Prelude to blood: Pebbles from heaven volume 1 chapters 1 -3 R18

Prelude to blood: Pebbles from heaven volume 1

A tale of harrowing proportions by JGL NIEUWOUDT!

Edited by: Zana-Lee

“Jeremy what’s that noise?” Jeremy is now upright and ready. “That Lon, is the sound of inevitability.” Jeremy spreads his wings and as his arms touch the blood stained sky, Bella lights one last cigarette, cause well that’s all he has left.

“Oh, fuck, here it comes”

He drags.

“Blood, Guts, Death”

He drags.

“I knew today couldn’t just be us going up there, talking to her and getting out. Noooooo.”

He drags.

“This is the new and improved Jeremy, he aims for the top ladies and gentlemen, noooooo.”

He drags.

“He ain’t satisfied with the blue he gotta reach up into the black and grab hold of the solar system and make it his bitch!”

He drags, the cigarette is almost finished and the birds fast approaching.

“My life has become a fucking nightmare, a bad dream that I cannot wake up from...”

Fore word

Welcome dear reader…or no, not welcome but now that you’re here I can probably let go of my manners and just tell you what my intent is in this story I have been writing my whole life.

As you sit or stand there, staring uncontrollably at the page…let me tell you that I am in control of you now! And I will not let you go until you are finished with your book.

I must warn you though, once you step into this realm, my realm, your whole world might change…the way you look at things will become warped and your morals might change…you might forget everything you know is good and accept them as evil…so sit back you ignorant motherfucker and become one with me….

12/04/2010-09:36

Prelude

There’s blood on his fist. Not his own, but of the weakling lying at his feet's. “How dare you make eye contact with her, you bastard?” 

He looks down at the bloody pulp, exploding with rage. He hates the weak, hates him like his mother hates the blacks. Looking back up is a small man, in both their eyes at least.

His fragile structure contradicts the look in his eyes. His eyes are aflame. The hate dripping from him like the milk from a lactating whore. If only his body had the same power. All that comes from him is blood and breath. “You Fuck! I hate people like you, all you do is BARK, you look at me with intent but you will never come through, will you?” A brown haired girl hides behind his rage, worried that this might go too far.

“Gregg, please!” her voice is enshrouded with pity.

“NO SERENITY! This FUCK needs to be taught a LESSON!”

“Please…he’s had enough!”

“I’ll decide when he’s had enough!”

His smile is as striking as the final blows that’s given to the ribs of the man lying at his feet. No a boy. For a man, would have stood up by now.

“Let’s go!” Gregg turns around and grabs Serenity by the hand.

She feels their hands sliding into each other's and blood illuminating their bond.

She looks back, and in her mind…-I’m sorry Jeremy-

“DON’T LOOK AT ME WITH YOUR SORRY EYES!” Jeremy’s mind explodes with rage as he tries to pull himself together, blood gushing from his open skull, through swollen eyes he glares at the back of his hatred. “For it won’t be long before it is you who will be lying at my feet!” His head bulges with pain and then he smiles, black running down his mouth, through his teeth. “I will be GOD! And it will be…” –Glorious…-

His screams are heard for miles away. “All of your puny, worthless lives shall be mine! All of them…uhhh! ” He gets to his feet , clinging to his broken ribs and takes the long road home…while his mind drifts into forbidden space.

Chapter 1: The First Day

“No, no, please what do you want from me?” Jeremy tosses from side to side, broken out in a haze of sweat. It’s chasing him, again. The black bird, always there. Always present, watching him, with those big black penetrating eyes. He’s high above the city on a skyscraper, its cutting through the night sky. He looks down to see the city lights and the little matchbox cars. It’s high, too high. The night air is cold against his naked flesh, it hurts when he inhales. He notices the bird behind him. It’s sitting on a dead tree that’s decorated in lively red and green. It looks as though it’s seen many winters. The tree seems out of place here, growing on the gravel. -But how can there be leaves on it if it’s dead? , the bark is rotting but its leaves are new? - Can something still grow in death? –

He looks up at the bird again whose busy ruffling through its pitch black feathers with its beak, one wing raised to the air. “You want me to jump, don’t you?”

