Dissolved Girl

 

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Part 1-Landfill

What am I? Now, that’s something I really don’t quite know. I’m hoping one day I’ll have the chance to know, but today is not a time I know. Probably in the future. Maybe. As I said, I have a lot of time on my hands, so it’s a little strange to think that I wouldn’t someday figure this all out in an eternity. Though, I guess maybe I found it out long ago, but I just don’t remember.

That’s something that I’ve always wondered about.

Memories.

They’re these things that we can’t really prove, but we just know them. I don’t mean to discredit myself, but with memories being so wishy washy, I don’t know how anyone can trust story tellers…

Enough of that, back on track.

Now, I see a lot in my time floating around the plane of human existence, I see people being married, breaking up, making up, dancing, eating, all of this, all in the years that fly by. The most interesting thing I ever found was when I watched a young girl drown, and slip away. I was curious, and I followed to wherever she was dragged. It was hard though. There are others like me around, who know not what they are, and flit around, observing. The one who dragged her away was an old one, who was far more powerful that I.

One who didn’t like observers like me.

I did manage to stay though, by intermingling with the young souls sent away, I stayed hidden, and pulled in the souls stories and fates. Their forgotten pasts, their unknown futures. I don’t think that’s something humans can do- I’ve no idea how they can stand not knowing their others surrounding them.

Oh well.

Back on track to the story I want to tell you. But first, a word.

Suffocate.

suf·fo·cate verb ˈsə-fəkāt

: to die because you are unable to breathe

: to kill (someone) by making breathing impossible

: to be uncomfortable because there is not enough fresh air

It was a word none of the young teens in the room recalled, though it settled deep in the back of one young girls mind, as she lurched forward, emptying the contents of her stomach to the floor- not that there was much to fall out of her mouth. It left an acrid taste in her mouth, as she looked around, trying her hardest to think past the fuzzy buzzing and ringing in her head.

She was a fairly attractive young white woman. Her clothing not anything special and her hair cropped above her chin. I wasn’t really incredibly interested in her. Even as time passed, I found myself more interested in the others. When I gave her a chance, I found a bit more inside her, but her life story up until a few weeks before her death was already something you’d see on any movie, or reas about in any book. God damn, thinking about it, you’d think they’d start giving some air time to people other than little white boys and girls.

Anyway, back to the story.

Another word: Birdie.

This word stood out starkly in the girls mind, it was the only clear thing she could really hear in her mind, around all the dark fuzz coating the inside of her head. She looked down at her pale hands, they were shaking and held no color in them, normally they at least held a reddish tone at her fingertips, though she didn’t know why. What had she been doing before?

Only one thing came to mind. Once again: Birdie.

The connection to this word? There was none in her mind, yet it seemed to mean so much. Why else would she remember it? Right.

There was a shadowy figure through all the fuzz speaking the word to her, it was… her name perhaps? As close as she was to get to it. Some other things felt right as well, like she certainly felt like a she, and she could understand most the words running through her head. She knew how to move her body, and her legs could walk. It was just her story that was fuzzy.

But that’s okay. It’s time for a new one to be written of her.

She looked around at her surrounding- well, tried to. There wasn’t much light in the room, but she could certainly make out some bodies. Breathing bodies? Maybe. Dead bodies? Also maybe. That was when the nausea came. Not only was she sitting with her own vomit, but she was in a room with possibly dead bodies. She backed up from the vomit on the floor and moved towards the first body she could. It was the body of an Asian boy wearing a large coat. Under all of it the boy himself didn’t seem all too small, more he had fat cheeks and a large stomach and thighs.

She grabbed his shoulders and shook him, unable to remember any other way to check for life in a body. He was warm- a little too warm. None the less, she kept shaking him until he sputtered awake. His heavy eyes opened after a few shakes, and he took in their surroundings before looking at her. He seemed in a sort of daze, his eyes only widening into awareness when he realized he was being held. He tried to speak, opening and closing his mouth like a fish gasping for air, but nothing came out.

“Hello?” Birdie forced out of her throat. Speaking felt somewhat foreign, but it made sense when it came out of her mouth. The boy closed his mouth and swallowed, staring at her, before his lips parted allowing something to spill out.

