The Ring of Fire & Serpents

Chapter Nineteen - In the Afterlife

SOPHIA

As I step outside, the howling wind whips my hair wildly around my face. There's a surge of electricity in the air as the dark menacing clouds roll in, with a soft rumble in the distance. The old, worn-down steps of the front porch creak beneath my feet as I descend them. Just as I reach the last one, a loud c***k startles me. My foot crashes through the wood, causing me to lose my balance, and I end up face planting onto the ground.

I lie on my stomach for a few seconds fully expecting the pain sensation to surge through my body, but surprisingly enough, I feel nothing from the impact of the fall so I pull myself up to a standing position. As I dust the dirt from my clothes, I notice a small, frail little boy, no older than six or seven, walking towards me, carrying a stack of books in his hands. He has a familiarity about him, like I've met him before, but I can't recall where. His clothes are worn, tattered, and stained, and his blonde mane is disheveled and unbrushed. He has no idea the hell that awaits him behind those doors, so I have to warn him, "Hey, little boy! Don't go in there! It's dangerous!" I call out.

Oddly enough, he strolls past me without acknowledging my presence. I reach out and attempt to grab his arm, but my hand…it just disappears into his arm like I'm grasping at nothing but air. I immediately pull back and curiously look down at my hands. Am I really here, or am I dreaming? He stops abruptly and turns around, scanning the area before reaching up to rub his arm in the place where I just attempted to grab him. He shrugs his shoulders and continues to walk up the front porch steps.

I decide to follow him inside since it's obvious he can't see me. I look up to find the house is different than the one I just ran out of. It's a two-story dilapidated farmhouse with shutters barely hanging on the house's siding, the paint is chipping away, and some of the windows are boarded. The wind begins to pick up with more force and a droplet of rain falls right between my eyes.

As I reach up to wipe the droplet from my face when suddenly, I hear a male's voice call from inside, "Frank!!! Get your lazy, good for nothin' ass in here, boy!"

My senses must be in full swing at this moment because I can hear the loud thumping of the little boy's heart as fear grips him; he gasps and darts for the door. That man just yelled for Frank!? He can't be THAT Frank?! Curiosity gets the best of me, and I quickly stumble up the steps of the porch, following him inside.

The house is dark and gloomy as I barge inside; there's a haze of cigarette smoke ahead causing me to lose sight of the boy. Bile rises in my throat, and my heart begins pounding as I can hear the faint sound of Johnny Cash's The Ring of Fire playing in the distance. God, of all the songs that could be playing, why this one? What's the meaning behind it? I squint my eyes while quietly trying to make my way through the house to find him but, the floorboards begin creaking beneath me as I tip toe through the entry towards the kitchen.

As I enter into the kitchen, I find a woman sitting quietly with her back to me. Her dark hair is teased, swept up and pinned on top of her head; her pink robe is ripped across the right side, revealing her dingy nightgown. She is sobby quietly into her hands, so I creep around the table to get a better look at her face. Shockingly, the right side of her face is swollen and her eye is black and blue. She reaches out for her small brown leather pocketbook on the table and unsnaps the top to pull out a long skinny cigarette. She then lights the cigarette and inhales deeply, holding it in for a few seconds before exhaling a large puff of smoke into the air. I curl my nose as the aroma of stale cigarettes invade my nostrils. As I tiptoe past her to check the rest of the house, I'm startled by a frail voice calling out from behind me, "Momma."

The woman turns and looks in my direction, catching me off guard. Jesus, it's almost as if she can see right through me! "What, Frank?" she asks.

"I'm hungry." He confesses as he approaches her.

She places her fingers to her forehead, "Gahhh, Frank. I told ya to eat at school because we don't have anything here. Daddy done spent all the money on the drink. You gonna have to go scrappin at the dumpster behind the café now, baby." She answers.

With a glazed look in his eyes, he lowers his head before turning and walking towards the living room. I turn back to follow him in that direction. As I enter the doorway, I nearly run into him. He stands frozen in place with his head tilted up towards the ceiling. I can hear the loud thumping of his heart once again. I look up in the direction he's fixated on to find a very large man, more than six feet tall, holding a half-empty liquor bottle, leaning against the wall. His blue work shirt is wrinkled and unbuttoned while his rotund belly peeks out beneath his tight white tank top underneath, flopping out over the waist of his jeans. The deep voice of Johnny Cash grows louder, causing the hair on my arms stands to attention, my stomach flips. I take notice to the tiny beads of perspiration rolling down his forehead as he glares at the little boy. This man looks almost identical to the Frank I know. This man has to be his father?!. He takes a swig from his half-empty bottle of liquor before speaking, "Best do your chores, Frank. They aren't gonna do themselves. You know what happens if ya don't, boy!" He touts as he crosses his foot over the other.

Frank nods his head obediently, "Yes, sir." He says as he walks around the man standing in his way. I follow close behind as he leads me outside towards the barn.

