wildlavender
The feel of silk was still a shock. I smoothed the suit, marveling at the feel and smiled wickedly. If only they could see me now.
Blank, black eyes set in a bone face stared back at me. A skeleton clothed in black, it held out its hand. The white bone grasping, begging for something. I stared in horror and knew even before his raspy voice spoke: "one token to ferry across."
Vapor, I got nothin' today. Vapor, vapor, vapor, vapor, vapor, & vapor!
They were like magic. The words woven around, touching each of our hearts and minds. I believed I could touch stars when he spoke; and swim across the sea to the untouchable lands. A friend told me he felt as if he could fly when the stories were spoken, woven like a spiders web in circles. All making us believe in the impossible but it was impossible. In those moments we were anything, anyone we wanted to be. But now, with the bars slamming shut I gripped the iron bars and stared out. Knowing that stories were just stories and everything was untouchable.
It crept up on me like a spider to prey. Starting from the inside and slowly coming forth until I was engulfed. Burning. Shining. Scorching. I was the sun. The light at the end of a dark tunnel. The halo over angel's heads. The flames in pits of hell. I was fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Lord of the sky. Fire. I was destruction and rebirth. Chaos and harmony. I was untouchable, unbeatable. Immortal. Fire. The fluttering beat of a heart. The inner workings of a mind, the passions that people craved and lived. Fire. Fire. Fire.
It started out with a breath, like all life begins. I gasped and jolted, waking up from a nightmare. I never thought it could end, that horror, but in the end it did and I am all the more thankful for it. I could go to sleep once again without fear of falling into that dark pit. The dark pit that swallowed me whole, attempted to destroy me. But I rose, pulled myself out on my hands and knees and when the sun, the beautiful shining sun, was in my sight again I wept. For I believed that the sun would never grace me again, would never shine down on me and bring joy. But this time it brought strength. Renewed I took the last steps until I was again awake, staring at my white ceiling and under those aqua covers I so adored. A face leaned down to me, one I couldn't see clearly, and spoke, "And this, gentlemen is an example of the credibility you've been waiting for."
Once great, I was. Whispered praises sounded through the streets. I was the top. They pulled me up like a a god. And a statue I became for their prying eyes, looking and looking for something wrong. Out of place, not quite right. But they'd never know, I willed, because they didn't truly want to know. Inside I was twisted, all coils and springs. Oil and gases. I was on top, rated number one. But, slowly, ever so slowly, like a water to stone, I fell and became what I tried to hid.
It came in a whoosh! and I was a goner. Swept away, spiraling downward. This was time, they told me. This long way down to the ancients. Going over centuries and across lands. Empire's rose and fell into chaos. I saw it all. This is only one timeline, they told me, they're many others all woven in possibilities of what might have been.
In a place with no sky nor moon or stars. Where the ground was brittle with dips that you could fall forever into. Trees did not exist, nor flowers or grass. Water lapped at the edges, a black and murky color. This place was a dream, a nightmare. And I loved every second of this cold world. A world with no sky, not even stars. Where the ground was brittle with dips that you could slip into and disappear. Where flower nor trees or grass grew because happiness did not exist. Not yet anyway, and maybe not ever. Where the water was black and bitter in its hate. This was my dark place. The place to go when the rest of the world held not hope and disappeared, dissolved into this waste land of sorrows.