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Saturday, June 29, 2013

Listening For That Sweet Tune-Chapter 26: Now Thats Entertainment! Pt. 2


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     I began to head down the hole feet first but once my body was inside and my head nearly poking out I realized that there was something blocking the path. I kicked my legs against it a few times and it sounded wooden, maybe hollow. I brought up my arms to pull me back up and the sounds of the underground stopped forcing me to hear the racket of the skipping record and the digging. I really should be able to hear this down the hole but there was some threshold right below the surface. The sound of dripping water and muddled music was all I could hear. I patted off the dirt from my shirt and pants disregarding the fact that I was heading back down but I looked back out from under the stairway to see the bodies stacked three times as high. I looked back down and began my decent. 

     Nearly immediately after squeezing down the narrow tunnel my lungs felt heavy from the lack of oxygen from burrowing under the ground and claustrophobia overtook my mind thinking that the dirt walls around me were going to collapse on top of me but I wasn't in the dark. A small window in the door shined through the hole revealing a large hallway on the other side. There was no door handle, which began to worry me I started punching the door hoping that it would break but nothing budged. I looked through the window hoping that someone would show up but all was quiet on the other side of infinity. 

     I started seeing spots as I continued to exhaust myself so I tried to get out of the hole but my body was too fatigued. I looked at the window determining if the thickness was a minuscule amount so I could reach through the other side—or at least call for help. I started pounding at the glass and sure enough it gave but at the cost of a huge gash along my right forearm. I began to yell for help louder and louder but no one thought they should check on the sound. I quieted down to hear voices and more music at the end of the hall—some joyous festivity. Cool air pushed through the window as I pushed my face against the opening and if it weren’t for me being down a hole I would be at peace. 

     I reached my arm through the window hoping that there was a doorknob and in a moment I felt like an idiot swaying my arm back and forth when the doorknob was clearly in one place. I was able to touch it in the tip of my fingers but I feared that I was to far away so I pushed myself further against the door. The glass on the edges of the window began to cut through my shirt and near my armpit forcing a horrible feeling down my chest and down my legs but it was enough. The door began to swing open peeling open my skin under my arm before I was able to even think about moving my body. I fell out onto the glass cutting up my hands and knees but at least I was out—that's what mattered. 

     I lifted my head up and eventually rose to my feet to take a few steps forward looking towards the sections of the hallway. Depressed arches supported by fan vaulting were every ten feet of the hallway then proceeding to another vault just like the one before. There were at least ten vaults leading to the end of the hallway with columns supporting every midsection with gas lateens on every column—more gothic architecture. I began to sweat because I feared I went to the exact place I was trying to run away from. Moony was something one shouldn't mess with and I only feared the day I would see her again—or just any wretched. 

     I hastened up my pace to the end of the hall till I saw two people cross the adjacent hallway. I pushed myself behind a column peeking past making sure I wasn't seen and I wasn't. The two men had champagne glasses in their grasp as they wore black tuxedoes, slim black shoes and skinny red bowties. They stopped in the middle of the cross section and one turned around to the other and placed his hand on the others shoulder. I couldn't make out what they were saying so I closed my eyes and slowed down my breathing to focus on the topic they had on hand. 

     '—not and will not admit what we really are. Even though I feel like a dead man walking trapped in some make believe world. One person has control over the rest and that just doesn't seem fair.'

     'Like we have any choice.' Said the other man. 'Just wait till he gets here and everything will be done and we can go back to peace.' For a second I thought they were talking about me but how could they be waiting for me when I don't even know where I am? I thought back to where I woke up in some kind of fuzzy mixed up world. How everything had a certain progression to it till I wound up here? I looked back down to the cuts in my arm and all was left was dried up blood. I thought back to where I was before and even though I knew what happened I could not recall how I got here. I looked back down the hall and the other two men left so I got back into the hall and moved forward. 

     It's difficult to comprehend what was really going on. Everything continued to look like different colours of cream like on a painting. The black pushed up against the white and somehow they mixed together creating a grey. I looked back down to my ragged dirty clothes and thought of wearing a tuxedo like the men were and before I took another step forward it was as if it was painted on top of me. I felt the clothing and sure enough it was real—I was now standing where the men previously stood. The hallway continued to my left and right going till everything went black in the distance. I looked at the wall in front of me and visualized a door, closed my eyes then opened them again. Nothing changed and I thought to myself what could I do. I then put my hands on the wall and closed my eyes. A steady push caved the wall in and as I opened my eyes again two large wooden doors were against my hands and I was pushing myself into another room. 

I thought of a big grassy meadow full of flowers and trees in the distance on the other side of the door but as I pushed the doors further I realized my wishes were not the reality. A large room with a large ceiling decorated by ribbons and light in the shapes of balls and pyramids floated above my head lighting nearly the entire room completely. I was in the midst of several people—all of which in formal attire—but none paid attention to me. Everyone continued to converse with one another as they held their glasses full of wine or champagne. I could tell that several others were paying their undivided attention to the center of the room as I pushed my way between people. 

