Fall Into You

Sad Song

Deadreamalone - "The Vault"

       "The Vault"

“Listen” I said.


“Are you relaxed?”

“Are you comfortable and ready to continue?”

All heads at the table nodded in agreement.

“Good, then I will start at the beginning!”

“Somewhere in another time and in another place far from the reaches of man and his ilk, sitting high above the maddening throng he sits, telling his story. The din below dies down and he begins recounting his saga, reading from a brittle leather bound book resting upon his aged, cracked and leather like hands.”

“He reads, no orates, to unintelligent diminutive humans who will become serial killers, murderers, wife beaters, drunks, drug addicts, domineering house wives, sadists and who’s only reason for existence is to breed and inhabit this dust ball of an orb circling the sun with more and more of their kind.”

“He begins with a snarl…”

“Once upon a time, in a place far away and long ago, from an idyllic place called Then, my story continues.”

The streets in Then were dark and the sounds of children’s laughter had long since ceased to resonate through the neighborhood. Homes along the narrow streets were gloomy looking and many of them were boarded up from being abandoned over the passing years. The homeless, the drug addicts and meth labs had moved into the once bright and proud part of the city at large. Many of the once brightly painted clapboard and brick homes were now condemned by the city and scheduled for demolition early next spring. However, that date was far away and on this cold late November night nary a creature was stirring, no human creature that is.

From off to the left where the street light has long since burnt out and not been replaced came a startling creaking sound that made the hair on the nape of my neck stand straight up and goose bumps to rise on my arms. I turned quickly only to see nothing but the stark darkness in front of me.

Cautiously, I slowly stepped towards the sounds emanating from the blackness before me and then the cold north wind slapped me in the face once more and I shivered, a bone chilling, deep shiver. The creaking sound only got louder as the wind picked up and smacked me in the face again. I turned away to shield my face from the biting cold wind.

The wickedly cold November winds suddenly ceased and I noticed that I was engulfed in dead silence. There was no discernible noise from anywhere, no cars roaring through the night air, no wind blowing, no trees rustling; I couldn’t even hear my own shallow breathing, though I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.

It was then that I noticed a soft red glow of light off in the distance and the warm cheery glow called to me and as it beckoned to me, I plodded almost trance like into the blackness that surrounded me and I began making my way straight towards the unknown.

As I tripped over the unseen curb, I had a sense of Déjà Vu and I was transported to a much happier time with children playing in an open field and a nearby park. I am overcome by the vision of several young girls playing a game of hopscotch on the sidewalk and then I see a violent confrontation between two of them. Off in the distance on the other side of the park I notice an eerie red glow and I am drawn towards it.

Now, I see the glow and it appears to be getting brighter and brighter while the night is getting blacker, if that is at all possible. As I turn around and glance behind me I notice that I can no longer see the street, nor can I see the houses and the far off street lights are like the farthest off stars in the night sky.

Then, the glow began to get brighter and I lost all sense of what was going on around me. The fighting girls were but a dim memory and the glow called out to me, “Come.” I went forth as a man mesmerized into a deep trance, obeying but a single command.

Now and then, I came to a spot in the earth that seemed to open wide before me and I am/was bathed in the light of the eerie red glow. Where there should be a deep hole, I see instead a gently sloping path leading down, down as far as I could see and I could feel a frigidly cold wind coming from depths within the bowels of the earth.

An ethereal voice called out to me, “Come!” and suddenly I was literally sucked into the hole and I found myself tumbling over and over again deeper and deeper into the earth.

When, after what seemed to be an eternity, I finally stopped tumbling, I was able to upright myself; I found that I was standing before a large heavy looking oaken type door that was glowing bright red.

Etched into the massive door were the words “The Vault.” I traced the letters with my fingers and sounded out each word just to make sure that my senses weren’t betraying me. I imagined this to be just an illusion of some sort and that I was really lying unconscious on the street above from tripping on the curb and falling down. I knew that I would wake up any minute with a splitting headache and maybe a few bumps and bruises, but nothing more and my life would go back to normal, whatever that may be.

But I didn’t wake up and see the darkness around me, nor did I feel the stinging cold wind biting at my exposed skin, instead I stood before the massive door and again I heard the calling, “Come.”

I reached out for the handle and before I even touched it I heard a ‘click’ resonate and echo in the tunnel and the door creaked noisily open on its own accord. I quickly reached up and covered my ears with my hands to help protect them from the deafening sound and I remembered that this was the very sound that I had heard while standing on the street both now and then.

I shirked back in horror as the sound became louder and louder until I fell to my knees, cupping my ears and screaming, “Stop it, stop it!”

Then/now, as suddenly as the horrendous sound had begun it ended and I slowing removed my hands from my ears. Even though there seemed to be dead silence, the incessant ringing in my ears nearly brought tears to my eyes.

“Lance, stop this silly story right now!” Diane said, as she grabbed my hand and pulled it close to her full breasts. “I don’t want to hear another word of it.”

“Oh, come on, Diane, let him finish. We’ve been waiting hours to hear the end and I’m not going to go home without hearing it.” Said Maria forcefully.

“Yes, Maria is correct and I think that she speaks for all of us, we want to hear the rest of this story of yours Lance.” Kieran chimed in.

Jordan then said, “Yea, let him finish. After you leave here the two of you can go snuggle up someplace nice and quite and he’ll keep the boogie man away from you.”

