Austin Lopez Short Story 1

Austin Patricio Lopez McDonald

Parque Del Mar, Costa Del Este
+503 62516503
austinpatriciolopez@gmail.com

about 2,500 words

Locked in Place; Engraved Inside

by Austin Lopez

I didnt know where I was, nor did I remember how I got there. I was admittedly
confused, standing naked on this strange, almost cloud or snow-like material spanning for miles
around me, although I couldnt really feel anything below my feet. The sky on top of me gave a
whitish tint, almost as if its color had been completely saturated. The taste of alcohol was very
clear on my breath, though I could not remember drinking any. Everything surrounding me
seemed so distant and empty and lifeless and cold.
Really, really fucking cold.
I turned around to find this humongous tree looming several tens of feet above me. It
wasnt swaying there was no wind and it possessed an eery lack of leaves. I held my hand
forward, and rested it on the rough, black and grey trunk; my hand burned upon its touch, and I
lifted it immediately afterwards, noticing an odd shade of purple residing on my palm (though
suddenly disappearing only seconds later). I grew startled as a flock of ravens escaped from
somewhere beneath the multiple branches, heading towards the direction opposite from which I
was looking.
Youre probably wondering why youre here, arent you?

Austin Lopez Short Story 2

I fail to be able to describe its voice with words; I guess I can only really define it as
similar-sounding to the result of dropping an amateur recording of a voice by several octaves in a
shitty audio editor. I admittedly hesitated to turn around and meet its owner, but did so anyway
to avoid any further paranoia from the realization of an intelligent nonhuman inevitably staring
right at me. I guess I should have considered myself lucky whatever stood there was covered in
black robes.
It chuckled. Or perhaps youre wondering where you are in the first place?
I couldnt really tell from the lack of visibility of Its face but, and excuse the obvious
clich here, I was more than positive It was smiling at me. I was honestly too scared to say
anything, and It must have realized, because It lead our entire conversation without ever
waiting for my input.
Or maybe It was simply rude.
Ill be your escort in your visit here a tour guide, if you will.
I would have asked what exactly we would have toured, but before I had the chance to
say anything the setting morphed entirely. The sky transformed into a blood-like shade of red,
and the floor transformed into endless hills of a residue of some sort of burnt material. The place
reeked of rotten meat, although I could not make out what type of meat based on smell alone, nor
could I visibly see any. Peculiarly, the tree remained except that now an enormous fire
covered its many branches.
I opened my mouth to say something, but my tour guide cut me off immediately. Shh
Do you hear that? It asked.
I couldnt really make out any sound. I shook my head, and It told me to listen more
carefully. I did, and I completely regret it.

Austin Lopez Short Story 3

WHERE AM I?
GOD, HELP ME!
AAAAAAGH!
My eardrums practically burst when the faint sound of screams significantly amplified,
my head now filled with extreme agony. Half of them seemed like shrieks of pain; the other half
came from fear or sorrow. The worst part wasnt listening to their pain, but the fact that they just
wouldnt stop screaming. Needless to say, I had an unimaginable headache.
Why wont they just fucking shut up?! I wanted to say, though the endless myriad of
voices made it impossible for me to express intelligent words what actually came out of my
mouth sounded a bit more like, WhyyyyaaaAAAAGGH! I guess that, within the amount of
screaming that pounded inside my head, I was screaming too.
Although I was in a clear state of distress, It never bothered to help me. I dont even think
It ever moved from where It was standing.
Can you hear that? The beautiful pain that has consumed your head? The music which
you now know nothing else but?
At this point, It just started to piss me off.
Do you know where they are coming from?
Id rather know how to make them shut up, thank you.
He pointed towards my direction. Confused, I turned around, and I soon found it what It
was pointing at.
Still tasting the alcohol on my breath, I threw up partially due to the wretched rotten
meat scent; mainly because of the excruciating pain in my head. After that incident, I mustve
blacked out, because the next thing I remember was groaning from pain on the floor.

Austin Lopez Short Story 4

Perhaps only a few minutes later I woke up, expecting the setting to have morphed again
but somewhat shocked to see I was in the same location. The ever burning tree continued to
stand tall and strong, and the ground still covered in that odd burnt residue. The screams
subsided, albeit minimally, and I still retained the same, obnoxious headache. Needless to say, It
didnt move anywhere.
well? Have you figured out where you are yet?
I remained silent.
Well, thats a shame. I expected you to at least have a vague idea of where you are.

Come. I have something I want to show you.

Instead of the environment itself morphing, we transported, though Im not entirely sure
how. I was suddenly in this dark room presumably it was night time. The walls were made of
very apparent cement, and the floor some cheap type of wood. There were two, small windows,
though I could not make out anything outside of them beyond a few trees and some droplets of
rain clinging on to the glass. The room was clearly in a mess a broken laptop laid in the floor,
crayons and pencils were scattered everywhere along with several sheets of paper, and about a
dozen or so shredded baby dolls laid on or near a bed.
And there was someone under the covers.
Her name is Sarah Stevens, It said as I approached the small, figure, avoiding the bits
of baby doll and broken laptop parts whilst the wooden floor failed to crack beneath my steps.
Curious, I tried to uncover the sheets though found out that my hand only went through the
inanimate object, almost as if I wasnt really there.

