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Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 15
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Scripton
this is a short story that is actually kind of symbolic ^^
SCRIPTON
Those fingers, I watched them tremble with ferocity and numbness, in a way like they weren’t my own. My eyes were wide, glaring frightened down at the black bottle resting in my one trembling hand.
I hated those pills but if they keep me asleep, I use them as a last resort. I couldn’t for the life of me drift off to sleep on my own , not after twelve hours of it and my stomach twisted in pain from my hunger, but I refused to stand, to satisfy it.
And the voices… They were appearing more often now, searing across my mind with a single word or command and disappearing back into my mind’s depths. I could not understand what they were or why they were so real, so I’d decided long ago they were commands from god and collectively named them ‘Adam.’
But I soon realized that Adam was unpredictable, his voices were constantly different, always his commands more harmful than helpful… When I was afraid or alone, he was no where, and when his presence was most undesired, he couldn’t seem to shut up.
I regretted the name Adam… these voices, they were more of a curse than a blessing.
But that was when it started, shortly after the first time I heard the voices… heard ‘Adam.’ I had been awake for days, not moving from my position near the television. My mind was littered with fear, so discontent with my surroundings and the world as is.
I had decided near the beginning of the war that the world was my enemy, so full of corruption, it was out to get me and Adam. I took Adam’s commands as truth and decided he was right be his words that of god or the devil.
And it was only a few nights later before the dreams had started. I’d been huddled in fright… in my closet like it was my only shelter and there none of the soldiers of war could see me, because in the rest of the house I could feel their fingers touching my skin like ghosts.
That was when I heard a child, a frightened young child who whispered in my ear quietly “sleep….”
Adam’s voice then changed, though it still contained the same quick nervousness of fear but sounded much older, snarling my name, “BASIL!”
I reluctantly nodded, I was fearful of what lurked outside my closet but if Adam had told me to sleep it was a command and I must obey. And when I was convinced I would not be hurt by the ghosts of soldiers, I was coaxed into bed.
In my slumber, a dream had come to me… and in this dream I built a city I called ‘Scripton.’ It was a beautiful city with water and statues or marble… And Scripton had transitioned from a disavow fantasy of a perfect world, to a nightly ordeal.
All day I would fantasize of my city and be anxious to return to sleep, for I knew I would dream of Scripton again if I did. But Adam was more anxious than me, he’d change voices frantically between men and children, order me to sleep.
Scripton became my perfect ideal of how the world should be and it became my escape from this life with which I was so discontent. I would sleep during the daytime as well as the night, and every moment I was in the waking world Adam was there using frightened voices to command me to sleep.
But soon, it became less of the fact I wanted to obey Adam, and more of the fact I just wanted to return to Scripton, until sleep became a pulsing obsession. I knew each time I slept I’d return there. Though on the seldom times I didn’t, I became disappointed almost to the point of depression.
My body soon became sickly form lack of food and exercise, and much to my dismay Adam’s mood and commands changed. He suddenly now would tell me to wake, to roam… and sometimes even to burn Scripton to the ground, but I could hardly bare the thought.
Why had he suddenly changed?
I decided Adam had turned on me, he was now against me and trying to lead me to unhappiness… at that point he became dead to me.
But where has disregarding Adam gotten me? Laying in bed shaking from sickness and starring at a bottle full of the only thing between me, and the great city of Scripton… from my wildest, most wonderful fantasy.
I hear him still, whimpering like a beaten child, “Basil! BASIL!”
My name is my least favorite word due to how repetitiously I hear it and so I continued to ignore him. It felt so wrong and yet so right, like a peasant ignoring the words of his king.
My eyelids grew heavy, the shaking of my hand had fallen into stillness and the last bit of noise came from the bottle as it fell from the grip of my limp fingers to the floor.
Finally, finally the medicine was taking effect in a dose too great to be safe for human consumption… but this was normal for me, just right for a long, long sleep. I was grateful, feeling my aching stomach twist once more in protest before going numb like the rest of my body.
That feeling, it is like swirling when you’re still, and so silent your ears ring… that feeling just before you surrender yourself to sleep. I loved it more than anything, it was a rush of suspense to me and very exciting.
My mind was surrounded with darkness before my eyes blinked open to the sound of water moving around me. I was startled, but calmed down as I realized it was merely a large fountain from which I took a sip to ease my fast beating heart. I knew where I was, gazing around at the reddening sky of night with a grin.
Pure ecstasy… no hunger, no pain, and best of all no Adam.
But quickly I snapped out of my little happiness daze when I heard footsteps behind me, growing nearer. I whipped around to face the person, and before I could blink a man had his face in mine. I jumped back, startled and opened my mouth to speak, but didn’t know what to say.
“BASIL!” he snarled angrily.
“Um… yes?” I said, unsure who that man was.
“That little bastard!” he snarled pointing behind him at a child with a scarred face, his hands bloodied and close to his chest, “he stole from my store AGAIN punish him damn it!”
I just stood there in confusion, glaring at the man, sure he was probably the reason for the child’s bloody hands. Just because I built this city doesn’t mean I have to be the law-enforcer… he could punish the kid himself.