     I let out a 'sorry' and 'excuse me' nearly every second as the crowd thickened around me till I reached a large opening. People surrounded the center of the room leaving a diameter of several yards of empty space in the center. I began to listen again and over the constant talking and shuffling I could hear slight music echoing through the airwaves. It was quiet and somber. The racing thoughts in my head calmed ever so slightly as I continued to listen to the soft piano, it wasn't just any song with a piano but Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 or the Moonlight Sonata and the first movement had just ended.    

     People on the other side of the room began to back up creating a foot or two path for someone in the back to move forward through the crowd. The way stayed empty for a while as I continued to listen to the music closing my eyes and motioning my neck back and forth forcing my head to bobble along. Everyone soon grew quiet and I opened my eyes back up to see further more nothing in the path but I thought as if this was a surprise party to yell 'Happy Birthday!' when the person showed up. I heard a clicking of heals hitting the ground as several clops of hooves following the sound. 

     A woman in all white walked into the hallway then people began to cheer—reducing the sound of music I could hear in the air—as she pulled along a sheep with a full white coat behind her on a leash. As she walked closer to me I began to realize that she was wearing a wedding dress with a veil over her face covering the most definite of features. She minced towards the middle of the room pulling her little sheep along and for a little moment I could swear that she was walking towards me. The dress went down past her ankles and dragged ever so slightly on the floor behind her. Most skin was covered other than a slit in the dress that stretched from her left thigh down to the floor revealing one of her skinny legs. She motioned for the cheering to stop then crouched down to start petting the lamb. 

     'Many of you have waited for this day to come.' She said 'It's been a long time since we have been summoned and several of you have wished to breathe again.' A little more than half the crowd began to cheer, as others stayed silent. 'And another portion of you wish to stay silent and be at peace.' The rest of the crowd made their voices clear. 'You will all come along because this is inevitable. We present ourselves to serve a mission for our owner and we must complete his bidding for it is our purpose.'

     I thought that they must have been talking about me but I could only question how my own dream became self aware to what was happening. I then thought of what she was talking about when she said what we must do and I remembered that someone always gets hurt by my hand as I sleep. I pushed my hands against my sides and held them there to guarantee nothing bad will happen to those around me. 

     'He even stands with us right now! Let us thank our creator, Rancor, the one of many, bringing us the gift of souls. Please show yourself Ben Lamb.' I stood my ground as the others looked around for me but the bride wasn't fooled. She stared directly into my eyes and motioned for me to walk towards her. Soon everyone picked up on where I was and pushed me out of the circle. 'Come Ben Lamb, come here.' She smiled towards me and continued to motion her hand. I walked a few steps further towards her and she began to walk towards me pulling her sheep along. When she reached a whisper distance she stopped in front of me and handed me the sheep's leash then leaned down and took a knife out from against her thigh then held it in front of her for me to take. 

     'You must kill this sheep Ben Lamb. Be the shepherd that you are and give this animal the peace that you offer.' I thought to myself and wondered what was happening to my actual physical body. I thought how this sheep signified innocence and being kind. I could only imagine that I was standing among a young child with a knife. Maybe I could stop everything from happening and maybe save a life if I didn't do this. I motioned no to the bride and she withdrew the knife from between us. 'So be it.' She said menacingly and glared towards me. She snatched the leash from my hand and stepped away back to the center of the room. 'Ben Lamb will not take responsibility! He thinks as if this is some game that he can just push aside. We will show him what must be done.' 

     She leaned up against the sheep holding its neck back then slit its throat. The sheep grew limp and fell to the floor as the bride got to her knees and continued to stab the sheep viciously blood got all over anything white as blood began to pool underneath her. Blood splashed up against the veil and her dress. She then looked up to me and took the veil off from her face revealing to me black eyes, sharp teeth and a disfigured face. 

     'Kill him.' 

     The crowd began to surround me carrying knives and hatchets of various sizes. I felt pain so such a violent degree that I couldn't scream. My limbs were torn from me in seconds and my organs were being cut out making my death a most appropriate one but I was only dreaming, what's the worst that could happen?

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Sunday, June 16, 2013

Listening For That Sweet Tune-Chapter 26: Now Thats Entertainment! Pt. 1



STOP

Have you read the preceding chapters?
If not then read it from the beginning
or
Read the preceding chapter...