“H-Ham- I… that’s all I can…” the boy fumbled around with his words, as his hair flopped forward. It was at a sort of awkward stage of growing, nor really a bowl cut, but not really grown out enough to part. Birdie nodded, looking down, thinking up a response. She cleared her throat, which somewhat hurt from the earlier vomiting, and looked back up to his eyes.

“I know what you mean I… All I remember… in a sense I guess, is Birdie”

The boy nodded, glancing up and down at her, before looking to the others, all of whom were still lying, dead to the world.

That was, until one of them shot up, releasing a scream that scared both the children, and woke the others into some form of awareness. The one who screamed had a small body, and messy hair. His skin held more color than Birdie’s did, though it was still fairly pale. His eyes held a wary look to them, and were a pale blue. His clothing was the odd thing; he was dressed in high heels, and a fairly provocative dress. It wasn’t the dress that stuck out to Birdie though; it was mostly the impracticality of the outfit as a whole. It was short and low cut, covering little, and the heels looked barely possible to walk in.

“I- I…” he took a second to look around, “I don’t… I was…” it took him a moment to fully gain his wits back and realize he was surrounded by others. Once he did, he took notice of several other factors. He, like the others, knew nothing but a word gnawing on his skull.

“Alison. I… I think I’m Alison.”

It’s kind of odd how much the souls forgot. He certainly was not Alison; in fact, his living soul hated the name with a passion by the time of his passing, and when he was called Alison, he winced with pain. I won’t spoil all of that quite yet for you though. You’ll know in due time his story and its ends.

“I was… dreaming, I think” he added hastily, looking between the two fully awakened.

“Lady” a woman with a strong jaw and prominent adams apple said. Her skin, in sharp contrast with the others in the room’s, was dark ebony. Her hair sat naturally on her head, falling just a bit past her shoulders. She wore loose gray pants, a pink tank top and a jacket, all and all looking fairly attractive.

“That’s what I remember.”

Another spoke up, they’re my favorite. They felt more at home to me, there was no ‘gender’ there, not one that they felt anyway. I felt at ease when mingling with this one’s soul. There was confusion and uncertainty, but comfort as well. I could identify- I was hurt most by this one as well though.

“Edge. I… I can’t explain it either but…” they dragged off. They were clearly of Hispanic descent, and wore a rather nice suit. Their head was shaved entirely, and their eyes were sharp and aware of their setting, seemingly ready to catch any detail the others might miss.

“We both have the same problem,” Birdie chimed in, referring to herself and Ham, “I mean, I remember how to talk and walk and…. Well, I mean, I don’t remember how I know all of this.”

“Neither do I,” Ham confirmed. The others looked to each other, nodding.

“I… I seem to have more problems than just… just that,” said a small girlfrom the corner of the room.

She was the most interesting to observe in my opinion. I’d seen the human form several times in my days as an observer, but I rarely saw forms look like this, mostly because of all the sadness that radiated. Granted, I’m not prone to much emotion, but sadness causes a drowning sensation. One that you can feel in your lungs and entirety. It’s not pleasant, and so I tend to stay away from those areas.

Of course, this place held a sort of muffled sadness, one that wasn’t drowning or suffocating. Not yet, anyway. It was being held by the Other, who I mentioned earlier. The Other had a plan, and I of course know it now, but I can’t let you in on that quite yet, many apologies.

Now, back to this girl. The first thing you would notice is the fact that she is missing all articles of clothing, except for a pair of panties. Nothing about the scene was erotic; more it was utterly human and small. The girl herself was emaciated, with every rib visible, sunken eyes and brittle hair. Her teeth were worn away, and her skin seemed too small for her skull. Her sunken eyes were tired and anxious, flitting about in her skull. Nothing like the fetishized Asian girls you see all over the internet.

The first to offer help was Lady, who pulled off her jacket, though it offered little in terms of helping. Next was Ham, who was still coming in and out of a daze. He pulled off his large jacket, revealing a long sleeved shirt that looked worn and somewhat old. He gave it to Lady, who helped it on the girl.

She put it on, buttoning it up, and quietly thanking the two.

It didn’t take long for them to question her.

“Do you remember anything?”

“Anything more than a word?”