He gets no response. “Ok…” he backs off to the edge. His left foot touches it first.  He gets on the ledge and looks over his shoulder…it’s a long way down. He smiles then flings himself into the black. The cold air wraps itself like a blanket around him, his skin rips from his body and his back violently breaks open and jet black wings escape into the open. Every feather is perfectly placed upon each other and is twice his size. He looks amazing, glorious even. But he does not fly. He falls. Like a kite trapped in a storm his wings rattle violently at his sides, his eyes close and with a shock he hits his body.

He shoots up, breathing erratically. He looks down at his arms there’s scars every where.

“What just happened?” 

“It’s that bird again…” he pushes his covers aside and gets out and walks into the bathroom. He stares at himself in the mirror and his mind starts to play with itself.

He remembers the first time he ever saw such a bird, well some of it at least. You don’t get a lot of them anymore. Not after the plague a few years back. Yes, all of them were shot down, by the thousands they came. You’re lucky if you even see one.

The crow…

But Jeremy was only still a little kid when the plague was happening.

It was a hot day in October and he and his mother were standing in the park, he was about three at the time.  He remembers holding an ice cream. His mother was busy paying the ice cream boy as he was wandering off. ”Look mommy! A dowgy!” his ice cream has begun melting all over his little hands, pointing happily at the rabid Doberman in front of him licking at the vanilla in his little palm. It notices him and starts to growl, his jaw foaming over. Little Jem doesn’t have a care in the world; closing in on what he thinks is a wonderful puppy.

The Doberman starts to bark madly, its eyes manically glaring at little Jem.

“silwy dowgy.” Jem holds out his half melted ice cream to the maddened dog.

It becomes dead silent. “lick?”  The wind blows through Jem’s Spiderman jacket and it gives its last growl at him. It wants to kill him…kill him bad and so he launches out to him with the greatest anticipation it has never experienced. Jem closes his innocent little vale eyes as tight as he can and pulls his body together still holding out his arm towards it, the ice cream now fully melted, standing in a puddle of vanilla, awaiting impact. Silence ensues again and then a flutter. A loud, bombardment of flutter. He opens his eyes.

“Huh?” It’s covered in black. In a black haze of feathers. the Doberman crying out in front of him. Blood bursting into little innocent Jems face.

“Mo…mo…MOMMY!”

She hears his call for help and looks around. “JEM! JEM! OH MY GOD!, JEM!”

She has finally noticed he’s not at her side anymore, too busy flirting with the ice cream boy. Jem stands dead still staring at the sight before him. The dog has been ripped apart and the birds are still busy pecking violently at the left-overs, screaming at it. “Jem!”

He feels his mothers arms embrace him from behind.  “Mo…mommy?”

His eyes are glued to the scene unable to tear his cute little blood spattered face away. Her voice gets lost in death's voice. “Its ok Jem, its ok, mommy’s here” he smells her hand cream and then he goes blind…his head resting on her breast. “Its ok Jem, Its ok mommy’s here!”

He’s been staring through himself for quite some time, now only noticing his eyes and the pain reflecting back at him… he looks away then back at the mirror. He goes down to wet his face his fingers runs over his disfigured nose... he tries not to notice it. – Why -

“No, don’t think...thinking only upsets you!” he continues washing his face. - Why! Why! Why? ... – he fights the tears, but they are more advanced and have a huge army to back them up. “No!” he stops. – What have I done wrong? – He picks up his arms, showing it to the mirror. The mirror doesn’t respond kindly. Kindness, what a joke. Old scars that never seem to heal... will it be there to remind him of his pain forever? – Please don’t remember –

“Back then it was better...but it all changed.” She runs through his mind in her little floral dress, barefoot with the wind in her hair.

“Jemmy, look!” his heart rips open and his tears break free once again over his already much eroded face.

“Gotta get ready…” he takes his hand to his eyes and dries them with his sleeve. Today’s Saturday and he normally spends this day with his two best friends, his two only friends. They want to go see a film today, and he’s never really cared what they did as long as he got away from the house, its fine.

