Safety Blanket

🌿 Chapter one 🌿

Trees blew off their trunks as if shedding old skin, waves of dirt and soil blooming up against the sky line in fine tufty waves. The sun had crashed down into earth, smoke and leaves dancing through the sky in static waves strong enough to curdle a man's blood. Leaves crackled and popped in the electrifying air, short plumes of flame hungrily lapping at what greenery the flattened trees still bore. Great wings of power and light compressed into one another, incidentally scooping roots from the damp soil as they folded to form bone. Tendons and muscles formed from pure energy, wrapping about the basic structure the compressed wings had to offer. With a sudden pop, floating leaves returned to the raw ground, static still hanging thinly in the air. In place of the great form of light stood a boy wrapped in a velvety brown cloak that fell around him in waves, soft brown hair curled about his features like downy feathers, and deep under his skin there seemed to be a soft glowing light. The sun hung low in the sky, and it seemed like the birth of a new era..watched over by an angel sent to purify.
Purify he did..he sought out a prophet who led the nearby civilization to greatness...and would once again when the world was ready to be cleansed, and he was ready to clean. The Angel at first had barely been able to walk, easing onto his two legs and sort of smoothly hobbling on them for a long while...now, he waited..waited in another time, another life, for Castle County to settle itself. The crater he'd made when he arrived filled with water and stone, solidifying into a great lake.

This was four hundred years ago, possibly even longer.

Present day Castle County, more popularly known and referred to as Castle Rock, was much different from the old. Of course the lake still resided like a silent force, ethereal force twisting and turning under the waves..many residents said they heard the voice of God inbetween the trees, rustling softly through the leaves to lay in their ears like the strum of a harp. Never once did the voice betray them, always leading them to purity within the deep dark waves of Castle Lake. Although the lake and the woods had not changed, the people had. Buildings and shops were erected and demolished, owners passing to buyers. People change..yes...however, some for the worse. The county boiled with lack of selflessness, hate and maime crowding every dark corner. Perhaps the voice was not loud enough...perhaps it was lost in time, plunged into the deep abyss that was Shawshank Prison.
Lost beneath the grime and muck is a land strewn from golden silk, where the cattails sway and the birds sing no requiem. They brandish their song with pride; not the lame quaking chirps of the sad birds lost in time..lost within the muck, hanging dull and limp off of the lines, as most living things did in Castle Rock. That disgusting stew of hate and misery was what the residents called home, shoveling through the daily pain with ease now that they've grown into it. No one looked to shovel any further, for their path was laid, and who were they to stray from their trail? Shoveling more crap out of their way was not a very beneficial activity..and only the Lord knew that not one bird in castle rock was selfless. Yet under the town was trails and trails already dug, past present and future laid out for the residents to skip through..yet not one did, until the winter of 1989. Warden Lacy was his name, and he'd claimed to of locked the Devil in a box. Locked him away beneath the hate and pain where he would have no grasp.
Waiting within metal bars was no brutal task, especially with the doting company of cigarette butts and bread crust. The scent of iron melded into flesh: dirt clinging onto broken skin. Twenty seven years thrown away. Thrown down into the earth underneath the slow birth of ignorance above the walls of concrete and murk. The creak of an opening latch of the forgotten entrance sent light piercing through the dusty forgotten entrails of the prison..paper wavering down followed shortly after by a man wearing blue.
"Ugh- fuck man-" the voice was soft and wavering, and even from down below, the Angel could tell the man was scared. He would not blame him. From all these years locked away, he'd learned to muffle his own energy..yet the prison's dark and brooding vibe had a mind of it's own. The light of a flashlight wavered against hard concrete as boots tapped on metal, hitting the ground with a hefty thud. This was not Warden Lacy- no- this man was far smaller in build..a bandana wrapped about his face as to not inhale the grime and dust that floated stiffly in the thick air. "Agh- gotcha- heh-" nervously the man picked up his little list he'd dropped, shoving it deep into his jeans pocket. "Chg...this place is mega fuckin cR-OH HOLY SHIT-" the light of the flashlight spiraled- and he would've dropped it if it weren't for the band around his wrist. Without hesitance the man was right back up the ladder. "BOYD- BOYD MAN- DUDE GET THE FUCK UP- THERE'S SOMEONE DOWN HERE-" his words echoed off the walls of the abandoned section of the prison, and despite being loud the Angel could hear the wavering fear.