Aesop's Fire

She raced through the forest struggling to see through the dark, drowning in rain, stumbling over rocks and twigs and uneven ground. She couldn’t stop, dared not, afraid it could still be their; she pressed on. Breathing heavily, desperate, tears smeared away from her eyes by strong gusts of wind from an impending storm. She hoped and pleaded to God that the storm would bring her cover. Her heart felt like it was about to burst, her lungs burning, against all intension to keep going her body quit on her. She stumbled to a stop, her knees buckled as she collapsed to a misstep on uneven ground. She sat there, her hands in the mud, hunched over, gasping for breath, grateful to the sound of the wind and rustling leaves overhead overshadow her desperate breaths. More tears fell as her breaths quivered as memory of what happened flashed before her eyes; forever seared into her mind.

It all happened so fast. They thought they escaped. It was a foolish notion to ever venture into the forest. They knew the tales told ever since they were children, about the creature that lurked within the trees; the devil’s belly with the insatiable hunger for human flesh. She never really wanted to go into the forest in the first place but she was talked into it by her boyfriend Paulo. He was a tall and strong young man. She knew that he would be there to protect her, that he would never leave her alone; she believed every word. She was in love with him and that alone gave her the courage to take his hand and venture into the forest.

They frolicked into the forest for the adventure, the danger, the taboo of it all, but mostly it was to be alone together; remembering made her heart ache. The feel of his strong hand clasped around hers, his joyous smile and laugh brought out the beauty within her, revealing to her no matter the hard ships in the world there is still beauty to be found. They were lost in each other’s gaze as she remembered the touch of his hand as it caressed her face; a gaze that reached in and touched their souls.

“Beautiful Ophelia. Only God truly knows how much I love you.”

“I would like to know. Won’t you show me?” she remembers his lips as they pressed against hers and how it left her breathless. She remembered the touch of his hands as they explored her body and as it beg for him to go further. This must be what heaven is like, she thought. If only it were true. The magic of the world they found themselves in suddenly vanished to a rumbling groan. They were startled as their eyes darted around the endless towering lush trees that surrounded them. They listened intently, hearing the cracking of twigs and crushed grass.

“Who goes there? Show yourself!” Paulo demanded as he held Ophelia close at his side. There was no response as the light began to dim as the clouded sky grew dark. Along with the rolling thunder the storm was headed in, chill in the air, as the wind began to pick up.

“Let’s go. I want to go home.” Ophelia pleaded. Paulos eyes never pulled away from the trees. He hunts and knows when they’re being hunted due to many encounters with wolves; he turns to her.

“Ophelia, I need you to run.” The look in his eyes filled her with fear; her knees buckled.

“What? What do mean? Come on lets go.”

“I can’t do that Ophelia. We are being hunted, only I don’t know by what. This feeling I’m getting is not like anything I’ve felt before. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I need you to run and don’t stop until you are safe in your home. Do you understand?” hearing the words leaving his mouth her mind latched on to the worst thing no matter how impossible or foolish; old folk tale or not.

“What? No, I-I can’t. I can’t go by myself.” she said struggling to be present.

“Ophelia, we don’t have time to argue. I need you to run or we both could end up dead. Don’t make me have to watch you die.”

“You think I want you to die?”

“For God’s sake, let me be the man and do what a man should do? Go NOW!” he shouted and she felt it, the intensity in his voice; the thunder ever present. Against her hearts wishes she sided with his and her fear.

She ran as she broke into tears fearful of what would happen to Paulo or what could happen to her now that she is alone. What if this creature does the opposite of what Paulo expects and chose to chase after her? Either way she couldn’t allow herself to let up. If anything she needed to get back to find help and hope to God that he is alive when she returns. She hoped that it was nothing. Maybe he’s just playing a joke on her. With the violent crack of thunder the rain began to fall. She stumbles to a sudden stop as she slams her hands against a nearby tree. Her eyes are drawn back wide with absolute terror. Cold fear running down her body to the unnerving shriek of terror coming from where she came.

Nearly hidden in crack of thunder, she recognized the shriek, the voice that originated it, but what she didn’t recognize was the wale that shortly followed. It was unlike anything she ever heard, inhuman. Her instincts took over. She knew she needed to survive; she needed to get help. She took a misstep that sent her careening over, tumbling violently, down a steep hillside. Her limbs flailing about as her body slammed against twigs and rocks until she reached bottom slamming against the base of a tree. She groaned in pain as she struggled to move.

