CLOSER

She awoke covered in sweat and shaking, her gasping breath filling the room with something that had not been there previously. The curtains lifted as a cool breeze caressed them and the morning light that infiltrated by the sides was cast throughout the room. An orange haze washed everything. Golden shimmers from racing particles in the air. The very fabric of space alit with ripples of gold. As the curtains fell back the room regained the bronze aura that accompanied it when the mountain awoke. All the surfaces shining opaquely, galvanised like an alien dew in some distant world. She muttered something and shifted before sitting up.

It had been a bad dream.

As it evaporated from her mind, in the way dreams sometimes do, its afterglow settled, one of sharp edges and whispered murmurs.

There had been a white caribou. Its black antlers had extended out, growing larger until they were all around her. A dense canopy of them had enveloped her, all black but for the creature’s face. The caribou had said something yet its face had remained completely serene and motionless; dark green eyes that spoke of earth and forest.  Its voice had been the sound of rapids and trees ruffling in the wind, but she had somehow been able to understand the three words it muttered. Into the mountain.

It was the not the first time the caribou had visited her. For the past year that majestic creature had been dwelling her dreams. At first it had been but an essence, a subtle fragrance only palpable once she realised she was dreaming. Much to her annoyance she could never quite grasp it when she awoke, the concept of it slipping away through the gaps in her consciousness.  But it called to her in a way nothing ever had before.

Luring her closer.

She had driven out of the City one autumn morning. Soft steps and murmuring doors were the only things she left behind. Perhaps a little sanity as well; the mountain required little of it. No longer could she put aside thoughts of the caribou. The sound of its voice growing brighter, hotter, scalding those three words into her innards. Everything else fading in the light of this being. Answers were what she had set out to find. What were the questions?

Closer.

Days passed. And then some more. Time seized to govern life. In this realm other forces had the upper hand. She could not remember how long it had been since that morning when she had left it all for...For what? At times she thought the quest could ultimately be the end, some kind of mid-life crisis, the replenishing of one’s soul and all the rest. The caribou called no less. She rented a room in a place which’s name she could not remember anymore. This will be where it all becomes clear. She had thought.

This is where I go into the mountain.

Her hand ran through the sheets on the bed and came across something. Sting. Cut. Paper cut. No guitar rang, in the usual manner, when disturbed by sudden movements. She assumed he must have left during her sleep. It was a note with her name written on it. His handwriting.

There is nothing here. We lost. Leave this place before it takes you too.  

The note dropped to the floor in one graceful lick. She stared aimlessly, her eyes lost in the thick curtains. A quick breath escaped but she held the rest in and stood, her naked body all silhouettes and shadows against the morning light.

She packed her bag and took one last look at the room. An aura shone all around the edges of the curtain. The mountain had awoken. It’s scorching spirit slipping into every crevice. It called to her.  By the door she kneeled and placed another note, this one written by her, in case he was to ever return. He would not.

She shut the door quietly and walked down the dark corridor. Like that autumn morning. Like so many other rooms before.

Close.

FIREFLY

Silhouetted mountains shifted as the car wheels rolled silently on the road. The engine was barely a murmur over the sound of the worn out rubber wheels against the tarmac, it was almost soothing, like white noise set to a minimum volume. Green eyes set on the road, he reached out for the backseat and attempted to grab a forgotten packet of cigarettes in the jungle of newspapers and opened bags of junk food. One cigarette. He slipped it into the front pocket of his shirt.

The road curved endlessly in the darkness of the valley. From the mountains the car would have seemed like lonely firefly drowning in a black sea, tracing violent curls and turns trying to escape its doom. But there was no one in the mountains to watch. There was no one. Light from the car revealed every now and then fragments of the surrounding landscape. Mighty trees standing idly by the roadside, menacing trespassers. They watched. The dense forest, a crouching beast slowly engulfing everything around it so that all was the darkness that those green eyes reflected.

He lay back in the seat and looked through the side window. Nothing. Only the path before him was illuminated by the headlights, ever rolling and twisting. He put his face in his hand momentarily and pressed his tired eyes. It hurt, his head. All his thoughts compressed. Pushing on his skull from within. Out. They wanted to get out and scream into the  mountain, so hollow and haunting. A creature tormenting him but one which he was inevitably bonded to. The dark of the valley called to him and he to it. Docile. Wearing him away so that he himself was destined to become part of it. A cage where he would not move, in fear that the very mountain would collapse under its own fragility. Himself.

Blisters erupted from his hand as he released the steering wheel and stroked his hair back. Chest dropped as he let out a long breath. Slight relief washed his face. She would know why. He thought.

