⚸
2 ½ tablespoons of graveyard dirt
2 serpent skin
2 vials of water collected from a void moon
ashes of 12 locks of hair from 3 asleep humans
and a sprinkle of wolfsbane..
She smirks as she slowly adds each ingredient.
She mixes each one of them slowly in her golden skull-shaped goblet, a carved pentagrams on each side. She is focused and has such a caring expression; that if it wasn't for such ingredients, you would think she was preparing dinner for her beloved child that just gotten home after a tiring day at school.
Shades of red reflect on her lustful eyes, an explosion of luminescence and mist, smelling like death, like power, like… victory. Her wavy and puffy, almost coal-coated raven hair is up in the air; electrified, sparks of fire coming out of the ends of her strands. She smirks as she admires her reflection in the big and dusty mirror she has in front of her.
As she stares directly into it, she recites 3 times
“Sirael natûr lumivra mea, astora vim estu. Nashtar mori’an veleth, queridi sotiv anari.”
The mirror breaks into a thousand pieces, specs of carmine light spiraling in a downward circle, dancing in the darkness of her chamber.
♄
He tries to open his door; but as always he forgets that people made these for right-handed people, so he turns the key in the wrong direction for the millionth time.
"I can't even fucking do this right." He grunts aggressively.
He manages to open it even though he just wants to drop dead at this moment. He slams it with all his force. The handle gets detached from its place and falls, breaking in two.
Empty cupboards on his desk, food packaging with some sticky leftovers all over the floor. Clothing full of questionable stains, and an endless supply of socks, all intertwine together to create a horrendous landscape that obscures the view of the floor.
You could smell the depression from here. Someone has given up.
He falls onto his knees; crying and laughing altogether. His hands step on the stacked landscape of chaos he inadvertently created. When he realizes that, his wailing stops abruptly.
The atmosphere feels thin, almost like there is no oxygen left in the room.
He gets up, sits on his broken chair, and calmly gets out the takeout pho to eat. Each spoonful, an excruciating pause. His stare is empty, stuck at a black dot on his yellow wall, like an experienced sniper who has focused on his killing target.
Without pausing his almost meditative feast, he removes the pack of Marlboro from his pants left pocket. He opens it and gets out a lighter of the same color. With his chopsticks, he places a cigarette between his chapped lips. He eats another spoonful of pho, and he lights up his newly-greased cigarette. He inhales calmly, yet for very long. His lungs obey his wish. He exhales the smoke while swallowing a piece of beef.
♇
Scorching hot water falls on his cold back. Maybe the only thing that is keeping him alive is this comforting, 10-minute liquid hug.
His previous dissociation now grows uncontrollably - none of his consciousness exists in this room. There is a very pugnant, rusty smell combined with humidity. The water gradually gets discolored, from clear to crimson. An appalling, eerie-looking pool is formed; its color reflecting on his poultry-like skin which looks even redder than it already was. Suddenly, a tiny black scorpion appears from the depth of the bathtub, emerging out of the pool of water. It climbs onto him, spiraling and checking every inch of his skin, and slows down as it navigates the hills of his face. It stops just above his eyebrows.
Like a saolin it makes a calculated martial move, getting its poison ready to sting the victim.
In a flash, it stings him exactly at the center.
Suddenly he teleports back to reality. A memory flashes right in front of his eyes for a split second. He was trapped under a frozen lake, and something pulled him to the surface at lightning speed.
Everything returns to normal; the previously unknown fluid is clear and running down the drain, the bathtub isn't filled, no sight of the scorpion, just some usual cockroaches.
"What the fuck just happened? Did i fall asleep?"
He sighs. He is in shock; yet simultaneously his depression has penetrated so deep under his skin that the emptiness has robbed him of curiosity and doubt, so he doesn't give a shit.
Exhaustion is his main state. Therefore with the first heavy steps he makes into his bedroom, he surrenders and falls on his bed; after a mini-adventure with the load of unwashed laundry on his floor. The bed screeches and his body pressure gets him up in the air momentarily, only to slam him down into deep sleep.
♆
At first, there was Nothingness.
It all started with a high-pitched humming. It sounded like a woman's voice. A familiar one.
He tries to decipher the rhythmic words; without success. He feels inexplicably pulled into it. He senses darkness, his temperature starting to drop. His vision comes into life; he sees branches of trees. With his eyes, he searches for the leaves, but they are nowhere to be found.
The ground is muddy, and he feels his lower half shifting deeper and deeper into it.
In panic, he struggles to get up. He slips a lot but he manages to escape. He is running and panting, having zero knowledge of his destination.
He realizes that even though he feels lost, he is subconsciously following the sound of Her. She is drawing him like a magnet.
After God knows how long, he stops in front of what looks like an abandoned barn. Even though the pull controls his whole being, his fear halts him from entering.
As he pauses, he remembers who he is and realizes that fear has already consumed his soul.
He is not afraid to die. In fact, his secret desire to do so grows more and more each day.
He surrenders and accepts his fate as he opens the barn’s door.
The reflection of the moon falls onto the barn's left side, illuminating some hay stacks.
On a second glance, he notices a red spark emitting from the same area.
Something is moving; it looks like a female figure. The moonlight reveals only parts of her face - contrasting her glowing ruby eye, edgy cheekbones, and half of a smirk.
"I see you have been searching for me”
