Beaks
Wacky Woohoo Pizza Sadness Man
Her room. Not her room. Was this hers? Furniture and chairs and clothes and things and things AND THINGS AND EVERYWHERE NOWHERE. Why was it all here? Why was she here now? Hadn’t there been a forest moments ago? There was! There was...
The wolves. They had fought and clawed and bit at her underneath the killing moon! Then the girl...
Had she killed the girl?
The bloodshot and worn down eyes of the former Templar Queen slowly trailed down, falling upon her hands and widening in ever greater horror.
Soaked. Stained and hopelessly dyed into unclean and unending crimson. She had, hadn’t she?! The girl had come across it all and then...and then....then nothing. Screaming and ripping and shredding skin and flesh and bone and blood too much blood never enough never ending. It couldn’t end. Never end.
[S-o-. T-k- - -ome-t.]
A voice. Hers? Why couldn’t she hear it? Another one of them? Did they still persist? HADN’T THEY TAKEN ENOUGH?! She gave everything! Never enough! Taking clawing scratching scabs and cysts gripping and ripping what didn’t belong.
Didn’t belong. Not theirs. Never theirs. Would they stop? Never stop.
[--OP.]
Of course they wouldn’t. It never stopped. It never would. Not until she was one and wasn’t what was. Never.
[C-L- -OW-.]
Never. Never and never never never would be not never not going to NEVER GOING TO.
Never like them. Dead before. Hands reached. Hands stained red staining everything bloody prints and marks and scars across room. Room too clean for hers. Never clean again. Stain everything. Make it match. Owner broken and broken room stain it DRENCH IT.
Voices gone, voices made quiet for seconds and moments and minutes. Precious pristine silence and still. Couldn’t come here. Room of broken and red was the refuge. Had to have it. Needed it. Wanted it. Craved it.
Under. Under again and into the current.
[-A-E UP.]
Light. Light outside. No more dark and dim and too much too much furniture. No things here nothing to move nothing to stop and clutter and choke.
[Li-te- -o me.]
Down. Eyes and attention to actions and actuals drifting down and darting dangerously. Hands. Her hands...locked around the bird. Why the bird? Here...where was here? Eyes and mind both born of neither knowing searched the sky. A rooftop. A big rooftop with birds and peeling plates...but where was here?
[J-st c-lm. D-wn.]
Voices. Voices below her, much much below. Soldiers making inquiries and guesses, soldiers stopping the silence.
Under her fingers the bird still struggled, bringing her eyes and attention back to the creature.
[It’s g-in- t- be ok-y. P-ea-e sto-.]
Black bird. Charcoal crow cawing cackling cheating cheater CHEATER.
[-et i- -o.]
Cheating crook sneaking spying watching ever looking looking WATCHING.
[L-t –t –o!]
Captured cheating crook caught clasping CAUGHT.
[L-T IT G-!]
Knife under knuckles keening kept cobra striking ready ALWAYS READY EVER WATCHING.
[LET IT GO!]
Voice. Voice clear and crystal criminal. Strayed from silence. Welcome. Serenity welcome but different from silence. Her voice? Theirs?
[Just –alm down. P-ease.]
Calm. Calm down. Was it her? Could the voice be one of reason? Was there even one of those left?
[Please, just listen to me. Can you do that?]
Calm. Listen. Stop to cease the screaming and still the slain. Could it be stopped?
[It can. I promise you we can control this, but I can’t do it alone.]
Alone. Always alone never joined never enough no solace no help no one ever helps NO ONE EVER-
[Stop! Just calm down!]
No one ever stopped or cared or did anything ANYTHING ANYTHING EVER TO HELP HER. NO ONE STOPPED THE SCREAMING!
Current. Sweeping drowning darkness taking under gripping pulling falling screaming. Under always under down and down and down.
[Wa-e up. Pl-ase just –ake up.]
Light again. Light and sky and buildings all the same but different. Elsewhere again.
[Just take a m-nute, okay?]
