Into That Good Night

Page One

The night around Marvin was black as pitch. He leaned his face closer to the mossy tree and tried to disappear. His lungs burned. His chest heaved from his escape from the house. The quiet of the woods amplified his breathing, and he knew he could be heard from a mile away. An owl screeched from the trees and made him jump. He slid down the tree to keep his shaking knees from giving in. The ground was wet and cold. Marvin shuddered from the chill, but it wasn’t the weather. Fear rose up from the pit of his stomach. He clenched his eyes shut, but couldn’t chase the images from his mind. Cold as death, they played on his eyelids like a drive-in movie. The blood was everywhere. Rich, red and fresh. The iron smell of slaughter came to him like the images, making him nearly throw up.

He opened his eyes, mere inches from the fuzzy tree. He listened. The footsteps were faint, irregular. He prayed that he just imagined them, but his brain told him they were all too real. He had to work at it to hold his bladder, knowing that the smell would give him away if his heavy breathing hadn’t already. He had to focus, to think, if he was going to live through this ordeal. He had to stand, to run, to get away. He was in good physical shape. He was a good runner. He knew these woods like his own backyard. He could do this, he thought, as he closed his eyes one more time.

He willed himself to think of something to live for, something to run to: Darla. His wife wouldn’t want him to die out here like this. She’d want him to live, to survive. “Ok” Marvin thought to himself. He imagined staring into Darla’s steel gray eyes.

“I’m going to live, Baby.” he spoke only to her, within the confines of his inner mind.

She smiled that thin-lipped half smirk that only she could do.

“Then get going, Tiger. Get your ass up and move!” Imagination or not, her words stirred him into motion.

He slowly, ever so slowly, rose up from the ground, trying desperately to be part of the tree. His fingertips floated over the wet moss on the tree, holding him steady as he begged his legs to cooperate. He would need them if he was to do this. He made it to a standing position after what seemed like an hour, but he knew was only a few ticks of the clock. He tried hard to even out his breathing. His heart rate wouldn’t allow it, as blood pounded in his ears. Fear does that. Marvin choked back a tear as he decided the fear would have to take a back seat. He had Darla to get to, tonight.

A glance behind him showed a red glow growing over the tree tops down in the valley. The moon was lost in the low hanging blanket of dark clouds, but the glow shimmered slightly on them. Marvin couldn’t make out the house. He knew it wouldn’t be long before it was fully engulfed. Three light foot steps shuffled in the leaves to his right rear. They were closer than before, maybe fifty feet away. He couldn’t be sure. The tears rolled down his cheeks as he pushed the images aside again. Darla. Nothing but Darla, now. He stared intently towards a black chasm just beyond the tree, away from the foot steps. He took a deep breath of cold air. It was time to go home to Darla. Then Marvin ran.