“Do you know why we’re here?”

She only had negative answers.

“No”

“No, just a word, Angel”

“No more than you do I believe.”

Her eyes got more and more sad with each answer, and the others grew more and more wary. How could none of them remember at least something more than a word. Well, as I stated earlier, there was more than just death in the field.

It was the Other, of course, you probably guessed that. Now, I’m going to end the chit chat and let the Other speak for xirself.

“Good evening, children”

A silence, one that none of the children were willing the break.

“I said good evening, are the lot of you deaf?”

Another silence, before Ham, the large boy, spoke up.

“Who are you?”

“I am the Other. Nobody, really. Just something that floats around plains of existence, doing as I so please. I found you poor souls and decided to help you.”

Yet another silence.

“Help us… how?”

“You’re all fairly young, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14. All facing death before even your 20th year. Not even natural ones at that, it pulled at something inside of me. Such a shame that young lives are wasted like this.”

“Your point?”

The first to awake asked, her hair moving with the tilt of her head.

“I want to give you another chance. You will leave this room when you understand why you are there.

Is there a catch?

“You all simply need to face a series of tasks, all fairly simple, really. For each task, you will regain some of your memories back, until you have completed all, and you remember all. Should you fail, you will face final death, should you succeed, you will be revived, and sent back to your plain. Sound simple enough? Go on ahead. I have no other instructions.”

That was when the pressure pushing me to leave lessened slightly, receding back into the repressed sadness that surrounded me, yet at the same time, did not. Now, normally I’d have left long ago, I’m not one to go in to conflict at random. With such pressure to make me leave, I normally would have gone straight to another plain, but this was all to bazaar. Others feeling? As stated before, we cannot feel, not exactly anyway. So for one to feel bad enough to give souls another chance? It was all incredibly odd. I could not believe there was little to no catch. Besides, if it had the power to return them to their bodies, and really felt so bad, why were there any challenges, why didn’t xi just return them?

Apologies, I’m getting ahead of myself yet again.

I should get back to narrating.

In the dark room, something opened up- an exit, right behind Angel. It bore a bright, white light, which was rather noticeable in the dark, dark room, outlining the girl like she really was an angel. The image didn’t last long, as the light seemed to grow tendrils, and wrap around her frail body. Had I not known better, I would have thought she was going to turn to shards of glass on the ground. She was torn from her somewhat ridged stance, feet firmly planted on the ground, and hands at her chest, as though she was cold. Her body turned into a frenzy of limbs and panic. The only time I saw humans act like this was when they were being dragged off to their deaths.

Well, for all she knew, she was.

The others must have felt the frenzy, some running back, other running forward. I thought it was rather interesting listening to their consciences as this happened, it showed where their natural instinct lay.

For instance

Edge ran straight in for the girl.

It their head, what were they thinking?

Not much, just that she needed to be saved, and whoever did it needed to be caught.

A little bit longer in his mind, I found some lost memories. Their uncle was a cop, one who fought for respect from their laughing white coworkers.

Alison stood stalk still.

His thought completely froze.

Fight?

Flight?

A little digging showed this was a factor in his death.

Lady ran with Edge.

She had protection on her mind, she couldn’t let someone get hurt if she could help it.

She wanted to someone to help her if it was needed, so why shouldn’t she help this girl?

Ham hesitated, running forward for a second, before Birdie brushed his hand and encouraged that it was safer on the other side of the room.

Why shouldn’t he listen to her?

It was only natural to wish for safety.

Birdie’s reaction was kneejerk, no though behind it.

She ran, and wanted Ham to run with her.

Lady and Ham both followed Angel out, and were enveloped.

Alison was grabbed after only a few seconds.

It was soon only Ham and Birdie left. They eventually hit the wall, and could do nothing but claw desperately. It was pathetic from my view, two teenagers clawing at a wall that was clearly not going to budge. In their minds, I sensed their fear. It was blinding, it shook my insides and left me cold. I hadn’t felt something like it before.

Then again, I rarely spent much time hanging around souls, let along mingling with them.

Finally their struggling was smothered by the tendrils, and I watched their souls blur around. It must have been the fear altering their souls form. I hadn’t seen something like it before- the girls eyes turning to dust in their sockets, the boy seemingly melting away. It was almost morbid, like watching something get skinned.

