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Previously on Listening For That Sweet Tune:
'Here.'
Pointing at the window. 'What do you see?' I gazed out the window and all I
could see was fog.
'Nothing
really.' I responded
'Look
harder.' I looked out into the fog hoping to see darker grey shapes but
everything swirled away within seconds. I listened to the air but all I could
hear was a slight breeze causing a draft within the room. I smelt the air and
only the reeking of blood came to me. 'Look, the fog is clearing up.'
I looked
out in the distance and the colour green began to show in the distance. The sky
was a light blue and hills began to form before my very eyes. It was a field
that was before me and before I knew it the building we were standing in
disappeared as well. Hills were to my left and right as a big clearing was in
front of me. A few boulders littered the path as a large tree sat on the ridge
to my left. I looked around for Odious but he disappeared leaving no trace
behind. Music began to play in the distance from an old phonograph, it wasn't
close but I could tell where it was coming from. A few miles ahead in front of
me and I could tell that there was an old wooden house at the end of the
clearing right before a large forest. This was where I was to go, this is where
Odious wants me to be.
Where
could have Serenity gone? There's no sign of her even going into this city. I
could only hope that I am just a few steps behind her. Maybe she left to cross
the sea as well or maybe she's looking for the man who knows what's going on? I
imagined her walking into a room with an old man sitting on a pillow on the
other side of the room and confronting him with her problems, I could only
think that they were the same as mine. The old man tells her to wait for me and
that's exactly what she does. She has to be waiting for me. Continuing forward
I could only contemplate how infinite was the cobblestone road was that I was
walking on. I thought of astronauts going into space, pushing forward just to
see how far they could go. Eventually there would be an end, wouldn't it?
Something like that couldn't be infinite, there would have to be an end. I
continued to think of the astronauts moving forward till they couldn't anymore,
what would they encounter? I amused myself with the thought and walked in
thought for a moment longer. What could they find?
I thought
of an astronaut leaving the shuttle heading towards the black, planets and
stars behind him but in front, nothing, just vast black nothingness. He
continued to float forward till he hit it; just some black wall except it grew!
Inches from seconds it moved backwards away from the astronauts. The astronaut
outside commands the shuttle to shoot whatever weapon it's equipped with
towards the wall and the wall begins to scuff like a thick window that has been
painted over. Eventually, there would be no more paint and you can see to the
other side. It would be white. What first looks like nothing soon appears to be
another world. Heaven? I can only help but think that at the end we will find
god and where it lives it would sit on the other side looking at us and the
astronaut would only think why it would allow this and before he knew it he
finds himself on the other side. Just whisked away from the others knowing he
couldn't turn around because now, now he is dead like everyone else.
I soon
came to a bridge that went over a small creek that traced around the base of
all the hills. Looking past the bridge I could see the small house no more than
a mile away, smoke rising from the chimney. The music continued to other old
timey songs that I've never heard of periodically skipping twice to four times.
Seemed to sound like old folk music that had a religious tone in the lyrics but
everything was at a slower beat with piano and acoustic guitars. Sometimes I
heard gospel choirs singing 'praise the lord' and 'hallelujah'. The sound was
obviously coming from the old house because it grew louder as I got closer to
it but in no way was it possible for it to sound this loud and travel this far.
I stopped thinking the last mile and listened to the music it was calming and I
felt that I could rest easily if I really wanted to but as I grew closer to the
house the sound became so loud that it was beginning to hurt my ears. I plugged
my ears with my fingers as I continued further towards the house but even with
my ears plugged it began to hurt.
I was now
only a few feet away from the door and the sound became unbearable. I tried to
distract my pain by thinking of something else but it only dulled the pain to a
lower point of extreme. If the man in the small room was Odious then who was
the colossal giant? I'm sure if I had asked him he would have told me but for
now I guess I had to wait. I reached for the doorknob with my right hand and a death-defying
headache rushed through my brain because of the pain of the unprotected sound.
I began to feel something warm flow down my neck and there was no doubt that it
was blood but as soon as I opened the door all the noise stopped. This seemed
to be a common theme that I have encountered frequently but there was no doubt
in my mind that as soon as my journey ended all pain will melt from my skin and
fall like shackles on the ground.