He slides in behind his pc and double clicks on the chat-x icon.

beeeeeep... ‘Welcome Blood-Red-Tie, it’s been 7 hours since your last sessionJ’

“Let’s see if they are online”

-Vampire God-

-Tortured Mess-

Both highlighted in green.

He starts to type.

Blood-red-t: /hey guys.

A few seconds later he gets a reply.

Vampire God: /hey BRT hw you.

Tortured me: /Yo BRT wats up?

Blood-red-t: /Jus lookin forward to movie and you.

Tortured me: /Hell yeah me 2!

Vampire God: /Yeah U guys know what we gonna see?

A cold sensation enters Jeremy almost a guilty feeling... as if something bad is going to happen.

“Kakaaaw!” –peck peck- “what the hell?” He looks up and sees a black bird sitting on his window sill pecking at his window.

Blood-red-t: /hold on quick brb gotta see somethin

He gets up and takes a walk to the window, reflecting in it is a crow... What? How’s this possible? He knocks against the window. “Go, get!” it flies away. “So weird, and after earlier...”

Tortured me: /np

Vampire God: /you think he’s jacking off lol...

Blood-red-t: /there was just a crow outside my window!

Vampire God: /what? For real, so cool hope you took a pic!

Tortured me: /yeah me 2!

Blood-red-t: /no I shooed it, so weird

Tortured me: /:{

Vampire God: /when something like that sits on your windo you don’t tell it to fuck off! Lol ok what we gonna see?

Blood-red-t: /lol how bout some classic theater?

Tortured me: /the exorcist!

Vampire God: /elm street 1!

Tortured me: /the exorcist!

Vampire God: /elm street 1!

Tortured me: /the exorcist!

Vampire God: /elm street 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK!

Tortured me: /the exorcist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FUCKING CHOOSE MINE!

Jeremy is finding this very amusing!

Blood-red-t: /ok, ok both have a very convincing argument! (Yelling out fuck seems to help!) So I have to say I feel like exorcist sorry vampiJ

Tortured me: /yeah I LON FACEY RULES!

Vampire God: /lol yeah in your dreams... God what was it last time? Bondage? -.*

Tortured me: /haha what ever Ken!

Vampire God: /that’s Mr. Bella to you!

Blood-red-t: /HAHAHAHA ok so ill meet you guys in an hourJ peace

Vampire God: /IM NEXT! Ok peace man

Tortured me: /Ok... see u man!

He logs off, grabs his oh so 70’s incredible hulk hoodie and rushes off.

Chapter 2

He enters the hallway out side of his naked room.

It’s long and cold almost like a hospital’s halls, all that’s missing is the smell of antiseptic and the lights that blurs in the plastic. All the doors are open except for one that’s been locked for over ten years. He stops there looking upon it. Light tries to break out through the cracks, its ironic since its the only room that gets sunlight in the whole house. He touches the name that’s plastered onto the wood...C... “What are you doing there?”  A cold female voice cuts into his ear. He surges, “nuh...nothing”

“You’re the last person I’d expect to go there... anyways why are you so dressed up?” he looks down, he doesn’t want to make eye contact with her. “Going out with friends, movie, its Saturday.” There’s a cold dead silence for a moment.

“I’ll be back at around ten”   

“Not that I’d care, the less I see of you the better.”

He’s expression falls down deeper. He passes her and tries his best not to touch her.

“Yeah, whatever.”

Her voice cuts him again “You have no respect for people!”

“I do, I just don’t have any respect for you...” -fuck! Why did I just say that?!-

“How dare you say that?”

“Because you treat me like shit, each and everyday of my life, you treat me like a fucking dog!” He doesn’t turn to look at her, just staring out to the door at the end of the hall. “It’s because, to me you are lower than a dog!” He starts for the front door, -just go, Jesus!-

He looks up as he passes the next room and sees his father leaning against the doorway. As his eyes meets his, he sees his fathers face become contorted with anger and in the man’s eyes in front of him, his own in anguish. “Nuh..No... puh..puh...leeze i..I’m sorry!”

