The adventure: Two futures meet in a puddle, and the present dives deep beneath a bistro.
The time: October 1977
The place(s): Corfe, Dorset
Prompt: phantasm #vss365 (view original tweet)
Stone drops his gaze in a puddle, watches the ripples spread & erase the ruins of Corfe castle with reflections of splendour. He is a loner, a drifter, a dreamer. He’s only 9 but he already knows this world is a #phantasm & the real world is found in splashes of rainwater.
craven #vss365
Stick was a little #craven, but she was only 2. She loved to read, and to write in letters that stood like people – different heights, shapes, sounds and shades. But most of all, she loved to jump in puddles. She hovered momentarily, then jumped into the boy’s reverie.
century #vss365
You’ve destroyed my castle! Says Stone, wiping the splash from his face. Took #centuries to build! Now look at it he says, turning his gaze from the girl in the puddle to the ruin on the hill.
The girl’s eyes narrow. She fires out her hand firmly, shakes his: I’m Stick!
smoke #vss365
Stone pulls his hand from the girl’s. His eyes hard. He walks to a bigger puddle. Stick follows. He crouches. She crouches. A smile floats on her lips.
No splashing! He whispers. Look!
She looks deep into the puddle, follows chimney #smoke down into a grey sky of crows.
motif #vss365
Stone follows Stick’s gaze down into smoke, grey sky and crows. Her bright reflection looks up at him, as ripples spread a tiger #motif across her skin. Her fierce eyes soften and age, widen with love, tighten with learning, wisdom. In the puddle, she grows into a woman.
wings #vss365
Stone’s gaze sinks to the bottom of the puddle, while Stick’s floats on the surface. He feels old, wrinkled, bearded. She looks angelic, but the #wings unfolding aren’t hers. The vision dies in shadow. An unfolding cloud grabs their attention, as a white wyrm descends.
totem #vss365
The dragon lands on soft snow at the end of the street, folds its wings and worms around a house
Hush, says Stone, putting his finger to his lips
#Totem! says the girl, fishing in the puddle
That’s a lollipop stick, he says
Totem! She says, sucking on it. Me, Stick!
fog #vss365
Stone tiptoes down the soft white street, eyes on the dragon
SNOW! Cries Stick
The boy slings a hard stare her way. Go home! He says, as the dragon snakes inside a house leaving a white #fog of ice in its wake
BIRD! Cries Stick, pointing at a kingfisher zipping by.
sentient #vss365
The bright kingfisher flits in through an upper window while the white wyrm’s prowl reverberates into the cry of a Boy breaking frozen, puddled, #sentient thoughts in Stone’s mind. My imagination is leaking out into the world, he gasps
Stick grabs the wyrm’s tail.
bistro #vss365
Boy & Girl fly out the corner of Stone’s mind, through a window. Half transformed, they freeze like water, colours of kingfisher, orange and blue. A dragon snaps at their heels
Where are the birds? Whispers a pale voice in the gutter, across a table, in a sunny #bistro.
embrace #vss365
Stone is #embraced by the woman’s clear-as-honey eyes. Her gaze, flecked with bees, drizzles into his.
The bistro bustles. Her pencil is poised, notebook pages curl. He sees himself in her words, & flying round her coffee cup, Stick clings to the wyrm’s tail. Help! Stone!
iron #vss365
Well? She says, taking a sip from the coffee cup
Who are you? Says Stone, distracted by Stick being dragon dragged round the cup
I’m Hope. I wrote you. Here. See!
She turns the notebook toward him. There he is in watercolour puddles. Chapter 1: #Iron? he reads.
scars #vss365
Why iron? Says Stone, catching the silver #scars on her wrists. Hope smiles. You like them, she says. Which one is me? This one she says, pointing. Do I hurt he says. A little she replies, I cut them with iron knives
The Bird Bistro is busy. Boys. Girls. Shadows. Adults.
mood #vss365
Stone feels warm sunlight stream in through the windows of the Bird Bistro. I like it here, he says. Yes, it has a lovely #mood, smiles Hope, it’s our safe space, full of all my favourite people. Such as? says Stone. Well, she says, I shall introduce you. The waiter is…
cosmic #vss365
…Sir Edward. He’s a knight taking a well-earned rest to serve cakes & coffee. Dunster the sorceress is behind the counter. Dover is out back cooking breakfast. Violet & Boy sharing a milkshake
I’m Eliot, says a boy holding out his hand. Stone shakes it: #Cosmic caff!
silver #vss365
The gold light of sun turns #silver, monochrome. Ness sips white coffee, smiles pearls of wide-awake delight. Tric feasts on eggs, dipping talons in thick yolk. A bone leaf dog blinks cornflower blue in the corner. Stick rides a dragon round the coffee cup. Rain is coming.
mythos #vss365
Light dims. The rain rattles against the windows of the Bird Bistro. Violet, Boy, Tric, Eliot, Ness, Stone and the rest gather round Hope who glows like a soft fire. Do not be afraid of the cold dark, she says. Listen to the #mythos that burns brightly inside each of us.
regime #vss365
‘Boy!’ Whispers Violet, flashing her eyebrows, her smiling eyes directing his to a door at the back of the bistro. ‘Want to? While she’s not thinking of us?’
