In The Shadows
After a long day at work I came home and found the note.
-Don’t hold dinner for me, I’m pulling an all-nighter at work.
With a quick look out the window, I confirm the setting sun. Hmm. Father’s out for the night, so no one will miss me if I’m gone. I run a hand over my legs, which are prickly with scales. Time to do what I do best.
I drive to a ledge that overlooks Darrow’s Inlet, strip out of my jeans and tee. Standing at the edge I look grimly into the water. “Here goes nothing.” With the grace of someone well practiced, I jump.
There’s a great splash as my body plunges into the ocean. Adrenaline shoots through me as total submersion equals a temporary transformation, molding my legs into a tail, and soothing my shimmering scales. Saltwater courses through my veins and the waves call to me saying; Come. You belong here. I swim out into open ocean.
Perching on a rock I wait. Seagulls sqauwk above and in the murkiness below my fins, sharks eye me with suspicion. I wave my hand to shoo them off and a boat comes into view. I straighten up, attentive, ready to perform the Song with all the skill I posess. Precision is important if you want the enchantment to bind. You must pick the moment the ocean is at its strongest, which is right after sundown.
The sun dips below the horizon like a fire extinguished, and I begin.
"Ah ah ah. Ah ah ah. Ah lou la ah." The boat shifts its course, enticed by my Song.
"Ah na na la na. Lou la na ah na la."
I have lured it in. Now the ocean takes over. The waters rise up, engulfing the ship. I want to see it go down, I want to see terror on the crew's faces as they meet with their fate. But I can't endure it. Turning my gaze to the sky, I realize it is night. Father, on occasion, will tell me that it is easier to succumb to darkness during the night, because you think no one sees what is done in the shadows.
"Oceana!"
I whip around, and scream as I lock eyes with the man aboard the doomed ship.
"Father!"
A final tidal wave swallows the vessel whole. No. No he can't be-
"No!"
I dive down, swimming farther and farther until I reach the depth's. But its no use.
He is gone.
new/old
I turned my shape into a ball
I buried myself deep in a hole
and waited patiently_ until I grew back to what I was
until I straighten all of my edges
defeated the pointy angles
and pushed myself out
until I was once again_ just a line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_44-5ENF2AI&index=5&list=LLvSkwYUv773u7BPfhYYTfjg&t=0s
Mask yourself in a smile
as your dull mind
drips all over your shoes.
Light a candle for yourself,
I'll watch you burn
and laugh.
I've ran marathons
that lasted longer than
your act.
The floorboards breathe,
you suffocate them
with your stance.
So cold and so harsh
no amount of sun
will warm
your icebox soul.
I won't be the fool
to shovel your needs
into my driveway.
I will slowly drift myself
further from the blackened energy
that breeds in your presence.
A Song
The clock struck midnight and
i felt Music bursting through my skull
It pounded at the walls of my cranium
Begging to be free of its prison
It wanted to live with me
It wanted to live amongst the mortals
To feel timely
I cried; I wanted to live amongst the melodies
I wanted to feel nonperishable
To live in that vast ocean that knew no boundaries
I was stifled in my own head
Prisoner to my own unconsciousness
Putting things in a body is easy
A scarecrow stuffed with hay, with bugs and decay, with soil and maggots
The brain too sharp
Too obsessed with its own existence
A malfunction in basic coding
In the basic stuffing of the scarecrow
Removing presents a mountain
Rip into the stitches
Go on
Unravel the stuffing like tule of a tutu
Dead, dead, dead
Facing an invasion of crows now
The music unwinding from my gyri
Doing pirouettes and crashing hard
Never breaking
Always playing
Rip into my skin
Go on.
Puncture my skull
And see the songs for yourself
See how they dance and spin and mourn and rejoice
I’ve never known silence
Please excavate my mind
So I can finally be
Alive
I screamed
I screamed and screamed and screamed
But made no sound
No air would pass my lips
I am a tree
Tumbling towards the forest floor
With no one to halt my fall
No one to witness my demise
She struck midnight
The clock struck midnight
and she ran.
and ran
and ran
and ran.
The wind smacking her in the face
making her thin,
transluscent dress flow behind her.
"The blood's not mine,
the blood's not mine"
she screamed into the dark of the night.
No one could hear, the thick fog around her seeming to muffle her words
muffle her thoughts
muffle her existence.
She kept running,
never planning on stopping.
The blood on her dress,
on her hands.
not hers
Rip Her
He wakes slowly. Everything feels right. Easy. He watches her breathe, deep and steady. Her auburn hair, so often worn in a tight bun, now pooling around her. And something snaps. Her hair stirring memories, not quite his own, but still somehow memories. A lovely blonde. Sticky, dark puddles matting her hair to the bricks in the alley. Lips pouting, eyes glassed over. Throat leaking a slow dribble. And stomach missing all essentials. His eyes refocus on the dark haired kitten in a foreign bed. His bare feet tread light and quiet through the dim room with only starlight and a dying fire in the grate to guide him. His fingers close on the straight razor like a long-forgotten friend. And the metallic blade slides through the pale skin at her throat, easy as cutting the flesh of a peach. And the blue veins gush cataracts of contrasting scarlet. And the early morning sun finds her still and breathless. Insides spilled across the room. Face an unrecognizable mask of jagged cuts. Nightdress bloody between the legs. And the early morning sun finds the attic of his mind reawakened. Newborn shadows dancing across the weathered floorboards mixing with echoes screaming through the open halls. And early morning sun finds him a hunter of human flesh. Early morning sun rises on the rebirth of terror.