6Welcome back to 'Once Upon A Time' for this second installment of sublime confusion.
Argh, may I just say that writing in the present tense is killing me!
Killing me I tell you!
Ah well.
Enjoy! =3
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Hickory dickory dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory dickory dock,
~~~~
"Well, it's nice to meet you Damien. New faces are always welcome here!" She beams enthuastically at me.
"Where exactly is here?"
"That's the thing. No one really knows. Some of us remember dying, some of us remember most of our old lives, some of us remember nothing at all. But no one remembers how they got here. We've managed to work out that we're all young and dead but that's as far as it goes."
"Why Shangri-La?" I ask. That's something that had been bothering me.
"Well, at first that's how it seemed. Me, Jaded and Seth were the first ones here. It seemed like paradise for a time. So we decided to christen this place with some such name. Jaded wanted to call it 'Nirvana' but that's because she found it amusing. In the end we decided on Shangri-La, though now we've been here as long as we have it seems more like purgatory than anything."
"Perhaps it's really Hell in a pretty disguise?" Pipes up a new voice, that quickly materialises into the gothic wonder from earlier.
"Jaded." adknowledges Lilly. Jaded nods and sits beside her.
~~~~
We sit in silence for a while, me with Lilly's words chasing each other round my head in a morbid game of tag. Shangri-La, Purgatory, Hell.
~~~~
"What day is it?"
"You always ask that! We have to get you a calender..."
"Whatever..."
Silence.
"Are you going to tell me what day it is or what?"
"It's Sunday."
"Jesus! It's always fucking Sunday!"
"Cept for when it isn't..."
"Shut up. You of all people should KNOW how much I hate Sundays..."
"The volume you talk the whole bloody country knows!"
Hurt silence.
"I'm... I'm sorry, ok?"
"well... I suppose I'll forgive you this time..."
~~~~
"Hey kid! If you want to make yourself usefull..."
And somehow I end up on a mission to find this 'Seth' creature, Jaded's persuasive powers are quite phenomenal, I must admit.
Directions are given, follow the yellow corridor to the painting of the moon, then work it out yourself from there. I thank them for this helpful information and make my way down the corridor. The very yellow corridor.
I pass many turn offs from my corridor, but I ignore them all, no matter how alluring the decor or how tempting the furniture, my feet are rather tired after all the stress of the day? Week? Month? Year? Second?
~~~~
I remember when our mutual friend, Danni, died of an overdose. The first thing he did upon hearing the tragic news was to reach for a syringe.
I think, just maybe, I hated him a little then.
~~~~
Eventually I reach what I suppose must be my destination, a rather large picture of an alluring blonde woman dancing amongst a painted background of midnight and stars. The plaque underneath reads 'The Full Moon Danceth'. I decide that even is this is not my destination, I'm stopping here and resting for a while anyway, my feet hurt and I'm hungry. A thought occurs to me, do they even eat here? Perhaps though, that is a thought for another time, I need a nap.
~~~~
When I sleep, I dream. This time I dream a sort of hypersepeed trawl through my life, sounds and images flash by, the whole affect is very disorientating. I am thankful when it ends.
~~~~
First dates are always nervewracking but first dates with a member of the same sex, when up until then you were pretty sure you were straight... Well, lets just say it was rather scary...
To be frank, I'm surprised we ever did anything quite so shockingly normal as go on a date, let alone a posistively classy date in a posh restraunt.
We met up, we eat, we talked. He was proudly bisexual, I was horrendously confused. We ended up in bed and we ended up in love.
The rest as they say, is history.
~~~~
As was becoming the norm I was pulled back to reality by a strange voice and the first thing I see is a strange face. This time though, the shock is too much and I shoot up with a stifled gasp. The face regards me amusedly from behind a curtain of blonde hair.
"Hello there. Did Lilith send you?" I look at him baffled.
"Lilith...?" A pause. "Oh! Right, Lilly. Yeah, you're Seth then?"
He nods. "Indeed I am. Did she say what she wanted? hmmm?"
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beau·ti·ful
adj.
Having qualities that delight the senses, especially the sense of sight.
Excellent; wonderful.
~~~~
"She just said something about a hole. Said you'd know what she was on about..."
"A hole aye?"
"mmhm.. an oblivion hole I think she said..."
That was that, he springs up like a shot, grabs my hand and starts sprinting down the corridor. As we pass the painting of the moon, I could've sworn she winks at me.
~~~~
There is a hole in the world. It smells like garlic.
~~~~
"What is it?"
"A hole..."
"I can SEE that. What KIND of hole?"
They look at each other. Eventually Jaded answers. "Well, that's the thing. We're not entirely sure. We think they might go back to the other world... They always appear right after a new person appears..."
Seth look sat her sharply.
"Though we have no proof of this..." She adds hurriedly.
That was enough for me, the seeds of an idea were sown.
~~~~
The next few hours pass in a sort of blur, Seth did something to hide the hole. So no one could see it, and therefore no one would stumble into it, I watch it dissapear with a heavy heart.
"Has anyone been through one before?"
Seth eyes me suspiciously. "Once or twice. I wouldn't reccomend it though."
I feighn innocence.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
~~~~
I creep back to the spot under the cover of darkness, I find the rough posistion of the hole and grin. Following the scent of garlic. Eventually I find it, a cool spot, two foot wide and six foot high.
~~~~
"I know it's hard to deal with, but it gets easier..." Lilly looks at me with sympathy as she leads back to the room in which I first woke up, I make sure to memorise the route exactly.
~~~~
With a grim smile I stand in front of the hole, A cold breeze that can't orignate from anywhere else blows around me, and the scent of garlic is stronger than ever. With one last look around me, I step into the void.
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The last thought that runs through my head? I don't want to die.
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There is a hole in the world. It smells like garlic.
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Authors Ramble:
Well that's part two finito.
At the expense of my english coursework I may add...
Heh.
Hope you liked. As always users/bleachedclouds/.
Love and bloddloss
Vespa.