Fairy Tales and Mythical Creatures

Regressing Blank

Regressing Blank

It’s cold.

It’s always cold.

It’s been this way for as long as I can remember. No matter how many layers of clothes I wear, no matter how close I get to the crackling flame hardly a foot in front of me. It will always be cold.

Maybe it’s because I never leave my delicate tower the wind dances around.

Everything only provides a false sense of security. Sort of like a flashlight without batteries, a relationship without trust, a car without gas, a cozy fire made of glass.

Maybe that’s the reason. The reason why I never feel anything. The flames, false flames, that dance in front of me crackle, but they sound more akin to the crunching of glass.

Yes. The dancing flames are just fragments of shattered glass that was once a vast, lively, red and orange lake.

Red and orange. Where did those things come from? Peering around now I only see things shaded on a grey scale except for the crackling fire and my ice tinted skin. Even my hair that fell to my knees was a pure, crisp, white.

I don’t know what I look like. I’ve never seen myself before.

I can’t remember anything about myself. I don’t know how long I’ve been here. I don’t know my eye color. I don’t know how old I am. I don’t know what I’m called. A name.

Name.

This thing that is supposed to identify me. Why do I even need one if there is no one else around?

I’ve seen these… these lines scribbled on adjacent pillars and on the ground of my tower. They are jagged but are still recognizable as letters. R. I. O.

Those three letters are everywhere in that exact order. No matter where I look, they are carved into a surface.

It’s the only consistent thing around so why not take it up as your own? It makes things slightly better.

I have a name. Rio.

It still remains cold though, and the once serene wind has turned into a rapid arpeggio storm.

Thump

Thump

What is this?

Thump

There it is again. Maybe something is knocking into my tower. The hollow echo of glass being hit. If I hold onto the edge tight enough, the wind shouldn’t knock me off.

Thump…!

Again. Something else is with it though I can’t hear through the wind. Voices maybe? Impossible, no one else is here.

The wind picked up more. My feet are dangling freely now. What is this feeling?

There is a rapid beating in my chest similar to the thumps echoing in the air. My breath is moving faster than ever. What is going on?

THUMP

This one was louder than the others. It angered the wind, making it more violent than before.

That’s all it took. I was pushed by the wind and my hands slipped. Then it stopped.

There was no more wind. I could clearing hear the thumps now as they were getting more impatient. Even the muffled voices were clearing up.

THUMP…! THUMP…! THUMP…O!

Why is everything getting dark?

THUMP…O!

Can’t it just stop already? There isn’t even any ground for me to land on. It just continues.

THUMP… RIO!

But that’s me, isn’t it? I can only hear now. The thumps are getting softer.

Thump thump “Rio please…”