The Other Side of the Wall

Elisia Crawley turned her gaze upward, her amber eyes searching for an end to the mountainous wall that kept the residents of Easthaven isolated from whatever lay on the other side of it. She rose on her tippy toes and craned her neck, but all she could see was miles and miles of stone crawling with ivy so green the frogs that wandered over from the nearby pond could camouflage themselves into a leafy nest and go unnoticed. 

“Elisia, you shouldn’t even be near the Wall,” said Norah, Elisia’s worrisome neighbor, and childhood friend who she now realized should never have been allowed to tag along on this particular clandestine excursion. “You’re going to get us both in trouble!” 

“Someone needs to get their undergarments out of that twist,” Elisia teased, squatting in the overgrown grass growing along the perimeter of the barricade everyone referred to as the Wall. “I’m just observing. No one ever got in trouble for observing the blasted tower of rocks.” 

“That’s not entirely true,” muttered Norah, biting nervously on her thumbnail the way she often did when she accompanied Elisia on one of her many spontaneous adventures. “Marta Murdock and her latest beau were caught together over on the corner of High Point and Sandstone, right where the Wall begins, and they were sent to the detention center for an entire week.” 

“That probably had more to do with the three guards catching Marta sticking her tongue down Neville Norton’s throat than it did the location of their indiscretions,” Elisia pointed out, searching in the grass until she found a medium-sized pebble, plucked it out of the dirt, and shoved it deep into her pocket. “We’re going to be fine.” 

“You’re looking for a way out,” said Norah matter-of-factly, her arms folding in front of her dull-gray jumper, the same one all young girls in their families societal class were expected to wear until they turned eighteen. “That’s nowhere near the realm of fine.” 

“Would you keep your voice down!” Elisia shot up from her crouched position, spinning around to hurriedly slap a dirt-splattered hand on Norah’s too-small lips. 

Norah swatted Elisia’s hand away, pawing desperately at her mouth in an attempt to wipe away any lingering filth her fingers might have left. “Well, that’s what you’re doing isn’t it?”

“No, that’s not what I’m doing,” Elisia insisted. “I’m looking for chanterelles for Ma’s soup she’s making for supper this evening. They’re in season and everyone knows the best spot to look for them is on the other side of Oakley Pond, right on the edge of town. It’s not my fault that happens to be near the Wall.” 

“Lissy,” Norah pleaded, taking her friend’s hands in hers and giving them an urgent shake. “You’re going to get yourself killed. This is dangerous stuff. You know crossing the other side of the Wall is forbidden!” 

“Of course I know that,” Elisia scoffed, rolling her eyes and snatching her hands away from Norah’s tight grip. “They’ve brainwashed us to believe that whatever is in the forest on the other side of this wall is the most heinous, evil creature to ever walk this planet. I know what they’ve told us, but that doesn’t mean I believe it.”

Elisia marched away, heading South towards the edge of town. Norah gathered the picnic basket they were planning to use to collect the mushrooms, and scurried to keep up with her friend. “You’ve seen the photographs!” Norah exclaimed. “How can you see something like that and not be petrified to your very core?” 

“I’ve seen what looks like a blurry black streak that I’m still convinced is falling trees. The Lumber Gatherers are constantly chopping down these redwoods, especially during autumn,” she replied, picking up her skirt as they made their way deeper into the thick bush. “I’m not scared, nor am I convinced that whatever out there is evil. If it is a living thing, it could just be deer or elk or any other animal. I don’t believe in monsters, Norah, and neither should you.” 

Suddenly, as if on cue, a growl so low and deep that a foreigner not aware of the legend surrounding this infamous barricade might have mistaken the noise for wind rustling the leaves on a tree branch. But the two girls standing before the mammoth-sized stone structure were told tales as young girls involving beasts and curses and death awaiting the other side of this massive barrier. They knew of only one creature that could make a noise so guttural and menacing. But neither of them wanted to believe their nightmares were truly unfolding before their eyes.  

“What was that?” Norah shrieked, panic paralyzing her limbs and causing them to remain frozen in the dirt and barley.

But instinct forced Elisia to spin on her heels, her head whipping in every direction looking for the source of the noise even though she knew it came from the other side of the Wall. “Oh please, it was probably just Killian playing a prank on us,” she assured Norah, praying that her own panic wasn’t etched all over the soft features of her porcelain face. “Your fun is over, Killian Cole. Come out and face us you coward!” 

Elisia’s voice rang out in the stillness of the tranquil afternoon. She knew for a fact that there were no other human souls around to hear her words. She could sense it. Most Easthaven babies were born unremarkable in the realm of Special Gifts, as the Elders referred to them, but Elisia had been blessed with the ability to sense the presence of other living beings and even tap into their emotions. She could always tell when her brother Eion had slipped into her bedroom at night, plagued with terror by his nightmares involving the Wall before she even turned on her bedside lamp. She sensed that there was nothing living on this side of the stone structure, apart from the two girls. She tried to concentrate on using her Gift on the other side, but something was blocking her from extending it that far. Partially worried, but mostly relieved, Elisia knew she couldn’t think about any of that now. She had a mission to complete, and she would be damned if she let anyone, let alone meek little Norah Needlebom ruin this for her. 

“It’s the Bad Thing!” Norah cried, as hot tears rolled down her pink cheeks. “Elisia, I told you this was a bad idea! We have to get out of here!”

“Norah, there’s nothing out there,” Elisia assured her, attempting to disguise her fear and urged her voice to exude confidence. She had to focus all of her energy on finding a crack, an opening, some sort of way to escape this place she had called home for almost eighteen years. She had run out of time, and now she was desperate. “It’s probably just the-.”

