Where I Left Him

I didn’t know what betrayal could become—
but for them, it was their refiner’s fire.

Strange Cliff

A woman was walking through the woods. She had never been in this part of the woods before, it felt strange and felt different, but she always took different paths in the woods. 

She loved feeling the ground beneath her feet, how it changed and undulated with every different step. She thrived on being able to predict the next angle her foot needed to land. Like the earth was alive, and she was mentally mapping its movements.

The sun peeked through the trees, dappled light spawned on her skin. The soft rustle of squirrels and small wildlife made the forest bristle with life. The butterflies and birds soared through the air and gave it movement.

Then she turned to the next bend. And stopped.

She had to arch her back to see the summit.

The trees cleared to make way for this monolithic rock formation before her.

She didn’t remember seeing this in the distance. You wouldn’t be able to miss this from 5 miles away where her car was parked. She hadn’t planned on passing by this on her trail.

Was she lost? Did she go too far? 

But there was something about this rock formation… 

It was beautiful… no… majestic. Like it was carved by God.

It exuded a sense of mysticism and eeriness.

She approached it.

The ground didn’t feel as solid as before, the ground simply shifted below her. It wasn’t unsteady, but it did make her question her balance. But she wasn’t paying attention to that anymore. She was looking up at the jagged face and ran her hand along its chiseled wall. 

It seemed so out of place here, why was she so drawn to it? What made this so… magnetic? Her chest felt tight as if a rope pulled her heart to the rock.

It didn’t matter how close she got to the wall, even pressing her chest against it, still made her feel… disconnected.

She even pulled out her map and traced her finger along the path that she took, but there was no indication of a rock formation. There was nothing like this on the map itself. Almost as if God had placed it down in front of her.

Folding the map, she put it away, and reached a trembling hand out to the rocks again.

The supernatural occurrence made her cold despite the warm weather today.

The wall was definitely real. She could almost feel a presence from it.

She stepped back, the loose earth shifting beneath her feet. 

She realized now that there were dozens of black stones scattered around her, as if something had been actively cutting this rock down.

How strange…

But then she realized she hadn’t heard a single bird or a single rustle of leaves since she approached the rock.

It was dead silent.

Almost reverent.

But haunting.

The dappled light had vanished. The clouds were overcast. 

How did she miss this entire shift of her environment? How did this rock blind her to everything she was feeling? How was it the ONLY thing she was feeling?

She stepped away and that’s when it happened.

She fell.

Not just onto the ground. But deeper.

She saw the ground fly up above her, walls of dirt erected around her as she continued to fall. She couldn’t see the sky anymore. It simply disappeared like a star fading out of existence.

The walls moved so fast, she couldn’t figure out which way was up.

This must be how he felt, when I –

SMACK!

Her body hit the floor, and the momentum carried her head to the floor with a deafening snap. Everything went black.

Abyss

She stirred several hours later. She couldn’t remember anything, she thought she was still in bed, still the morning before she was going on her hike.

The woman tried to stretch, but her leg wouldn’t budge. It rang with pain. She would reach down to try to investigate the pain, but found it to be a mangled mess. 

“What… how?…” she asked aloud.

Her eyes snapped open. That’s when she remembered. That massive rock. That hole that came from nowhere. The darkness.

She looked around, unable to see anything. She cried for help. But the darkness muffled her cries, silencing her. 

The dark stifled not just her voice, but also all of her feelings. She was cold. Empty… Hollow.

She looked up. There was nothing. Surrounded by nothing.

She patted around, but only felt the splinters of that jagged rock now feeling sharper than the rocks she encountered above.

She scooted toward the dirt wall, trying to examine her leg.

“Your leg is broken,” a smooth, cold voice said.

She jumped, but it was weird that the voice sounded familiar.

“Who are you?”

Silence.

Maybe it was just her imagination. There’s nothing in this hole, she told herself.

She continued to nurse her leg. She felt wetness coming from it. Warm and viscous coming from a gash that traveled the length of her thigh.

“I can make it better. I can make you whole” the voice said.

She turned wildly around, but saw no one. 

