By the Lamp Light

By the Lamp Light
By Alex DeMatteis

“Mr. Cloudy, just where are you hiding?” Faith called out. Her soft voice echoed through the dim alley. The vermin lurking about scurried back to their holes, far away from the young girl.

The last rays of the sun were fading to nothingness behind her as clouds swept in and covered the dark red sky. Prying eyes peeked out from behind grimy windows and cracked wooden doors.

“We have to go home soon! It’s getting late!”

She skipped along onto a cobbled street, her matted brunette hair swinging from side to side and brushing across her lower back. Her tattered white dress flowed in the light breeze.

Before long, she came upon an open, circular court. Several other pathways led away from the area, each marked by a hanging oil lamp, a blaze in the approaching night. In the center of the court, surrounded by a rusted iron gate, stood an ancient, gnarled tree that towered over everything in sight. Its dead branches grew out and twisted away from the rotting trunk, as if trying to escape. Or, perhaps as Faith thought, they were reaching out to grab hold of unwitting passersby to drag them under its roots. The young girl smiled at the idea as she ran her hand along a low hanging branch.

They’d be safe down there, she thought.

“There you are Mr. Cloudy!” Faith exclaimed as she spotted her stuffed wolf sitting high up in the twisted branches. “Now what in the world are you doing up there?”

She made a low tsk tsk noise as she folded her arms and stared up into the tree, waiting for a response. When none came, she tapped her foot repeatedly against the ground and pursed her lips. After a few more moments, she let out a loud sigh and threw her arms up in the air.

“I guess I have to come get you again.”

Faith slipped easily through the narrow iron bars of the gate, stepping over the protruding roots with careful precision. Her bare feet sank into the surrounding earth with surprising ease until she reached the base of the tree and could no longer avoid stepping on the roots. 

She looked up and shook her head at Mr. Cloudy. With one foot planted firmly on the thick root, she pushed up and grabbed the highest branch she could. She climbed until she was level with her toy, and sat on the same branch where he was perched.

“Got you!” She pulled the stuffed wolf close to her and examined him. The once white fur was now an ever-darkening shade of grey, and the remaining button eye hung loosely by fraying strands of thread. Its left ear looked as though half of if had been bitten off. Sewn lines of stitched fabric snaked their way all over his body, marking the many times the toy had been damaged over the years. Faith hugged the wolf and it hung limply against her chest. 

She looked out over her surroundings. Soaring buildings made of cracked stone loomed over her in every direction. From some, pointed steeples pierced the sky and hid among the clouds. From others, the time-worn faces of gargoyles watched over the dark city, the dull red of the sky reflecting in their empty eyes.

“Which way do we go?” she asked the stuffed wolf.

She put her ear to its mouth for few moments.

“That can’t be right Mr. Cloudy,” she said, her face scrunched up. “Don’t you remember? We don’t want to get sick, too.”

The thunderous ring of a nearby belltower resounded through the air. Flocks of crows cawed in response. All at once they took to the air, and filled the sky with feathery black clouds. Small clusters formed and circled above different parts of the city. One flew overhead and spotted Faith in the tree. It cawed out continuously and began to circle. One by one, more joined the first until she could no longer count them. They gathered together and circled high above the twisted tree.  

“Uh-oh Mr. Cloudy,” Faith said. 

She watched as the maelstrom of crows continued to grow in size. Her grip around the stuffed wolf tightened and she bit at her cracked, uneven fingernails. 

The bell sounded again. The bang of slamming doors and the screeching of wood against wood that followed set Faith on edge. The crows cawed louder and began to fly faster, until they were nothing more than a swirling black cloud.

“We need to get home,” she said to her toy. The  melodic tone of her voice flattened, becoming a melancholy whisper.

A crow shot down from the mass and dove toward the young girl. A scream escaped her and she raised her arms to shield herself.. A rush of wind rustled her hair. When nothing hit her, she peeked out and saw the body of the crow impaled on a sharp branch she hadn’t realized was there. 