The house in its entirety
was just one room with the exception of a few walls. Immediately to my left was
a toilet in the corner of the house that was partitioned off from the rest of
the room with a wall and something that resembled a folding closet door. On the
other side of the wall was a coutch and in the corner that followed was an old
television with two antennas that poked out from the top. The antennas didn't
help at all because on the television was solid static. A table with an old
phonograph sat inbetween the television and the coutch. An old wooden ricking
chair sat next to the table and a few feet away from the television.
Immediately to my right in the corner was a kitchenette that was in a shape of
an L that sat directly against the walls. Within this kitchenette was a sink in
the corner and to the left of that was the oven and stovetop connected within
each other; everything else was cabinets. This continued against the far right
wall till midway against the wall. Another small wall partition came out about
the length of a queen-sized bed to make a closet in the far right corner.
Inside the closet looked like a typical walk in closet with hangers and clothes
dangling down from long bars that lined the inside of the closet except for the
queen sized bed that was crudely made on the floor.
Covering
all the walls that were holding the roof up were old black and white
photographs mostly with two people in every photo. Never was the same person in
two photographs, which was odd. In a closer inspection to some of the
photographs I noticed that in a few of them were people that I have met. Mooney
and an older woman sat in one as the strange man in the lighthouse and a woman
stood in another. Looking at each one carefully I noticed that the background
was exactly the same as the latter one. 'They were all in one place' I said
aloud. Looking at others that lined the wall I saw Serenity with another woman
and in another was the old man that I met at the docks with what I could only
assume was his son.
I picked
the photo off the wall and took the photo from out of its frame then hanged the
frame back up. Looking at the back of the photo it read 'Captain Grey and his
son, Odysseus.' I couldn’t help but find a resemblance between Odysseus and
Odious. I looked at the photo trying to remember what Odious looked like and I
couldn't help but feel that they might in fact be the same person. I folded the
photo and put it in my back pants pocket hoping that I would find answers when
I met up with the Captain again. I began to walk towards the front door and as
I put my hand on the handle I heard Odious speak.
'Have you
ever inquired what was on the other side of a mirror Ben?' It grew quiet as I
looked around on the ceiling wondering if he would phase through it. I then
looked towards the mirror that hung on the wall that was directly on the other
side of the room. 'Since the genesis of the seasons common people have always
excogitated the interpretation of vivacity as an actuality and found themselves
inquisitive for the interpretation. Where would it be? Who knows for an
assurity? In this pursuit the common people detached from the original
hypothesis and ventured to new cogitations like, how can I live forever? What
is god? Why am I here? That's an easy inquiry Ben. All the answers are in the
palms of your hands if you could only just understand.' I was now standing in
front of the mirror looking at my reflection and it dawned to me that never
before have I seen my face. From what I could tell I had a crooked face atop of
my crooked head and a muffed up gaze towards myself. I'm sure I looked fairly
normal but everything seemed so distorted in this mirror.
'Maybe
there is another parallel universe in which our duplicates watch us through our
reflections and mimic our every move just for the sole fact of keeping us safe.
We are not supposed to know what is on the other side of the mirror because our
feeble little minds cannot handle the truth. Think about it Ben. They gaze at
us whenever we drift our backs and snicker with one another because we are
ignoramus. Mangy little pieces of dirt that doesn't know any better than to
think that everything is refined. We need to perform an undertaking Ben. We
must find the one true looking glass in all the province and saunter through to
the other side. It's imperative Ben, imperative for our survival.' I examined
the oval mirror and all the silver furnishings that revolved around it forming
leaves and flowers. I then looked at myself again and noticed that my
reflection was smiling. I reached out to touch the mirror and my reflection did
the same, I rubbed my head in thought and my reflection did the same. The
headache I had was rushing through my skull piercing everything it touched and
I grew angry to the thought of it. I punched the mirror shattering it into tiny
pieces and gazed at my now broken reflection. I saw it take a few steps back
away from me then turned out of sight.
'Leave
now Ben and do what I have asked of you.' I turned to face the door and walked
towards it while thinking of what just happened I put my hand on the door knob
and breathed in deeply hoping that home was on the other side but it came to my
attention that what was on the other side was far away from home. 'I don't
think I have a home left.' I said aloud. I was now in the midst of the docks. Photograph
in hand; I was now ready to leave.
End of Act I
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