Test

"This is a test of your moral fortitude." I heard Good say in a distant, monotone voice. He and Bad were standing on top of a large platform, looking down on me. In the platform itself, there were small windows with names underneath each one. Love, Soul, Could. They were all there; I could see their figures behind the glass.

"I thought you had more people to show me to!" I called back up to him.

"You are not yet prepared." He replied in the same, flat voice.

"This is a test of your moral fortitude." Bad repeated. But while Good's face was solemn and neutral, Bad carried that twisting half-smile like normal. His voice did not quiver either. I turned around, and the endless white void focused onto a wooden door. I turned back to Good and Bad they both nodded their heads in assurance. I faced the door, and began walking towards it. I grabbed the brass handles and twisted it, and the door opened.

There was a long, seemingly endless path laid out in front of me. A thick forest edged up against both sides of the dirt path. The trees where dark ebony, and they blocked out most of the daylight through its tight grasp of the path. A deep fog covered the forest past the near tree-lines, sheltering the chirps of crickets, the croaks of frogs, and the wails of ravens. I turned around, and the door had vanished, showing the same endless path.

"Which way?" I narrated to myself. They were both identical as I looked back and forth between the two. "Well, the door pointed me that way, so I guess I'll go that way. I began walking, and the light brightened for a moment before being blocked by the trees once more.

The trees seemed to be passing by me in a pattern. One would bend to the right, and then another to the left. Another would have a branch that reached over to the other side of the path, and then another where the branch wrapped around itself. And then I would see those four over and over again, one after the other. A twig snapped from behind me, and I turned around. Nothing was on the path behind me.

“Hello?” I called out, my voice echoing between the trees. The light got darker. “This isn’t funny Bad! Not cool!”

I turned back around and started to walk faster down the path, hoping that I would find something. After another five minutes of walking while looking over my shoulder, I saw a glass object further down the path. I jogged over to it to find that it was a cube, sheltering Love.

“How do I get you out?!” I screamed, banging on the front side. She looked skinner. She didn’t look healthy. She looked up at me, squinting, before her eyes widened in terror. She started to yell back, but I couldn’t hear her. I held my hand up to my ear and shook my head. She stopped and looked down from the path from which I just came. She slowly turned back to me.

“You’re being followed.” She mouthed. A sharp shriek pierced the air, shattering the glass box, and a dark green figure on all fours started to stampede its way down the path towards me.

“Run.” Love said calmly, looking at the figure. I was running before I had even registered what she had said. I was a fair distance down the path when I did, and I turned back. The figure had stopped near where Love was. She was gone. It turned back and looked at me. The head was the shape of a human's, but the jaw extended from the lower jaw up to its forehead, where two black eye sockets with small glowing dots sat on top of its head. I whipped around and tore down the path. It let out another sharp yell from behind me, before I heard it thumping down the path after me. I looked behind me, it was faster. I tried to run faster, but it kept gaining ground.

It’s too big to get in-between the trees. I thought. I turned hard to my right, and jumped through the tree line. The monster slammed up against the two trees, and collapsed.

“It’s about time that you figured that out.” A voice laughed from behind me. I jumped to see Host standing with a glass of wine. His pupils were dilated, and he wobbled back and forth where he stood.

“What is going on right now?!” I screamed at him, making him jump and almost drop his wine.

“I don’t know dude.” He slurred. “I don’t even think I’m supposed to be here right now. But all I know for sure is that I came from the direction you were running, you’re not that far away from a town.”

“Thanks?” I replied, more focused on what was behind him. Through the fog, I could see a barrel. He followed my gaze, and smiled when his eyes fell upon the keg. I walked off, and I could see his shadow start to investigate. But the shadow of another green figure loomed over him, before pouncing on top of him. I ran away from his screams.

He was right. I thought, coming up to the small village. For a moment I thought it was the one that Good and Bad lived in, but it was different. Whereas theirs was slowly growing color, this one was still pure white. I could hear the distant roaring from the forest behind me, so I ran further into the town.

“Maybe I can find Good and Bad?” I asked myself, jogging toward the coffee shop. No one was sitting on the patio. The chairs and tables were all over turned. But in the window I saw more figures. I walked up the stairs to the patio and leaned against the store window. The King of Spades and Would were sitting at a table with Youth. The King and Would were going back and forth, seeming to lecture Youth on some futile lesson that they had designed. I reached for the door handle to warn them of the monsters, but one loomed behind the counter. I was too scared. I turned and ran down the steps and down the road.

I started running towards Good and Bad’s house, hoping to find them there. I passed the playground where the figures of small children used to play, but no silhouettes where there. Could and Soul were playing on the equipment, while Hollow wallowed in self-pity on a bench to the side. I drew in a breath to yell at them, but a figure on top of the building that the playground was backed up against drew my eye. Another monster, looking down at the three of them. I tried to yell but I couldn’t, my legs drew me away further down the street.

Finally, the small cottage where Good and Bad called home. I opened the door and closed it behind me, fiddling with the locks. I turned around, and the two were sitting in their recliners, staring at me.

“You alright?” Good asked.

“No I’m not alright!” I screamed at them, making them jump in their seats.

“Dude calm down will you?” Bad added.

“I won’t calm down until you tell me what you two are trying to do to me!” They both looked at me, and then at each other with raised eyebrows.

“Dude we don’t know what you’re talking about…” Bad droned out. I could see the tall figures looming through the curtains.

“You guys said ‘this is a test of your moral fortitude,’ and then I walked through a door into a forest. Then I saw all of the emotions you’ve had me meet get killed by these giant creepy green things, and I think they’re coming in here!”

“Why would we want to test your moral fortitude?” Bad replied. “That’s stupid.”

I looked through another curtain and followed the figure travel from one side of the window to the other. I sighed, and Good stood up as I shivered.

“Hey,” he started, grabbing my shoulders, “it’ll all be okay.”

“No it won’t!” I screamed, throwing his arms away. “Those things are going to come in here and kill all of us.

“There’s nothing out there.” Bad said, looking out the window and looking around the front yard. “We don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I shuddered as I looked past Good. From the back of the house, three of the creatures had entered. They were all glaring at us. They all shrieked, and Good and Bad turned around and screamed. Two of the creatures pounced on top of the two. I fell backwards against the door and trembled. I could hear them screaming in pain. The final one came up to me and glared over me. My ears were ringing as it growled. I thought it was the end. But I opened my eyes, my heart slowed, and I sighed. Everything had stopped. I got up, and the last creature was still peering down at the front door. I looked behind it, and there was a light switch on the back of its head. It was on. I reached over, and flicked it off. The world shuddered, and everything collapsed on itself. I closed my eyes and breathed once more.

*   *   *   *   *

“I’ll be damned”

“He made it.”

I opened my eyes, and I was lying in front of the platform Good and Bad were. They kneeled over me; Good looking proud, and Bad looking as if he had just lost a bet.

“What was that?” I asked.

“We were testing you to see if you were ready to meet the last three.” Good answered, helping me sit up. “They’re tough. We didn’t want to send you in there in the state you were in. We didn’t know you were ready.”

“I personally don’t give a shit what state you’re in.” Bad mocked, getting up and pacing.

“What were those, things?”

“I threw them in there to try and make you lose it.” Bad replied. “And it almost worked too.”

“But why those things?” Good asked.

“Because Wraiths are the scariest fucking things that I can come up with.” Bad hollered, visibly infuriated. “You told me to ‘come up with something that will really put him to the test,’ so I did God damn it and it almost worked.”

Good shook his head as Bad stormed off in the distance, the white starting to overcome us. Good looked down at me and smiled.

“You’re ready.”