“Close one Mr. Cloudy,” she said. “Come on.”

The branches leading down were far and few between. She placed one of the wolf’s paws in her mouth and bit down to free both hands. As she made her descent, another crow attempted to swoop down on her, but wouldn’t come within reach of the tree. It landed on the iron gate and cawed at her before rejoining the swarm. 

When she reached the bottom of the tree, the bell rang out a third and final time. The crows cawed in deafening unison and then they were gone, leaving nothing but silence in their wake. 

 The sun had set completely, but the sky remained a deep crimson. The warmth had left with it. A chill ran through the air sending a shiver throughout Faith’s entire body. She wrapped her arms around herself, watching as her breath formed in front of her and joined the dense fog that had begun to creep in all around. 

Faith inched away from the tree until she reached the iron fence. She peered through the bars, but the court was now too heavily obscured to see more than an arm’s length ahead. 

A piercing scream of a woman rang out from somewhere behind her. She jumped and put a hand over her mouth to stifle her own. Another, different scream came shortly after, followed by one more. In a matter of moments, they were silenced. The cries lingered all around her, seemingly trapped forever in the swirling mists.

A small whimper slipped from Faith’s mouth. Her eyes darted down to her stuffed toy as heavy footfalls slammed down too near to the tree. A slow, grinding of metal on stone followed each uneven step. The young girl took slow, steady breaths and waited until she could no longer hear the steps.

She slipped back through the metal bars and darted as soundlessly as she could away from the direction the footsteps had gone. Up ahead she could see the flickering orange light of an oil lamp swinging gently above a stone archway. Slender houses of charred stone and decaying wood lined the narrow path beyond. 

“This looks like the right way, right Mr. Cloudy?” Faith almost didn’t hear her own voice. 

She pulled the wolf close and took a tentative step down the alley. The cobblestone felt like ice under her bare feet, and another tremor coursed through her body. Puddles of water lined the street. The red of the sky reflected in them, making them appear as pools of blood. Faith turned away as she passed them. 

Most of the houses she walked by seemed abandoned. Doors were ripped from their hinges, windows were shattered, long, jagged claw marks had been gashed deeply into the stone exteriors. From few others hung more burning oil lamps. Their doors were securely shut and windows boarded up without an inch of space to spare, except for one from which she swore a single green eye had been watching her.

She stepped in a puddle hidden in shadow and gasped. A crow called out above her and the metal grinding on stone began screeching from behind, accompanied by heavy footfalls. Her breathing quickly turned ragged and her heart became a drum.

“What do we do Mr. Cloudy?” she whispered in one short breath. “They’re gonna find us.”

She stumbled backward. More crows joined the first. Their cawing became a chant, their tone raising higher and lower, higher and lower. 

Psst.

The noise came from the house where she had seen the green eye.

“Over here! You’ll be safe!” said the muffled voice of an older man. 

The door cracked open ever so slightly and a greyish colored hand beckoned her inside. She looked down at Mr. Cloudy then behind her where the screeching had grown louder. The one green eye watched her still as she darted inside the decrepit house. The darkness swallowed her as she gently shut the door behind her.

“You shouldn’t be outside on a night like this. It’s not… safe. Heh.,” the old voice said, each word slower than the last. “You’re lucky I saw you out there before one of them did.”

His voice came from the opposite side of the room. Nothing but a tiny splinter of firelight shone through the crack in the boarded window. Faith thought she saw something grey and slimy slide through the light toward the back of the house.

“That eye in the window was you?” she whispered.

“You’ll have to speak up my dear,” he said between fits of labored coughing. “No, no don’t worry, they won’t hear us in here, they won’t. Heh.”

Faith shifted on her feet.

“It… it was your eye in the window?” she asked louder. Her eyes darted to the light.