But reluctantly I said “leave us then.”
The man gave the child the worst death-stare I’ve ever seen before trudging off past us into the grass, back toward the larger part of Scripton. My eyes now were focused on the child, waiting for him to speak, but he only starred at me in silence.
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why did you do that? Those things were obviously his… they cost money, why did you steal them?”
The Boy’s eyes kind got teary as he grit his teeth and looked away. I for the first time actually took a good look at him. His ribs jutted out like his skin was stretched over a washboard and he didn’t look to have even an ounce of muscle.
“B, because I was hungry” he whispered, pressing his hands even closer to his chest… blood shot eyes again meeting mine.
I was totally speechless.
“Because he sits on his fat ass and still makes money, where as I move all around town working for various men who won’t even pay me enough to eat… I’m hungry, I’m always hungry… And what do I get for it? My hands bludgeoned with a hammer. Now I can’t work at all.”
My mouth hung open, I couldn’t talk, so I choked back my thoughts and tried not to cry myself. It was hard to comprehend the morbid ness of what this child just said to me.
I removed my shirt, using it to wipe away some of the blood from the child’s hands. When they were to my satisfaction I reached in my pocket, digging around for any cash I might have.
“No, please. I couldn’t take your money! You… own this whole city, you need it. Then again, there won’t be much of a city left when the Atheians are done with it.
“Kid, I really want you to take my- wait, what?”
“Yeah… Where the hell have you been? The Atheians have been slaughtering the Religans in the center of the city for almost three days Basil!”
I turned and looked back at the city, seeing nothing but the usual buildings and the sound of honking car horns, my heart racing with fear. I threw what money I had to the ground before the child and raced away into the tall grass.
The last I saw of him was his wide eyes and as I ran I could hear his voice calling out to me words of gratitude. I ran full tilt, heart burning in my chest, but my fear and adrenaline were enough to smooth out the pain.
Why didn’t I know what was happening in my city? I knew of the Atheians, and they had a tendency to hurt things and people in Scripton… but I usually paid no mind to their religious antics. But now they were slaughtering people?
I felt really bad for not noticing before, because the Religans are the same way… it seemed obvious however that they’d eventually clash due to their extreme ways and very different views. But like this, in massacre?
I slid into the street, and paused to catch my breath, hands shaking in exhaustion. My eyes moved upward, chest heaving in long hard breaths. But an explosion of smoke a few blocks away sent me off again, down the crowded sidewalks of people who didn’t seem to notice or care about what was going on.
I pushed past them, trying desperately to reach the center of Scripton, which as I approached was no longer the most beautiful, but still most populated part of my city.
I saw men with knives, dressed in black, but I could only see them faintly at my distance. They were attacking, just as the child had told me, their targets being those dressed in white… now splattered with red.
But the ones in white were not merely victims, they fought back just as maliciously, if not more so. I whimpered, watching with a combination of sadness, powerlessness, and remorse, reaching out a hand as I ran.
They paid no mind to my approach, just as the others in the city paid no mind to their fighting. I screamed, demanded, and begged for them to stop… but I felt invisible, lost in the chaotic masses of people.
After being ignored, trampled, and almost stabbed I ran… until out of the chaos, crying viscously in my own hands. I saw men stabbing women, women and men stabbing children, and I could hardly bare the sight of such violence.
Few even had guns, the clashing ringing off into the distance. They could kill more people and twice as fast, but over what? Their different gods? Or merely something so small and extreme as what part of the city was ‘theirs’ or over the color of their clothes? I felt it again for the first time in days, the nervousness… the feeling someone was touching me.
It was the same, like when I feared soldiers and their ghosts where touching my skin, trying to make me insane… I couldn’t let this get to me, not again, not in my fantasies.
While my mind frantically tried to find a reason for my newly returning fears, a sharp pain stung in my lower leg, rippling throughout my body like an earthquake.
I screamed, falling to my knees in fear and pain, a bullet? In the leg? I was frightened even more now, gritting my teeth in anger as I gazed at the rampaging crowd that was more like an army.
I was innocent! I had done no wrong, yet they were careless enough to shoot me? Creator of this city, fantasy in which they fought. But worst of all they didn’t care, only continued to clash into each other like ocean waves… like I didn’t exist.
My fear and anger caused me to reach my breaking point and I took off running, I had to get away… I couldn’t stop them, not in a battle so large and so seemingly everlasting. I had no idea what to do, where to go.
So I decided I’d run back away to the outskirts, up the grass hill and pray to god the child was still there. I could talk to him then and maybe I wouldn’t feel so alone here. My run was more like a stagger and I moved on my hurt leg.
Again I moved through the crowds on the sidewalk, but slower this time and still they disregarded me, even though this time had an injury. My leg was almost consumed with pain and then numbness as I tried to pick up speed, I wanted so desperately to get there, to not be alone.
Seeing the tall grass was like standing before the gates of heaven to me and I took off into it as if it were the arms of Jesus. I slid to a stop in the rubble and laid stones, approaching the fountains. The child was long gone with my money, but I did not feel bad because his presence was replaced by that of another man, sitting on the edge on the fountain.
