Tuesday, March 16

Poor Substitution

Posted by Shelly Holder

It's a poor bit of substitution, but I have no thoughts left. To many deadlines. So very very many deadlines. None of them homework. Why do I do this to myself? Oh, yeah, research grant. Thoughts of research grant, research grant...

So enjoy my ROD#13 entry. It was based a picture of an abandoned hospital, but looked like a Victorian house in ruins. I didn't want to go the Jane Eyre route, but the classical literature motif stuck in head regardless.  So can you pick up on the other famous book that I used as my allusion?

*****

          My bit of earth was extraordinary in the summer. The trees blossomed, and everything was so green, so wick. There were roses, fountains of them, but most importantly…

         Colin! COLIN! 

        My eyes watered as I saw his form stand up from his chair, strong and straight. He smiled crookedly at me as he took that first proud step towards me.

        I raised my arms and rushed at my friend, my beloved. When I caught him, my arms clenched so tightly around his torso. At the sound of his heartbeat, I choked up…

… and sobbed out the taste of sulfur.

       “No!” I cried. I looked up. Colin’s smile stretched, protruded razor teeth and black gums. His blue eyes were pierced by bloodlight pinpricks that grew and spilled over the irises and into the whites.

“No!”

        I jerked away. The garden withered again before my eyes, the roses falling, the ivy browning, leaves dropping. I heard a thousand poppings, and whirled to find the manor windows cracked and missing panes of glass. The massive front door sagged in on itself, and fell.

“Colin…”

“Ahahahaha!” the devil laughed victoriously. “Well, Miss Mary? How do you like my work? Memory can be one HELL of an illusion, huh? Ahahahaha!”

“Colin…”

But my Colin had died centuries ago, and my secret garden was no longer mine. I was alone once again. And I had caused all this rottenness myself.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
how does your garden grow?
In seven hells and human skulls,
and torments all in a row!


Right Now:

What I'm listening to: "Candlelight" by Imogen Heap

What I want most: food

2 comments:

Debora.Silvia said...

research grant for what?

Shelly Holder said...

oh, this research grant to get this Abode software program I want. It's expensive as all get out, so I applied for help. It's so I can create concrete (shaped) poems. Do circles and teardrops and things Word can't.