Have you ever seen something — or someone — approaching from the corner of your eye, only to disappear the moment you turn to face it? That’s a soulless one, trying to bind itself to our world.”

His grandfather’s voice rung in his head, as his mind started painting a picture of Gabriel as a 4 year old sitting in his grandpa’s lap, while the chair rocked back and forth, making a cool breeze in spite of the warmth emerging from the hearth.

“You see; they only have a short burst of time they are able to wander our realm before they vanish back into the shadows. So you better be ready, ‘cause if they get to you before you notice them; your life is forfeit.”

The scrawny legs of the creature began moving in a most unnatural way; as a sneaking burglar from those old cartoons, only in contrast; it traversed with a haunting grace and an immense speed. In a mere second, it it had moved 60 feet and was standing right next to him.

In an act of pure reflex, Gabriel turned around; only to discover that there was nothing there. His paranoia skyrocketed as he swore he could hear someone breathing near him, but as he hastily scouted his surroundings further, he immediately realised that it was his own breath he had heard. It had grown heavier without him even noticing.

“A soulless one only come to our world with one task at mind; to acquire it’s own soul. They desperately hunger for it, as they have none; doing whatever it takes to acquire it. Its only way to complete this task is to feed on human flesh; to devour them whole. The more spirits they get, the more they resemble a human being - one step closer to their final transformation; becoming a person themselves.”

What a strange tale to tell a young child, Gabriel thought, wondering why he suddenly, of all times, remembered the story at this exact moment. He assured himself that it had to be a mere coincidence, and that the queer creature he apparently saw was only a result of his mind playing him a trick the instant he recalled his grandad’s myth.

Distracted by this peculiar episode, Gabriel had overlooked an appearing thick fog, which now circled around him and the surrounding trees, making it even more difficult to coordinate himself in the wild forest. With the radiance from his flashlight being his solely comfort and his grandpa’s fable churning on repeat in the back of his head, he couldn't help but embrace the unnerving atmosphere.

“After they get their first prey, they are allowed to wander our world freely. They are extremely intelligent, cunning and not the least; very — very — dangerous.”

His searchlight was supposed to scan for Maya, but he had caught himself several times letting the luminous beam wander off, obliviously searching for something else.

He had to toughen up - he didn’t have time nor the choice to be scared; an old, made-up fairytale was by no means going to hinder his search for his wife. However, in spite of his effort to recollect himself, he couldn’t shake of the feeling that something about this whole scenario wasn’t right.

He squeezed his eyes shut, focusing as hard as he could to reminisce his conversation with his grandfather once again. At first thought he recognized it as a happy memory, but the more he concentrated, there was something... haunting about it; almost as if there was someone else in the room with them. It felt like he was watching from another person’s point of view, not his own as a child.

Dizziness struck him as his head started to pound. He almost lost balance, but got his grip back with his feet. He felt his nose running, which it normally would because of the cold, but when he wiped it with his hand he discovered that it was dark red. Blood.

No, no... Something definitely ain’t right, he thought, as his vision started to blur. He rested himself towards a big rock, when he noticed something on the ground. A person - a woman - wearing one shoe on her right foot, and Gabriel’s own white hoodie, which Maya loved and always wore, was laying face down on the ground.

“Maya!?” Gabriel exclaimed.

“Ga… Gabriel?” Maya’s voice whimpered.

With his vision still being unclear, he hobbled himself to her side, embracing her in order for them to face each other. In that moment, it all came to him; clear as day. The previously painted picture immediately started to repaint itself.

He wasn’t 4 years old when he was told this story, it was 4 years ago. They also weren’t in the living room by his grandfather’s rocking chair; they were in a hospital - by his deathbed. Gabriel’s whole stomach turned into a huge, hurting knot when he recalled that this story wasn’t a fable at all - it was a warning.

“Never go back to Spain. We are cursed. A long time ago, our whole family name got condemned, and that’s why our ancestors left in the first place. The soulless ones have marked us, and so - they corrupt our minds; they tamper with our memories, making new, forged ones in order to make us to forget our own true legacy.”

“Compare it to a maze which they construct it into one’s brain, that oneself has to navigate through so they may distinguish their true thoughts from the forged ones. They do this to confuse us and ultimately to trick us back to the only place they can reach us; their and our own homeland - to then consume us.“

“Since I’m near death, it’s like they have lowered the walls of the labyrinth, to taunt me - to torment me, making me fully grasp the complexity of how they so cleverly cheated my intellect and judgment all these years. How they deceived me into surrendering your mother — my own daughter — to them, and then let it slip from my conscience, as if it was as insignificant like a drop in the ocean. Never let this happen to you, Gabriel. You mustn’t forget - never forget!”

As Gabriel’s own walls started to collapse, all of his happy memories with Maya started to fade, becoming obscure and unfamiliar to him. Their first date, their first kiss, the proposal; and now even the wedding. Tears began to fill his eyes as he comprehended the fact that he never married. In fact, he never even met Maya, because.... Maya had never existed.

His own mind felt like a puzzle missing half of its pieces. He had been a puppet; a pawn, played by the soulless ones as a small part of their sick, twisted game of cat and mouse. Devastated and heartbroken, he sheepishly looked down at what supposedly was to be Maya lying in his arms.

A face, pale as a corpse, had taken Maya’s beautiful features’ place. In contrast to the eyes and nose — which were non-existent; replaced only by dark, hollow sockets and nostrils burrowed directly on the flesh — it wore an immense and terrifying grin, filled with sharp, crocodile resembling fangs. Its clenched mouth slowly opened, revealing a tongue which looked like a pulsating cluster of living worms woven together.

“Gaaaaab—” its voice started off as Maya’s, but mid sentence it became distorted, cackling and deeper “—rieeeeeel!” the soulless one hissed, mockingly, while a cloud of cold breath emerged from its maw.

Gabriel didn’t even have time to let out a scream before the monstrous creature lunged towards him. 