The Amorphous

The Amorphous

It stared at me, its gnarly grimy arms sprawling outwards, spiralling towards me, beckoning, dangerous, it slithered up the wall like black snakes, strangling all life out of a corpse-like body, coming closer, coming closer, its rancid smell filling the air like a choking hand, suffocating me. I couldn’t breathe. Keep breathing, I demanded of myself, don’t let it in! Panic-stricken I screamed, a hysterical, ear-piercing scream, the echoes reverberating off the surfaces like an assemblage of banshees, then receding into the darkness, weaker, broken, petering out and coming to rest. I shrieked again, so hard my throat burned like tiny stinging nettles on an already lacerated wound. I coughed, gagging from dryness, there’s nothing, nobody is here! Nobody is coming to help me.

I lay there in the still darkness, petrified. I couldn’t move. Why couldn’t I move? My head hurt, the pulsating, jabbing jolts, the lightening-bolt shocks of pain, went stabbing down my neck and all the way into my back. My eyes were swollen and stinging from the droplets of sweat rolling down my forehead. I couldn’t focus on anything. The objects around me were undulating, like a boat swaying in the waves, in open waters. What was that out in the darkness, and where the hell am I?

The gnarly menacing creature appeared to have ceased moving forward, but its octopus like arms, were still oscillating sideways, wriggling up and down. The predator was watching, waiting in the dark, ready to pounce, to ambush, like a praying mantis waiting to bite the head off its unsuspecting prey. I tried to move my right arm, but I couldn’t, it felt numb, it tingled slightly sending micro electrical currents streaming towards my shoulder, but there was no movement. I strained hard, trying to extend my tendons, and to raise my index finger, even slightly, but it barely lifted off the surface. Why can’t I feel anything? Just as the thought vaporized into the darkness, I felt biting cold, cold ripping through me like a sharp sword. The surface on my back felt hard, am I on some sort of table, or a workbench? Oh god, am I about to be murdered?

My breathing quickened as blinding light flooded the area, I couldn’t see, there were only blurry visions of swimming shapes, of darkness and light. A figure moved towards me, silently, menacingly, floating towards me like it had no legs, it was hanging over me, hovering, like a blood sucking fiend. I wanted to scream, but what would the fiend do if I did? The figure moved even closer to me, so close now I could feel its warm putrid breath on my cheek, it smelled like rotting flesh. It was all I could do to prevent myself from heaving. I was terrified!

Go away! Go away, I pleaded silently to myself. The fiend hovered over me, for what seemed like an eternity. Through the haziness, I sensed it intensely staring, leering at me, as if it were some weird and deranged scientist, experimenting on a anesthetized, susceptible creature, unfurled but restrained, abandoned, wretched, and dying on the table. I could smell odd, bitter, and unpleasant, pungent chemical smells, interspersed with sickly-sweet ones, I couldn’t identify any of them, were they poisoning me? All I could hear, were vague sounds, like the scraping, scratching sounds, of metal on metal.

Suddenly another shapeless mutant appeared. I desperately wanted to run away. I squeezed my leg muscles so hard, trying to force them to contract, at the same time dampening any straining sounds, but still there was no movement. I tried fiercely just to wriggle one toe, but nothing. It was hopeless! I was totally vulnerable, forsaken, alone, exposed, and they, the fiends, had complete control, they held the power to do anything at all they wanted to me, and there was nothing I could do. A tear rolled down my face, I could hold onto my feelings no longer, but the fiends, noticing it, hovered over me again. Stop it! I said to myself, they are noticing you are awake, idiot!

I could feel something cold and wet pressing into my skin. Ice? No, it’s more like metal. What are they doing to me? My body started to shake furiously. I squeezed my muscles hard, pressing down onto the surface, but I couldn’t stop it. I could hear the murmur of hushed voices, but I couldn’t understand them. My body flung itself around, flailing against the hard surface, the pain was excruciating as I hit the table. I groaned, a long and loud groan, I could hold the sounds of pain no longer. Pain flooded my body like tiny exploding bombs, ripping me apart, then concentrating in my lower back, and it was unbearable!

The two fiends hung over me, engaged intensely and remorselessly, in their activities, or was it their brutal science experiment? The one with the foul breath, was so close, I was tempted to bite at its nearest appendage. It forced my eye lids open and shone a strong spotlight straight into my eyes, causing them to water. The other fiend was restraining my arms, were they trying to stop me flailing around, or were they worried I was going to run away? ‘Get off me!’ I shouted, loudly, at the top of my range, I no longer cared if they knew I was awake. I felt something in my side, something sharp, I found myself feeling sleepy, I struggled to keep my eyes open, my eyes were drowning in tears, the exhaustion consumed me, there was nothing I could do, I fell asleep.