‘I didn’t see that door before?’ says Boy. She takes his hand. He feels suddenly taller, part of a happier #regime.
epoch #vss365
Boy feels like he’s flying, pulled along by Violet’s hand, too excited to see the sign on the door:
DO NOT ENTER
Through it they go: a stair going down through the #epochs into darkness. You sure? says Boy. Violet’s lips flutter a beat upon his. Let’s go down, she says.
protect #vss365
Light dims with every step. Violet’s hand closes around Boy’s, in time with the closing of the door at the top of the stair. Don’t worry, she says leading the way, I’ll #protect you. Boy looks beyond her, down into deep dark depths. Doors on either side as they descend.
psyche #vss365
The muffled chatter of the Bird Bistro floats down, and up from the depths of the dark stair other sounds rise
Do you hear? says Violet
Jazz, laughter, a long unending scream, love making, buses, the ocean and…
Birdsong says Boy. I think we are inside Hope’s #psyche.
fortune #vss365
Shall we go through one of these doors, whispers Boy. He stops at one marked 302. Ready he says, grabbing the handle
Wait! Says Violet. She puts her ear to the door
You’re blushing says Boy. I’m no #fortune teller but are they…
We’ll never know, she says. Try another.
braid #vss365
Silence leaks from room 291. The door stiff, gives, opens. Dust devils leap into life, caught in light from stained glass windows. Artefacts of varying shapes & sizes adorn rows of shelves. Come on, whispers Violet. She pulls Boy in, their fingers interlaced in a #braid.
equanimity #vss365
The door closes. The dust settles into #equanimity. The light, stained by the windows, colours their skin. Boy feels Violet’s soft hand move up his back. We’re alone, she whispers in his ear. Yes, he says. Look! A globe. He wipes away the dust, inside the sphere is Corfe.
liberty #vss365
Shall I shake it? says Boy. Make it snow in Corfe? The glass globe trembles in his hand
Violet slips her arms round his waist from behind, her voice soft in his ear. What if you shake yourself awake and this moment vanishes like a lovely dream? Don’t risk our #liberty.
contact #vss365
Boy felt Violet’s lips leave a tender pinch on his neck. Her hands slid up to his chest, tightening her embrace, loosening his grip on the globe. Corfe went tumbling down in snow, but just before it made #contact with the ground a hand reached out and caught it.
Phew!
unfurl #vss365
I’m Stone says the boy climbing to his feet. This globe is amazing…
Where did you come from? Says Violet, angry red #unfurling on her face
I followed you down from upstairs. Hey! Where are you going? I need help!
Help! A tiny voice echoed in stereo from globe & cup.
sting #vss365
Stone watched the snow fall in the shaken globe, down it came in soft flurries on the village and castle of Corfe. A white dragon flew over the roof tops, and a little girl clung to its tail like a barbed #sting, crying: Help! Stick stung a similar scene on the paper cup.
reach #vss365
Pocketing the globe, Stone sprints after Violet and Boy, #reaches them further down the stair of Hope’s soul – where the doors are darker and the thoughts deeper – entering room 109. Inside, Nelson tends a smoky bar, Le Thal plays piano, D’Angers & others enjoy drinks.
beneath #vss365
Hey! Lookee, here! Come in, come in my tweets! Says Le Thal, raising his whisky. We’re all off duty here
For once, Violet sees no sinister #beneath his grin
Come on, she says to the boys. They settle on stools at the bar, ordering 3 cherry fizzes with floating bonbons.
trick #vss365
Tric tip toes past room 109. One of my many #tricks, she smiles, then rolls her eyes as Eliot tumbles down the stair, deeper, darker. Yeowch! He yells. Shhhh! She hushes. He blushes. Sorry Tric. Ooh, look room 101! Let’s avoid that one, she says. Are you scared? says he.
fury #vss365
No, says Tric, a little #furious maybe. Come on, let’s get to the bottom of this. Tric leads Eliot down the stair. Each step deeper. Each step darker. 78, 77, 76… I like this door, says Eliot, hugging number 75. It feels like home. Tric pulls him away. Deeper. Darker.
tunnel #vss365
This is the bottom! Says Tric
Why are bottoms so smelly, says Eliot holding his nose. Ooh room 1. Can I open it? Can I?
Calm down Eliot says Tric, have you been at the bonbons again. She opens the door. A #tunnel?!
It’d’ve been a sweet shop if I’d opened it, says Eliot.
precious #vss365
Violet and Boy shove between Tric and Eliot and vanish down the dark tunnel. Excuse me! Shouts Eliot, catching a whiff of their sweet breath: Cherry fizz and bonbons! he cries running after them. Hello #precious says a whisky breath, putting its hand round Tric’s waist.
boy #vss365
Take your hands off me, #boy! Says Tric, talons extending from her fingertips, feathers itching from her skin
Relax, shister! Says the boy, spitting his whisky breath into her face. I’m not Boy! That’sh Boy, off with hish girl, Violent! I’m Shparrow. You can be my girl!
torrent #vss365
Before Tric could disembowel him, Sparrow was on all fours, a #torrent of whisky-fuelled vomit spewing forth
You should stick to cherry fizz, squawked Tric, before taking wing and gliding into the vanishing light of the deep dark tunnel
Sparrow staggered up the stair.