“What was that?” A fist hits him in the face. He flies backward hitting the wall behind him. “I…I’m sorry!”

His collar gets pulled tight around his neck and his feet leaves the ground. His face is a portrait of terror.

“How dare you talk to your mother like that, you bastard?”

He gets thrown back the way he came. The footsteps on the hard wooden floor torment Jeremy badly. He tries to move backward but it’s too late a size 9 hits him in the mouth, blood gushes from his nose and lips.

He gets kicked again, and again, and again. His father looks up at the closed room nobody wants to enter. A lone tear runs down his cheek. “ARGGGGH!” he picks him up again and throws him through the white painted door. Jeremy feels a sharp pain going through his right arm. He can’t move it.

He looks around and sees the purple curtains with the pony’s and the teddies every where and the blue floral dress lying next to him that used to hang behind the door in debris. “Nuh nuh NOOOOOOOOO!” terror overwhelms him! “You stupid FUCK! Do you know how much I hate you?” Dust enters his nostrils and sunlight warms his back. He’s hysterical. He gets up and starts to run for the hole in the door, the big figure blocks it but he doesn’t care.

He tries to get through. Images come flooding back, suppressed images. He smells the alcohol coming from his pain. He gets pushed back into the room. A leg comes through the hole. Then a head, then a body. “nuh, nuh noooooo pleeeeeese ahhhhhhhhhh!”

He pushes himself back into a wall. “I hate you with my entire being, every moment I’m in your presence I want to kill myself.” He grabs him by his t-shirt and throws him onto her bed. ”Ahhhhhhhh! FUCK-FUCK NOOOOO!” he grabs onto his head, tears pouring from him mixing with the black and the red. Trying to lift him off of the bed. The duvet curls up beneath his feet to reveal linen she used to sleep on. His father grabs at her antique music box she loved so much.

“You killed her, you fucking killed her!” He’s crying and yelling now. He picks up a chair and throws it at Jeremy. It hits Jeremy in the head. “You should have died back then! You should be rotting in the ground!”

A phone rings in the back ground, his mothers voice comes into the room like the sunlight through the closed curtains. ”Honey... Honey, Telephone.”

His father stops and turns his head to the broken door.

“Who is it? Tell them I’m fucking busy!”

Jeremy’s breathing is intense. “Its Reverend Black.”

He looks down at Jeremy again.

Then throws down the music box in front of him and leaves through the door. The music box opens up and starts to play its melancholic medley. Everything floods back now and Jeremy can’t take it. He kicks it away and jumps up. He rushes out of the room. And runs down the stairs and passes his parents who are busy on the phone. His fathers voice is calm and his mothers is warm and they are both smiling. He rushes out the front door and into the street. Tears still streaming from his cold, dead brown eyes.

The road looks endless before him, and even though he’s crying he shows no emotion.

Like a lifeless puppet he waltzes down the street, unable to comprehend what has just happened to him, he has been beaten up more than a thousand times over the past ten years, but never this bad. He has trouble breathing through his nose because of the deformation it has just undergone, blood clogging up his passages.

He suppresses some of the hurt and comes to. He starts to feel the physical pain. ”I’m alive...” he isn’t that excited at the thought.

“Gotta fix my nose” He notices a tree upfront and moves in behind it.

He bows down onto his knees leaning against the tree.

A cold breeze rattles the green through his curly brown hair. ”Come on Jeremy, you’ve done this a thousand times before!” he tries to urge himself on.

He places his right hand behind his nose, holding it into position, it hurts. And his left, in the air, he’s going to smash it back together. “Uhh…one…” he pulls his hand back and forth

“two...” nobody has ever told him how its done, he just knows it has to be. He pulls back for the last time and presses his swollen eyelids tightly together. “THREEEEE, AHHHHHHHH!” his left hand crashes into his nose, and it creaks violently to the right, his other hand stopping it from going to far. ”Oh GOD, arghhh!” he yells as blood and tears gashes from his eyes and forehead. He hears barking coming from behind him.

''Gotta... Get...out...of here.” He gets up holding on to his arm and runs away.

