Killing of a Sacred Deer

 

Killing of a Sacred Deer is a piece of writing I handed in as an assignment for the Advanced Writing course I took in college. Our professor asked us to pick a genre and expand on our story using writing techniques that really bring up the genre to the reader. After writing one paragraph, we were instructed to pass our paper to another student. This went on for about 2 paragraphs, and then we took our piece home to revise and hand in the complete work next week.

This piece of writing is inspired by the deer god in Princess Mononoke. I'll always be fascinated with the portrayal of gods in that animation, especially forest gods and protectors of animals. And yes, you guessed it right. The title is named after the movie, but the context of my writing is not so much like it. Hope you enjoy reading this piece!

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

"Get him! Get him! That voice again found its way into his ears as another nightmarish tangle of thought darkened his mind. They almost got him on that day! Not quite asleep, not quite awake, the dire smell of blood on his hands crawled up his nose again and kept him hanging.

"I can't let them catch us!" He repeated it in his head over and over again until his body finally started to move. It stung! He could feel every bone in his body aching, his skin too tight against them. Pain blossomed all over his body, but it didn't stop him. With each measured step, he got closer to freedom, or so he thought. Unfortunately, that voice also kept getting closer and closer until it was right there behind his neck, whispering, "You have killed the sacred deer. You will pay." Jolting out of sleep once again, he was fully awake now. Panting, sweating, and feeling suffocated with the smell of blood that hadn't gone away.

This was nothing like his bedroom. No ceiling, no walls, only trees that covered almost anything in his sight, even the sky. The damp and uncomfortable earth under his body, which was barely covered with leaves and moss, undeniably despised him. He wasn't wanted here or anywhere else. It wasn't the smell of decaying leaves or pine needles that terrified him; he felt something approaching, something wild and feral with rage. 

 The maddening sound of the whisper was long gone, so he struggled to get up and walk back home. He couldn't think of how he might have ended up in the middle of the forest all by himself, but he thought of that day, that fateful day that the whispers had started. Some days back, while hunting with his daughter, she had begged him not to kill that deer. A young but swift one. Its eyes were glowing like a fire had been sparked in them. She begged him to spare it and go home, but he didn't listen.

He struggled to get up, creeping on the ground like a helpless, dying snake. "You will pay." His eyes widened. The whispers echoed in his head again. He pressed his palms against his ears, covering them as hard as he could; little did he know that it was useless. The moment he put his hands down, the whispers worsened. "You will pay; you will pay the price of your actions." The whispers have been replaced by a chorus, twirling its way out from the deep forest. as if the trees and each strand of living plants were singing the same words. "You've killed the sacred deer..." 

He then saw them, shadows emerging from the fabric of the forest. Humanoid in shape but with vulgar animal faces rhyming the same hymn. Each animal represented the indigenous elements of the forest and, most importantly, its rage. Some were stags towering over others, and some were foxes and wolves guarding the lands possessively. Their eyes burning with fury watched him closely. Their hands and legs were made of twisted branches and vines. Moss covered their bodies and faces, their mouths almost invisible. He found himself unable to scream or talk as they encircled him and left no space for him to escape.

The voices got louder and the circle tighter as they moved at a graceful pace. Deadly poisonous vines emerged from the ground and strangled his ankles. He could no longer move or make a noise; his mouth was sealed shut and his feet stuck to the earth. He was becoming the prey of his own sin. An agonizing burning sensation in his hands dragged his gaze down to his darkening and lengthening fingers intertwining into hooves. His body rebelled to get a new form against his will. His skin began to grow coarse, dark fur. His bones started shifting as he longed to scream out his anguish. His hurting jaw and sharpening teeth knocked him out as he rolled around in the dirt among his punishers. A new deer was born with flaming eyes and his hooves pounding against the forest of the gods. The hunter was hunted, and the spirits melted to the ground while the branches and the vines untangled and merged with the earth.