Go to the beginning:
Previously on Listening For That Sweet Tune:




Everything around me grew a certain phase of fuzzy. I was sitting in a small makeshift bed in a room that resembled highly of the lighthouse but it felt different. When I looked more around me everything blended in with another like a painting with soft edges. Everything around me was a strange form of cream as the light flickered on and off. I looked above me to see a lone light bulb hanging above me being held together by a little wire that attached to the socket. I could see directly into the floorboards as wires and boards weaved through each other. As spider webs filled up several holes in the ceiling and dust covered everything else I felt my heart turn with pain like I did something morally wrong. 
There was sound to my left and right. To my right was a window in the center of the wall in this small room and while looking out I could easily tell that I was both in a basement and it was sometime in the middle of the night. There was a muddled thump, thump, thump that I could hear which I could figure that someone was doing something to the ground—either digging or driving a stake or something of the sort into the ground. I uncovered myself from the small blanket and got up to approach the window tilting my head sideways looking up to see if I could see anything outside. Behind me—previously my left—I could hear music; it sounded old because of the crackling of the phonograph but it was something I've never heard of before. 
There was a singer with a deep and low voice singing with all his soul; I could not make out the words but I could tell that it was something meaningful to the singer. A piano came in periodically making the song a complete whole but like I said before, it was nothing I've ever heard of. Paying my attention back to the window I could hear that the thumping got more aggressive in sound by quickening the pace and making harder hits. I tried to open the window but something made it stick being closed—maybe it was for the best. 
The noise from outside had an abrupt stop leaving me with the sound of the music behind me. I paid my absolute attention through the window well blocking out everything else around me just waiting to see something then it happened. I could have imagined anything else other than this but sure enough I was surprised. Bodies. Dead, decomposing, motionless bodies. One by one they were thrown into the window well blocking my view from the outside. I looked closely to one and I could see maggots falling out of ones eye socket. Others had their mouths in a soundless scream as others had their hands petrified over their eyes; their deaths weren't peaceful ones. 
Looking back up seeing what's left of the night I could see a black silhouette of a man rolling bodies into the well as another started digging a already deep hole. The loud thumping began to echo through my head. I began to get claustrophobic as my view to the outside grew to a steady halt. I took a few steps backward placing my hands on my head trying to ignore the sound of thumping but it couldn't be drowned out. With every motion with the shovel to the ground the light turned off and flickered back on hesitantly as if the man was digging up the power lines. I turned around and looked out the doorway into the rest of the basement—it was nothing to get exited about. Like the room I was in the rest looked old and the wooden boards surrounding the interior walls looked rotten. I would suspect that the ceiling would collapse any minute if it weren’t for the concrete on the other side of the boards making the foundation of the house. 
There were no lights on in this room; in fact, it looks like there aren't even any lights on the ceiling. On the opposite side of the room—roughly fifteen feet—was a stairway that led to the upper floors but what caught my attention was underneath the stairs. A good portion of the hole was covered up with sheetrock but there was a gap big enough for any person to settle under the stairs, in fact, there was someone there. I could see a shadow on the wall from a light behind the person in which the stairs ended above that was constantly moving. It looked as if the person was rocking back and forth knowing the same fate I was facing. 
This was where the music was coming from as I listened to hear what was happening the thump continued behind me as the music continued in front of me. I was now hearing a clarinet piercing through the void as a woman was singing periodically. Every once and a while an orchestra would come in making the whole piece feel at home. The lyrics sounded more like poetry as the woman continued to sing and the man under the stairway started to sing along. 
'Gloomy Sunday.' The orchestra came back in louder than before. Seconds later the window behind me busted open and bodies came tumbling into the basement. The smell reeked making me to nearly throw up so I left the room and began to head towards the stairs. The thumping of the shovel grew louder and louder through every step towards the stairs and before I knew it, it was as if the sound was right next to me. The constant thumping was no longer behind me but in front of me as well. I examined what I could see from under the stairs and the constant repetitious movement wasn't rocking back and forth but a motion of digging a hole. 
As I got closer to the stairs I could see dirt along the entrance of under the stairway. Taking my steps cautiously I grew closer to the point that I was now stepping in dirt. I started to breath heavy then held my breath so I could sneak away from the digging man. I walked up to the beginning of the stairs and looked up hoping that I could get out but as I turned the corner I was faced with stacked bodies that went all the way to the ceiling. I tried to look around to see how deep it was but it seemed to continue all the way up the stairs. I didn't want my presence to be known so I let out a big sigh of disappointment. Before I was able to make another step the man stopped his motions and raised his head. I heard a little ding of the shovel being placed on concrete and the man ran. From how the shadow looked it was as if he ran out to where I was but I never saw him. The record began to skip playing the previous few seconds over and over. I walked up closer now being able to peek inside and I saw the phonograph on a small table just outside a big hole that ran underneath the concrete. It looked as if a big bug burrowed underneath the stairs but this apparently wasn't so. 
The hole could have gone down for miles. As I crouched down to look further into the hole I noticed a light shining on the moist dirt. I got up and looked towards the rest of the room to see if I could get out any other way but the men outside hastened their pace and at one point were walking behind me because every corner of the basement had at least a couple feet of bodies. I wondered what could be down there, an oasis in the dark, maybe a mausoleum for the dead? It could have been anything because anything is possible in this world I live in. Maybe I am the one who chooses what I see. Maybe I've been dreaming this whole time and I'm just waiting to wake up beside Serenity when the day comes. I smiled a little bit thinking of what could be but this was far from over. 




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