Suicide Season - Komie N.
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A boy named Marcus Luce is alone in the world after his mother commits suicide out of fear of a phenomenon called Suicide Season. He meets an old man named Bo who tells him that Suicide Season is not actually a disease - people are simply afraid of death and end up killing themselves as a result of that fear. After bonding with Marcus, Bo also takes his own life. Overcome with grief and fear, Marcus then decides to end his own life with Bo's gun, realizing that people kill themselves not due to illness but due to the fear of inevitable death.
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Suicide Season - Komie N.
- 1. A fresh blood-curling scream is usually the first sign that its coming soon. After comes a repulsive array of red that splattered across the streets, covering the entire canvas in a shade of wet, warm gore. Next was the sound of low sanguinary moans, hanging in the air like a dangling corpse rocking back and forth through the wind. But lastly, there was eerie silence. A silence so quiet, piercing the cold air like a dagger through thin ice. And thats when panic settled in. When more screams erupted into the air as the slamming of doors echoed down the streets, people screeching bloody murder as they ran for their lives as if the grim reaper chased after them, demanding for blood. To them, it was Gods punishment. The Devils work. Because death was what everyone feared, yet everyone will have to eventually face after what it feels like an eternity of living. It is impossible to avoid the inevitable. Three years ago, ten thousand people were killed. Two years ago, twenty thousand people were killed. A year ago, forty thousand people were killed. And this year, it will strike again. But theres something about the name that makes frigid shivers run down everyones spines when spoken of, as if the temperature has dropped immensely and dulled to a numbed, icy atmosphere Suicide Season. It doesnt do the killing You do. *** RUN! THE DEVIL IS COMING! After the scream of distress then came an ensemble of slamming doors and screeches. For Marcus Luce, it was running. Running was all he ever did. Running to escape everything, running to survive. Suicide Season. His mother doesnt bother doing anything that involved getting up and moving. At a very old age, all she does is clasp her hands together in a praying motion, hoping that the Lord will receive her prayers of mercy. Marcus Luces mother was, he hates to say it, but a coward. She fears death, like the many people out there. This is why he needs to survive on his own, and that involves getting out of his house. Mom, we need to go! No, boy. The Lord will answer my prayers. He will spare mercy upon our souls.
- 2. But last night, as Marcus was getting ready to leave, he heard a small shriek and a thud Then eerie silence. As he rushed to the kitchen, his mother was lying there on the cold, white tiles, drowning in a pool of her own blood. The sight made his stomach churn. Both of his mothers wrists were slit and slashed until the bone with the shard of glass clutched tightly in her right hand. Blood was still gushing out of the wound, trailing down her arms and onto her lifeless body. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and the only visible part was the cloudy whiteness that slowly drifted in a nebulous haze. Marcus Luce had screamed in horror, tripping over his own feet in a rush to flee. He grabbed his backpack and rushed out the front door, nearly ripping it out of its hinges. And so he ran. He has been running ever since. He remembered that running down the streets was a nightmare because of the nauseating dead bodies that lay strewn across his neighbors lawns. She didnt die, he thought. She had a whole life ahead of her. She is not dead. He ran until his feet screamed for him to stop, but he didnt. He would see people rushing out of their houses shouting in fear of the disease. Now, Marcus Luce found himself lost in the pitch-black night. Lost and afraid in an abandoned alley, he walked down with clattering teeth and trepidation deep within his dark eyes. ARGH! The shriek made Marcus Luce jump up ten feet in the air, eyes bulging out of his sockets as a stranger with a busted beer bottle came barreling towards him with a mixture of angst and anger. IT WILL NOT KILL ME! he wailed. Marcus Luce stood there frozen in fear while the man bounded at him screaming on the top of his lungs. I WILL NOT BE KILLED! Marcus Luce knew it was his time. He was going to die. He already lost everything, and now he wanted to lose himself. But something deep inside his gut told him he wasnt ready for death at this very moment. The man fell on his knees and gave a sudden sob, as if all the energy and anger in his body drained away from his body. It will not kill me The man swung the broken beer bottle directly at his face. Before Marcus Luce had any time to react, the stranger fell to the floor with glass shards protruding out of his pale skin. Blood squirted out as if it were erupting out of his flesh like a volcano explosion. The man was dead. He killed himself.