Hands reached to steady shaking head trembling nerves scattered shot. Eyes and hands meeting, finding the red again. Red covering the hands that did the deed. Red denoting the job done for no one to watch or witness.
[You killed it, b-t it’s going to be alright, okay?]
Killed the animal. Blood and feathers and claws and caws, none remembered. Shadows took her back before seeing slaughter. Blackness stopped the sight of torture and pain and slaughter.
[Just be calm, this seems to trigger when we get too mentally overloaded.]
Sense. Words from the other voice made sense and sought to straighten the crooked and warped. Sense didn’t help. Bursting dams still flooded homes and villages and souls all dead all drowned all the same. Sense made no matter of anything.
[It does matter, okay? If we take steps against this then there’s a better chance of stopping it from happening again.]
Could be stopped? Did it matter? Shadow descended death dealt without restraint shadow retreats. Darkness allowed denial. Denial was freedom?
[They’re not going to care if you do something in your right mind or not, you know that. Even like this you have to know that. ]
No. Could be used. COULD BE USED. So much taken from her. Took her rights. Took her freedom. Took her skills and talents. Too much fire inside! Too much fire they couldn’t take from us!
[I know, okay? I know. We sealed off the fire though, remember? It was too much, too fast.]
Burned quickly, burned brightly. Never shunned or doubted when aflame. Fire extinguished. Shunned. FORGOTTEN. TREATED LIKE ANIMAL. CAST ASIDE THEN PICKED UP ONCE CONVENIENT-
[THEY DO NOT MATTER RIGHT NOW, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!]
Never matter never care always used always always-
[And I’m telling you they can all eat shit right now! What matters is how we stop this.]
Stop. Never stopped. Voices came to sing and scream and linger in endless cadence. Always screaming. Always to condemn and damn and scream for retribution. Never stopping. Never sleeping.
[We can stop this, but I need you. I need you to focus. I need you to listen.]
Voice. Voice like all others. Voice would hurt. Voice would lie and steal. Swindle. Stop the swindlers. Stop. Never stopping. Blade in hands. Sharp. Ready. Sharp second.
Silence.
[1,040]
The wolves. They had fought and clawed and bit at her underneath the killing moon! Then the girl...
Had she killed the girl?
The bloodshot and worn down eyes of the former Templar Queen slowly trailed down, falling upon her hands and widening in ever greater horror.
Soaked. Stained and hopelessly dyed into unclean and unending crimson. She had, hadn’t she?! The girl had come across it all and then...and then....then nothing. Screaming and ripping and shredding skin and flesh and bone and blood too much blood never enough never ending. It couldn’t end. Never end.
[S-o-. T-k- - -ome-t.]
A voice. Hers? Why couldn’t she hear it? Another one of them? Did they still persist? HADN’T THEY TAKEN ENOUGH?! She gave everything! Never enough! Taking clawing scratching scabs and cysts gripping and ripping what didn’t belong.
Didn’t belong. Not theirs. Never theirs. Would they stop? Never stop.
[--OP.]
Of course they wouldn’t. It never stopped. It never would. Not until she was one and wasn’t what was. Never.
[C-L- -OW-.]
Never. Never and never never never would be not never not going to NEVER GOING TO.
Never like them. Dead before. Hands reached. Hands stained red staining everything bloody prints and marks and scars across room. Room too clean for hers. Never clean again. Stain everything. Make it match. Owner broken and broken room stain it DRENCH IT.
Voices gone, voices made quiet for seconds and moments and minutes. Precious pristine silence and still. Couldn’t come here. Room of broken and red was the refuge. Had to have it. Needed it. Wanted it. Craved it.
Under. Under again and into the current.
[-A-E UP.]
Light. Light outside. No more dark and dim and too much too much furniture. No things here nothing to move nothing to stop and clutter and choke.
[Li-te- -o me.]