This time it was Elisia to stop dead in her tracks as another intimidating grumble pierced through the silence.

“Ah!” Both girls jumped so high, Elisia was sure they would be able to fling themselves over the peak of the barricade without much effort. 

“Okay, that was definitely something,” admitted Elisia, pushing her hands into the pockets of her slate-gray skirt to stop herself from digging her nails into her palms. Norah was whimpering now, a high-pitched puttering that sounded like a short-circuited sprinkler system. Elisia placed a comforting palm on her shoulder. “Shh, it’s going to be alright. It sounds like it’s coming from this direction. You stay here. I’m going to check it out.”

“Have you gone mad!?” Norah shrieked, her eyes bulging big and wide as she watched the girl she had known since infancy offer herself up willingly to the thing that had haunted her nightmares her entire life. “Elisia, this is ludicrous!”

Ignoring her friend’s desperate pleas to stay away from the Bad Thing, Elisia tiptoed closer to danger as she investigated the scratching sound now coming from the lower part of the Wall. 

“There’s a hole,” Elisia whispered, so quietly she wasn’t entirely sure Norah even heard her. Taking a deep breath, she reached into her pocket for the pebble she retrieved from the dirt earlier. Closing her slender fingers around the smooth rock, Elisia took a few steps back and propelled it in the direction of the stone wall. Expecting sparks to fly from the impact of the pebble hitting the electric shielding surround the entirety of the barrier, Elisia quickly spun around and protected her face, surprised when the rock simply struck the barricade and landed on the ground with a defeated thunk. “How strange. I thought they did daily maintenance checks to make sure the electricity field is up to code and there’s no damage to a single inch of the structure.”

“It sounds like it’s getting closer,” Norah trembled, ignoring Elisia. As the growling sound intensified, so did the scratching. As one final cacophonous screech of terror echoed across Oakley Forest, Norah dropped her mother’s hand-woven wicker basket and backed away from the Wall. “I-I-ah!” 

“Norah, it’s okay, just stay calm,” Elisia tried to sooth her friend’s nerves, simultaneously attempting to keep her own fears at ease. 

“Forget it, I’m going home!” Norah exclaimed, turning in the direction that would lead them safely back to their neighboring childhood homes. “I should have never listened to you, I’m done with your reckless games, Elisia Crawley! Done!”

Norah flicked her fiery-red pigtails behind her back, gathered her too-long gray skirt in her clammy hands, and began to shuffle her way through the thick grass in the direction of home. 

“Norah, wait!” Elisia called after her, but it was too late. Norah was already halfway through the thick cluster of trees blocking the Wall from the rest of the town, with no chance of Elisia’s cries reaching her. “Cripes, now I’m all alone. It’s definitely spookier out here all alone.” 

Elisia was suddenly very aware of how silent it was now that Norah’s nervous breathing and panicked nail-biting were halfway across the forest headed towards Town Center where they both lived. It was nearing twilight, and as the golden rays of sunset weaved their way through the long-arching trunks of Easthaven’s finest redwoods, Elisia realized how terrified she truly was.

When she was little and the nighttime shadows danced along the stark-white walls of her too-plain bedroom, Ma told her to think of her happiest moment and let it illuminate her thoughts like a nightlight. She always thought of the early mornings she spent woodcarving with her Da. His favorite animal to carve was an African bush elephant. Elisia had only ever seen one in Da’s old photographs from Before, but with it’s extra sharp tusks and elongated trunk, it was a beautiful creation to watch come to life. Elisia squeezed her eyes shut and thought of one of those wooden elephants, letting the light they brought warm her chilled insides and keep her calm. But the longer she closed her eyes, the louder the growls became. Her eyes flew open to find that the hole in the wall was now so big and wide she could easily see what was on the other side if she simply crouched down a smidge and inched forward a few more feet. 

Squinting, Elisia took a step closer, as two glowing Light Bugs floating in the darkness caught her attention. “What… in the world?” 

Light Bugs never stayed stationary for more than a second or two, she thought. One final step closer and Elisia quickly realized those weren’t glowing insects at all. They were eyes. And they were staring right into hers.

Not wanting to investigate the mystery of the Wall and the Bad Thing any further, Elisia quickly turned on her heel in the opposite direction, but just as she moved to run far, far away from this nightmare scene before her, something latched onto her silk stocking. Her eyes went wide as she felt what seemed like five bony fingers close around her ankle. 

“Help!” She screamed. “Someone, please he-“

Before she could complete her cry for help, Elisia was being dragged through the opening in the Wall, her limbs flailing in front of her trying to get a grip on something that might save her. But there was nothing. The Wall was suddenly gone. Oakley Forest had disappeared. There was nothing but darkness. She frantically searched for any source of light, her gaze darting all around until she found the menacing glare of the glowing eyes from before. She realized now, that this gaze seemed familiar to her. Almond-shaped, a brightness to them she knew would remain even without the unnatural glow. And, even though her family would surely call her bonkers if she were to admit this to them when she got back home, she could have sworn that they had an amber-tinted hue to them that gave her the feeling of staring straight into a mirror. 

Her own eyes squeezed shut as she desperately willed her Da’s wooden elephant to take her fear away. But just like before, the longer her eyes were closed, the louder the growls became and the brighter the glow. 

“Elisia.” 

Her eyes sprung open just as something hard and flat connected with the back of her head and the whole world went dark again. This time there were no elephants or the sweet memories of Da’s hands atop hers as they chipped away at their wooden animals to keep her calm and make her feel safe. 

There was nothing. There was no one. 

Just black. Just silence. 

Then pain.