You just can’t look away.

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Part 2-El Manana

 

 

 

 

 

Part 2: El Mañana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick explanation of the challenges

  1. There was never an explanation given verbally by the Other
  2. Each took place in a new area
  3. They were mostly formed by the lost memories of the souls.
  4. They were incredibly dangerous, at least, as they went on.

At this point, I thought there were going to be death traps everywhere, but instead, it was a relatively safe area. One without much flare, or excitement. It was quite, and dead. An ordinary place really. There was even an exit, one that was no challenge to get to. It was fairly baffling how this could be considered a challenge, even for a group of amnesiacs.

It goes without saying that the group eventually was all united. After only a few moment of fear and distortion. The souls were all back to their ordinary appearance. The only thing that really changed was their surroundings. Around them was a spotless morgue. The floors and ceiling were an immaculate white, and the storage was shining silver. The six were now waking up yet again, though this time, it was easier. All the dizziness was gone, for the most part, and no one was naked, or screaming.

Edge stood up first, glancing around at their surroundings, catching a note at their feet.

Get Out

Directions? Or a warning.

The silence said directions.

“Get out? That’s… simple,” Edge muttered, glancing to the others.

I agreed. It was mundane, they simply had to leave a room- but then I realized all of us were being foolish. There was no way that leaving the room was going to be simple.

I was proven correct when they found that the door opened to the exact same room, there was even a reflection of them at the door on the other side, only their other selves were staring into total darkness. The only consoling thing was the other room was in disarray, storage containers were open, the floors were still a bright white, but there were papers. Even I myself was a little baffled by this, I’m not one for solving puzzles, I just force my way until I’m told or given the answer.

For a split second I thanked whatever created me that I can’t die.

The next thing I did was shove myself into Edge’s conscious. It was as messy as the room, trying to find an answer in their barren memories and frenzied thoughts. From this point I relaxed a bit, and let them do the thinking.

“I…” the sentence sat in the air, unfinished by the creator.

“Maybe… we can…. try the other door?” Ham suggested, slowly turning, looking around the room, before his eyes settled on Edge, though they occasionally flitted to Lady, who was moving slightly, and Angel, who was picking at her fingers.

Alison went for the door, but found it locked.

More thoughts ran through Edge’s head. The loudest one was

KEY

There must be a key, every lock needs a key, right? Right.

And so the group searched the spotless room, finding absolutely nothing.

Alison leaned against the wall, “Maybe it’s some kind of puzzle?”

“Well I thought that was assumed knowledge.”

“Yeah well… I guess so…”

I slipped out of Edge, their turmoil was killing the comfortable place that was his mind. Luckily, it didn’t take long for someone to speak up with a suggestion. This time, it was Lady, pulling her hair back into a loose scrunchie. Her eyes were bright with thought; I always loved that about humans. Their eyes were so emotive; the most beautiful thing to see in a human’s eyes was a thought. Even a mundane one was gorgeous.

“The other room, it has to be in the other room. There was so much in there, I mean, there was so much in there, so it would make sense if it were in there, yeah?”

The group looked to each other, in silent debate. Lady’s suggestion was a fair one, but everyone got an eerie feeling from the next room. Lady seemed sure of it though, so I settled into her soul, which was open and warm, a bit warmer than Edge’s. She wasn’t as certain on the inside though. There was a small vibration in her very core that was only noticeable if she stood entirely still, or I pressed lightly against it. It was ultimately comfortable, even when the vibrations upped in intensity as she approached the door, turning to the others and saying that she would look in there and wait for them to join her if they wished.

She entered and began her search, while the others silently entered behind. When she glanced back to see them enter, she saw something incredibly bizarre. There was a large crash, which the room they were in previously was snapping into a mirror image of the room the group now stood in, which was followed by the door slamming shut. Allison and Angel both jumped, while Birdie flinched and Lady and Ham both snapped their eyes to the handle. Ham ‘s hands rushed to open the door, only to find it locked.

I pulled out of Lady’s soul, due to the panic of all the children becoming too strong to be comfortable. They each sputtered out words to each other.

