Hush Baby, Hush

Something Hidden

Earthy, woody, spicy, sweet and an angels voice in the distance sang a sweet lullaby.

Go to sleep little baby, close your eyes…

I felt the pull, the magnetism to drift off further into this dream land, it was so soothing, so sweet, so lulling. A girl with long black hair, marred by straw yellow streaks walked before me. Deep waves cascaded down her back, her face I'd never seen but her skin was pale, mottled with purple bruises.

A hallway, long and dark, a flickering bulb above her head, dirty brown walls beside her, red carpet beneath her tiny emaciated feet. Her thin fingers, crusted blood beneath her nails, trailed along the walls. Her ripped camisole, even whiter than her skin, hung off one shoulder where the strap had been ripped and jean shorts, dirtied by mud and grime hung off her thin hips slightly.

Go to sleep little baby…..

Brown and nearly as thin as the girl who swayed down the hallway my hand reached out, the tips of my  grimyfingernails  caught on to the dim light and shined. Then like a bad movie the once eerily tranquil scene tunneled into a bad nightmare; the girl exuded a black smoke.

Thick, wispy ribbons the shade of a Ravens iridescent coat trailed behind  her as a long and magnificent cape, and she traveled forward seemingly unawares.

The slight girl maintained her terrible lullaby.

Rock-a-bye and goodnight, go to sleep little baby.

 Long metal spikes horridly broke through the walls as ifi her song had summoned them.

Delicate laughter followed suit and the girl faded away, like vapor she twirled until she became black wispy ribbons herself. Still I never saw her face.

“Help me.” I called out, a ribbon of wispy black smoke riveted around my wrist, thin lines appeared, the width and length of the slashes on my wrists and pressed into their familiar areas.

The ribbons though they were made of smoke cut into my wrists and flayed open the slashes once again. Pain like a thousand knives against my flesh coursed through my entire body, and my legs, suddenly they were caught up in yet another hold…..

And then vanilla, the scent overpowered my senses and lulled me into a deep trance. The scene of utter chaos fell away as my eyelids fluttered, once, then twice and then no more.

And I fell into nothing.

“Hey, hey,” warm, hardened skin slapped at my frozen cheeks, “Come back, come back. You hear me? Come back.”

I know this voice.

“Don’t do that!” another voice, also familiar screeched nearby, “How is that supposed to help?!”

Tap. Tap.

“There, you happy?” the first voice, obviously male answered back, “how else can we wake her?”

“I don’t know but stop doing that.”

Like a surge of wind, air surged through my lungs. It flowed through my blood, I felt it grace my limbs, and flow like sweet honey. My chest rose sharply as my lips parted and the air pushed itself out like toxic waste. What was once numb came alive, I felt my fingers.

“Crystal?” soft and halting he spoke.

My toes moved.

His head, heavy and warm rested on my chest, “Come back. That’s right come back.”

My cheeks warmed.

“Is she breathing? What are you doing?” soft scrambling ensued nearby, and his warm comforting head remained in place.