dreamscape
abridged
This is Sevens Port. Population 172 and dropping. People keep leaving town, who would want to stay knowing what happens in Seven's Port. There are nightmares every night; nightmares that come true more often than not. Last week Baker Sam dreamt about his wife, he saw her fall off the ravine. Her funeral was yesterday. The local grocer, Mary, saw ravens picking at the corpse of her dead child. That didn't come to pass and for that Mary is eternally grateful. As one dreams once in a while, each person in Seven's port has a nightmare every once in a while.
Apart from Marcus Caesar. He has one every two nights; ghosts, dead animals, visions of the people dying; everything came to him. He's a dark soul, known around town as the child of Nyx. Everyone avoids him, the kids in the local high school fear him. One can tell his life is really sad, no parents, no place to call home unless of course the church orphanage counts. The local priest, as 'jolly' as he is, curses the day he christened him Caesar for it seemed the whole town was being punished for the sins of the Emperor Caesar.
He's an artist. Every day he draws the most gruesome of scenes; all from his dreams. His charcoal drawings line the walls of the old brick church, making it appear far gloomier that the architect imagined. I mean, in Seven's Port, even the blondest of blondes and the reddest of reds comes out all watery and sad.
Seven's Port. Population 170, ten new babies were born in the last three months, and she moved into town. Harmony the 19-year-old with a fierce passion for running away. On the day of her arrival alone, 2 people died. Old James slipped and cracked his skull, painting the ground a murky red. Sarah's little boy fell onto the iron poker. She brought even more destruction and sadness. Marcus thought she was gorgeous. Why wouldn't he? She had the kind of eyes an artist dies to draw. Quite literally sometimes. Blue, green, gold, brown. All the color she contained.
Marcus gathered his courage; he asked Harmony to dinner. Harmony said no. Three people died that evening. Some attest it to Marcus' bad mood. Carly the butcher had one of his cuts of meat land on him with its hook. Robby fell off his roof and landed on the cast iron fence. Po, his son, found him and slipped on his blood, landing on the table saw and effectively sending bits of brain and skull matter everywhere. These three scenes would soon appear on the walls of the big church.
Seven's port. Population 166. The children died; Harmony blamed herself. Everyone blamed Marcus Caesar, but she knew the truth. She'd come to Seven's Port because she'd seen it in a dream, because it called to her, it needed her. So, she ran away. She ran away again, to Seven's Port, directly to the deaths that she'd seen. It felt like home. It truly felt like home, her dreams stopped, and the people welcomed her. Then Marcus came, the first sign that everything wasn't fine and dandy. He said his words with much difficulty, she said hers with no difficulty; the single syllable rolling off her tongue with ease. Her friends laughed. They lived to rue that day.
The children died. Harmony felt guilty. She took ill one day just like they did. She got up again just like they didn't. Maybe she protected herself. Maybe he protected her. Maybe she was the antagonist all along. Harmony, he asked. Yes, she replied. Somehow it was realized; the magnificence of Harmony and Marcus. Late night conversations, whispered confessions, no more paintings appeared on the walls of the big church. The town rejoiced.
Seven's Port. Population 178. There was peace. Babies were born, people didn't die, the sun actually shone in Seven's Port. The time of unmatched happiness. The church opened its doors, the priest preaching to all those who would listen about the wondrous Harmony. Harmony who had singlehandedly ended everything. After all it was, she who had his dream, and it was she who made it come to pass. Together she said. Together they hurtled towards the abyss.
THE END.