“Holy shit!”
“Push harder!”
“I’m trying!”
“Who did it?”
“Not me!”
“No one did it, I watched!”
“You sure?”
“Stop!”

The group turned their attention to Edge, who was glancing between the members, frustration gleaming in their eyes.

“We need to find the key and get out of here.”

Another silence.

The group was very fond of those, no idea why. I really would have just wanted to get out of there if I was them. All the silences wasted time, in my opinion. Though, I guess they wouldn’t realize it. Humans never quite realize how much time is passing between each second. That hug they share with their best friend lasts for only a second, and when it happens, it feels fine, but it’s always longer in memory. And once you long for something in the past, you can be guaranteed it’s never coming back for you. Time is heartless and unsentimental. Always has been.

You know, I never realized how much I liked speaking. Getting all of this down to someone, someone who just happened to listen to me ramble on about the misfortunes of others… Though I suppose you’re here for the story, and not my ramblings about time and sentiment. Apologies. Here we go again.

Birdie pressed a hand to her forehead, and huffed out, looking behind her, at the other door. She was putting together a plot in her head for a way to get back to the old room, but few thoughts were coming to her mind. Finally, she remembered the mirroring property of the rooms.

“Here, I’ll open that door, and watch the old door,  they’ll both have to open for the mirroring to work.”

It took her no time to move to the door in front, and grip the handle, before turning back and asking if they were ready. Angel took a stand at the door behind, nodding, the worry still sitting in her eyes. I went through the door, not wishing to wait any longer for the children who didn’t understand how fast time was flying past them. I did hear the door open behind me and I heard Angel say in that tiny, scared voice of hers that there was nothing but a void behind the door.

I drowned them out after that, too captivated by the room around me.

Certainly, the last had been a mess, but this new one looked to be a crime scene. Dents in the metal, and blood seeping from the cells and from the ceiling. There was a chill, as if the room was frozen, then I realized why.

It was.

It was a frozen space, a place stuck in one center of time. There were even drops suspended in the air, and as odd indent in the blood on the ground, as though something had pressed into it as it froze. The children filled into the room behind me, holding a note, and speaking about their theories for as to what the looped rooms were.

First, the note
‘Try again next time.’
Found in the third to last cell in the last room.

Next, the words shared.
“The rooms have to be some sort of future”
“You mean, they’re each other’s futures and pasts?”
“Yeah, I think so, and if that’s true, then this note has to mean something”

While Edge moved forward to the third to last cell, Lady and Angel spoke quietly at the back.

“I feel...”

“Weird?”

“Yeah, it’s like a strange… nostalgia.”

Ah, yet another word, nostalgia.

nos·tal·gia
näˈstaljə,nə
noun
a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.

It was a kind of sad thing to feel nostalgia over. A frozen, bloodied, morgue. Had I not dipped into their conscious’ I would have been incredibly confused, and so, I’ll relay you two small bits of information.

Firstly, I’ll begin with Angel. You see, death saw Angel when she was 6 years old, but it did not come to take her. Rather, it was there to take her mother, who was dying in her sleep, choking on her own vomit. A bit of a gruesome way to go, I’ll admit, and the small glimpse she caught of her mother before her father pushed her away had been overwhelming.

Cold, pale, dead face. Speckles of vomit surrounding her lips, which had turned an ashen color, nearly the same tone as her skin. She was taken away in a body bag not much later. Her father decided she deserved a final chance to see her, and allowed her to go to the morgue and see her. Not much to say after that without destroying whatever mystery there is in this story. Just that a transformation began between both of them after that visit from death. Neither was all too positive, and Angel’s was certainly prompted by her fathers.

Next is Lady. Death never saw Lady before she died, but Death did see her brother, walking home one night, when an old white man, who’d been following him from behind, attacked him for looking as though he was carrying a weapon. It was all ridiculous and even Death grimaced and threw a disgusted look at the man before he took the boy’s soul. The boy was confirmed to be her brother by Lady herself, as her parents were out of town and unable to return, due to being on a business trip. The man never spent a day in jail.

Even the words taste bitter and disgusting in my mouth.

There’s one final bit to Lady’s nostalgia. Her death was not a bloodless one. Quite the opposite, rather her body lay in it until she was shoved into a body bag carelessly by some bigot calling her by a transphobic slur.