She used the tree to help lift her to her feet when she heard the rapid sound of thuds and crunching grass. Her eyes darted to its origin fearing the worst when her eyes grew soft and a smile rose to her face once more.

“Ophelia.” said Paulo as he descended the hill as quick as he could. As soon as he reached the bottom her arms reached out to him as she embraced him; overjoyed to see him alive. “Are you okay?”

“Your alive! Thank God.” she said as she pressed her head to his chest; his body grimaced. “You’re hurt.” She said as she stepped back to examine his body noticing the tearing of his tunic stained in blood.

“So are you.”

“Dear God.” she said with concern. “What was it? Did you kill it?” she said looking up at him. He didn’t share her fit of joy and immediately hers faded.

“No. That thing is neither man nor animal. I don’t have time to explain. We need to go now!”

“What?” she said overwhelmed by the idea that the old folk tale was true.

“LOOK OUT!” he shouted as he shoved her away back on to the ground.

She was lost in the idea and the fear she didn’t notice the heavy footsteps coming up behind her. She looked up to catch a glimpse of what will be the final time she would lay eyes on his face the way she will struggle to remember for the rest of her life. It disappeared into the tree, the same one she used to get to her feet, buried behind what seemed like a large tree branch acting as a club. At the end of that branch, she could hardly make out a silhouette in the dark, only thing she could tell was that it was massive.

After all the running there was no end in sight. Now, she finds herself dangling from the end of her rope, foolishly lost in memories. Now, completely alone, her body in ruins, she had no time to waste. She needed to get going. She needed to tell everyone what happened. The only problem is who would believer? She had put a good distance from where Paulo had saved her life. She would not let his death be in vain. Lightning flashed repeatedly quickly killing her determination as it revealed the creature lurking in the shadows; hovering over her. She is frozen with fear as she felt the rumble of his groan and then nothing at all.

She is startled awake by the sound of clanging metal. Her eyes struggle to adjust, her head hurt as she felt around noticing the knot formed on the side of her head. She found herself shackled and chained to the cave walls. She looked around and found herself in what appeared to be a kitchen. There was a table with a body and a face she once knew; blood dripping over the sides. There were sharp knives hung on the wall with pots and a roaring fire. The creature was nowhere to be seen. She began to tug on the chains trying to break free, but quickly found that there was no vulnerability to the chain. She would need to bide her time and find the right moment.

The creature emerged from the shadows with a sack that he plopped on the floor. “You’re awake.” said the creature, voice deep and gravelly. Ophelia was taken aback. She didn’t expect what she was looking at to speak. Its body was hulking and its bones seemed to suffer from overgrowth. Its face seemed weathered, his nose large and prominent, its hair long, dark and stringy.

“You speak our language?” asked Ophelia surprised by the revelation.

“Of course I speak your language.” the creature laughed as it walked over to the knives hanging on the wall examining them.

“You bastard! You killed him. You’re going to pay for this. We’re going to kill you and send you back to the Hell you came from!” she screamed. The creature rushed over with the knife and held it to her neck as she fell back against the wall.

“Shut up! If you wish to spend your time threatening me I’ll rid you of your tongue now and be done with it.” it snapped. With tears in her eyes she fell silent. It returned to the table and began to butcher.

“You’re disgusting. You monster. I hope God smites you down.” The creature stops with its carving and looks over at her.

“I hope so too.” it muttered as it continued with his preparations. The look in its surprised her. It didn’t have a hint of malice. If anything they seemed full of melancholy.

“Hey monster, why would you hope for such a thing?” she saw him cringe to the word, monster. It stood there for a moment looking down at the meat that laid before it.

“Monster? I guess I am. I guess I’ve never given it much thought. I always try to ignore what’s staring me back in the face. There’s no hiding from what I’ve become.”

“What you’ve become?”

“What is his name? This man, who was he to you?” the look in his eyes said that he was genuinely curious.

“Paulo. He was my beloved. I’d hoped we’d marry one day.”

“What is your name?”

“Ophelia.” she noticed him grimace.

“Ophelia, what a lovely name.”

“What’s yours? Do you even have one? Can a monster have a name?” the creature grimaced again, taking a moment before answering.

“Aesop. My name is Aesop. I wasn’t always this monster you see before you. Once I was a man and, like you, I was in love.”

