Clutching The Darkness

Chapter 25: The Lettermen

The axe was growing increasingly heavy as time grew on. The slashes on my body from the previous traps were still leaking with bloody mist; a horrid concoction of my profuse sweating and droplets of blood.

The hallway I found myself with now had shifting walls, all of which would fly forwards into the ceiling before dropping back down again. They repositioned themselves as if by the force of magic. Their heavy thuds echoed as they smacked down into the decaying floor. I noticed holes and eroding stone forming pit falls back to lower levels. I knew for sure that it would be impossible that the drop I was noticing to be the next floor, but the inside voice reassured me it was. It was almost as if every property and element in this machinated temple had an abyss under and over each level.

It should have been obvious to me that this building didn't adhere to the rules of physics, but with that mental note aside, I quickly swallowed the inevitable truth that these walls can and will jump up and down. I noted also, that my caution should be placed on how I positioned myself, for a wrong move would send me falling into a deep darkness, or if a wrong step would leave me to be crushed. Or dare I say, I get locked in with them.

Yes, them. Those creatures. The Lettermen they were called. Male and Female bodies wrapped in expensive pants and shoes, yet sporting the university letterman jacket. A mask upon their face— or should I say practically a helmet: A full on headwear of the Coolidge Camel. The dopey look of it proved menacing when covered with splashes of blood running down their attire.

The worst about these distortions were that they seemed to gather in groups. Every time I spotted them, they had to be at least four or five in circulation. They branched off in groups of no higher number than that. And they circled around, like a little merry-go-round of adults just muttering to themselves. They would hush and giggle between themselves while having their backs turned towards me, their chatter all being channeled towards the middle of their little group. The whispers sent harsh words and stinging insults towards me, but I tried not to care. I tried not to give in.

But the more I sauntered around, the more I felt myself dissuaded. The increasing pressure of my dissatisfaction with how my night was turning out was something that finally began to soak into my body. Everything before— all the life or death struggles, all the horrified sights of the distorted, all the emotional tantrums— that was all just a shock factor. Now, I found myself thinking of strange thoughts. Pure darkness in my mind, the color of space: an enigmatic, and perhaps frightening shade of chaotic pessimism, all under the plateau of an obsidian cloud of black just raining over the empire of my brain. I felt...underwhelmed. The small grasp of happiness and relief I gained from killing off my judgements spawned from my friends, had become a shriveled memory of the past.

"Darkness looms in your heart?"

I suppose it does. I keep thinking, if the goal at the end is to just sleep everything off, then is it really what's going to make me happy? Is that the peace I want? I'm starting to doubt whether or not it's worth it. I licked my lips with a sense of dryness. God, I need something to drink. I need water in general.

"Careful of how you proceed Calidris. Keep in mind that this journey is of your own volition. Although, it does wonders for the mind if one were to explore the spaciousness of our emotions."

What he said became impaled into the walls of my brain. To 'explore the spaciousness of our emotions'. I thought about it over and over, savoring the words in my inner monologue like fine wine. Their meanings soaked into the blank canvas of my decaying cognition. To explore my emotions...

A wall shifted beside me, sending a blast of air knocking some of my curls aside. A streak of red hair became lost in the dying light of the hall. It was a close call, an extremely close call, but my heart didn't jump. In fact, not a single one of my fight or flight instincts kicked in. I wondered about it for a little more than I should have.