And John added, “Yep, and you’ll wake up one satisfied lady too, Diane.” “Go ahead Lance; pick it up where you left off.”

“Okay.” Lance blissfully said as he winked at Diane.

The vault opened before me and the great walls within glowed a supernatural shade of red. The interior walls were covered with row after row of small drawers that stretched from the dirt covered floor to the ceiling with tiny little copper colored handles. As I looked closely I could also see that each drawer front had a number inscribed into it and it was filled in with a ruddy brown colored content of some sort. Upon closer inspection the substance reminded me of long since dried blood.

Below the numbers were etched letters of which some were readable and still others had become illegible from the dampness of the air and effects of time. The first one I came to, was completely indecipherable, however number 2 proved to be partially readable, “Norm n R kwel - c bs” was all that I could make out in the glow kindled darkness.

And still another was marked with the numbers 1000666 and below in the ancient weathered metal read the words “Marry Money.” And inscribed on drawer number 2042955 were the curious letters “No_ Lo_e.” I thought to myself that it was so sad to go through life thinking that money could make one happy and I remembered a lesson that I learned long ago, “Only you can make yourself happy. Happiness cannot be found in another.” A very wise reminder of how we should live our lives.

As I studied the sequences and numbers before me I noticed a pattern emerging and the pattern was leading me to the center of the room where in a last drawer numbered 2191964 was embedded in the very floor of the vault.

I quickly searched for drawer 1095982 and found it. It read “Key” so I reached out and gently tugged on the copper colored handle. With little resistance, the drawer began to open to reveal a brightly glowing skeleton key that appeared to be hewn out of bone. I reeled back in disgust, yet I was drawn by my curiosity to reach in and take hold of the key.

As my hand touch the coldly glowing key, I felt lightheaded and my vision blurred.

I awoke sometime later with the key in my hand and a throbbing sound in my head only to see the room bathed in a blinding red light. I raised my hands to protect my eyes from the radiating light and I noticed a shadow in the center of the room. It was then that I also realized that the rhythmical throbbing sounds that I heard were emanating from somewhere in the room and not my head.

As I staggered to my feet and crept towards the midpoint of the room I noticed a shape before me even though I had my eyes covered with my hands. A dais had risen up out of the center of the room and the drawer within it was wide open. An object sat upon the top of the drawer and it pulsated with a regular beat, “Ba, bump, ba, bump.” Over and over again the sound echoed throughout the vault.

It was then/now that I realized where and when I was and what this object before me was. This place did/does exist then and now and it is the vault, the great repository of all things past, present and future and it was here in the vault that I hid away my heart many years ago to protect it and to keep it safe.

Now, free from the fetters of reality, I have once again come to claim what is rightfully mine, my heart! It had been stored deep within the confines of the vault lo these many years, to keep it from ever being seen as I wondered the earth in a zombie like state without feelings, without remorse and without love, for true love only comes from and through the heart.

The glow began to diffuse and I dropped my hands from in front of my face, but the pulsating beating sound continued as I notice another drawer had been opened on the far wall. I quickly crossed the space between and looked at the drawer number, it clearly read, ‘5051997’ and beneath it was inscribed the word ‘Flo da.’

Within the drawer I saw a small folded piece of paper, so I reached in and pulled it out and I began to unfold it. The writing on the paper was scribbled and streaked as though tears had dripped upon the paper and caused the ink to run as it was hastily written.

I took the paper and moved closer to the red glow projecting from my heart so that I may read that which was written on the piece of ancient manuscript in my hand. I held the paper up so that the light was fully upon it and I began to read the words written on the parchment….

“I write this missive in my own hand for Now and Then and on this day in the month of May I forever lock away my heart in the vault of then and now, no person shall ever see the true love contained within, nor shall they know the warmth of my heart. This day I have learned the lesson and the lesson has taught me of hatred, which was unknown to me until now.”
“The darkness cast upon me shall be revenged and avenged by a dark angel from beyond the veil of time and space; memories locked away shall be methodically analyzed and cataloged for future reference. No stone shall be left unturned, no subtle nuance shall be overlooked and every potential eventuality shall be planned for with no detail, no event, and no spoken word being disregarded or forgotten.”
The missive continued, “Fool me but once, shame on thee. Fool me but twice and shame on me! Thus saith the wise man that hath learneth the hard lessons of life as he concealed his heart from the light of day in the vault of darkness. Nary again shall I be deceived, hence forth I shall speak the edict, thou shall not be able to conceal or hide infidelity from this vessel. I tell you this now and I will tell you again, I will know of your deceitful hearts lust and desire for someone else previous to you even conceiving such actions. I shall know beforehand and your heart shall deceive your mind, then you will fall from great honor and respect into the depths of your own despair. You shall hide, but not be sought, for the heart has known of your deceit and prepared the way in advance.”
The words continued, but I was distracted by movement that I spied out of the corner of my eye. I looked down and saw the first creature that I had seen since my journey had begun in the then and now. A small scorpion was crawling on the ground near my foot, so I raised the heel of my boot and….
Next: “Exit Strategy”

Thoughts

From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate.
..................................... Socrates
 
Have you ever wondered what makes a man or woman think deep thoughts like this?  What events transpired or inspired them to think along these lines and then to utter words such as those found above?  What events have transpired in your life that drive you to think such thoughts, or do you even wonder about such things....?

Deadreamalone

A new chapter of “The Deadreamalone” entitled “The Vault” will premier on February 19, 2010…hmmm, I wonder what’s up with that date???