It was during the war nearly two decades before Aesop and his beloved wife lived in fear of the uncertainties that surrounded them. Then one day they found those uncertainties at their door step. Their town became overrun by the invading army on their war to the capital. Everyone in town were rounded up and locked up. They lived in hellish conditions that brought with every passing day the realization that they had been abandoned by God. They witnessed many of their fellow towns people, people they knew and loved, tortured and killed for the sick pleasures of the captors. In their eyes they were lesser beings. Over the coming weeks the living conditions began taking their toll. People starved struggling to round up anything to eat, fighting over the scrapes soldiers would toss into the prison yard for amusement. People grew sick to the conditions and died. Aesop and his wife, by the grace of God, were lucky to still be alive.

A day arrived in which their overlords were absent and with it any scrape of food to fight over. It was becoming evident that they had been abandoned and left to rot. People were growing desperate trying to escape but to no avail. All hope was lost and soon they would starve to death. Aesop and his wife spent their time in each other’s arms making peace that their end is soon at hand, but they would come to find that it wasn’t going to be as they expected.

One day they found themselves the object of desire. They sat in each other’s embrace staring back at dozens of piercing eyes. These eyes only had one thing behind them and it only made the couple hold on tighter.

“Don’t worry I won’t let them touch you. I’ll kill them all before they can.” he said as he turned his glare from the conniving dogs and looked fondly into her eyes. She reached up and caressed his dirty face and gave a gentle smile.”

“I love you.” Aesop smiled and kissed her.

“I love you.”

“Hand her over.” commanded one of the many dogs prowling about standing before them mere feet away. Aesop slowly rose to his feet his eyes focused on the man before him but noticing the others slowly maneuvering in the background. “Come on Aesop, let’s not make this harder than it has to be. We must all make sacrifices. We’ve lost a lot. Now it’s your turn.” Aesop noticed the hungry eyes of the others as they began to close in. Without a thought he leapt at the man tackling him to the ground.

He threw punch after punch, pummeled him, as he struggled to protect himself. The malnutrition had Aesop weak but it didn’t detour him from giving everything he had. The others were quick to get hold of him, pry him off their pack leader, as they began to return the courtesy. The beating was hard and violent and seemingly endless as he laid in the dirt, bloodied. They lifted him off the ground holding him up as the pack leader, face a bloody mess, approached him. Looking down at him he smirked as he glanced over at Aesop’s wife, wiping his face and laughing at the blood on his hand.

“Don’t worry Aesop, your time will come.” he said casually, without any malice, before slamming his fist into his face.

Aesop was stirred awake by something peculiar. He slowly came to his senses, it was dark aside from a flickering light that filled the room. He looked over and noticed the men huddled around the fire laughing and talking loudly amongst themselves. Aesop rose to his knees slowly and looked back to where his wife once sat; she was gone. He felt a blinding rage fill him and strangely a hunger he thought was long forgotten.

“That sure smells good.”

“How much longer do you think until its ready?” he heard them say as he rose to his feet. He noticed a rock nearby and picked it up. All sense had left his mind as he approached them. He didn’t care what happened. All that mattered is that they paid with their lives. He hurled the rock striking one in the back of the head as he keeled forward head first into the fire. Everyone jumped in surprise as Aesop sprang into action like a madman. In a frantic foray of punches and kicks each one met flesh. Blood spilled, bones broken along with will as the dogs cowered and distance themselves from Aesop who suddenly found himself salivating uncontrollably.

His eyes were drawn to the fire and the roasted meat on the spit. It called to him, the smell that invaded his nose. It sickened him to find the smell so tantalizing, but the hunger demanded, commanded, him and with immense shame he relented. The dogs watched as the saliva spilled from their mouths as they slowly made their way towards the meat. He would not let them harm her again.

He survived the next week before anyone had come by. Brother soldiers had set him free after having successfully driving the invaders back. The problem is Aesop never truly left. The hunger, the craving, burned inside him. As the weeks went by, as the hunger burned hotter, he relented. The meat began to have an effect on him, changing him, forcing him into hiding.

“Ophelia… I’m sorry. I couldn’t protect you.”

“What?”

“My wife was also named Ophelia. The day I feasted upon her I was cursed, damned. I don’t eat people because I want to; I have to. The fire in me commands me to. I can’t stop it. It burns to hot.”

“I’m sure she understands. Don’t do this. You can end this.”

“You remind me of her; your hair, your eyes.” tears fell, his lip quivered. “I miss you so much.”

“I miss you too.” she muttered trying to play to his love for his wife. “Let me go and I can help you get through this. Aesop… please.” Aesop wipes his nose and the tears from his eyes. He walks over to her.

“I’m sorry. It burns. Thank you for your sacrifice.” he said raising a cleaver.