Amnesia

I’m sitting somewhere in the cemetery. I don’t know how I got here or why I’m in this place. I can’t remember my name or anything that happened. I only know that this place is somehow safe, although I don’t know why.

The starless night is strangely silent and the moon barely flirts through the thin layer of clouds covering the sky, peeking through one of the multiple tears that reveal the dark sky hidden behind its cloak.

What day is today? I don’t know… What is the name of this place?… I can’t remember.

My head doesn’t stop hurting. As I put my hand on my forehead, I feel something wet between my fingers.



Under the light of the moon, I try to see what that dark liquid is sliding between my fingertips. I smell it, taste it, and realize it’s blood… my blood.

Carefully, I run my fingers again over my forehead, trying to figure out where the blood is coming from. I go up until I reach my hair, very slowly until I feel a sharp pain.

Carefully, I press around the wound to determine its size. The wound doesn’t seem very big, but when I press too hard, my fingers sink in and I can hear in my head the scraping of broken bones. This is the source of my pain and the reason why I can’t remember anything.

I need help, but I don’t know where to find it. I know I need a hospital, but I don’t know where to find one.

My memories have gone, so I must rely only on my feelings and good judgment. I look through my pockets for something that might help me figure out who I am or where I can find help, but there’s nothing, they’re empty.

A black shirt covers my body, a formal pants and a shoe. A little further away, I can see the other shoe lying on the ground. Earth and blood cover my body and I feel exhausted. It’s most likely that I came running through here, tripped, and hit my head against one of the tombstones.

I look around. Next to me, a stone cross confirms the suspicion, since a fresh blood stain and some hair rest on one of its arms.

Why was I running?… Why didn’t anyone help me?… I don’t know and my head hurts every time I try to remember.

Now I need to get out of here and find help.

My skin stands on end completely at the sound of bells coming from behind me. An old church stands on one side of the cemetery and the striking of two bells fills the air with a sinister atmosphere.

I remain paralyzed until the ringing of the bells stops as well as the pounding of my heart, which only makes the pain worse.

At least there is someone in the church and it is a few meters away from here. I will go ask the priest for help to go to a hospital to have this wound on my head treated. I hope I won’t be a failure unable to pay the hospital bill. I doubt it greatly because the clothes I am wearing seem to be of good quality, although it seems there is more blood than expected on the shirt and pants. I hope I haven’t bled too much.

My body feels heavy and it’s hard for me to stand up. Nevertheless, I manage to do so and advance to where the other shoe is. If I kneel down to pick it up and put it in place, I don’t think I’ll be able to get up again, so with the tip of my foot I turn it over and insert the heel into it. It doesn’t fit well and my heel sticks out over the edge of the shoe. There’s no other choice, I’ll have to walk like this until I reach the church.

I advance trying to keep quiet… I don’t know why. Over the graves, the figures of angels, cherubim, horses, saints and Christ seem melancholic. Although the place is frightening, there is a certain sense of security about it. And the fear grows as I approach the church.

I would like to be able to remember why I feel this way, but for now I can only suppress these feelings. I need help, and then there will be time to remember.

The church has an old appearance. Ferocious gargoyles rest on the lintel and figures of saints adorn niches in each of its walls. A single tower holds two bells and a stone cross rises impressively in the courtyard of the building.

The gate that grants access to the interior of the courtyard is open and bent. I’m not very sure, but it seems like someone or something pulled it open, breaking a chain that now lies on the ground and removing one of them from their supports, bending the other toward the inside.

My head is about to explode as I try to remember. I wish I knew why I have the feeling that, whatever it was, whatever damaged the door was trying to get out of here.

Still, someone must have rung the bells and now what I need is medical attention.

I pass through the fence and reach the heavy wooden doors that are closed completely. Instead of ringing, I push a little and one of them gives way easily, showing me the interior of the area.

There are no lights in the place, but the moon has found a large opening and all its light comes through one of the windows. The place is a disaster. Some windows are broken and multiple colored glass pieces are scattered across the floor. The church benches are in disarray, some of them broken, and the remnants of trampled flowers are spread everywhere. Only the Christ hanging from the altar seems to witness the scene with me, since the place is empty.

To my left there is a door that seems to lead to the bell tower. I head toward it, maybe the chaplain is still there.

The door is closed, although I don’t see any lock. I push, thinking maybe it’s stuck. The door gives for a moment and then closes forcefully again. It’s as if someone is pushing from the other side to prevent me from opening it.

-Hello?- I say suddenly. -Is anyone there?… I need help… I’m hurt…-

There’s no answer, only the silence of the night that starts to annoy me. I take a step back and throw myself against the door. This time the door opens halfway, but immediately closes again. From inside comes the sound of two children crying and the sound of someone trying to calm them with a soft whisper.

The effort has made my head hurt too much. I can’t stand the pain and I fall to my knees in front of the door that someone is trying to keep closed.

I need help and I won’t find it here. With effort I manage to stand up. I have to find help… and I have to call the police. I don’t know what’s happening, but something very strange is going on here and I don’t intend to stay and find out.

I cross through the church fence again and from here I can see that further ahead, descending the hill where the church and the cemetery are located, there is a small village. I don’t think it will take me more than a few minutes to walk there. In the first house I find, I’ll ask for help and get a phone to call the police.