I woke, strangely revived, so their experiment worked, or maybe it didn’t. It was dark, the two fiends had left, but the creature was still there, keeping watch, it’s two gigantic eyes glaring at me through the dark, waiting for my attempt to escape, staring at me with the hungry ferocity of a vulture, keenly honing-in, circling its kill. If I did escape, then what? Would the creature immobilize me? Or would it devour me? I shuddered at the thought of a gigantic monster, with razor-sharp, carnivorous teeth, and cast-iron jaw, matching the creatures’ colossal size, crushing my bones, and tearing me limb from limb.

Just then the fiend floated towards me. It grabbed at my head and forced two pads, soaked in liquid, over my eyes. It stung so badly it felt like it was acid melting my eyeballs. I moved slightly but realized that my arms were being held by restraints. The fiend wound a bandage so tightly, securing the pads around my head, that I couldn’t even shake them off. Oh great, now I won’t be able to see anything at all. What if that enormous creature gets sick of waiting and attacks? I won’t see it coming.

I could hear the faint clashing of metal on metal again. There was the low murmur, of guttural sounds, is that several fiends? Were they going to have a fiend feast? Is this it? Am I going to die? Terrified, I began to shake. Suddenly they were all around me, I could smell that sickly sweet smell, but I couldn’t identify it, what were they doing to me? They lifted me off the table, I could feel the give of the material under me, as they elevated my body, where are they taking me? My heart pounded rapidly in my chest, sending the blood rushing around my body. I wanted to fight. With all my might I tried to move, and this time my muscles responded, but I was restrained. ‘I don’t want to die,’ I said aloud. The fiends moved me again, this time onto something soft. ‘I wish my mum was here! I’m scared! Please, please let me go! Please don’t hurt me!’ I pleaded with them. Nothing, I heard nothing in return, except the murmuring of indistinct voices. I’m going to die, I thought, and nobody even knows I’m here.

Then one of the fiends touched me on the arm. Was it trying to comfort me? Is this good fiend, bad fiend? Was this one friendly? Did it have some compassion, or was this part of some ritual, to bless the victim, before the sacrifice? At least the hand seemed to have human-like digits, and it was warm blooded.

It went quiet, they must have left me. Suddenly I heard something, a screeching noise, oh god, please don’t eat me, please! I imagined the creature coming slowly forward, it’s tentacle like limbs slinking into the dark and surrounding me. I was terrified! Creeeeek, a loud sound came from the direction of the watching creature, what was that? ‘Who’s there? Come on, please don’t hurt me!’ The noise happened again and then a loud crashing sound. ‘Oh my god, please, please don’t hurt me,’ I said, pleading with the creature.

Something touched me on the arm, what was that? It felt cold and wet. Was it a tentacle? ‘Get off me!’ I yelled, ‘Heeeelp! Somebody, please help me! Leave me alone, please leave me alone, whoever you are! Don’t hurt me please! Heeeelp!’ I screamed. Something touched me on my leg, oh no, they’ve drugged me again, stay awake, stay awake, fight! I struggled to stay awake but before long I passed out.

I woke, this time to different voices, but I still couldn’t untangle the confused, and now excited, babbling noises. Was this a foreign language? Suddenly someone was touching me on the head, winding back the head dressing. I could see shapes, and light, and people! I could see people! My eyes were still sore, and adjusting to the light, but I was right, these were people. Hang on, I know that face. ‘Mum’, I said, crying, ‘Mum, where am I?’

My mother, with tears in her eyes, was trying to talk to me, but I couldn’t hear her properly. The nurse came over to my mother and said something to her. She brought back a small white board and marker. ‘Where am I?’ I asked. The nurse squiggled something on the board and held it up, ‘in Hospital,’ it said. My mother came closer and was comforting me. The nurse held the board up again, ‘you were in an accident, but you will be ok!’ The tears welled up in my eyes as I saw my sister, Carol, come into the room.

I gazed out past my mother in the direction of the creature. At the opposite end of the room there was two very large bay windows revealing an enormous, aged, and gnarly tree. The tree had giant knots, it was withered, damaged, and barely alive, its branches spread out in all directions, but a vine was choking it, squeezing the life blood out of it. As I surveyed the tree, I could see something, it was a large pear, a golden pear, one out of a large old tree being swallowed whole, a glimmer of hope.

I’m going to be alright!

©BrendaKellaway, 16th of August 2021