Flashback #2

The rain splashed against the glass with but the lightest of touches, sliding down the pane as if only their destination mattered. The fireplace crackled and flickered trying hard to keep eating away at the givers of its limited life. Pictures of people hung upon the walls, covered in grime and dust from ages of unkemptness. It was still a beautiful room, but she used none of it, save the fireplace. The bed in the far corner was old and worn. It used to be a canopy bed, yet the old silken canopy fabric itself had no more life left in it. Shredded and dangling like the cobwebs that hung in the corners of the high ceiling. It used to be white, she had once guessed, but now it was brown and yellow, even the drafts this old house offered could barely move the leaden silk now hanging. The mattress was no longer an inkling of any use. It looked as black as night itself, the mold eagerly devouring whatever it could. She was unsure anymore what the mattress could be made of, she cared even less. The floor itself was still hardwood and utterly sturdy for the age of this home, and it seemed only the floor was defiant of the dust and caked on grime. The drafts would come, stirring the dust from the floor in mini dust devils cascading the particles into the air and the floor would shine in its defiance. Musty air swirled around with the dust, caressing her nostrils, and being forcefully removed with her breath. She could smell the rot, the graven aroma, surrounded by false death, false decay, and even the darkness. She paid no heed to those smells or any of the others within the room. She would have if the outside scents could have made their way into this old, yet massive home. For outside, scents of danger and blood rode the air with arrogance and pride. The rain picked up and thunder echoed through the sky and room as if neither one was part of the laws of physics. It didn’t matter much to her, however. What mattered was quelling her hunger, quelling the pain that began to make residence within the wholeness of her body. It began to wrap its massive arms of time around her, sinking deep into the cracks in her being no one could see. She blinked lightly, though her eyes never seemed to really dry, more so out of habit than need. There were many habits now that her body no longer needed, yet she made sure to stick to them. She blinked one more time, her lashes closing together repelling the dust contaminated air from in front of her eyes. She kept them closed a little longer than normal and sighed as she opened them. Darkness had come quick, it seemed unnatural but there it was regardless. There were no clouds now, at least none that could be seen, until the strikes of lighting arced across the sky with agitating ease and agility. Only then could the scenery be seen, and only then in flashes of instant light. It could not really be made out of course, but she already knew what was there. She had stared out this window for time long passed now, ages really. She only watched the darkness, its thickness, mugginess, rancidness, and control enveloping the area around it, she took great comfort in it. It was the immense tidal wave she called her life, all of it. Everything about it, she was on top and her life belonged to it beyond what even she comprehended. The door to this room, intricate in design and craftsmanship opened behind her, as it did a feeling of sheer cold crossed her skin. It was all in her imagination of course, but she felt it as if she believed the illusion for all she was worth. She cared little for the presence that had entered the room she occupied. The fire shrieked and cackled in defiance of the new found intruder upon its comfort. The figure stood there within the doorway, wind kicking past as death on a pale horse, riding where it could. Stirring up dust and debris, the wind whistled, a low harmony of solemn sounds and haunting pitches. Scratches in the wall came and went as the newly introduced sounds seemed to disturb some presence within them. Her ears twinged in defiance of the melody, she tightened her lips, her hand wrapped around an unseen pendant, she wanted silence, and he had interrupted once again. She was trapped now, the darkness her world, her needs changed. The darkness was the only thing that she could accept, embrace against the harshness of life. Her fiancé, twisted and torn in front of her eyes, he was no more. Her family, lost years to her touch in the dark alleys, their bodies now hidden from prying eyes. It mattered no longer. She was new, her mind different. Her wants changed, the darkness was her ally and in it, she controlled the world around her. Sheep wandered freely, their inner wool providing her with warmth. A smile eased across her lips as her tongue flicked lightly on her upper lip. A sheep was near, and she was in need of the warmth. Her eyes listed left across the green grass, the statues, and the shrubs she knew were there, though were unseen tonight. There was more to her story than even she knew, yet her mind was on the verge of collapsing. She needed out, she wanted out, but she felt him enter, his presence strong, commanding, and fearful. She held her head high, fighting in defiance against it though. She had been captured by the darkness, and it held strong against her. She welcomed it with all she was worth anymore. She craved it, delighted within it, and so desperately clung to it as an awed child would to its mother in it’s incapability to understand. His touch brought her back to the reality she had no desire to go back to and she pulled her shoulder away from his touch a bit of annoyance rising within her. It refused to leave as she turned her head lightly, catching him from the side of her vision.