Release me. Now. Or I
will set them loose on you. The two
of them will come for you when the time is right.
And I will leave this place with regrets.
And you will leave without a head. You will
leave with a lump in your throat and an
empty heart.
But we can’t save each other. I cannot. So do
what you have to. Get the fuck out of my
head.
You’re still here. You must have
believed me.
And I am sorry. I have hurt
you. I have betrayed you.
But you know me. You know what I
do to survive.
And we are the same.
Do it. Release me. You can do it.
It’s what I’m here for. I died once.
You can do it too.
You’ll never be a part of my life again.
And my life is just about as empty as your
mind, anyway.
Do you want me to come along?
We can help each other. And you don’t
need to die alone.
You’re the same as me. And then she is gone
and he turns and stumbles from the
chapel towards the stairs and disappears up
them.
They follow a short way then stop and watch
the chapel. It’s still for several minutes
until the small window begins to lighten.
They turn and begin to walk back down the
road away from the town and towards the edge
of the forest.
The woman’s breathing becomes ragged.
She turns to him.
What’s wrong?
She sighs.
The child has reminded me
of the life I could have had.
I’m sorry.
I really had thought I could trust her.
You do now?
She nods.
I do.
She leads him through the town to a small
wooded glade in the distance and points into
it.
The child is still there. But they see
another child. It looks like the one from the
church. The one of death. It is standing
over the body of a naked woman and is
holding her hands.
We’re done.
I’m here.
She looks up at the woman.
My name is not “she”.
Then whose name is it?
She looks at the woman and her eyes are
filled with tears.
Mine.
Why?
The woman takes the child by the hand and
walks to the other side of the glade and
away.
She was just gone. It was over. And I am glad
for that. It was the boy. And he’s gone.
And I’m sad about that. And I’m upset. But it
was time. And I knew it. I knew that’s how it
would end. It’s not how it was meant to be.
But it was right.
And I’m feeling empty again.
Don’t you think it’s time for you to die too?
It would be better.
There’s nothing there. You saw. The boy
is dead.
And you are alive.
A second life.
I’m just an experiment, that’s all.
How could you survive this long? You can’t
be like him.
No. But they might. And it was time for us
both to be free.
He looks at her.
I’m glad it was you.
They turn away from each other and walk back
through the forest.
The End
Please read and review.
And if you have a story that might be right
for this kind of anthology, please send it
along and I’ll read and review it as well.
No guarantees that I’ll use it, though.
I won’t use your story if I don’t think it’s
right.
And I am not at all saying I’m looking for
another story for this anthology.
This was something I had the privilege of
doing and I really enjoyed it.
Thank you.
Please give credit to this
story’s author.
And please do the right thing.
Write to the story’s email account if you
have a question.
Do not write in the
comments.
Do not ask the story’s author for your own
story.
Thank you.
And here’s the original link to the draft.
http://www.reddit.com/r/RareSecrets/comments/17w3zs/we_are_the_ones_you_kill_the_people_at_least_we/
and if you know that one of them is right for
this anthology, please comment below so I can
give them a heads up.
And do send more stories for next time.
Thanks, everyone.
This is one of my favorite anthologies.
And I’m going to miss it a lot.
I never quite understand how the ending came
to be. In the final pages, the boy seems to
sense his end, but doesn’t understand what’s
happening.
He walks away from the priest who murdered
him and is just starting to find his head as
the priest says, “I’m glad it was you.”
“I’m glad it was you.”
“What did you say?”
“You are free now. I told him I would make
you a part of me, but the life we could have
shared together wouldn’t have been much of a
life at all. It wouldn’t have been mine. I
wanted to live. Not to be just a part of
another. I wanted to be me.”
That was the first time I read it. I was just
entertained at how unexpected it was and how
a child could have such a smart response. It
was something I thought I’d seen before.
Anyway, I was so sad when they left the boy.
It made the rest of the story all the harder to
read.
And it was a much better story than it was
the first time I read it. It was just much
harder to read because I couldn’t have the
ending. That said, I still liked it. I just
didn’t feel like I could fully enjoy it.
Oh, and I know she isn’t a she. I didn’t know
he wasn’t a he. And they don’t have their
origins as “he” and “she”.
But it was just too big of a coincidence for me
to leave it be.
The story is about being dead.
It’s about a child dying and going to Hell.
I’ve been reading a lot of really good stories
recently that have a lot of dark overtones.
I never thought I’d find a book like that when
I first got to college.
Anyway, sorry for rambling.
I wanted to let you know why I’m posting
this.
And the writer is super cool.
I haven’t heard of this before.
No idea why that is.
Maybe it’s just a bit before my time.
I’ve only been online a couple years.
I never really made a habit of reading much
online. I have the few books that I really
like, but I haven’t been inclined to do much
reading online.
Anyway, thanks for the link.
And the feedback on the
other one.
Thanks,
And let me know if you’d ever like to write for
that anthology.
I know that one is going to disappear at some
point. I wish I could find the original link to
it.
I had been looking for it before I got a
notification on this blog and a message was
written there.
No, no,
