Fools Hope

Chapter five: Dead man walking

*~ Until we have seen someone's darkness we don't really know who they are.
Until we have forgiven someone's darkness we don't really know what love is.
-Marianne Williamson~*

(Iris's pov)

The Dead Man Walking
BY THOMAS HARDY
They hail me as one living,
But don't they know
That I have died of late years,
Untombed although?

I am but a shape that stands here,
A pulseless mould,
A pale past picture, screening
Ashes gone cold.

Not at a minute's warning,
Not in a loud hour,
For me ceased Time's enchantments
In hall and bower.

There was no tragic transit,
No catch of breath,
When silent seasons inched me
On to this death ....

A Troubadour-youth I rambled
With Life for lyre,
The beats of being raging
In me like fire.

But when I practised eyeing
The goal of men,
It iced me, and I perished
A little then.

When passed my friend, my kinsfolk,
Through the Last Door,
And left me standing bleakly,
I died yet more;

And when my Love's heart kindled
In hate of me,
Wherefore I knew not, died I
One more degree.

And if when I died fully
I cannot say,
And changed into the corpse-thing
I am to-day,

Yet is it that, though whiling
The time somehow
In walking, talking, smiling,
I live not now.

As I finish reading the poem, I am covered in goose flesh. It's too dark and dreary a poem. Don't try telling that to my English teacher Mrs. Candour. She'd blow your head off-not literally. She loves poetry and told us we are to read a poem today. One she gives out to us at random. Then after we read it we are to write about it and make a poem of our own. Ugh... So not looking forward to this. I start to write my thoughts and opinion on this poem first. I figured this would take me the longest.
***

"Oh my god!!! Why can't I write a stupid poem for English class!!" I scream out in frustration hours later. I'm sitting in my room trying to write a poem in similar comparison to the one I read. And I am coming up blank. Flopping down on the bed I decide to give my brain a rest and I read over what I have so far.

In the icy tombs they grow,
All twisted and narrow
They left me here to perish
Well I'll die with a flourish.

My soul all gnarled and fickle
I'm left in a twisted tickle,
We will become the dead
And I watched my heart as it bled....

I don't have anything else to say and it's not very dark or twisted like the other poem. "I just can't write poems!!" Frustration trickles through me and I decide to take a break. I have all night to write it. Putting down my pen and paper I hop up, and head to the bathroom to shower.

As I'm getting out of the shower, the faint outlined words of I'm coming for you sends shivers cascading down my spine like water falling off a cliff into oblivion. Turning away I get dressed and enter into my room. I look at Zeke, who is laying on his back on my bed, and laugh at him. "You adorable little thing" I mutter. I walk to Zeke, his tail starts to move at the speed of light, and I place my hands on his belly, and watch as excitement sparkles in his eye.

Laughing I give him a zerburt, and watch as he gives a slight squeal of joy. I pick him up and kiss his nose. Zeke barks and licks my face. Placing him down on the bed, he looks up at me with his big eyes. Patting his head I go downstairs and prepare dinner.
***
(Rafael's pov)
After I went and asked Damen about the weird creepy poem I heard chanted in the forest, I went to my room and sat on my bed to think it over. "Why.... What....?" I can't even make a proper sentence I'm so frazzled. Flopping back onto the bed, I stare at the ceiling and close my eyes. I start to picture Iris. Her wavy brown hair, her emerald green eyes that sparkle like the sun, her body that moves just right. The way her smile lights up the room, of the way her laugh pricks your ears and intrigues you to listen.

Everything about her is simply spectacular. Words won't do her any good. Sighing I open my eyes, and I see Rocco sitting on the floor staring at the door. I'm about to ask him why he's sitting there when a menacing growl rips through his throat. His hackles stand on end, and his muscles tense, ready to spring. "What is it boy?" I walk to him but Rocco stands up and blocks my way.

"Rocco?!" I whisper, he growls again and scratches at the door,I open it and let him out. He runs down the hallway to the front door. Barking he looks like... Well like a devils hound.

Knock, knock.

I freeze. What was that?

Knock knock.

There it is again. My heart pounds faster, my blood pumps with adrenaline. I shuffle step towards the door. Rocco launches himself at the door, and hammers away at it. I rush to him, hold him back with all my strength, and open the door. There standing, is a girl hunched over and shivering from the cold.

Her hair is as red as blood, her lips are a pale rose and her skin is as pale as moonlight. Her body is thin and curvy, but there's muscle tone in her legs and arms. When she looks up at me her eyes are meak, sad. They're a striking shade of blue/grey. She's beautiful. "Can I help you?" I ask. She steps forward and collapses.

I catch her before she hits the ground. Dragging her inside I slam the door closed, from the frigid air outside. Laying her down on the floor I rush to get a blanket and some fire going in a room. When I return with a blanket, I see she's woken up and she's petting Rocco. He's weary of her but he allows it. I give the mystery girl the blanket and she smiles delicately. My heart stutters. Oh no... Not good. Why am I feeling that? I shake it off. Pushing it aside I kneel down and ask her "what were you doing out there? Only the dead live out there."

She shivers, and chatters out, "I-i got l-lost. I was w-walking down a path, and t-the next thing I knew I woke up h-here. W-where am I e-exactly?" I smile softly tenderly. Her voice is smooth, like an ocean on a clear day. "Sweetheart you are in hell. And I am the keeper of hell. I am a devil" she smiles, and I freeze. "Then I am where I am meant to be."

Ok what? Staring down at this strange, strange girl I ask her, "what's your name?" Helping her stand, I bring her to a roaring fire, settle her down and wait for her to answer me. Flashing a movie star smile she says, "Trinity"

(Tyler's pov)
Tyler is sitting in the room he is borrowing, when he hears Iris shout out "I SUCK AT POETRY!!"  He laughs. Deciding to see if he could help her, Tyler marches over to her room. Knocking on the door, he says "Iris you ok?" She groans "no" "may I enter?" "Yeah" is her muttered response. Entering, Tyler tentatively places one foot in front of the other.

Iris notices him doing so and laughing, pats the bed. "Come here" so he does. "Look at this poem and tell me what you think! I only have two verses. And I'm stumped" Taking the paper delicately Tyler looks at what she has and nods. "It's not bad. But you need more to have it make any sense." She huffs and says "I know." "How about we think of lines together and see what that come up to be?" She squeals, and throws her arms around him. Tyler's heart gushes with joy. If only it were like this everyday.

Realizing his thought processes, Tyler blushes. If Rafael looked into my head right now I would be so dead.  I would be a dead man walking....