- 3. Aye, boy! Whatcha doin just standing there? Move outta the way! An old, raspy voice with an unusual accent startled Marcus out of his blind stupor. Backing away from the corpse at his feet, he looked up at the direction of the sound. An aged man appeared from behind a dumpster with a bright red shirt that screamed, IM NOT OLD, IM VINTAGE! His eyebrows were scrunched together as if they were stuck in that position permanently after years of stress and worry. His eyes were droopy and tired, but within the orbs held only so much experience and understanding. This man had seen far too much in his life. Whore you? Marcus Luce said in a tentative voice, afraid the man will lash out if he said the wrong words. The old man examined the boy with close speculation. Names Bo, kid. Whatcha doin out here all by yerself? he asked. Got any folks? Bo, Marcus Luce thought, such a strange name. No. Bo sighed. He scratched his scalp, that was full of graying hairs, and then gestured for Marcus Luce to come towards him. Gotta name, kid? Marcus, he said, Luce, Well Marcus Luce, Bo said, stepping out of his hiding place behind the dumpster, Guess were both suckers of humanity, eh? Life just aint fair nowadays. Ya wake up thinkin its yer day, and that youll make a difference in the world, but no. Turns out todays the bloody day o the dead, innit? Marcus Luce nodded, not knowing what to say. But then everything that happened earlier crashed down on him like a heavy storm cascading in thunderous torrents. His mother is not dead. Marcus Luce fell on his knees and let all the exhaustion, fear and anger out in sobs and convulsive gasps. I hate this, he sobbed. I hate this disease. He heard Bo exhaled deeply and dropped on his knees next to him and put a comforting hand on his shoulders. Oh, it aint no disease, boy. The boy lifted up his head. What do you mean? Suicide Season. Its a disease. It kills. It aint no disease, Bo repeated. People are just scared. Theyre afraid. Marcus Luce stood up and wiped away his tears in embarrassment. He and Bo walked down the alley together in silence. They might as well stick together, after all theres nothing to lose.
- 4. Theyre afraid of what? Marcus Luce asked. They both wandered in a dark, moist forest and his eyes landed an array hanging bodies swaying with the wind, strung up to the branches of trees. He screamed in horror. Their necks were twisted at an impossible angle with the nooses cutting into their bloodless skin. He bit his lip and looked away in disgust. Afraid o death, kid. Bo chuckled despite the situation. People are afraid o death. Its all an illusion, ya know? Suicide Season isnt real. Death just drives people crazy. Member that man back there? Said, it will not kill me, and it didnt. He did, Marcus Luce whispered. Bo nodded. People are so afraid o death they bloody kill themselves. Marcus Luce remembered his mother. She was a coward. She gave her entire devotion to a religious figure that never bothered to answer her prayers. She didnt want to die. She didnt want to contact the sickness, so she took her life in fear of catching the disease. Its my time now. Im an old man, useless to the world. I aint got no one. Marcus Luce cocked his head slightly, looking Bo in confusion. What? My time, boy, Bo said. Before Marcus Luce could realize what was happening, Bo reached towards the belt of his ripped jeans and pulled out a small pistol. No! Marcus Luce cried. You cant do that! I already lost my mother; I cant lose you too even if I just met you. Ill have no one. Boy, death is death. Everyone dies. Ya know, people are selfish bout death. We piss and moan when the people we love die, cause o course they had there whole lives ahead o them, but that aint it. It just aint true, we dont want em to die, cause we dont wanna miss em. Bo sighed. Their aint no life ahead o me. Im just done, kid. The world is a cruel place. Aint no place for me. He raised the pistol to his temple and whispered, It didnt kill me. I did. Remember that. Look away, Marcus Luce. The sound was like a clap of sonorous thunder. A thud. Then eerie silence. The wind broke and birds went swarming in the cold, dark air, breaking the shadow of the moon. No, the boy whispered. No. He was going to die someday, Marcus Luce knew that. Everyone dies, some sooner and some later than others. Life hurts more then death. Marcus Luce didnt want to suffer through any more pain. There is no such thing as Suicide Season. Its not a disease its a fear. Marcus Luce lifted the pistol off the
- 5. ground of the dead body and pressed it against his temple. People are just afraid of death. So they kill themselves. And thats what he did.