Listening For That Sweet Tune-Chapter 28: Further Down The Hollow Pt. 3

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Chapter 1: A Simple Beginning

Previously on Listening For That Sweet Tune:

Chapter 28: Further Down The Hollow Pt. 2

To the left and right of the stage in which the podium, slab and spire sat on were hallways to go back into the rest of the building and what a mess it was. As I began to walk through the halls everything changed from stone and marble to Sheetrock walls, wooden supports and a cheep white tile that covered the floors. This was no longer a Wretched made building but a human addition. Fluorescent lights flickered on and off as various papers covered portions of the hall. As I continued down the hall doorways began on my left and right. Carefully looking into each room I noticed that they were built to be classrooms. 

The religion of The Wretched is something I don't quite understand. To worship and obey is one thing but teaching classes to various amounts of people is something I don't have a grasp on quite yet. I guess it is a common enough subject to teach on much like a class but something I may attend is not clear enough for me. In one of the rooms I looked in there was a chalkboard and written on the chalkboard were several names. 

Circled at the very top was a name. 'Bale'. To the side of his name, written on the rest of the length of the chalkboard it read 'King'. Three lines came out of Bale to form three more names 'Fey, Anathema and Malicious'. Besides the names it read 'Prince'. Two lines came out from every prince name creating six more names 'Odious, Bane, Nefarious, Sullen, Sovereign and Rancor'. Besides these names it read 'Duke'. Beneath those six were another six, these were not circled nor had any lines coming to them but had the word 'Knight' under each one. 'Vitiate, Reprobate, Mephitic, Fetid, Foul and Dire' were the knights in their perspective order. 

I looked at each name carefully and repeated them in my head as I looked over the lines again and again. I knew this was going to help me understand more of The Wretched but as I went over every name I could only think that there was more Wretched than the chalkboard alluded to. Bale--the King of The Wretched—seems to no longer be the King if the Mother Sow pulls the strings now. I can only wonder how she came around, if Bale was the king then why would he let someone else take his spot? Could of she have been a lesser Wretched that moved up the totem pole? It wouldn't make sense because that means everyone would be fighting for the throne over all and it doesn't seem that way. It seems to me that the rest of the high ranking Wretched seem to have male personas but the Mother Sow is obviously a woman, how is that so? The people of this town never mentioned The Wretched's name that took the church and Pete's daughter I could only wonder if it’s Bale himself or even The Mother.

I exited the room and back into the hallway to see a door at the end of the hall swing back and forth. I looked back into the room I was just in to see if there was an open window but none could be seen. I looked behind me to the other end of the hallway and no doors were open to create a draft other than the way to the church. 'Someone must have opened the front door,' I thought. I couldn't think of any other reason that the door swung open other than someone going through the door, which I highly doubted but hadn't ruled out. 

I began to head back to the chapel listening for any sort of noise that would make it appear that someone was here with me. Everything was all muffled as if they were whispering so I approached the church closer yet I couldn't understand what was being said. Another man started talking and I could make out a few words. Daughter, sacrifice and The Mother Sow were words that I could make out very well but everything else remained lost in translation but I knew what was going to happen regardless. 

The people's footsteps grew closer towards me so I hurried into the closest room near me and shut the door. It was dark and the air smelt damp but it wasn't blood I searched for a light switch against the walls but before I found a light my head hit something dangling in the air. I reached up to it and it felt like a hook. I felt around more in the air and more hooks tinged together and sway with the momentum I gave them. Reaching against the wall again I found the light switch and turned it on. A slight buzz began above my head and a fluorescent light turned on shining through the darkness. Meat hooks. That's what they were but why would such a thing be in a church? On the shelves in front of me were several chemical cleaners that included bleach and a slop sink with red blood stains around the white plastic of the sink. 

Footsteps began to sound outside the door and I rushed to turn off the light as quiet as I could and I got down low. Looking through the gap from under the door I could see that the two men stopped right in front of the door. I sat silently nearly holding my breath as I waited to see what happened next. Knock knock. He knew I was here. I got up to my feet and walked towards the door as the man began to open it. Light shined into my face as the door was opened and I covered my eyes as I walked outside the closet. When my eyes adjusted I looked towards the two men. 

Up next in Listening For That Sweet Tune:

Chapter 28: Further Down The Hollow Pt. 4 

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Listening For That Sweet Tune-Chapter 28: Further Down The Hollow Pt. 2

 STOP

Have you read the preceding chapters?

If not then read it from the beginning

or

Read the preceding chapter...

