The Horrible Horrors Of Mr.Herbert

A Red Journey

Mr.Herbert was grappling with an obsession to draw a painting that would have been a summation and a vessel for his intense passion. To reflect his harsh upbringing he required a material rough and crimson red but could not think of such an instrument or where he may attain it.

On his journey home by train, he was engulfed by his own world of art and expression, multiple impressions and versions of every thought and emotion. Only to be interrupted by the announcer shouting two words that penetrated through Mr.Herbert's productive mind and caught his attention, "Chalk Farm".

Mr.Herbert filled with sheer excitement shouted "Perfection", he rushed off the train in search for a farm full of red chalks to fulfill his fixated dream. It came with no surprise that our dear Mr.Herbert could not find such a farm, he began fuming and boiling with soaring bitter rage, he exclaimed "false advertisement!".

He found the nearest Chalk Farmian and with his old rusty cane delivered the strongest of blows to the poor man's skull. The impact was of such force that the sound was loud and gruesome, the skull was visible and the smell of fresh brain enticed Mr.Herbert. He smiled with an unshakeable sense of hope and purpose, he snapped a piece of bone from the man's skull and dipped it firmly into his bloodied brain. A hard and rough instrument with the perfect crimson red colour, "who would have known?" Said Mr.Herbert while brushing the hair of the dead man on his lap in a dark alley.

Mr.Herbert left the body and kept the new instrument with a bottle of the victim's drained blood. He returned to the station and took another train home. He started painting in one of the compartments in the train with fellow passengers watching silently. A gentleman asks Mr.Herbert "Good sir, I see you have a talent for drawing, what was your inspiration for such a telling masterpiece?". Mr.Herbert acknowledges the compliment with a nod and half smile, he was too concerned with finishing the drawing but felt pressured to answer. "At first my dear friend my inspiration was formless, shapeless and powerful, with no particularity anchoring it to reality. It was an idea born to be free but somewhere along the blurry lines came this recurring detail, a specific instrument that was a dam to the flow of my thoughts and emotions...".

Mr.Herbert could not help himself but pause as his fellow passengers were rather lost except for the kind gentleman. A smile grew on Mr.Herbert's face and continued "This dam seemed necessary to me but fate showed otherwise, fate offered me a new alternative, a boat that had me sail with such zeal and passion through the intense blood red power of creation, this revelation came to me through my senseless pursuit and pain of seeking what I assumed to be the ideal piece of a grand puzzle but in it's stead I found the bigger picture"

The gentleman smiled "I see you are a man of deep thought and appreciation of life's motions, I understand from what you have shared that man must act and meet fate halfway and it will provide a clearer image if you will, it is an exchange that comes through struggle"

Mr.Herbert Smiles with a touch of excitement for engaging with a likeminded gentleman and replies "At times a gentleman must crack his skull in thought to reach his desire".