Austin Lopez Short Story 5

I assume you dont recognize her, It guessed as I quickly turned my back to meet Its
gaze.
I still hesitated to reply.
Her parents havent come home yet, even though they promised her theyd be back by
three in the afternoon.
Having given up on uncovering the blankets, I made my way back to where I was
originally standing, still careful on stepping broken parts though knowing full well that my feet
would only go through them, and thus it did not matter. Once I reached my original location, I
turned to face It once again.
They died in a car accident along with this other drunk driver, though due to lack of
information the police could not find anything about the two having a daughter, and thus Sarah
was left unknowing of their demise.
Again, I was completely quiet, waiting for It to ask me another question, though it never
did.
Within the first signs of a thunderstorm, my perspective began to warp as the room
expanded, and just like that, we were back with that dreaded, blood-red sky again.
The burning tree stood in the same position, but seconds later started moving closer and
closer by the second. I looked down upon my feet, and realized that it was not moving closer, but
rather I was walking closer towards it. I dont know why I failed to struggle normally in a
situation where my own feet were moving beyond my control I would be doing everything
possible to get them to stop moving.
But in the end, what would be the point?

Austin Lopez Short Story 6

I slowly approached the tree until I stood right before it, somewhat surprised to see that I
stopped moving when I got too close to it. I held my left arm forward and touched the bark once
again, expecting the same burning touch but shocked to find that this time there was no pain
none at all.
An obvious breaking could be heard from the dead oak tree. Two of its branches started
twisting and turning, and swayed towards my direction. Before I could react, each branch curved
towards their respective sides of my body, their pointy tips soon penetrating my ribcage. It didnt
take long for them to take out my internal organs they started by poking out my lungs, and a
third branch penetrated my chest and pulled out my heart. I could hear my ribs breaking in the
process, but I still felt no pain and miraculously was still alive and was still very well conscious.
when I heard my meat slap onto the floor and the branches slowly work their way to the inside of
my body once again.
The branches turned my body around until I faced It once more. After I could no longer
find the energy to move my neck and look up, I felt a fourth branch stab the back of my skull,
both attempting and succeeding in raising my head and snapping my neck so that I could see It
within my otherwise obscure vision. When I saw It stand in front of me, Its head was finally
uncovered, and I immediately realized where I was.
The red sky.
The burning tree.
The drunk who killed Sarahs parents.
The taste of alcohol on my breath.
The two horns on Its head.
It really shouldve been obvious; Im surprised you took so long figuring it out.

Austin Lopez Short Story 7

I couldnt help but stare into Its dark-shaded eyes, comparable to that of a sharks when
in attack mode, noticing no signs of life protruding from Its face despite It being able to talk
and walk. I could not tell if It was looking at me based on Its eyes alone but Its smile one
filled with pointy, triangle-like teeth with a seemingly-empty abyss behind them proved that I
was the one It was talking too.
Of course, that means you know who I am as well And what my job requires for me
to do.
Thats when I first started feeling the dreaded pain.
Perhaps due to the sudden impact of feeling four, thick wooden branches inside of me,
my mind instantly went into a seizure-like state. I could feel the rough edges of the branches near
my unnatural openings, each spike of wood poking my now-empty insides. The feeling which I
received can only be compared to being hit by a truck several times in one concentrated area, and
though impossible I could not fathom to think of it as anything else. To put it simply the pain
was remarkably intense, and the pressure of being filled by wood only grew significantly as they
tried to push further inside of me.
I could see another pair of branches move towards my face. As if confused, they spent a
little longer planning on where to cut into my body compared to the others but ultimately decided
to jab open my eyes. One of the branches the left one began slow, splitting my pupils and
prickling my vitreous cavities that is, the main sphere of the eyeball forcing a tight grip on
it by curving into a hook-like shape. The right branch was less than careless, and stabbed my
right eye quickly and immediately, and slightly less effectively. Once that branch also got a hold
on my eye, the two branches pulled quickly, exposing my now-empty eye sockets as my optic
nerves hung loosely over where my two eyeballs once were.

Austin Lopez Short Story 8

Again, the same two branches worked their way towards my head, though this time
targeting my ears. Both were equally gentle or rather, ungentle this time as they ripped
through my ear canals, drilling through my ear drums as I could hear significantly loud noises in
one moment and become instantly deaf in the next. As the branches removed themselves from
my ears I could feel my warm wet meat slipping out from my two stretched holes adjacent to my
eyes, and my warm, bloody fluids escape in several waves.
For the third time the branches swayed in front of me, one forcing my jaws open while
the other located my tongue, cutting it effectively into two unequal segments as blood now
flooded through my throat, suffocating me in my own fluids. The branch ripped out a piece of
my tongue, and stuffed it in my mouth and inevitably forcing me to swallow my own muscle,
chocking me in the process.
After seemingly forever the twin branches finally cleared. I could still feel the four other
branches locked in my person, twisting and turning as though to split my body but never fully
ripping it open. I felt sudden turning of my body as the branches carefully moved my body; I
started transporting backwards, still afloat from the ground due to the wood, until my backside
touched the trunk of the tree. After only a small moment could I feel myself converging into the
trees anatomy, becoming one with it as I practically melted into the oakwood. Before long, I
was trapped within the anatomy of the lifeless chunk of wood, able to feel the bark crush me in
its weight and texture, confining me in a tight, painful prison.
In the Hell from which I had found myself within, locked in place and engraved inside
the flaming tree, I felt the lives of a million sinners as the fire quickly engulfed whatever
remained of my body. As though Satans punishing me with the six branches was not enough,
the fire proved to be a worthy successor as my skin alighted with flames, blazing me with an

Austin Lopez Short Story 9

unimaginable nth degree of burn. I felt utterly helpless as the fire burned down my hands and
feet and soon afterwards entire limbs. I felt broken as I could feel my exposed, incredibly warm
bones as they vanquished with the fires wrath. I felt terribly hopeless as I stood frozen, forced to
undergo massive suffering whilst all I could do was feel the pain.
And no matter how much I tried, I just couldnt stop screaming.
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