Terribleminds Flash Fiction: Fairy Tales, Remixed

 

 

        Mom was at it again. Her drinking had been out of control for a few years now, but lately it had gotten beyond out of control. It had become disastrous. It had become violent and abusive. It had become unbearable.

        Sarah was a year younger than me and I did my best to protect her like an older brother should. Nights like tonight it was difficult.

        She was screaming, making it nearly impossible to do homework. Not that I cared much. School had become just another part of my life I was forced to tolerate. I was counting down the days until it was over. Sarah had given up on her studying hours ago. We both knew what kind of night it would be and it was easier to just get out of the way than deal with her.

         We could hear her screaming arguments through the bedroom door. On the phone with some jackass boyfriend, I assumed. She had already killed off a bottle of Vodka by the time we got home from school. That was hours ago.

         “I can’t deal with this again. I’m going for a walk,” Sarah said, standing up and grabbing her jacket.

         “Wait, wait, I’ll come too,” I replied.

         We sneaked out the window and down the fire escape. The city was half shadows in the fading sun.

         Outside I felt free, like I could do anything. The city was so big and full of life. Endless possibilities. When we were out of the house we weren't abused and neglected kids. We could be anyone.

         We walked to the edge of the park and sat on a bench near the entrance. One of our favorite pastimes was to people-watch. So many different lives going on at once. We liked to make-up stories about the interesting ones.

         Sarah always picked women with nice clothes and explained how they were traveling the world.

         “New York today, Paris tomorrow,” she said.

         Mine were always a bit more on the grim side.

         “Keep dreaming, she lives in a tiny apartment, struggling to pay off her credit cards, trying desperately to stay fashionable in hopes that a good-looking rich dude will sweep her off her feet so she can free-load for the rest of her life.”

         “Yeah right, Nicky” Sarah replied. “I don’t think so! Look at those shoes! She has money. She doesn’t need a guy!”

         “It's all a façade.”

         “What?”

         “Never mind.”

         We went through a few more people and their make-believe stories before I noticed something just inside the park. There was a grassy area near two dead trees where a sewer grate sat. It was there that I saw something catch my eye. A movement from down inside.

         “Did you see that?” I asked Sarah, pointing out the area.

         “What about it?”

         “I thought I saw something. An arm reaching out,” I told her.

         “From the sewer? Oooh, let’s go check it out!” she said excitedly, and then jumped to her feet.

         “Sarah wait!”

         I jogged after her, catching up just as she reached the grate.

         We both peered into it but saw nothing but pitch black, darkness. I scooted closer, leaning my body over the grate, but still saw nothing.

         “I guess it was my eyes playing tricks on me,” I said.

         “Maybe,” Sarah replied.

         She brushed past me and jumped on the iron grate, bouncing on it like it was a trampoline.

         “What are doing? Get off that before you fall in,” I spoke.

         But she ignored me and continued to bounce until the grate made a creaking sound. She stopped, staring at me with fearful eyes.

         “Get off!” I shouted, reaching a hand to her.

         Then, before either one of us could do a thing, the grate broke open. Sarah fell in, grabbing my arm and pulling me down with her. We landed in water, only waist deep, but enough to keep us from getting hurt.

         I stood up, spitting out the worst tasting water that had ever brushed across my lips, before I helped Sarah to her feet. We were both soaked from head to toe, feeling like toilet-flushed sewer rats. I rubbed my eyes, hoping to get a clear look around, but stopped when I saw Sarah staring hard at something like she’d seen a ghost.

         Following her eyes I saw what had her so startled. I thought it was a naked woman at first. Old and skinny, covered in filth. But there’s something not-human about her. It was only slight things, elongated fingers tipped with black nails, teeth too long and sharp, green tint to her liver-spotted slimy skin, but it’s enough for me to realize. I jumped in response to the sight, instantly feeling like we were in danger.

         The woman-like creature smiled at us and said, “Now that you have intruded into my home you shall work for me. You shall work hard for me or never leave.”

