Does screaming make anything better? It feels like it does sometimes, but that might just be the placebo effect.
Hi, Chimikis,
Screaming can, in fact, make anything better. Did you know when you scream for no reason, the void hears you, and answers in kind? You can’t hear it unless you know it’s there, but it’ll feel like a tickle in the back of your mind, or a soft, gentle vibration up your spine. Be careful not to do it too often - those feelings are the Beyond trying to creep into your head.
Thanks for your question. Hope it helps with your screaming endeavors.
Aren’t you getting used to it? I mean, to me, your home sounds strange, now.
ARACHNE
Shit - are you fucking kidding me? Like - holy shit - no where else in the world is like this - and my friends - our friends -
ATHENA
They’re happy now!
ARACHNE
It’s all your fault! It’s all your damn fault, that you couldn’t fucking leave them alone. We got lost. We wanted help. Look at them now!
[ARACHNE tore at their hair, eyes wide. They were starting to sob. ATHENA watched them, without any sound.]
ATHENA
Crying doesn’t solve anything.
ARACHNE
Fuck you!
ATHENA
I was doing you a favor. I was doing everyone a favor, Holmes.
ARACHNE
Put my fucking name in your mouth again, why don’t you -
ATHENA
You don’t like it here. That’s fine. But I was trying to save you. Where you were going, it was worse. I was trying to bring us back together. All of us. We could’ve enjoyed it here.
ARACHNE
You took everything away from them, with your fucking notebooks. You write shit down, it happens, everyone acts like your fucked up fantasy land is normal, you win.
ATHENA
I inherited a position.
ARACHNE
We weren’t meant to be here! You weren’t meant to be here! You practically killed them, taking away their memories like that, making them new -
ATHENA
I’m tired of arguing. Aren’t you?
[There was silence. It was broken by ARACHNE sniffling.]
Him! Him! Captain Eliot Rosewater - Silver Star, Bronze Star, Soldier’s Medal, and Purple Heart with Cluster! Sailing champion! Ski champion! Him! Him! My God - the number of times life has said, ‘Yes, yes, yes’ to him! Millions of dollars, hundreds of significant friends, the most beautiful, intelligent, talented, affectionate wife imaginable! A splendid education, an elegant mind in a big, clean, body - and what is his reply when life says nothing but ‘Yes, yes, yes’?
I made it the goal of my treatments, then, to keep her conscience imprisoned, but to lift the oubliette ever so slightly, so that the howls of the prisoner might be very faintly heard. Through trial and error with chemotherapy and electric shock, this I achieved. I was not proud, for I had calmed a deep woman by making her shallow. I had blocked the underground rivers that connected her to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, and made her content with being a splash pool three feet across, four inches deep, chlorinated, and painted blue.
You roll out of bed, feet touching the cold floor, inhaling sharply as you feel the wood sink just a little with your weight - you have to be careful that the house does not crash to the ground when you move. You make your way carefully through the crap piled up on the floor, the insect nests that buzz slightly as you disturb them. You ignore it. Cracking open your bedroom door, you rub your eyes.
Tired is an understatement.
You hear the buzz of the insects in your room as they wander out after you, inextricably linked ever since That Day. You peer into the living room, to check your charges are still there. The Plant Woman and the corpse you found deep under the earth where the town library used to stand are still there. The corpse is perfectly preserved minus some blood around the facial area - where the eyes, nose, and ears bled. You don’t know what happened to that person, but you’re sure you’ll be able to ask them soon. The Plant Woman is still staring at her hands, examining the worms and insects that crawl between the vines that hold her body together.
Whether she is plant or human, you can’t tell - you’re too tired - no, tired is an understatement.
You run your tongue across smooth teeth and examine your distinguished guests for awhile longer before turning to continue your exit. The insects march along behind you, thousands of footfalls in unison, a neat procession. Almost like a funeral march.
Opening the door reveals the dark night sky, your house floating above the all-consuming forest, the sky a beautiful painting of shimmering eyes across the horizon, and hazy clouds that seem to glitch in and out of existence. When the stars blink, the world feels so much darker for a split second, and yet, it was only a split second. Almost like real life.
Damn, you think. That was good. You hope that’s written in your book.
Ah, right. Your book. You almost forgot. You reach down into the wood floor, hand crackling in protest as you push through the matter to grab the book out of hammerspace. It forms in your hand as you pull it out of the flooring, hissing with irritation.
One thing many didn’t know about their books was that they carried a part of themselves. The most crucial part; the day that makes or breaks them - or both. You have read to the end of your story already. Now that your day is here, you wonder. Can you really change fate? Or will your fatigue take over you?
You step out into thin air, feet tumbling below you before you will yourself to slow down and land, pulling out your pen to
Nyx is the Greek goddess (or personification) of the night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation, and was the mother of other personified deities such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death). Her appearances are sparse in surviving mythology, but reveal her as a figure of such exceptional power and beauty, that she is feared by Zeus himself. She is found in the shadows of the world and only ever seen in glimpses.
Hello, lakewitch,
Good to see you again. I assume the bed parasites have not been devouring your flesh, ha ha ha. (That is laughter. That is a joke, because if the bed parasites had been devouring you, you would be dead.)
Yes, I know of Nyx. In fact, you’ll be seeing her soon.
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