Upon entering the barn, the horrible stench of manure is almost nauseating but I attempt to ignore the foul odor as I follow Frank's lead. The goats and cows begin to flock to their areas in packs, excited as he walks up, grabbing the giant pitchfork hanging on the wall. He kicks the pile of hay gently under his feet before leaning down to pick up a handful. He inspects it for a moment before chucking a few pieces into his mouth, chewing slowly for a few seconds before spatting it out, "Bleck! Yuck!" he cries.

His face is clouded with disappointment and sadness at that moment as he leans over to scoop up a large amount of hay from the pile, placing it onto the tray in the pin for the animals to eat. "Bahhhh… Bahhhh…," the goats call out as they fight for their place in front for a bite of food.

He then scoops another large amount of hay and walks towards the cow's pin. He throws it into a pile directly onto the tray in the pin. "Moooo…Moooo," they call out as they awkwardly bump each other out of the way to get their fill of the hay.

After he feeds the animals, he returns the pitchfork to the hook on the wall in the corner of the barn. I can hear a muffled cry near the area I'm standing, so I begin to scan the room for the source. Frank heard the same as I did so he walks towards a dark corner in the barn and crouches onto his knees. Curiously, I walk in that direction and peek over his shoulder. I'm startled to find a young girl with a frail body handcuffed loosely to a hook on the wall in the fetal position. She's filthy and her hair is matted. Her gown is rolled up around her waist, revealing her undergarments. There's a large round bruise on her left thigh, her face is black and blue just like the woman inside the house. She gazes up at Frank with a blank expression, "Help me…please?" she chokes out, her lips are dry and cracked.

Frank gasps and falls backward onto the ground, screaming. The young girl lunges at him as he attempts to scoot away from her. She reaches out to grab him but is met with resistance by the chains binding her to the wall, "Please let me go! I promise I won't say a word to anyone! I miss my Momma, please?!" She begs.

Frank covers his face with his hands and begins to hyperventilate, "No! No! I can't let you go! I'm sorry! I can't!"

The young girl falls to the ground, wailing in agony, "Why!??? Oh God!!!! Why did this happen to me!????" she cries.

Frank hurriedly crawls backward away from the young girl, "If I let you go, he will kill momma and me. I can't! I'm sorry!" he cries. His eyes were wet with tears.

The young girl flops onto her side and belts out a high-pitched howl. The animals begin to anxiously pace the rooms, belting out noises as she does. This alarms Frank as he jumps up and runs away. I immediately dart after him.

My heart sinks as the realization of what I just saw kicks in. That poor girl! It's hard telling what she's had to go through! I certainly can relate to her pain. I don't know if I'm dreaming or if I'm dead, but all I know is that it feels like I'm living in this exact moment. It feels so real and so raw; my senses are heightened but not one person can see or hear me. It's as if I'm on the outside looking in, but I feel everything so deeply.

As I am running after Frank, he leaps over the pile of hay that he used to feed the animals in the center of the barn. I follow his lead and attempt to jump over the same pile, but my foot gets caught in something buried beneath the pile, causing me to lose my balance and trip, falling face-first into the hay.

It takes me a few seconds to gather myself, but once I do, I reach out and fish through the pile to find what I tripped over. My fingertips brush across something smooth and circular, so I reach in to pull it out. I lift it up to eye level and realize I'm holding onto a human skull. Oh, God! What the heck?! Disgusted, I quickly chuck it back into the pile and begin screaming and thrashing around wildly in the hay pile. Ahhhh! I just touched a dead person's skull!

Just then, something tugs at my shirt from beneath the pile, causing me to fall on my back and before I know it, I'm free-falling mid-air into pitch blackness. I thrash my hands and feet around wildly as I attempt to reach out for anything that I can grab but within a few seconds, I land hard on a flat surface directly onto my stomach. The room shifts onto the side, which startles me, and I roll over to my back and reach up to quickly rub my eyes, brushing the hay off my face. I blink a few times before gazing up at the ceiling above me. It looks very familiar like I've been here before.

The sound of a woman crying out catches my attention and I turn my head in the direction where the noise if coming from. To my surprise, I find Momma on her bed, wailing in agony, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Nooooo!!! Nooooo!!! My baby!!! Nooooo!!! Why God?!?!? Why did you take her from me???!!!" she cries. Savannah's eyes are red and puffy as she wraps her arms tightly around Momma, attempting to console her, "Oh Momma, I'm so sorry! You are breaking my heart!"

Excited, I jump up and run towards them, waiving my hands above my head to get their attention, "Momma! Savannah! I'm here! I'm not gone! I'm here with you!" I call out. Suddenly, my body is violently knocked backward as if I have hit a brick wall, and I fly across the room on my back. I lie there stunned from the impact as the wind feels like it has been knocked from me. I belt out a low-pitched cry as I fall once again, but through the floor of my house, landing feet first into a large body of water. I attempt to squirm and break free, but my hands and arms are tied up. I look up before sinking to the bottom to find Butch and Frank standing over me watching me sink further and further into the dark abyss.