“Oh, heh, heh. You mean this one?” he asked. The green eye rolled on the floor into the light and stared directly at her. “It’s mine now. Some poor fellow left it behind some years ago. I’ve been using it since.” Three long, grey fingers reached out and reclaimed the eyeball, pulling it back into the darkness.

Faith clutched her wolf to her chest. It suddenly hit her how silent it had gotten. The footsteps and grinding had disappeared and the crows had quieted. The labored breathing in the darkness before her was all she could hear.

“So tell me little girl— ,” the old voice started.

“Faith. My name is Faith.”

He burst out in a fit of withered laughter, broken up by fits of coughing.

“Faith? Faith? Here?” More laughter interrupted his speech. “Not even the gods have faith any longer, not for us, not here.” His laughter turned into hacking. The floorboards creaked under the weight of something moving. Faith took a step backward.

“No need to fear, young Faith.” His voice cracked on her name. “Now tell me, what were you doing out there after bells tolled? Didn’t your parents ever tell you what happens out there? It isn’t safe.”

Something hit the floor with a loud thud. The floorboards creaked in every direction. A painful groan came from the darkness.

“Mr. Cloudy got l-lost,” Faith stammered. “He keeps me safe.”

“Safe? No, no, no, no, no, no, no…” he trailed off. The voice came from much higher up than before. “No one is safe from the infection, from the curse of it all.” 

Another thud resounded through the room. Elongated grey fingers fell into the sliver of light and moved toward the boarded up window. The arm that followed slid easily along.

“I remember Faith,” the old voice whispered. ‘Was it you? Was it you that did this to me?”

The boards were ripped from the window, bathing the room in crimson light. Faith finally saw who she had been talking to. Hunched in the corner of the room stood a man deprived of his humanity. His grey, blighted skin clung tightly to his outstretched body. His arms stretched out more than double the length of his body, each ending in a flattened hand with three long fingers. The single green eye sat beside an empty socket on the side of an over-enlarged head. From the long, slender body, more limbs protruded out on either side, each hitting the floor with a loud thud.

The figure laughed again and stood on its new limbs like a spider. Its back snapped and bent into an arch. It took up the rest of the space in the small room. Faith screamed and fell backward, pushing herself into the opposite corner.

It reached out with one long finger and caressed her face, leaving behind a slimy residue. Faith slapped it away. It reached down and ripped the stuffed toy from her grasp.

“No, Mr. Cloudy!” Faith yelled. “Give him back!”

“You don’t need him anymore,” the figure said and smiled, showing off rows of blackened, rotted teeth. He threw the wolf out the window. They heard a splash as it landed in a puddle.

Faith stood and ran toward the window, but the figure blocked her path with two of its arms and forced her back into the corner.

“Why aren’t you like the rest of us? What makes you so special?” it asked. It lowered its head to be eye level with Faith. “Is it your innocence? Are we truly being cursed for our sins?”

Faith’s back slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor. She pulled her knees to her chest and whimpered.

“W-what do you want with me?” she asked, her lip trembling.

“Nothing stays pure forever,” the figure said. It hung its head directly over her small body. Warm, black saliva dripped from its mouth and coated Faith’s bare feet. “The fear will set in sooner or later. Then the hatred. The greed. The agony.”

It faced its head down and groaned in pain as another limb began to sprout from its body. A wave of putrid breath washed over Faith.

“Then you’ll be like the rest of the world. Corrupted. Wicked. Cursed.” The figure snapped its head back up to face her. Its long, grey tongue lashed out across Faith’s cheek. “But why should you have to live amongst us monsters? I haven’t eaten in so long…” It lashed its tongue out against her face again.

Faith let out a piercing scream. “Help me Mr. Cloudy!” 

“Heh. Stupid child,” the figure wheezed. “No one is coming for you.”

It opened its mouth unnaturally wide, a black hole ready to devour the young girl.

From above them, thick branches crashed through the wood and stone and wrapped around the figure’s limbs and head, forcing its jaw shut. Its one eye opened wide as the branches slowly pulled it backward. It dug its fingers into the floor, leaving behind deep gouges in the wood as it fought against the pull. As it realized it couldn’t win, it shot out an arm and wrapped three long fingers around Faith’s ankle.

