10-9-15

10-9-15

The harsh cry of a child strangled my concentration and forced me to lower my quill. I raised my head. Through mist and rain I spied her alone. She was miles below where the channel crashed against black jagged rock and as I sat high above on granite I felt the sting of pity.

       "You must not be frightened," I said to her.  In a blink I was level with her.

The child jerked. Her watery eyes widened as she plopped onto the sand. Her small hands clutched at her chest, her lower lip quivered and as I approached she scrambled back, her primitive movements uncoordinated. I froze. Was it my stature that overwhelmed her or my pulsing eyes? Perhaps my lack of human contact fermented any human-like behavior on my part. My fanciful actions are performed with utmost grace as this human form often brings out the beauty and unnatural attributes of my lineage. That alone was a true indicator of my misplacement in such a world born from substance. Be that as it may, I refused to abandon this child to the unsympathetic hands of fate.

I offered a smile and kneeled. I stretched out my arms and displayed I was just a man, though I was anything but earthly. Still she cowered, her sobs now more frantic. That was when a sound of wet footsteps drew near.

So occupied had I been I did not foresee the forth coming of another presence. Now impossible to use the slightest trick for departure I was stuck. I rose to my feet, bowed my head and watched as the child straightened at once. The woman swooped by without as much as a glance to cradle the child against her heaving bosom. Judging by her youth she could not have been the child's mother. No, the connection I sensed was that of a sisterly bond.

 "Where have you been?" She cried and turned. She froze as her eyes slid over me, wide and suddenly stricken with fear. "Who are you?"

This answer I could not give her. I considered her. In our locked gaze I saw her mouth tremble and a spasm of terror cross her features. Yes, it was terror unlike she has ever experienced before. I placed a finger to my lips and smiled. There was not much else I could do. Obviously I wasn't of her world, her time.

"My noble intention never passed. I only wished to help the child. There is nothing to fear."

As I spoke a single fist rose between her breasts and clenched the loose garment tied there in a silk bow. My voice I dare admit danced with syllables, caressed them and my rhythm of speech carried quite a musical note. Still fear she continued to express as her mouth dropped and breath quivered as she exhaled.

"What are you?" She whispered the question between gasps.

Even I was not sure. I asked myself the same question as I stood there and an answer failed me. Slowly I receded. Nothing beneficial possibly could transpire from this.

"Something," I answered as my will exercised its potential and an orb swelled in my hand, "that you are not yet ready to know." A combination of blue and white lights highlighted my face as I lifted the radiant globe level with my chin. "I am a figment of your imagination."

Who would have thought such a delicate yet insignificant species could harvest such clever thoughts and talents. Perhaps after all they might prove rather useful, though those days have yet to present themselves. Still, having sowed my own prediction I must say I cannot condone resentment or bitterness for them. Aren't emotions their downfall?

To revise my earlier evaluation, maybe on closer inspection these beings that breathe and require various sources of survival are more complex than before thought. Theirs is a lot to bear and an existence far too short, yet they course through even the worse of circumstances and emerge stronger than before, and all without powers they deem as supernatural. Of course what is supernatural to them is a natural development among those of my own kind.

Then…darkness encased me.  Darkness…beautiful…damned….

Curly tendrils of smoke reached the forty watt bulb as a figure cloaked in velvet robes twisted at his waist and grimaced. His fingers buried in flesh, he receded against a slab of cobblestone, his lips drawn back in a snarl. The light was not to be trusted, especially when one spent most his time in darkness. A squeak and a shiver awakened him to a door as it yawned and even more foul stuff flooded inside.

       Inward the lab coat wearing monster moved, carrying a clipboard and various small instruments of torture. As it settled its gaze on him he slunk back, found a corner to growl and hiss from. It proved little use to fight. The monster always succeeded in ravishing his supply of life fluid with long pieces of metal and plastic tubes.