         Before I could even think to move she had both Sarah and I by the necks, dragging us with an unnatural strength. She took us to an area where the sewer expanded into a larger corridor and up out of the water, tossing us into a corner.

         “You my pretty will fill this bucket with water and return it here,” the creature spoke to Sarah handing her an old, wooden pale with a large hole in the bottom.

         She then looked to me and pulled out an old, dull ax. I reached for it, careful not to touch her black rotted fingernails.   “You will chop this root in half for me.”

         I see a large tree root that has broken through the concrete floor and wall. It looked solid and thick. Even with a sharp ax I knew it would take me hours to get through it.

         “What if we don’t?” Sarah belted out.

         “If you do not, then I will kill your brother. If he does not, then I will kill you,” she said then began cackling so loud it echoed throughout the sewer corridor.

         Sarah shot me a glance, unsure of what to do.

         “Just do it,” I said and walked over to the large root.

         My first swing bounced back at me hard with a loud thud. The ax was so dull there was barely an impression in the root. I swung again with all of my might, determined to make a cut, but the root looked like it hadn’t even been touched.

         Behind me Sarah had made it over to the water, scooping the bucket full only to watch it all drain out the hole in the bottom.

         “This is impossible,” she complained. “I will never get it back over there full.”

         The woman-creature laughed harder, all of her sagging, nude parts shaking in unison. “Then you will never leave.”

         It went on for hours, maybe even days. Sarah filling the bucket with water and watching it spill out before she could make it back, me hacking away at a root that showed no sign of trauma. All the while the strange woman-creature sat in the corner brushing her hair and looking into a small hand-held mirror.

         Finally, after what felt like a lifetime the woman left us alone.

         She slumped out of the corridor and down a tunnel until we couldn’t hear her anymore. Both Sarah and I stopped working. We dropped the bucket and an ax and ran to each other.

         “We have to escape,” I said to her.

         “How?”

         I looked around the room, searching for anything that might help us. I saw that she has left the hairbrush and mirror and walked over picking them up.

         “What are we going to do with that?” Sarah asked me.

         “I don’t know, but feel this. There is something weird about these.”

         Sarah grabbed the mirror from my hand and looked into it.

         “It looks like a normal mirror but it does feel strange,” she said, “like enchanted or something.”

         Suddenly we hear the woman returning down the tunnel.

         “Run! Run!” I shouted, nearly pushing Sarah to move.

         “Don’t touch that! Put those down!” the woman screamed as she ran towards us reaching out a black-clawed hand.

         Sarah turned and led the way down an opposite tunnel, the creature just feet behind us.

         “She’s catching up!”

         I wasn’t sure where the idea came from, but I didn’t hesitate once it was there.

         The hairbrush. It’s magic.

         I threw the brush down to the tunnel floor behind us and instantly felt the enchantments beginning to work. The floor started shaking and rumbling like there was an earthquake. I looked back and saw the brush growing, expanding into a block of a thousand of spikes. The woman-creature stopped in front of it and for a second I thought we’d done it. We’d escaped.

         But she pushed her way through the spikes, darting in-between them until she was on our side and past them.

         “The mirror,” I called out to Sarah.

         She slowed down until I was even with her.

         “Throw it!” I shouted.

         She looked at it once more and then tossed it on the tunnel floor just in front of the creature. Instantly it grew in size, creating a large mirror blocking the tunnel completely.

         “It’s working,” Sarah cried out.

         The woman slammed her hands against it, banging on it hard, but the mirror held.

         “You have stopped me but for a minute,” she calmly stated. “I shall return with a sharp ax and break through this mirror. Then you will be mine forever.”

         Sarah and I didn’t wait around to watch . As soon as she was out of view, we ran until we found a ladder leading to the surface.

         Outside the park was quiet. It was late. Unknown things were lurking in the darkness beyond the streetlights.

         We didn’t care. We were free. We had escaped.

         After that night Sarah and I were closer than ever, keeping the secret of our time in the sewer to ourselves. And never laying another foot in the park or a sewer ever again.

         The End