As he enters the town people start staring at him. Whispers and pointers pass him by but he doesn’t care he just keeps walking not even noticing them. “Where am I going, I can’t show up like this at the movies...” He looks down at his bloody shoes. ”Yo!” –Huh? - Something’s tugging at his jacket. He turns around and sees a guy with a green Mohawk and studs in his nose and lips tugging at him. He is wearing a skin tight Misfits t-shirt around his thin bony upper body and blue ripped jeans. “Jeez Louise dude, you need a hospital, pronto!” Jeremy doesn’t answer and stares disgusted at the man before him whose still examining his body and face with his eyes.

“It’s ok, leave me alone!” and pulls away abruptly and continues walking, not looking back.

“What the hell is your problem?”

 -Plural- he thinks and continues onward.

Chapter 3

The pain is increasing in his arm and his hand has become numb. “Need help, fast.” Up front he notices a sign. “The Grey Area, Occult, Apothecary and Magick Shoppe.” “That apothecary word has to do with medicine I think...” He stands idle in front of the shops door. Amazed at the sight of it, because that’s all there is. A building, with a big wooden door, No display windows no big advertisement stickers or flyers, just the door. The door is engraved with images and symbols. Jeremy traces his hand over the bulky structure in front of him. The door has a rose themed border, with over arching thorns. At the top there is a roaring lion that’s surrounded by seven lines. Next to the lion is a malevolent looking skull enshrouded by a glowing sickle. He looks down, beneath them is a mother, breast feeding her baby, her breasts are exposed. He lingers here for awhile before moving on, what surprises him, is the fact that he isn’t turned on by the sight of it. From her springs a giant tree with the authoritive looking face of a man.     

The Tree’s branches connects everything else in the image, at the tree’s genitalia sits the face of a fruitful woman. On both of the faces is a third eye. From her face sprouts branches leading to a raging sea, housing the seven headed Hydra. And at the very bottom the following words: Genesis Elohim Thelima. The door knob is bright red and he finally decides to go for it.

He turns knob, and his palm slides against its surface, a warm feeling overcomes him. -...- He enters. A bell goes off and a woman’s voice greets him “Be right with you.”

Two crows land on the gutters outside as the door closes behind him. The smell of incense stings his nostrils; it’s not something he gets to smell very often. He looks around and sees things you wouldn’t normally find in a normal pharmacy. Crystals, candles, bottles filled with different colours, - I don’t think I’m gonna find any aspirin here...-

The Store seems way bigger inside than it looked on the outside, the thing that makes him the uneasiest, even at the place he lives is a mirror, and here it seems wherever you could place one there was one. He finds it disconcerting seeing his bloodied and banged up face every two seconds. “Uhm sorry, I’ve come to consult you but I just...” He tries to find her with his voice, but before he can finish his sentence she interrupts him “Sure just keep going left.”

“What?”

“The bathroom, you want to know where it is, don’t you?”

 “Yes, but?”

“How did I know?” she answers laughingly.

He keeps quiet; he feels that he has enough on his plate already that he doesn’t need to speculate about psychic powers and shit, and keeps left like she said to find a very out of place looking bathroom. Out of place as it’s the only thing in the shop that could be considered normal. He finds it more calming in here than out there. He approaches the sink, there’s a mirror above it and a small table with disinfectant and the like next to it. Everything he would need, strangely enough. It’s like she knew that he’d be coming by. He runs the basin with luke warm water and tips the disinfectant filled cap over into it.

He wets his face and looks up at himself in the mirror.

“Why is everything always so fucked up?” He hesitates for a bit then lets out a whimper and lets his face contort in agony, pain takes over, not physical, that he is used to, but the repeated anguish of saying the same thing over and over again for most of his life “ It wasn’t me, I promise I didn’t kill her... I promise.” that is what drives him to tears. He slides down into a ball on the bright red carpet beneath him, holding onto his arm and tries to remember how she had looked, his beautiful little sister, whom he loved more than life itself. His mind drifts back to his seventh birthday, a wonderful day, he could never forget, oh, he has tried to let go but, something inside of him refuses it outright. “Hey, there’s my big boy!” Jem’s father comes running in and scoops the little boy into his arms. Jem feels invincible in his father’s arms, nothing can touch him now. He feels as the earth starts spinning beneath him as he gets swung around staring into those kind eyes that he calls dad. The world can end now, and he’d be content, having seen and experienced everything he has ever wanted to. For the smile of a father is ten thousand times better than any award you might receive.