It must be a very late hour of the night, since from here I can’t see any car driving through the village. I can only see the lights of two vehicles that are speeding away through the mountains on the other side of the village. It’s a small population.

The lights of almost all the houses are on, although it seems there is a power outage right in the center of the village. It’s strange, very strange, that that dark area is almost a perfect circle and that the darkness is so intense that I can’t see any house inside it.

The bells start ringing again, but this time I hear a loud noise, as if one of them had fallen and hit the ground. I hear the desperate screams of a man that suddenly stop and the terrifying scream of children behind me.

I don’t know what’s happening, I haven’t stopped to look back. I’m scared and, despite my head wound and the ill-fitting shoe, I start running downhill. I’m escaping, that’s clear, very clear. But I don’t know what I’m escaping from… from something… what?… from something… from something very bad… from something terrible.

I can’t take the headache anymore. I have to stop for a moment so my heart can calm down, to ease the pain in my head.

Exhausted, I lean against a tree. My heel hurts so I lift my foot a little to adjust my shoe. I hadn’t noticed that my shoes have dried blood stains. It’s not mine, since I haven’t bled that much, or so I think. I don’t know what’s happening but I’m scared… I need help.

Without realizing it, I’ve arrived in town. The street lights illuminate the spectral silence that fills the town. It’s almost as silent as a cemetery.

I head toward one of the houses. The lights inside are on. I knock on the door but no one answers. The owners are probably asleep, so I patiently wait for someone to come out and see what’s happening.

While waiting, I realize something terrible: There’s a broken window and glass scattered everywhere. All the houses I can see have their lights on, but there’s no sign of movement anywhere. Some doors are wide open, others seem to have been torn down. There’s broken glass everywhere, rocks from some walls are scattered across the streets. There are cars that have been crashed or parked badly, with their doors open… ¿What the hell happened here?!… something terrible…

My head keeps throbbing as I keep running toward the center of town… If something happened, people would have gathered in the town square. There will be police and ambulances tending to the injured. Maybe I can find someone like me who can help me get through or a military patrol… I don’t know.

But all the streets are empty and silent. Destruction is everywhere to be seen, some fires, bullet casings lying around, blood stains… but there’s no one… alive or dead… no one… “it” took them… What is “it”?… I can’t take it anymore!

Exhausted, I fall to my knees in the middle of the street, I need to catch my breath and calm down a bit from the headache.

I can only hear my panting, which gradually calms down. Suddenly, my head stops throbbing enough for me to realize that the silence isn’t absolute.

I hear a child crying… yes, it’s a child sobbing. I try to calm myself to figure out where it’s coming from, although it seems to be coming from everywhere.

-Be quiet!- I shout into the wind,,, -¡Where are you?!-

There’s no answer, but I keep hearing the girl sobbing. The sound is louder near what seems to be an old house. Carefully I step over the remains of a fence to access a beautiful courtyard with a fountain and perfectly maintained grass… One day I’ll have enough money to live in one of the houses near the center…

The girl keeps crying. On one side of the house I can hear her.

-Take it easy… I’m here now.-

Behind a bush I can see the little girl, about eight years old, sitting, hugging her knees. Her long black hair prevents me from seeing her face. She is barefoot, wearing only a white nightgown. Despite being close to her, she doesn’t move.

Suddenly I realize that she is not the only one crying, that the sound is coming from everywhere. I look around and see more girls in white dresses everywhere, next to the trees, the walls, on the roof of the house. They are all the same, copies of the same girl sitting and sobbing… I don’t understand… I don’t know what is happening!…

I look again at the girl in front of me. Her body has stretched and now I realize that she is not a girl. As if she were a puppet, the dress hangs from a long leg that rises very high above my head and disappears behind the house. The black hair falls from a kind of knee that was bent a moment ago, and as it stretches, it reveals a kind of mouth full of huge sharp teeth. The air enters and exits from the hollow, producing what seems like the crying of a girl.

I look around. The countless legs have risen and their mouths now revealed show blood and remnants of flesh in them. I can’t see the creature to which those legs belong, but by their length, it must be colossal… How come I couldn’t see it from the hill?

Terrified, I run toward the fence and climb back up the broken section. The crying of the girls has turned into a terrible scream that is getting closer and closer.

I keep running without looking back. In the distance I can see a light in the sky, it seems to be a helicopter. I run toward it but the light is moving away.

Suddenly the path is cut off and I can’t go any further. As if it had been cut with a sharp knife, the path is interrupted in front of me. The cut extends to the left and right, dividing trees, houses, cars. Everything in a perfect line.

In front of me there is only a huge dark abyss. I cannot see the bottom, but I can see the other side of the huge hole. On the other side, the houses are also cut, and there I can see more girls in white dresses sobbing in the corners.

Behind me, the sound of screams approaches, I hear glass breaking, trees being uprooted… they are already very close and I have nowhere to escape.

Totally terrified and desperate, I stand on the edge of the abyss. I stretch my arms wide apart and close my eyes. I let the balance be lost and feel as my feet move away from the edge while I fall into the void.

Now, while the cold air is hitting my face, I can remember everything that happened perfectly.