Dream of the Raven's Gate VII

Wednesday Still



Screaming, I fled to the sanctuary of the bathroom. My mind raced, my heart pounded, and my skin was peppered with goose flesh. I ran the cold water from the sink into my hands, and splashed it copiously onto my face trying to shock myself back from the brink of madness. Rising, I caught my reflection in the mirror and made a horrifying connection. I was graying. Not only were my eyes darkening, but my hair was graying. It was a very subtle change, but I finally accepted the only possible explanation: I was mad.

I threw open the vanity drawers and found the bottle lying like a cat ready to pounce. I hadn't liked taking them when I hurt my ankle last year, and left the pills in the drawer. "Madness cannot fight death" I thought. I poured a handful out and threw them in my mouth. I sucked water from the faucet and crumpled to the floor below. No more of this. No more. My mind screamed at me "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I babbled as I began to feel that light, far-off feeling swoon over my head and face...

I felt the train coming down the track as I stepped into the glare of the station. And suddenly I was standing on the platform, while an evil creature resembling a locomotive skulked along the tracks. It's sinuosity repulsed me, the glistening black and chrome skin slid past the platform and dragged to a halt as a door opened up and what might have been ochre-black rot fell out of the doorway. A woman exited the beast, looked at me from behind her wedding veil, and smiled. "Good evening, my dear" she said flatly. "Would you please help me with my luggage?" My eyes darted from her face, to the open, oozing door, and back to her face. She seemed perfectly rational. It had to have been me. I nodded, stepped towards the open wound, and stepped inside. Instantly, the wound closed, and I felt the beast lurch along the tracks. I was trapped in side this thing, this demon. Spinning, I fell into a waiting bench, and struck my head on the rail just above. A tiny trickle of blood began to run from my skin, down my face, and dripped rhythmically onto the floor where it was lapped up by what I thought were half-formed shadows. I felt sick, crazed, and amused all at once. Then the Creature swooped into my vision, a shadow of memories and desires. Karasu.
"Foolish child. What have you done?" Karasu asked me. I did not want to answer, but I couldn't stop myself.
"Ended it. Ended this madness."
"No, fool. You began a different journey. One that you are not yet prepared for. Why didn't you bring them here, instead? You know how much you needed them here?"
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!!"
"You weak child. You do know. You don't remember the first time you saw me? They were with you. They came with you and you were complete. Now there is no hope."
"I DON'T KN....oh my god. My god my god my god! I remember... I ..." fear washed over me. I had some tickle deep inside me that made my dream-skin crawl even more than it had in the real world... back there... where my body lay dying...


In the darkest of night, in the heart of hate, a faint green glow was pierced by a noise that could have sounded like laughter.

Continued

Caught

I saw before the edge of all I know
A streaking trail no night could keep from me
My knees did weaken and my head lay low
Beauty blazing across the dark sky-sea

My hands for purchase doth greedily grasp
As blinding beauty to my eyes did greet
Fingers deftly closing with hopes oft dashed
Surprised when star's tail caught for a heartbeat

But writhe nor twist not this heavenly love
With quiet grace and beauty did she seek
To calm this mortal creature from above
Grant a heavenly kiss upon blush'd cheek

Celestial beauty snared in my heart
Shooting star wished upon to ne'er part

victim on the wind

The crow spiraled down
and the earth came up to greet him
in a decadent splash of black and
red
red
red
the crow no longer called
and the dread silence sang
whilst black feathers fell
a perverted snow on the cheeks of the earth



Why does joy always yield to darkness? Why is it so easy for the smiles to vanish, only to be swallowed up in the gritted teeth of anger and misery? For once, why can't the darkness simply accept defeat? Because Darkness rules the night, and eventually we all belong to the night.

Dream of the Raven's Gate VI

Wednesday




I awoke in my bed, sweating and exhausted as the the sun warmed my room. I had some far-off memory of a dream and some hint of a nightmare, but my mind was completely blank. I couldn't even remember getting into bed, but I must have, since I was here. There was a rather odd sensation in the sheets, and I threw them back to find my linens filthy and damp. My feet were covered in grass clippings and mud. I had no lawn, and no recollection of having gone out barefoot in the night. A sinister dread filled my thoughts as I began to examine the rest of my body. My knees ached, and both knees and my right hand were swollen and bruised. My head hurt some, but not like any headache I had ever felt. More like trying to think under water whilst a marching band played just above the surface. I turned in the bed, dropped my soiled feet onto the floor and discovered immediately that I must have had some kind of episode during the night. My room was a mess, the drawers of my dresser and armoire open and rummaged through. 'How strange' I thought to myself as I began to make my way out of the bed holding me captive.

I stopped as I rose, my reflection in the obviously broken mirror halting all voluntary muscle control. My face was bruised, a shiner hung on my left eye like a badge of confusion. But worse than that, someone had put contact in my eyes! My eyes were dark, and hollow, and something else... difficult to nail down, but I looked older somehow. I got to my feet as quickly as I could, and to my amazement, could barely walk. The pain in my leg was excruciating, and flared from my ankle into my calf. "Fucking tore a tendon?" I asked the empty bedroom. So I hobbled to the bathroom, and began the arduous task of washing my battered body. While I was standing before the bathroom mirror, I realized I could not take the contacts out. Maybe I was drugged? Maybe something happened to me and I have blood in my eyes or something.... First to wash, then to call my doctor. I washed...and cried... and the pain made it impossible to do anything but.

After my visit to the doctor's office (thank God for sick-visit priority), I mulled over the results. Acquired heterochromia, probably caused by blunt trauma to the head. The other damage seemed to be a result of some kind of bar fight (me? In a bar fight?). The memory loss was also attributed to blunt-force trauma. CT scans and a bloodwork showed nothing abnormal, so the doctor chalked it up to a fight and told me to get some rest. So that was the plan... home to rest. Wish I had before putting the TV on.

"...officer was beaten to death and found mutilated..."

"In a dumpster" I finished, chiming along with the announcer.

"...Police are currently investigating, and remain tight-lipped" the TV barked at me as my head swam with fear and confusion. The face of the young policeman on the screen smiled back at me, his cadet-new shirt contrasting with his pale skin. I had seen this man before, somewhere, and recently. But where? And why did I seem to know that his body was found in a dumpster before I heard the words coming out of the newscaster's mouth? "Well, I must have heard it somewhere in my travels, then." It was my rational mind commanding to quell the madness swelling in side of me. "But his face!!!!" Again... my mind reared up...

"You did thisss"

I started, my heart racing. "Who said that?" I screamed into the empty apartment. But there was no one there. I was alone.



Continued