SHEOL

9

I had a dream in that loft on December 23rd. It wasn't very pleasant. I was in a vast, dark room. There wasn't anything else at first. I wasn't very scared, I was just curious. I walked around for a bit, but nothing was to be found. As I continued to wander the depths of the abyss, I felt a drop of liquid on my head. I looked up to find the sky. It was a beautiful navy sky, with thousands upon thousands of pinhole stars puncturing the darkness. I couldn't help but stare and wonder where that drop came from.

I continued wandering around the darkness until I stepped in something squishy. I had no shoes on, so the residue covered my foot. I couldn't see what I had stepped in. I looked around, trying to see if I could find a light. I did. It was very distant, but there appeared to be a little flickering flame coming towards me. I didn't know whether I should stay with the squishy residue or to meet the candle.

I stayed with the residue.

As the light came closer, I could see that something was carrying the candle. It was a human figure, but it was very small. "Thank you!" I shouted to it. "It's awfully dark in here."

The figure didn't respond at first, but I could hear the heavy sounds that were escaping from its' mouth. It seemed like it was a burden to carry that candle. It was wheezing, struggling to breathe. It was very tired.

"Do you want me to take that candle from you?" I asked.

"No." It responded. It's voice was very hoarse, almost as if its' vocal chords were made of rusty nails. The voice sounded almost familiar, but I couldn't place my finger on its' origin.

As the creature grew closer, I could start to see what it was. It was very fleshy and pale, almost looking more like a sack of meat than anything else. Its' eyes were glazed and useless, the pupils were clouded. The thing was blind. It's mouth hung low and open, but there were no teeth. Only that seemed to be the least of it's problems, it's mouth was clogged with rotting flesh. No wonder it was a struggle to breathe.

The beast was naked, but it was obviously female; her breasts hung low and were sewn to her abdomen. She had no feet, she walked painfully on stumps. I couldn't imagine how it stayed alive.

"Aren't you afraid of me?" It choked in a distorted manor.

I stepped back into more of the slime. "No, you look too useless too hurt me."

"Under your foot." It gasped. The flickering candle was held in her hands. They were black and burnt, the rotting skin was peeling, exposing new flesh underneath. The creature was in pain, I could tell. The hot candle wax dripped relentlessly onto the bloody, pink muscle.

I looked down to see black blood mixed with tar and mucus. It was revolting. "This looks like the stuff that my mother used to cough up and keep in jars." I said faintly.

The creature nodded. "It is."

My mind was racing. "That doesn't make sense. Why is it here?"

The creature stepped towards me. "I am your mother."

I stepped away from the puddle of slime and looked at the thing. It began to cough spastically, oozing blood and tar from her nose and mouth. "Help." It gurgled. "Please, help me."

I ran away from the creature as quickly as I possibly could, only to discover that my path led back to her. It was like I was on a hamster wheel, with no way to escape. I couldn't take it, the creature fell to it's knees and continued hacking up vile things into the puddle. It carefully held the candle though, as if it were life or death.

"Why do you hold the candle so dearly?" I called back to the thing.

It looked up at me with blood running from its' blind eyes. "This candle, is you."

I stared at the poor creature as it kept coughing up what seemed to be anything that would escape through its' clogged void. The voice did sound like my mothers'. I couldn't run. I couldn't do anything about it. All I could do was look up at the sky...