The Truth

by Colton Park, Horror Flash Fiction 2nd Place Contest Winner

It may appear very strange, but what lay before you is an imminent destiny shared by those who frolic in the stream of existence.  In your palm is the photograph of an unfortunate truth shared with all those who utter breath.  How do you fare finally knowing that it was I who open and slam the doors in the midst of silence, placing and flinging things in organized chaos, and writing messages of bitter resentment in the mirror?  Do you feel better knowing the truth, that through your efforts you’ve succeeded with that photo? 

Do you see it now?  Do you see the void husks that gaze upon you with a burning hatred that makes you shiver as you sleep?  Do you now see how I glare upon you as you indulge in present privileges that would have stalled me from my spectral state?  Do you see my form teetering between the realms of our realities?  Do you see the loss of pigmentation on my body as I wear the skin of the person I was once?  

I am doomed in this condition of being without living.  A state where one can only marinate in envy, longing to experience the mundane you take for granted.  I long so desperately to taste what you taste, to feel what you feel, to bleed to know I live. 

Oh, how I wish with each passing day that through some turn of fate, you come to experience what it is I am.  My only desire is for you to feel the vast nothingness of my condition.  Perhaps you’ll experience it through an accident while driving in your car, or perhaps through suffocation from a misplaced bite of the delicacies you indulge in.  However, it does not matter whether it be today or tomorrow, or what the cause may be.  The fact of the matter is that you will know this travesty with me one way or another.  I only wish it sooner than later. 

It does not matter where you go. You can move and deny what it is you see. Yet you know the truth.  I have ingrained myself within the deepest corners of your mind, therefore I follow you, always watching, always hating, always longing for your meeting with fate.  For that is the price of knowing the truth.  And that like me, this will be you.

My name is Colton Park and I am a graduate student attending online classes at La Sierra University.  I am currently living in Bakersfield with my family and mischievous little golden doodle.  I enjoy spending time with my friends and watching movies that were made way before my time, which can also be said for the music I listen to as well.  So I suppose it is safe to say my tastes are a bit on the older side of things.  Trying new foods is something I also enjoy, for I find the whole experience of discovering new flavors to be exciting.  Often times I like taking strolls in my neighborhood, thinking about new writing ideas.  My hope for the future is to one day be in a position where I can be a full-time writer.