The sun shone softly on the picturesque landscape of lush gentle rolling hills. A blue, slightly cloudy sky with some dark, rocky mountains in the distance served as a backdrop for a family of four sitting on top of one of the hills, with a meadow of flowers and butterflies surrounding them.
The father, a dark-skinned man around 40 years of age, passed a cake to the woman by his side. A rough but warm smile spread along his trimmed beard as she collected it with a nod of gratitude.
The blond woman laughed, conversing with a girl in front of her. Her soft blue eyes glowed as she shared the golden-brown cake onto the paper plates spread on the picnic mat. The girl shared the same skin and hair colors as her mother, only keeping her father's darkish brown eyes. She snatched the plate in front of her the moment her mom dropped the cake, earning her a round of laughs from her parents as she shot a glance at the person beside her.
A boy with skin a shade lighter than his father sat there, staring vacantly into the air. He wore brightly colored clothes, the same as the rest, but he looked disheveled. His stark white vest had numerous patches of brown across his back and chest. His red trousers were filled with numerous wears and tears along its rumpled length. The laughter ground to a stop as they focused on him.
"What happened, Galen? You've been looking vacant since we got here," the mother was the first to speak, ignoring his clothing.
"N-No, it's nothing, just another bad dream," her voice snapped Galen out of his trance, making him answer reflexively.
"Is it the same one?" his father spoke this time, his voice sounding a little husky.
"Same as always," Galen sighed, digging his fingers into his dirty blond hair, ruffling the already shaggy mess.
"You know, it's never too late to check with a #$%@&√#@" his sister suggested, before suddenly realizing what she said. The world darkened.
"I'm sor-" her mother quickly shut her up with a glare, before turning her attention to Galen. The boy sat in a curled position, hiding his head between his knees, while covering his ears with his palms and muttering some incomprehensible noises, all the while shaking. His father quickly stood up, resting his hands on the boy's shoulders.
"Stay with me, remember, deep breaths," slowly, he took deep breaths as his shoulders finally relaxed, before his father gently removed his hands from his ears. Eventually, Galen raised his head to face them.
"Are you alright now?" his dad's eyes scanned his face.
"I-I'm fine," Galen shakily answered, earning a collective sigh of relief from his family. His dad went back to his former spot, something red dripping from his trousers. Checking again, Galen didn't see anything.
"Looks like a storm's coming," his mom's eyes looked towards the mountains in the distance, where black clouds had started emerging from, gradually changing the perfect blue color of the sky into a dull, muted grey.
"Well then, I think it's time we got to the best part, gotta enjoy something before the rain chases us inside," his sister rubbed her palms with a smile, seemingly unaffected by the ordeal that just happened. Her mother shook her head wryly before looking at the father, who was already bringing out a large flask. She facepalmed, to which her husband cheekily shrugged, making their daughter laugh. Galen watched this scene unfold silently, not doing anything. He just smiled, even he too had forgotten.
The girl brought out some metal bowls and spoons
, sharing them around before looking back at her dad knowingly. He gave her an approving nod, then without a pause, the 14-year-old girl popped open the flask, revealing a beautifully hued pink ice cream. She scooped a rather generous amount of it for herself, before dunking it into her bowl. The sound of the spoon hitting the bowl gave a weighty clang that rang out through the hills.
Suddenly, Galen shivered, cold sweat soaking his armpits as his eyes darted to his sister. The family didn't notice him this time, as his sister took another scoop. The heavy sound rang out again, more similar to footfalls against metal or fists against doors than a spoon against a bowl.
His shaking increased. He screamed to stop, but no sound came out. No one gave him any mind. Pushing through the shaking, he tried moving towards her to stop her, but his legs gave way, bringing him back down and allowing her to continue scooping into the already filled bowl. Galen gritted his teeth and started crawling, slowly yet surely dragging himself towards her. The moment he was in range, he jumped, holding and shaking her, trying to snap her out of it.
Without any warning, her neck went limp, and she stopped, the spoon silently falling to the ground. Grey's eyes widened.
"Ivy... Ivy, talk to me."
Her limp neck suddenly coiled like a snake as it brought her head to face him, whispering, "Help... me." A wound that tore through her lips smiled in mockery, as a ravaged face stared at him. One side of her face was completely torn off, and the other bruised and bloodied beyond recognition. Galen pushed her away as he fell backward, crawling frantically as the ghoulish caricature still faced him.
"Will you run away... again?" he shivered, looking towards his parents. Only a decapitated and completely blackened corpse rested where his mother was, and a half-burned, tattered corpse with its lower body completely crushed in place of his father. He quickly covered his mouth to hold a scream, tears clouding his eyes. He tried crawling even faster when he noticed a strange warmth around his body. The beautiful hills around him had all blackened, the meadows razed to the ground as ashy flakes slowly fell from a now blackened sky. The picnic mat now a metallic wreckage, with the ice cream and cake now pinkish brain matter and broken body parts.
Galen wretched, nearly puking out his organs, and when he finally raised his head, there were three figures looming over him. All the corpses had risen, slowly reaching out for him.
"Coward..."
"You can't escape..."
"It's all your fault..."
The insults never stopped, their claws closing in on his flesh as his vision darkened.
"No, noooo!" Chains shook as an ear-piercing scream rang out from a deep, dark room.