Go to the beginning:

Chapter 1: A Simple Beginning

Previously on Listening For That Sweet Tune:

Chapter 28: Further Down The Hollow Pt. 1

Before I went inside I took one more look around. Honestly I was looking for anything that would prevent me from going inside. I examined the vines creeping up the walls. They were black and pulsed as if they had their own heartbeat and continued to creep up the walls. Remembering back to when I looked at my gunshot wound I found striking similarities between the two but what was on me was nothing like what I was seeing now. The main vine grew in size and moved up the wall like a snake as it continued to grow little sprouts every inch along the way. None of them grew to the strength like the central vine had but they still grew large in size while growing more sprouts in the new sprouts that were recently created. 

I shivered to the thought of it creeping towards me as I slept and it crawled into my body. It's like The Wretched is an infection not only to living things but anything that stands in the land. I'm slowly turning into a Wretched but what does that entail? The people seem pretty oblivious that becoming a Wretched is the next part of the cycle but then what? What happens once you become a Wretched? Is there a hierarchy of Wretched in this world and The Mother Sow is the queen? What does it take to move up that ladder? What is it even like to be a Wretched? That's what I feared the most. Do I loose my voice and become one in the same? Am I just another brick in the wall waiting for some sort of salvation or is this it? The Wretched seem to live in corruption and darkness and there's no way in my mind that I can think that, that is what I'm going to look forward to. If I die here, facing this Wretched I will loose everything or will I?

I pushed the front doors open and I realized that they were solid. If these doors were locked when I wanted to get in here I doubt I would even be able to get inside. Another thing that could have pushed me away from doing this but it seems fate is looking down on me. Immediately upon opening the door I saw a portrait of a man on the wall directly in front of me. It was a younger man but by the way he was dressed you could tell that he was around for a while.  

The man was nearly sitting on a arm of a wooden chair with his legs crossed. Book in hand he was starring directly at the painter and consequently me as well. Pitch-black hair and eyes were on his face with a gaze that could steal a soul. Behind him were several bookshelves littered with many more books. He had a slightly unshaven face and longer hair that traveled over his ears and past his eyes—though the hair was not in his eyes. He had on a dark grey suit and pants along with a white shirt and black shiny shoes. He was rich and he dressed like it. Underneath the painting was a plate of gold written on the plate was the name 'Bale'. Around the painting were two hanging plants—one on each side. A little statuette of a porcelain woman pouring water out of her jug into a bowl sat on a small round wooden table. Looking in the bowl were flowers and small jewels. This was where I guessed they paid tribute to the man but the man was not known to me. I didn't recognize him one bit and if I did I'm sure I would understand more about The Wretched—since this was The Wretched's church. 

To the left and the right of the wall in which the painting was on were openings in which put me further into the church. I thought for a moment if I wished to continue and I did not. I turned around back to the door and noticed that there was a chain around the handles and a lock connecting the two open ends. I guess I don't have a choice. I turned back around to face the painting and from where I was it looked like the man was looking directly at me where I was standing again. I moved to the right keeping focus on the painting and I noticed that his eyes were following me. His eyes weren't moving at all, it was just an illusion that the painter put into the painting but it gave me shivers. 

I hurried forward passing the wall in which the painting was on and continued to move further into the church. The floor turned from dark wood--which was in the foyer—to solid marble as I entered the chapel. Long benches stretched to my left and right creating a hall in the middle and sides. It appeared that the benches were made out if the same wood as the floor in the foyer. Columns lined the other paths on the outer edges of the chapel and stained glass littered the outer walls. Directly in front of me was a podium a couple of steps higher than everything else. Behind the podium and to my right were an old stone slab and a black spire behind that—something that I have seen before. 

In the building that I would like to call The Tower of No End—the large building behind the villa in which I saw Serenity once enter—I remembered what that woman once told me. She told me to leave and that life isn't real that it was her fault. She killed children and she liked it and that I had to get out. Her body was torn up and bleeding, I couldn't stand her looking like that but what did she mean? I found her; there she was yet I'm still looking for her. Why didn't I just return to that place? I guess everything was destroyed when that Wretched tore up that apartment I was in. The city lay in ruins but for some reason I can still feel a connection with her. She crossed the ocean and she is near, I can feel it in my stomach.  

How would I even know that Serenity is someone who will help me? So far she has gotten me through a lot of trouble. Maybe she isn't the person I should be looking for. Maybe she is the one to blame. She took me out here and if it wasn't for her I would still be human, I think. 

I approached the podium and the smell of blood became something I enjoyed. The slab was covered in blood and as far as I knew that meant the little girl was dead but I was still yet to find The Wretched. All they wanted me to know is to understand them, maybe they aren't as bad as people make them sound even though they kidnap little girls and destroy cities. They didn't do that before and it's all because of the Mother Sow. The Mother Sow is the evil one and she is the one that needs to be stopped. 

Up next in Listening For That Sweet Tune:

Chapter 28: Further Down The Hollow Pt. 3

Remember me