“Now, now John, don’t eat him up entirely, leave us some of him as well.” his Granddad has big hands and when he put his little hand in his granddad’s it was if a giant had given him a high-five. Granddad along with his wife is seated at the dinner table with Jem being seated at the head. Today is his seventh birthday, “Dad said if anybody asks, I can say I’m seven years old and that makes me a man, Granma,” Jem grins at the thought of this. What he would be able to do with this was an incredible thought to him. “And why would you want to be a man, Jeremy?” said his grandma jokingly. “Well, there’s driving a big truck, and going to see any movie I want.” said Jem knowingly. “Oh, and which films would you be able to see then?”

“DEATH RACE 2000! With Vincent Price and Farankenstein! ARGGGH! RATED PG 13 for violence!” They laugh at his animated response to such an old film, to them something long past but to him a mountain. His mother comes running in with his birthday cake followed by his aunt and uncle, and everybody exclaims at the size of it. She puts it down in front of a wide eyed Jem. “How did you get this on there? Its Multiple Man and Strong Guy!” His dad smiles at his son’s amazement. “We had it a specially made for you son!” His face lights up, this is incredible. His uncle leans over to light the candles and his dad rushes for the camera but is both stopped by the loud objections running into the room, like sunlight through the black heavy clouds. This little girl, playfully running to Jem’s side, getting on her tip toes to put her arm over Jem’s shoulder exclaims that they ought to wait for her before blowing out the candles. She is wearing a pointy blue party hat and holds another in her other hand. Jem smiles, “Clara!” He leans down and pulls her onto his lap.

“Jemmy!” He hugs her tightly as she puts the other hat onto his head. “Its a little side ways, but it’s on.” laughs his uncle. His sister hugging him tighter as he speaks. “I love you sis,”

“I wuv you too, Jemmy “

“Now blow out your candles, and smile for the camera!”

Jem’s Mom and Dad are standing at the ready in front of the dinner table waiting to snap a memory. “Oh honey, look at them, take a picture already!” 

“Can I help Jemmy?”

“Sure you can!”

They both start blowing at the same time, and the flash goes off, the candles won’t seem to blow out, they blow harder, their faces red with frustration. His uncle starts to laugh. “Okay, okay I give up, I switched the candles!” His mother’s brother, the prestigious doctor, the joker and the lollipop man...everybody starts to laugh.

“Okay then, let’s have some cake.” Jem’s dad proclaims.

His mom interrupts suddenly “Nuh-uh not until he’s opened his presents!” She is just as curious as he is to see what he has gotten! Everybody laughs happily again.

Jeremy wipes the tears from his eyes as he gets up from the ground. He grabs a band aid from the table next to him and sticks it over the wound on his forehead, staring into the mirror. “How could you have fucked that up? I hate you!”

Jeremy re-enters the shop. He is still a little dazed by the flash back and has a hard time suppressing it again.

“Thank you.” he says loudly, his voice still crackling with emotion. He tries to head for the door before he has to deal with her, but she interrupts him, “I’m back here” -shit, now I have to go and talk to her!- He begrudgingly follows the voice to a counter at the back of the store. And what he finds is a beautiful, dark haired lady in her twenties or thirties; he’s never been good with numbers. He stops far from the counter not wanting to encroach on her space. She notices him. “Aren’t you gonna come any closer?” he startles, -say something you idiot- “Uhm, sorry, thanks for the, uhm, bathroom and maybe some aspirin, if you have.” this is awkward. “You’re welcome” she flashes him a smile. Unable to see her eyes, behind her big black sunglasses he is unable to tell, what kind of a smile it was. He sighs away and becomes embraced by her presence.  “How can I help you, today?”