Down. Eyes and attention to actions and actuals drifting down and darting dangerously. Hands. Her hands...locked around the bird. Why the bird? Here...where was here? Eyes and mind both born of neither knowing searched the sky. A rooftop. A big rooftop with birds and peeling plates...but where was here?
[J-st c-lm. D-wn.]
Voices. Voices below her, much much below. Soldiers making inquiries and guesses, soldiers stopping the silence.
Under her fingers the bird still struggled, bringing her eyes and attention back to the creature.
[It’s g-in- t- be ok-y. P-ea-e sto-.]
Black bird. Charcoal crow cawing cackling cheating cheater CHEATER.
[-et i- -o.]
Cheating crook sneaking spying watching ever looking looking WATCHING.
[L-t –t –o!]
Captured cheating crook caught clasping CAUGHT.
[L-T IT G-!]
Knife under knuckles keening kept cobra striking ready ALWAYS READY EVER WATCHING.
[LET IT GO!]
Voice. Voice clear and crystal criminal. Strayed from silence. Welcome. Serenity welcome but different from silence. Her voice? Theirs?
[Just –alm down. P-ease.]
Calm. Calm down. Was it her? Could the voice be one of reason? Was there even one of those left?
[Please, just listen to me. Can you do that?]
Calm. Listen. Stop to cease the screaming and still the slain. Could it be stopped?
[It can. I promise you we can control this, but I can’t do it alone.]
Alone. Always alone never joined never enough no solace no help no one ever helps NO ONE EVER-
[Stop! Just calm down!]
No one ever stopped or cared or did anything ANYTHING ANYTHING EVER TO HELP HER. NO ONE STOPPED THE SCREAMING!
Current. Sweeping drowning darkness taking under gripping pulling falling screaming. Under always under down and down and down.
[Wa-e up. Pl-ase just –ake up.]
Light again. Light and sky and buildings all the same but different. Elsewhere again.
[Just take a m-nute, okay?]
Hands reached to steady shaking head trembling nerves scattered shot. Eyes and hands meeting, finding the red again. Red covering the hands that did the deed. Red denoting the job done for no one to watch or witness.
[You killed it, b-t it’s going to be alright, okay?]
Killed the animal. Blood and feathers and claws and caws, none remembered. Shadows took her back before seeing slaughter. Blackness stopped the sight of torture and pain and slaughter.
[Just be calm, this seems to trigger when we get too mentally overloaded.]
Sense. Words from the other voice made sense and sought to straighten the crooked and warped. Sense didn’t help. Bursting dams still flooded homes and villages and souls all dead all drowned all the same. Sense made no matter of anything.
[It does matter, okay? If we take steps against this then there’s a better chance of stopping it from happening again.]
Could be stopped? Did it matter? Shadow descended death dealt without restraint shadow retreats. Darkness allowed denial. Denial was freedom?
[They’re not going to care if you do something in your right mind or not, you know that. Even like this you have to know that. ]
No. Could be used. COULD BE USED. So much taken from her. Took her rights. Took her freedom. Took her skills and talents. Too much fire inside! Too much fire they couldn’t take from us!
[I know, okay? I know. We sealed off the fire though, remember? It was too much, too fast.]
Burned quickly, burned brightly. Never shunned or doubted when aflame. Fire extinguished. Shunned. FORGOTTEN. TREATED LIKE ANIMAL. CAST ASIDE THEN PICKED UP ONCE CONVENIENT-
[THEY DO NOT MATTER RIGHT NOW, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!]
Never matter never care always used always always-
[And I’m telling you they can all eat shit right now! What matters is how we stop this.]
Stop. Never stopped. Voices came to sing and scream and linger in endless cadence. Always screaming. Always to condemn and damn and scream for retribution. Never stopping. Never sleeping.
[We can stop this, but I need you. I need you to focus. I need you to listen.]
Voice. Voice like all others. Voice would hurt. Voice would lie and steal. Swindle. Stop the swindlers. Stop. Never stopping. Blade in hands. Sharp. Ready. Sharp second.
Silence.
[1,040]