Silhouettes in black

Set your story in a shopping mall, amusement park, or cinema after hours;

    “I might begin every story with a little poem, so that you know that it’s been written by me, 

because I get concerned about ‘AI’, getting the credit for my words of originality”!

But then, ‘other people’ might do the same, and so my idea is a waste of time, 

“I suppose that I could make errors on purpose, but that’s considered a ‘writers crime’!

“I’m probably considered old, and technology ‘ain’t for me,

 I understand that it can help you out, but that’s cheating- “do you

 agree”?

THERE ARE NO MORE GAMES

         “What are you crying for, you silly old fool”, I said to myself, as my salty tears gently dampened my dry lips, and I was getting emotionally nostalgic, which was embarrassing, and I had to look around to see if anybody else was nearby to witness this moment of tragic emotion and weakness, but fortunately I was on my own, in an old theme park that used to be thriving with people when I was a young boy, but rolling tundra didn’t dramatically blow past to emphasise the abandonment however!

    “I remember when there was a merry-go-round there”, and the evidence of its large round base, could clearly be seen by the rusty mark, that now remained on the dark grey concrete ground! There were a lot of these rusty marks, that were of different shapes and sizes, and they were evidence of numerous past attractions, that were once present, and if you looked upon the ground from above, the different rusty shapes could have appeared rather like a subliminal message to aliens high above! But, “to me”, these were the silhouettes that marked happy times, and my thoughts exercised my brain, which then, created a smile!

    Only a few of the old attractions were left behind, and they remained secure in their place, to slowly decay with the exposure to the salty seaside atmosphere, that could negatively be so effective in the Winter months, especially with the driving rain, the coldness with the snow and the frost, and those remaining, and the static, abandoned rides’ had blotchy paintwork, that was now peeling away from its rotting wooden base!

    There were two small railway carriages, that were in front of me, and they firstly attracted my attention, because I thought that I did see some movement inside one of the two remaining carriages, and my intrigue prompted my curiosity to inspect further, and I expected to see, either a nest full of birds, or a coagulation of other wild animals!

The first carriage that I peered in had a bundle of dirty clothes in it, that, because of the carriage purposefully having no windows, they didn’t have a foul odour, but they were visibly very filthy, and I would have no desire to touch, or to move them! But my quick, and my curious presence and investigation was obviously not wanted, and I had a very alarming surprise when a bedraggled old lady sprang out of the second carriage to confront me!

     “Get away from there”, she snarled, and then she hissed, “you’re not wanted here……….. “So be gone…… go on…..away with you”, and her banshee rambling’s continued, and her mumblings were ‘supposedly’ confined to her ears, as she was about to return to her carriage, and I wanted to apologise to her, before this ‘Witch like’ crone cast a spell on me, and I also wanted to explain that I was merely curious, and I didn’t intend to disturb her, or to interfere in any way…….but I was both baffled, and shocked, because she wasn’t in there!

      I was in a state of disbelief, and I had to look again, and then I foolishly questioned my own sanity, and then my eyesight, “Don’t be silly, I know what I saw, and what I heard, and I am not going mad or insane, ‘although you are talking to yourself now” I chuckled! 

     “Where could she have gone”, and I stood outside of the carriage that she had vacated, totally baffled by her sudden disappearance; 

       The era was the 1980’s, and talk of witches were thought upon, as only ever being fictional characters, and they mostly featured in children’s books wearing black attire, and there was usually a cauldron in the story, which was used to concoct wicked potions, and the Witches usually wore a pointy hat, to complete their look! 

There facial features could include long and crooked noses, protruding chins, and deep wrinkles on their warty crooked faces, and I did notice something very unusual about the carriage that she had mysteriously vacated though, and that was that it seemed to feature, something that couldn’t physically be possible, but inside of the carriage was a small staircase that she must have disappeared down!