It wasn’t completely pitch black, even though no light entered she still saw the outline of her hands in her leg. But all around her was just that, nothing.

She could see that she was broken. But she saw no other presence.

“Do you want to feel better?” The voice echoed as if it were in her mind, but it sounded so close.

She felt alone and desperate. She didn’t want to be in this hole. This was never part of the plan. But the fear of her broken leg drenched with blood was overwhelming for her.

She cried and whimpered, and barely could get a word out of her mouth, except for one, “Yes.”

There was another pause 

Why did it feel like that voice was smiling? She couldn’t tell if it was a benevolent voice or one that wanted harm.

A man appeared before her. His mere presence gave her chills. But he seemed ever familiar. Where did she know him? 

“I can make you better. Do you want my help?” He sounded insistent. 

There was no one else here, why would he want to help?

She was confused, her mind escalated. Why didn’t he just step in and help? Why did this feel like a tease? Why did it feel like a sick game? 

The pain in her leg, it seared. She looked down and saw a large gash. It must have been from one of those sharp rocks. She could barely think. She just gripped her leg.

“Yes… please.” her voice is getting more jagged, pleading. It was almost a prayer.

“Then tell me, would you be mine if I helped?”

“What?” she was stunned. What a weird question to ask. What did he even mean? 

“Will you be mine? And belong to no one else?” 

It was such a reverent question, but the way he asked seemed cold. His eyes stared through her, almost as if he didn’t recognize her presence, but talked to the wall behind her. She couldn’t tell if there was safety behind that gaze.

Her hand grazed the ground and found one of those obsidian stones, and held it tight. So tightly, a stream of blood came from her palm as her hand trembled. Was it from the cut? Or was it in fear? Who was this man?…

His gaze moved over her—past the trembling hand, past the stone embedded in flesh. The blood wasn’t an accident anymore. It was an offering.

This man stood still. 

He was statuesque.

Yet he offered a hand. But what was he going to do? If she trusted him, would he really help?

He moved closer. She began to see his face more. It was jagged, just like that rock face. His eyes seemed unforgiving. His demeanor felt like betrayal. And yet, he stretched out his hand.

And in that moment, she saw it.

The man opening a door for her.

A smile that used to stretch across his face.

The warmth of his embrace.

But she didn’t know who he was…

It was something about his face that seemed so familiar. She just knew he wouldn’t hurt her, somewhere deep down, her gut told her.

Regardless, she felt she had no other option. 

She was stuck with a broken leg and it was bleeding. No one to help her except this man. She reached out for his hand. It was cold, but firm and steady.

He lifted her up with ease. But he felt hollow.

She looked up at his face and saw that same jagged rock from above. 

Why did he seem so familiar? 

The Walk

He brought her to his chest, and carried her in his arms and walked forward.

She didn’t know what to ask him. He walked in silence. The steady pace of his feet gave this man purpose, and that was oddly comforting for her. 

She didn’t know what his purpose was, only that he had direction. Every footfall was another heartbeat for her. Each step was resolute, each movement revitalizing—as if his rhythm gave her new breath.

As he moved, she began to see others… people.

“Who are they?” she asked, her voice trembling.

The other people meandered aimlessly. As if toiling in their own thoughts.

“They’re the ones that lost their way. They forgot their purpose.” he said almost with disdain, keeping his eyes forward.

She couldn’t help but let her eyes wander, trying to catch the face of the ones close to her.

“Be careful, they aren’t like us.” he warned, eyeing one as it approached. The emaciated being stretched its arms out towards her. “But you can’t pay attention to them, they’ll pull you back down to where I found you.”

She looked more closely and saw a vile face looking right back at her. It screamed a hellish shriek that stung her ears.

“They hate us,” he explained. “They are lost.”

“And what are we? You think we’re any better?” she bit back.

He smirked.

“You know it’s been six years, right?” 

Her eyes snapped to his face “W-what?” she stuttered.

His eyes were cold looking forward 

“It’s been six years, Katie.”

Her heart pounded. 

Six years. 

That summer. 

The rooftop.

Was it that?

