A light wind swirls and a crow squawk echoes in the sky within the air's breezy twists and turns.
A peace descends as Matthew finds himself staring at a dirty orange desert floor. Loose sand is scattered across hard rock and lumps of black stone complete a lifeless landscape. Without hearing his own breath Matthew raises his head and inspects his surroundings. There in front of his feet is a deep dark canyon. All the light is drawn from the sides of the red rock and leads upwards away from this unknown destination. The rest of the landscape is blurred. It is just thus a small chunk of floor and the dark abyss. Matthew stands there bewildered studying his hands and body as his naked appearance dawns on him. Here in a world he has never seen before, a naked Matthew begins to get goose bumps. He can hear It a way off behind him, quietly gathering speed about to charge at him at full force. Twitching, he felt the words again louder, more spiteful and imagined them to be in the shape of a black Bull charging hard. Huffing, puffing and snarling this ringed, horned and large mouthed monster darts forward. Soon it will hit Matthew, trample, lick, butt and break him before swallowing. Matthew's stomach tightens. His arms tremble; eyes water; feet feel stuck to the floor and all he can do is look back across his shoulder in fear and accept this pain and death.
Or somehow, he thinks he should jump.
"It can't be that deep. Maybe a river runs through it. Death either way I suppose. But no, maybe the Bull won't see me if I crouch down and perhaps the loud noise will sink away? Yes I should stay still. Who knows what the unknown dark has. Do I take it or try the unknown?"
Then Matthew turns around and sees the Bull. He still can't move his feet: they are stuck to this lifeless earth. The Bull is now massive, loud with death in its eye. Its face angrily smiles as if arrogant and proud of what it is doing. The Bull is just 20 yards away. Matthew's ears ring with unbearable high pitched bells and low voices repeatedly saying the same things. Louder... Louder...
'Failure in life is to be scared Haunt ya Grow up Matthew Moping around and scared Be an adult and go for it do something or you'll be like this forever What is going on in that head of yours Why are you here Why aren't you like the guy I had high hopes for you You're letting yourself down You are not performing up to standard boy You are stupid insolent and quite a little wanker What a waste Fuck it Now or never'
Matthew leaps. His feet push away from the cold rock as he elegantly jumps like an Olympic diver into the unknown.
The black sits there sucking him in. The noise of the Bull goes quiet and his shape dissolves into nothing. All Matthew can hear is a slight wind breeze, His body doesn't accelerate down. Instead it loses its weight and slowly floats down like a feather. The air swells his lungs and he takes a massive unexpected gasp of life.
Matthew shudders awake and takes in deep but quick breaths. He watches the sun come up through his curtains until the clouds are blown back across once again overcasting the sky. In a sweat at 9am Matthew rolls out of bed and grabs his running gear.
A Summer Epic
Dreaming of that place on the TV
Looking at that face you want to be.
A life at home no longer satisfactory
Painful discontent giving you mouldy chi.
Grasping for that fake life
Vaccinating against evil King Ordinary.
Coming up short; constantly chasing the cure
YOU ARE READING
Floodlights
RomanceStuck in a rut and weighed down by a disastrous huge moment in his past, frustrated writer Matthew must confront his demons and take control of his repetitive nightmares to save his hometown football team, win the game and the girl.