The car drove off the road and into a small path that led deep into forest. At the end, a forgotten sightseeing site on the edge of a cliff. He killed the engine. Silence took over. A peaceful one, not on edge. Some time passed. First blank mind for a while now. Eyes lost in the immensity of the mountains that stretched in the distance. Now a paler green. He grabbed the guitar sat next to him and a bundle covered in newspaper and opened the car door. He knew what he had to do.

The monotonous blue light of night time filled everything that only minutes ago had been complete darkness. He went to the edge of the cliff. The guitar rang a dissonant note when the wind caressed it making the trees behind ruffle in protest. It broke into a thousand pieces as it crashed down. His face was impassive. Only looked down once. Turned around. The trees were quiet. They watched. 

Slowly he undid the bundle of newspapers which he held. His hands didn't tremble like he'd imagined. So he smiled. The papers flew into the wind and disappeared. It was heavier now. He charged it. We needn't run away. Metallic taste in his mouth. From what? The trees ruffled. Mountains leaned. A dissonant note. Instant firefly.

She muttered.

The trees. Quiet.

SHE MUTTERED...

The curtains transformed into dark walls as the night creeped into the room. A pitch black reigned over most of it except at the edges of the curtains, where some shimmers of blue light peacefully hovered.

Here he sat. On an old and battered armchair that had long ago lost its original colour and comfortableness. The tentacles of moonlight stroked his green eyes, sending minute reflections to her, if she had been watching. She lay fast asleep, in a position not much different from the one earlier that day, except perhaps more fetal. It was much colder now. However her naked body was still only covered by a thin blanket so that most of it was visible. She stirred slightly while she muttered something and curled up into more of a ball.

The room was completely still after that. Nothing moved. It was as if time itself had stopped and every particle had decided to stop in mid air, in that almost complete darkness. But there was something in his stare that made that tiny portion of the room vibrate. The cold light seemed to concentrate solely on his face. He was pale and had not shaved for some days now but this did not make him ugly. He smiled as a thought crossed his mind and shook his head delicately, taking his eyes off her.

Of course it mattered. He thought.

His steamy breath rose and as it was hit by the blue light it disappeared into the black of the room.

The smile was wiped of his face almost instantaneously as he got up and grabbed the guitar, now set beside him. Somewhere in her sleep the girl sensed this, for again she muttered unknown words and let out a short, quick gasp only to again fall into undisturbed dreams. He neared the bed, guitar at hand, and placed by her face a neatly folded note.

The smell of her hair rose to his nostrils and for a second he was overwhelmed by it. He hesitated on whether he should kiss her, get closer to her. He wanted to. The skin on her arm had goosebumps. She was shivering. He wished he could hug her. He didn't. She muttered something.

No sound escaped from his boots as he firmly walked to the door. He opened it. The hallway was dark too. A shimmer ran down his back and he had to shut his eyes. Too late. The drop fell against the neck of the guitar He looked back at the bed one last time before closing the door behind him.

It made no sound.

She muttered something.

INTO THE MOUNTAIN

"Let's run away," she whispered into the pillow where her face rested. A faint light entered through the thick cream curtains, just enough to discover both their bodies lying in a tangled mess of matresses and cushions on the bed, but too scarce to reveal any physical details of themselves.

"Where do you want to go?" He lifted a flock of her hair, that lay so spread out over her naked back and surrounding bed, and twirled it round in his finger almost unconciously. His eyes weren't even set on the hair, or the girl. Even though he aparently stared at the morning light that attempted to penetrate the curtains he was far away. Not just a blank stare. He was somewhere.

Silence hovered over the room for some time. Time passed but the ilumination in the room did not seem to change. All was still except for the slight movement of their chests as they breathed in and out. Such a slow and delicate motion that it could have benn spaced out by whole minutes.

She turned away from the pillow to look at him as her dark hair fell playfully on her face. The hair was caught in between some rays of perfect sunlight that had managed to enter the room through a breach in the curtains. It shone brown and then red for some seconds only to become again beautifully black as it fell over her eyes.

"Wherever," she said. A small frown appeared on her look as she thought lightly. "Why would it matter?"

The room became more shaded as a cloud covered the Sun outside. He released the flock of hair and was for the first time aware of the cold. Only her eyes and lips were now visible. The eyes glittered faintly, accompained by her lips everytime her facial expression changed.

It didn't matter. He thought. His lungs were filled as he took a deep breath. Almost as if the heaving of his chest was too much of a disturbance for the room, the bed creaked. The guitar set at the edge complained and sung a low note that hung endlessly in the atmosphere until the disturbances had quietend down.

He was now again looking at the curtains. This time blankly. The light had not restablished itself in the room.

His eyes set on her again, who continued to look at him with that faint frown.

A weak smile was drawn across his face which was echoed by her eyes.

"INTO THE MOUNTAIN."

There was no sound.