I'm Not Insane I Swear

Insane

The only sound Gabriel Harris could here was his own heavy breathing. Blood pounded in his ears as he stopped to catch his breath. Hopefully he had lost Trigger, a six foot tall, black, scaly, winged, fire breathing, clawed, beaked, monster whose bellow shook the earth and really need to brush his teeth. Decaying flesh and intestines would always fly out. Looking around Gabriel couldn't feel the tremendous foot fall of Trigger, or hear his tornado of a breath.
Blood dripped to the ground landing on his shoe. Reaching a shaking hand up to his forehead Gabriel felt a cut sliding down his right eyebrow and over to his cheekbone. It wasn't a bad cut, just a small one. He probably got it from running so fast and the thin and sharp tree branches not moving out of his way.
Gabriel looked around to see were his run had taken him. He was standing in a clearing of dead grass and trees. Their branches bare, grey and broken, fallen leaves and bark lay at their base as if ripped off by ruthless wind. In the center of the clearing laid a house. More like a building. This 'building' looked like it had been neglected for over ten maybe twenty years or more, who knows? Part of the roof had fallen in over what might be a bedroom. The windows were board up with decaying ply wood, which probably made a wonderful snack for the termites and carpenter bees in the spring time. The door was hanging off its hinges looking as if it would crash to the porch, the once bright blue paint was now peeling off in layers and fluttering down to the broken and holed porch as if they were guided by invisible butterflies. The building had yellow paint peeling off of it. It looked like a decaying banana peel. Gross, Gabriel hates bananas. Birds sung in the dead trees and flew overhead, some sunk lower to the ground to get a better look at the stranger who had found their putrefying home.
Walking closer to the 'building' Gabriel could hear the cries of the birds as if warning him not to go any closer than he had already been. Wondering why, Gabriel suddenly for a split second wished he could speak to birds. Realizing this Gabriel scolded himself. Talking to birds would be useless, getting rid of Trigger would be better.
Closing in on the 'building', the wind picked up and blew dead leaves and bark into the air and all around. Moving out of the way of a flying piece of bark that was about the size of his head Gabriel grabbed onto the rusting railing that flanked the decomposed stairs. Snatching his hand back he examined the bleeding cut that now sat in the palm of his hand. One foot at a time he climbed the stairs moving around the already made holes and making sure he shifted his weight properly so he wouldn't make new ones. At the top of the stairs the porch stretched all the way across the front of the house. An ancient rocking chair stood at attention on the far left side of the porch. A wooden park bench joined the rocking chair but its back was caving in and the legs had started to bow and splinter. A wind chime clinked together in the wind that had settled down to a slight breeze., a flower pendent griped onto the middle and longest chime holding on for dear life. If it fell it would disappear, swallowed up by the forever hungry mouth of the gapping porch.
Standing on the porch in front of the hanging door Gabriel could see faintly inside the house. Only a small filter of light dared to enter the eerily darkness. The light feel upon a broken picture frame the photo was ripped and burned at the edges, broken glass lay over it distorting the photo underneath.
Stepping forward the porch groaned and wined underneath his weight. A faint square outline sat right in front of the door. A door mat. A door mat had sat in front of this doorway once. People use to live in here, in this house. Which is not very surprising. It was a house once, well it still is a house. Sort of.
Stepping on that faint square, Gabriel placed his non cut hand on the pealing door frame. Sticking his head inside the doorway he looked around. It was too dark inside the house to see everything properly but he could make out the outline of furniture and things hanging on the walls. Stepping further into the house a puff of dust jumped up and hit Gabriel in the face. Coughing he waved a hand in front of his face trying to get rid of most of the dust that danced just beneath his noise. Reaching a hand around on the walls right by the door he looked for a light switch which was useless for the lighting did not work in the house. It hadn't worked for years. Dropping his hands to his sides Gabriel ventured further into the house. Looking around he approached a boarded up window and placed his hands on the ply wood pulled it down. The wood hit the carpeted floor with a bang louder than necessary. The rusted nails skid across the floor and settled beneath what looked like a couch. Light flooded the room eliminating the corners and casting shadows across the walls.
Wondering further into the front room (living room) Gabriel looked at some of the pictures handing on the walls. People smiled at the camera their arms draped over each other's shoulders. Women danced in frames while men stood clapping them on. Running his hand along the walls Gabriel looked at the pictures his eyes flicked back and forth over glass incased history. Approaching a grandfather clock that sat on the right side of a door way that led out of the front room Gabriel's left foot got caught on a broken coffee tables leg. Tripping Gabriel feel face first onto the dust filled carpet with a thud that shook the china sitting a display cabinet right next to him.
"Ow," Gabriel muttered, pulling himself into a sitting position. Rubbing his elbow he looked to the right of him and wedged underneath the cabinet sat a small box.
The box was decorated with gems that held a heavy coat of dust. A rusting lock hung from the front. Gabriel pulled on the rusting lock to see if it would give in which it did, the lock broke and fell into his lap. Opening the top of the jeweled box Gabriel expected something to jump out at him and attack his face or something of the sort. But, nothing did end up popping up an out of the box to attack his face. Inside the box sat a medium sized red velvet bag. Picking up the bag Gabriel heard pieces of something moving around and bumping into each other. A black piece of rope was tied snugly around the throat of the velvet bag. Pulling at the theatrically looking rope it slipped from the throat of the bag and into his lap. Gabriel picked the bag up and out of the box. Moving the box of his lap, Gabriel placed the box to the right of his thigh. The mouth of the bag opened wider now that it was not restrained by the black rope. Shifting his position so he now sat with his back resting on the china cabinet. He pulled the mouth of the bag wider and looking inside the bag to see that slept in its stomach. Sitting inside the bag were broken pieces of a skull. Holding down a scream that threatened to rip through his lips Gabriel swallowed hard.
The skull was not white like people draw them or portray them in cartoons, the skull was tinted yellow and brown, it sat in a million pieces. Well, not a million pieces, they were bigger pieces that could be easily put back together. Still staring into the bag Gabriel finally ripped his eyes away from the content of the bag and leaned back against the china cabinet. Looking up at the ceiling Gabriel tried to slow his pounding heartbeat. It's just a skull, yeah a skull, a human skull. Nothing to worry about Gabriel. Nothing to worry about. Gabriel thought to himself.
Pulling himself back together Gabriel sat up and picked the bag up. Reaching his hand into the stomach of the bag Gabriel pulled out what looked like the front piece of the skull. Holding the piece of the yellowing skull up to his face he started at the eye sockets. Letting his eyes trace over the bridge of the skull's nose. He placed the front of the skull on his thigh and reached into the bag and picked out another piece. Picking back up the front piece of the skull, Gabriel tried to fit the two pieces together. With no luck he reached into the bag again and picked out a new piece that looked like a jaw, fitting it to the left side of the front piece of the skull the two pieces of the bone mended themselves together. Smiling slightly to himself Gabriel placed the front pieces of the skull on his leg he picked up the bag and flipped it over letting the crushed skull fall into his lap a few pieces hit the floor. Picking up two more random pieces from the pile in his lap Gabriel tried to fit them together, with no luck he tried two different pieces. And two more pieces, finding ones that match and others that didn't