He was naked, I figured maybe he was bathing in the fountain… odd but not unheard of. As I approached him, staggered with a heavy limp, I grinned widely with happiness that I could talk to another human who would listen.
His eyes moved to mine, blond hair dangling in his face as he uncrossed his arms and grinned, “you still dreaming Basil you pill popping bastard?”
That voice, I heard it and took a few steps backward in fear, I knew it… I more than knew it, in fact I don’t think I could ever forget it.
“A, a, Adam? You are a voice! A sound you have no body! I am hallucinating from the wound… you are not real.”
“Heh, you shut me out in the real world, why can’t I have a part in your fantasy? I am just as much a part of you as well, you are. I have been telling you to wake the fuck up but you just don’t listen…”
“I… I DON’T WANT TO WAKE UP! I don’t want to obey you anymore, why can’t I make you go away?”
“Your perfect world has come crashing down and do you know why Basil? B-”
He was interrupted by the quiet sound of footsteps, both of our eyes moving away from one another to see who it was, but I was unfamiliar with the man coming toward us. He too was naked, walking slowly and watching me with a red face at how awkward it was with us watching him.
He walked past me, taking Adam into his embrace as Adam looked at me and grinned, “I been in Scripton a LONG time pal, you just haven’t noticed.”
I was angered and yet speechless due to those words.
The man smiled, acting now like I was not there as he pulled slightly away from him to lock lips in a kiss. I just stood there and starred, confused as to why they were doing this in front of me. I wanted more answers from Adam so there was no way I was going to leave.
It was strange to watch, they did not kiss lustfully but in a loving way, holding one another. It almost made me grin, kind of cute despite my growing impatience.
The man pressed harder against Adam, pulling from their kiss and moving his mouth to Adam’s neck. Adam had on his face the most disturbing look I’ve ever seen, and I watched him snake his hand into the cold blue water of the fountain.
Suddenly a shockwave of fear moved through me, like foresight and I (unsure why) reached out my hand, words clawing at my throat for escape… but were un successful.
Adam’s hand whipped out of the water like a snake, holding in it something black. It all moved too fast for me to notice what it was until it was sticking out of the other man’s back. He screamed in pain, Adam ripping it out and throwing the man to the ground.
Adam quickly and in a single graceful movement slit the man’s throat… the black thing was a thick piece of glass. I only watched, frozen and stricken with fear.
“ADAM! NO! What have you done Adam?”
I could feel the tears fall again as I saw the ground slowly turn red… and I starred Adam in the eyes with a look of hatred. This was the same meaningless hatred that I was powerless to stop in the city’s center.
“Basil… Do you understand what you are doing?”
“ME?”
“Yes. You see, I have grown tired of him. I won him, used him, and have had my fill so I killed him. You Basil aren’t so innocent so don’t look at me like that.”
“W, w, what on earth h, have I done then Adam? I certainly haven’t murdered anyone!”
“Well, you were frightened, tired, so I commanded you to sleep, remember? Then you had that stupid dream… and I thought of it as just that, a stupid dream.”
“M… my first dream of Scripton!”
“Yes. I continued to command you to sleep so you could catch up on it… but that damn dream kept coming back. You loved it and grew obsessed with it. But hell I didn’t care, that is until I realized you were making yourself sick… starving…”
“And so you told me to stop sleeping? I thought you’d turned on me… like everyone else.”
“But of course I became obsolete, no need to listen to me… There is corruption here Basil… it isn’t the perfect world you think it is. You hate the real world so much that you ignore and manipulate to your content, in ways you cannot in the real world. Want an example?”
Very reluctantly I nodded, wiping my eyes.
“The Atheians and the Religans have been slaughtering each other for days, why have you only now noticed? Plus, I have been here the WHOLE time… ever seen me till now? No. See… you are seeing only what you want to see and hearting only what you want to hear.”
Adam wiped the blood from his chest, throwing the piece of glass to the ground beside his dead lover and a sort of grin moved across his face.
“That is why I have done this in front of you Basil… If you’d noticed me a long time ago you would have realized I have been with this man a long time, and I have been beating him as well… you could have saved him but where were you?”
I fell to my knees, pain snaking up and down my leg, I didn’t want to think or understand what Adam was telling me. Though it may have been the truth, I was far from ready to hear it. With that I threw my arms around Adam’s leg, weeping softly against his skin.
I felt fingers rustle my hair gently and it only made me cry harder. What if there were people fighting in the real world, being murdered, starving… And what if I could have helped them? I wanted to help, to protect them like I protected the people of my fantasy (or at least tried to). My eyes peered up past Adam’s leg and my quivering hands to meet his eyes.
“You… look pathetic Basil… I think you understand what I have told you, I am trying to protect you, like you did your city, and your people. But we both know damn well this isn’t real.. The waking world is your Scripton… so, wake up!”
The next thing I saw was the light piercing through the barrier of my eyelids as they fluttered open. I heard a sound, a voice, but this time I felt very differently about hearing the word I hated most…
“Basil?”
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