Humans are disgusting, the more I speak about it.

And so I’ll take a break from speaking of it, my apologies.

Back to the main story.

Edge pulled out open the cell. And rolled out the body inside.

It was an old Asian woman, looking fairly similar to Angel. Angel didn’t know this, but this was her memory building this sight. Not entirely, however. This woman was decaying, holes in her skin, no eyes, missing fingernails and little hair left attached to the head. Edge too no time at all to back up, and verbally portray his disgust. He used nearly every curse word in his vocabulary stating his disgust. I myself was a little repulsed. I preferred to see humans whole, not dead and lifeless.

“There must be more behind the note than just a body,” Alison said, stepping closer to it, and observing it. Angel, Lady and him all seemed unbothered by the body, while Ham, Birdie, and Edge were all clearly repulsed.

“Well what… should we do?” Ham asked, peaking over.

“Well… I guess…” Alison grabbed her by the feet and dragged her out on to the ground, inspecting the cell further. Angel was more fixated by the body.

“I feel… strange…. I…”

She leaned down, lowering her hand to touch the woman’s face. She felt the dry, dead skin only for a moment, before worms crawled from the woman’s orifices, and she began turning to dirt. Angel’s eyes were fixated, whether it was fascination or fear, even I didn’t have a clue. The others held a horrified look, even Alison, who’d taken a break from looking at the cell.

Another damned silence.

This time, I could give it to them. A woman had just dissolved before their eyes into dirt and worms. Even I had nothing to say to that.

Alison quietly said there was a light on the other side of the cell, while Angel pulled up a key from the woman’s stomach.

“I’ll go through… you guys go check the key, meet me on the other side,” Alison said quickly, before crawling through. Angel went for the door, with the others by her side, and unlocked it.

On the other side, Angel saw her younger self crying, along with the dead woman, now looking more asleep than rotted. However, what peaked the most attention was an odd creature holding the young girls hand. It was three times the size of the girl, with small eyes, a large mouth, and big hands. Hit feet were out of proportion with his hands, and his revealed genitals were disproportionately large. He was looking down at the young girl, rather than the dead woman.

Then the room went silent, all three living things in the image snapping their heads to look at the group. The woman and child began turning to dirt, starting with their fingertips and toes. Their orifices slowly seeped mud, as worms made their way out. The dirt traveled up the girls arms and fell to the ground, no longer resembling the  human forms they used to be.

The monster was a different story. It began shuffling forward, its eyes on Birdie, and large hands stretched out. She slammed the door shut, and quickly fumbled with the key, locking it. Dents were made into the door, presumably by the monster, which caused Angel to shake fearfully, while Birdie and Ham flinched, backing away. Alison just froze, and Lady grabbed Angel, trying to get her away from the door.

One by one, they rushed over to the cell and began crawling. First was Angel, pushed ahead by Lady, next was Lady herself. Birdie rushed to the cell after only a quick glance to the others, and Ham followed right after Birdie. Alison was still until Ham called out to him, and he snapped back into action, realizing his frozen body would do nothing to protect him against the monster.

I stayed back, waiting for the monster to break through, just to see if it could. I was proven correct, it could in fact get through, but after only a short glance around, it began crying yet again. Its wails were pitiful, and it began to look less threatening and gentler.

I was drawn to it, as I pushed myself forward to rest in it, I felt something floating off of it.

It was wishing for forgiveness.

The closer I got, the more I felt its apology.

The closer I got the more of its veiled danger I saw.

A soft thing veiling a monster. How typical.

I was so absorbed in the monster I forgot to check in with the teens yet again. Rather, I was rudely ripped from the room when the teens, I assume, unlocked the door in the next room, and exited. We each found ourselves back in the dark room where they’d started, and the pressure returned, causing me to settle into one of the children. It was difficult, however, as they were being pillaged with memories. Random bits of it, I flitted from soul to soul looking for rest but I found none.

All I received were uninvited memories.

“Whore”
“Pig”
Two children playing in a field- twins I think.
Crying in bed as a young child
Swimming
Forcing a smile when I was referred to as him
Running
Hiding in the bathroom

 

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