He looked at the obsidian dagger still in her hand, dripping with blood. But in Katie’s shock, she began to loosen her grip on the dagger.

“Don’t let go of it… keep it to remind you…” he offered, looking into the soaked knife, seeing his reflection. As if lost in thought.

He still moved forward. Katie was confused, she raised an eyebrow, tensed her lips as she thought hard.

Surely he didn’t know… I was so careful, she thought.

It seemed so long ago. A memory long since passed. Katie felt she had thrown it all away, trying to forget it. It was in those days that she lived frivolously; she enjoyed those days … They were exciting, wild even. She remembered she never felt more alive then. 

His face turned towards her, looking her in the eye. His footsteps stopped.

“Katie. You don’t remember me, do you?” 

“…no,” she said with shyness, almost embarrassed.

The man shook his head and kept walking forward.

What is this shame that she felt? Embarrassed that she can’t remember him? Was he even in her life before? Surely she would remember someone like this. The way this man moved, carrying her even while she had lost everything. Katie would definitely remember a man like this… right?

They seemed to walk for hours. It was all in silence from that point on. 

He was giving her space to figure it out 

“…Mark?” Katie asked, hesitantly.

His eyes glanced towards her, surely that was his confirmation 

“Oh, my God… Mark, what happened?” Katie’s voice quivered.

He slowed down.

Each step sounded heavier than the last.

“You happened… don’t you remember?” Mark said heavily.

“I’m… I’m so sorry… I didn’t know…” Katie said thoughtfully, now ignoring the pain in her leg.

Mark sighed. Not disapprovingly, but with understanding. Almost wistful.

“I’ve grown past it. I didn’t let it define me.” he said solemnly.

Katie’s emotions swelled.

No, no, this is not my story! Not like this! HIM! HE did this to me! He made me do it!

Katie began to writhe and flail her arms, trying to escape Mark’s arms. But he held firmly.

All Katie had was the dagger in her hand. She looked up at Mark, and he glanced at her in the corner of his eye, veiled in tragic longing.

Katie breathed heavily, the pain in her leg was no more with the adrenaline coursing through her body. The rage and anguish building up.

She had to put the blame on someone, it couldn’t be her.

“You did this to me! Why!? Why did you let me do this to you? To us?!” Katie plunged the dagger deep, until her palm met his chest.

It sank in with a dull sound. Not wet. Not tearing. Just… stillness.

She didn’t even know why she did it. Was it out of shame? Out of anger? Or being fully seen by Mark?

She leaned forward expecting her to fall from his hands as he collapsed.

But no.

The rhythmic footfalls kept marching.

No blood. No flinch. Just that jagged, unwavering gaze.

“I don’t bleed like I used to,” he said quietly.

“Not for you.”

Katie cried.

Why did it sound so hurtful? It didn’t make sense. He had healed already, and even when I tried, I can’t hurt him. And why am I… mad? Why am I mad at the man carrying me? What did he do? He had healed. He didn’t hurt me. He NEVER hurt me. All he did was help, and I did what I always do and I tried to hurt him again.

She began to remember.

The days he would come visit her. Every time he would answer the phone to listen to her. The times he was the one who was her fortress when she was an emotional mess. 

He was her rock.

Tears streamed down her face as she lifted her head to see the dagger protruding from Mark’s chest. His face stoic, looking forward. Strong.

Katie couldn’t help but be enamored.

Why was he always like this?… it wasn’t fair.

She traced her finger on the knife, watching her fingers dance on the blade. She couldn’t see any blood spilling out from his chest. 

Did he not have more to give?…

She removed the knife and saw no wound.

But the blood was still hers.

Katie sighed, more disappointed in herself than with Mark now. She had a long way to go.

“So this is the silence I abandoned you to.” she observed.

“Yeah…,” Mark said solemnly. “What will you do?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been on this side before. Why does it feel so–” Katie couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Dreadful?” Mark suggested.

“Yeah…”

“It’s the consequences. You need to rise above it. Don’t stoop to their level.” Mark framed.

“I can’t do that…”

He said nothing more.

They walked—through the silence she left him in.