She screamed and reached desperately for anything to grab hold of as the figure pulled her along, but she found nothing. Before she reached the middle of the room, a root snaked in and wrapped itself around the arm holding her leg. Faith closed her eyes as the root tightened until a sickening snap resounded throughout the room. The grip on her leg relaxed. She opened her eyes in time to see the figure tear apart the branches around its mouth.

“You can’t escape it,” the figure said. 

Before it had a chance to react again, the roots wrapped around its head continuously, like a spider spinning a web. The branches retracted and ripped the figure from the room, sending a shower of broken stone and splintered wood in every direction. It disappeared from sight in a matter of moments.

Faith’s entire body shook as she sat and stared at the gaping hole. Her heart pounded in her chest. When she thought she was ready, she pushed herself up and stumbled on wobbly legs.

She looked carefully at her surroundings. The red sky flooded into the room and bathed it in its light. The house had been empty aside from the creature that had resided there. Along the back wall, the word “guilty” had been carved over and over again into the wood. The words seemed to glimmer in the light. She scanned the wall, mouthing the word each time as she read.

When she looked away, something partially hidden underneath a broken board caught the light. She peeked underneath and yelped as she jumped back. The creature’s green eye had been left behind. The pupil constricted as it adjusted to the light. It swiveled on its own, just enough to stare at her. She stared back. 

Faith’s focus broke as she heard the footsteps and grinding metal coming toward her again. A crow swooped down and landed high above on a ruined beam of wood. Its beady black eyes watched as she backed away. It cawed once and jumped to the floor, landing just in front of her. Its beak was cracked and had patches of skin where it was missing tufts of feathers. It snapped at her, then picked up the eyeball in its mouth and flew away. The footsteps ceased and the crow vanished from sight. 

“Mr Cloudy? Are you out there?” Faith called out softly.

She pushed open what remained of the door and looked below the window, but the stuffed wolf was not there. She took a careful step away from the house and stopped again suddenly as she caught the reflection of the rooftops in the water. High above on the ledges, endless lines of crows were perched. They sat deathly still, aside from their eyes. They followed her every movement.

Behind her, a metal screech echoed throughout the night. She twirled around, and chills coursed throughout her body as she saw what had made the noise. Before her stood a towering, hooded man dressed in tattered white robes, his face concealed in shadow. In his one remaining hand, he dragged an axe with a sharply curved blade almost the size of Faith herself.

He took a step toward her. The crows cawed madly.

“Go away!” she yelled, summoning her bravest voice.

To her surprise, the man stopped. Behind the young girl, the branches and roots had begun snaking their way back through the alley, completely covering the buildings and the road as they advanced. 

The crows quieted and looked to their master. The man looked at them and jerked his head. He turned away and melted into the fog while the birds fled.

Faith let out the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding in. She turned and faced the roots.

“D-Do you know where Mr. Cloudy is?” she asked. Her voice still shook.

The roots began to slither back through the alley.

“Wait, don’t leave me here!” She took off running.

Before long, the flickering light of the oil lamp loomed ahead, marking the entrance to the circular court. She followed the roots back toward the gnarled tree that stood in the center. The earth around it had been upheaved, leaving a layer of soft soil on top. 

Faith looked toward the tree..

“There you are!” The toy wolf sat on a root at the base of the tree. Her heart fluttered and huge smile broke out across her face

She slipped through the iron fence post. As she made her way toward the center, she tripped. An elongated grey finger poking out from under the earth had caught her foot.

“Mr. Cloudy, did you hurt the bad man?”

She picked up the wolf and raised its mouth to her ear. She broke out in a giggle a moment after. 

“That’s okay, he’ll be safer down there.” She smiled down at the roots and wiggled her toes in the freshly loosened soil. “And we’ll be safe right here.”