WARNING:  May have trauma triggers in it for some.

On the edge of our dimension sets a bloody castle. To some religions it is named limbo. For those who leave this life at a crossroads or nearing a milestone, the castle is a place where one’s strengths and weaknesses are put to the test. How each handles these tests determines which path next. Think of the bloody castle as a hub with roads leading in and out.

Regardless of how you get to it, the tests are varied yet consistent at the same time. They are varied in that they are customized for the individual; they are consistent in that your worst fears will be presented to you.

Alse Young found herself in the bloody castle at age 47, in the year 1647, when she was hanged for being accused of witchery in Windsor, Connecticut. Alse was blamed for a rise in influenza in her town. The mayor’s wife, who was jealous of Alse’s flowing red locks of hair, caught her husband secretly watching Alse too many times. It needed to stop. The flu was just the thing the mayor’s wife was looking for and so the accusation began, supported by the mayor’s wife’s sycophantic friends.

When Alse woke up her first feeling was pain, in her neck. Lying on the floor of a small sparse room, she struggled to rise, then staggered to the mirror on the wall. A dark blue-purple bruise ringed her neck like a collar and puffed out with tenderness.

Where was she, Alse wondered as she tried the door. It opened and she stepped out onto a balcony. There was a courtyard below. Dozens of others were there as well. The balcony was circular, and dotted around the circle were people in various stages of physical trauma. Many had compound fractures with bones sticking out of flesh. The circled humanity was painted with the colors of bruisings and maimings — red was the dominant color.

Alse heard a familiar voice calling her name. “Alse! It’s Father!” over and over again.

Alse’s head swiveled to locate where the voice was coming from. Her eyes locked on to waving arms down in the courtyard. Yes, it was her father.  But Father had been dead for 10 years! Was Alse in Heaven? Hell? A flood of memories were triggered. Of father touching her as a toddler and continuing to touch her until she married her husband. Once Alse married John and they moved an hour away, the touching stopped, and she did not see her father alive again. The last day Alse saw her Father was at his funeral. She shed no tears that day and felt only relief that she was safe from him forever.

Now she observed her Father making his way across the courtyard, towards her. Terror struck her in the solar plexus and she began hyperventilating. Was she dreaming? She often had night terrors after leaving home, but it had been years since having one. Maybe they were coming back? She pinched herself and it hurt. This was no dream. What would she do if he reached her? She didn’t want to find out and headed in the opposite direction of the staircase he was walking towards.

Alse had to dodge many injured people and animals – yes, animals can go to the bloody castle in special circumstances, although most take the heaven express when they die. She started to gain rhythm and speed playing this strange human dodgeball. Until Harald blocked her path.

Harald was a close business associate of her Father. Harald had never made it a secret that he found Alse very cute. Her Father, a cutthroat businessman, used that attraction to his advantage by selling “time with Alse” to Harald in exchange for money, goods, and insider secrets. She wasn’t sure who she hated more, Harald or her Father.

She had to choose between allowing Harald to nab her or running back towards Father. Or jumping off of the railing. Better to die again (?) than let either of them put their slimy paws on her. She backed up from Harald while watching behind her. Father was a mere 30 feet from her now. Just as she determined to jump off of the rail, a flying ship swooped in and was hovering – with a ladder she could grab onto. She climbed the rail and was about to grab for the rope when she heard someone else call her name. “Alse! Save me! Alse! Save me!”

Alse again followed the sound of the voice and saw her toddler self over in a doorway, reaching out her arms to her. How could Alse leave her toddler self behind with those two monsters?

Alse climbed down from the rail and faced Harald. “Die! Mofo!!!!!!,” screamed Alse as she threw her weight behind the mighty shove she gave Harold. He went tumbling over the rail, screaming until a sick thud and crunch was heard, then silence. By now, Father had arrived. He looked over the rail, then lunged at Alse. Alse bit his shoulder and moved aside at the same time. Using her Father’s body in motion for impetus, she helped him too go flying over the railing. Father didn’t scream but the crunch was extra loud.

Turning around, Alse’s eyes met the eyes of her toddler self. She smiled and walked towards the small child. Small Alse stood up and smiled as she reached her arms out for her adult self.  They clung together and cried.  Some amount of time went past and a loud bell was heard behind the door Small Alse had been crouched at. As they both pushed the door open, it was pure white light. Small Alse’s wings unfurled and, airborne, she pulled her future self towards the Forest of Light.

The End.

Yves is the host of Mindlovemisery Menagerie’s Sunday Writing Prompt, which is this photo of, “The Bloody Carousel.”