      Naturally, I was intrigued to investigate further, and I firstly, and rather awkwardly, clambered into the train carriage, and I was immediately stunned by the foul body odour, which was a combination of stale sweat, with the blend of an indescribable spice, and it was definitely not a desired perfume, and that scent was wafting from this strange staircase; 

      It was difficult to mentally accept the presence, and the mystery of this staircase, that wasn’t showing as coming through the bottom of the carriage, and I didn’t like the mysterious incredibility of this situation, and I wanted to walk away, and to get as far away as I could, because it wasn’t possible, and this magic and mystery was beyond my imagination, and it was, perhaps the product of Witchcraft, and the intrigue, and the thought, were like a magnet that pulled me towards the staircase to investigate further, and my intrigue overcame my caution, ‘as I’ began my descent; This mysterious ‘opening’ was ominously dark, and it remained to be very dark the further I descended on this wooden staircase, and each step down had an enormous fear, and dread…… ‘a dread of making that ominous creaking sound’, and a dread of the thin wooden staircase breaking!

      As I finally descended the staircase, the deteriorating light faintly exposed the uneven ground, which was of dry earth, and I was now in a dark tunnel that was dimly lit by a glowing orange flame, that was more prominent from beyond where I ‘half-stood’, and it encouraged me to follow ‘this old lady’ further;  I kept my distance, and I could still see this shuffling little old lady, and the thought of her being a witch might explain many phenomena in this World?

       The orange glow from the fire beyond was getting much brighter now, and the old lady was still clearly visible ahead, but where was she going, and what was her intention? The light, that she was heading towards, was getting brighter, and the distance back to the carriage was hundreds of feet away now, but my intrigue never wavered, and I was happy to continue following, UNTIL, the old lady suddenly stopped, and she turned around; I think that she knew that she was being followed ‘all along’!

       “What do you want”, she snarled very loudly, as if she was alerting others, and I stood feeling dread and panic, as I tried to think of a feasible reason, ‘other than’ “oh nothing, I’m just a nosey git”, but I couldn’t, and so I turned around quickly to run back, but I couldn’t move, although I hadn’t been frozen, I just couldn’t move from this position, and it was as though an invisible and containing force had been placed around me!

I then felt a very sharp sensation in my lower back, and without losing consciousness, “or believing that I hadn’t lost consciousness”, I was now in a larger area than the previously small tunnel, and I was faced with two other hideous witches now!

“What, or who do we have here”, she said as she continued croaking, “another victim, ‘I mean volunteer’, for one, or maybe six of my potions”, she cackled, and she continued stirring a bubbling pot of a liquid that smelt like it was boiling sewage water…………. “This……. ‘well’, we’ll call it soup, is nearly ready, and you ‘my friend’, can be the first person to try it”, and she made that statement sound as though she was doing me a favour!  “The recipe is just right…….. ‘I think”, she alarmingly declared, and then she continued “Yes, it’ll be fine……. ‘yes, I’m sure it will…… well we’ll soon find out”, and she physically prised open my mouth, to accommodate a spoonful of this potion, and I don’t know what was worse…. ‘the scent, or the taste from her foul fingers, or from the potion itself, which was having some immediate effect, and it obviously pleased and amused the witches;

   “I was once a human, but now I’m a different creature,

   and I now have a pair of colourful wings as my main feature”,

   “I could fly fast, and I could fly high,

   and I quickly vacated this tunnel, and I flew into the sky”,

   “I flew for miles, and I felt like I was guided- “but by who”?, 

   And I stopped above the land that I knew”,

   “There were marks on the ground, and they were formed with rust,

   but I was intrigued by this sequence, ‘in which’ I knew I should trust”,

   “because I had a good memory, and the sequence of the shapes mean’t 

   something to me”,

   “I was so really intrigued by those rust marks, and I don’t know why,

   but after repeating the sequence in my mind, I fell out of the sky”,

  “I wasn’t a bird anymore, and I didn’t have wings,

  and I was human again -“only now, I had a few broken limbs”,

  “No, I was only bruised, but I was still alone, 

  and I quickly ran to the exit, and then I ran home”

“I ran so fast, and I didn’t look back,

because I feared seeing those silhouettes in black”.

————————————————————————————————————