September/October 2020 - These Curious Times

Release Me
Wyspersoul
The tapping and spattering of
small raindrops slap at the window
and roll down the glass blurring her
face.
Pressed against it hiding the pain
dripping from her eyes, her mascara
smudging and cloaking her face in a
mask of shadows ~ dark and light.
Watching the world through the
blurry glass, trees take odd shapes and
houses whir by as she tries her best to
hold herself together. Laughter erupts
in the cars around her, music blaring
out of the speakers, friendship tested
by time and trials bursts at the seams
unaware of the dying pain she felt
inside.
Assuming she was fast asleep her
face cloaked by a black hoodie, they
talk of love and sex and teasing one
another with their follies of growing
up and embarrassing mistakes made
when trying to learn. The conversation
turns to October’s adventure and
spending a week on the lake paring it
to Camp Crystal Lake.
Teasing and poking fun at one
another about haunted houses and
creepy woods that surround them,
she listens to them prattle on while
the pain of feeling lost and unattached
deepens within her heart. Why was
she here, she didn’t belong to this
group. These friends from childhood
they said …. She felt so distant so lost,
would they even notice her missing if
she was gone?
Would they be aware of her empty
presence?
The world whispers of haunted
homes and secret places but what
about haunted humans? She herself
was a haunted house; an empty soul
a dark and dusty shadowed attic. Do
people understand that souls and the
living can be hallow and haunted?
How do you explain that at night in
the quiet hours of evening time, when
hunters and innocent prey scurry
about ~ when your mind
is supposed to be resting
and quiet ~ that the empty
attic in your head comes
alive with spirit and fire?
Slithering on bellies
and crawling on knees
from the shadows, they
emerge to dance and
laugh and feed at the pain
in your soul.
The car hits a bump
and she cracks her
forehead against the glass
snapping herself back
into the present, looking
around as the trees grow
closer and the tires crunch
onto the gravel road.
Ten more minutes of
sloshing and sliding down
the road. The car pulls
into the driveway of their
home for the next week. Smiling and
in acknowledgment to her friends
their vacation begins. Everyone starts
to pull bags and boxes from the car
and head for the front door.
From behind she hears a sharp
snapping sound and turns to face it.
Looking deep into the woods, her eyes
play tricks as shadows dart and dance
from tree to shrub. Her eyes betray her
and hide the prying of those spirits
staring at her with intent.
Ignoring the calls of her friends,
she takes the first steps toward the
woods. There is a feeling in her chest, a
pull that begs her to come and play, she
feels the shadows of her mind begin to
dance and shout at the idea of chaos
being opened.
She feels the sloppy clay based
mud grab at her toes and yank her
flip flops off her bare tender feet. The
mud squishes between her toes as the
rain rolls down her face dripping over
her breast and body, sharp flashes of
lightning snap and bite at the top of
the canopy and thunder rattles in the
deepest roots of the old trees.
Short Story
As she walks deep into the woods,
darkness cradles her and the wind
whips and bites at her exposed flesh.
Unaware of how far she has walked
from the house and unaware of the
dangers swirling around her, she
saunters on, her black skirt getting
caught on the branches as she walks
by. The reach for her grabbing and
slapping her exposed pale skin. It
begins to marble from the cold wind
nipping at her thighs.
Emerging from the shadows and
standing firm in her way, brooding and
strong, she is cloaked in darkness. The
sputtering fires embers dancing off
the craggy bark catch her breath and
she stops and stares. Fear begins to
bleed out of her pores. She realizes she
is completely naked, having no idea
when her clothing was ripped from
her body. Scared wanting to turn and
run but being unable to free her feet
from the mud that was now grabbing
and locking into her ankles she is
sucked into the earth.
He steps toward her, his footsteps
rattle like the bass of a speaker, his
hand reaches for her bare exposed
throat, fingers clinching deep against
her flesh, her lungs wheeze and
whistle as oxygen becomes sparse
and her ice blue eyes grow wide in
terror. His hand lifts her dangling
body to the sky.... a quiet peace settles
over her soul as she starts to fade in
and out of consciousness. She lifts her
gaze upward as the sky seems to be
coming and going rushing at her face,
“Freedom!” he screams.
With a bright yellow flash of
brilliant energy, the woods ignite; her
body explodes into hundreds of bats
that take off, soaring up to the heavens
and the stars. Her essence is gone.
With a nod to the rising storm
he turns to the wild woods, drops
to his knees taking the form of the
wolf. With eyes intense and as silver
as moonlight, he stares into the night
watching the last few traces bats and
lets out one lone long passionate howl.
Into the deep black of the sky and
the storm, with one last glance at the
house aglow with life he turns to the
woods that consume him into the
shadows of time.
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