“Uhm, I, uh just wanted to use the bathroom, is all.” she steps out from behind the counter, revealing a tall woman in a long flowing blue sundress. “Sorry I took so...”

“Long?” she says while closing in on him, still smiling.

She comes up close to him. “You know, this isn’t your normal pharmacy right...”

“I, uh kinda figured that... the occult thing kind of gave it away.” she starts to laugh, “That transparent hey?” this lightens the mood and he looks up at her for the first time.

“I can offer you an aspirin if you like, but I don’t think that’s going to be strong enough will it?” he just stares at her, “No...”

“What brought you here, Jem?” His eyes become big, -that name, nobody has called him that in so long, now she...-

“You called me...Jem” she smirks. “Yes, what else should I have called you, Rambo? That’s your name isn’t it?”

“Yes...” he swallows. Hard. Who the hell is this woman? How come she knows his name and can finish his sentences? Is she really a witch like everybody says? -Answer her man! -

“I uh, maybe you can help me, I have had these strange dreams for sometime now.” He bows his head rubbing his hair with his left hand. 

“Oh, yeah...” that sounded really perverse to him, he ignores it.

“Yeah, well it’s like there’s this crow that follows me...and then after a while I like grow wings...” that last part sounded so retarded to him, why did he say it like that? God he should have said sprout wings! Her face has become pale, “God I’m sorry, I must sound like a complete psycho...”  

“It’s an animal spirit.” she says sharply.

''Or a...are you sure it was a crow?”

“What else could it have been?”

“A raven...”

“Like that female Highlander?”

“No...never mind, it’s communicating with you.”

“Through my dreams?” he says skeptically.

“Well dreams aren’t just dreams you know.” She turns around and proceeds to the counter, Jeremy follows her, intrigued.

She bends down behind the counter and continues talking.

“You see, dreams, uhh are believed to be many things...”

-What the hell is she on about? - She ruffles behind the counter, searching for something, but then quickly pops up.

“You say something?”

“Uhh...no.”

“Just checking, thought I heard you talking.” she pops back down again. -noooo...way! -

“Way...Portals, many say when you dream about a certain person...you’re actually visiting them.” She gets up from behind the counter and places a large black book on top of it.

“Don’t tell me that when I dream about, lets say, uhm a...girl, I’m actually...” She smiles again, “F-ing her for real...” he’s beginning to figure out what kind of smile that was.

“What, no!” he sighs away.

“Maybe I should leave.” he turns his back on her, starting for the door, hoping that she’ll say something. She takes perverse joy in the fact that she has him right where she wants him.

“Okay, okay, I’m just kiddin’, it doesn’t exactly work like that, it only happens when you are in your deepest state of sleep.” He stops still with his back to her. “Okay, I’m listening,”

“Come look here.” She opens up the large book and turns the pages, without even looking down at it, her eyes seemingly fixated on him, Taking delight at the uncertainty she’s making him feel in the dust filled air. To him this book is like a huge bible, he’d never touch this. He approaches her and nears the edge as she stops, holding her finger solidly in the middle of the page, her finger bending under the pressure she is putting on it.

“In ancient times people believed in a more opened minded existence.” she turns the page.

“They believed that everything was alive with the essence of the Gods.” she pauses, waiting for a response. “Gods...?” he asks sharply.

“Yes, are you offended or shocked by that?”

“Neither.” he smiles. “Back then, they could freely communicate with them, sometimes in physical form and sometimes in dream.” 

“You see, today’s peoples’ minds has been closed down, through centuries of materialism and mind control.” Jeremy finds this intriguing, never has he had such a deep conversation with a girl in his life, and this is a woman, a fully grown one at that. “Mind control.” he asks quickly, as if to show her he’s still paying attention. “Religion, Jem. Is like a double sided blade, posing as a force of good but hurting more people than any of us truly know.” He knows what she’s talking about, more than he thinks she knows. She continues. “Do you know that there are more people in the west that hasn’t grown spiritually in the last 500 years than there are trees in the world, Think about that for a second, and in the east some one grows each and everyday...now that’s fucked up.” -that didn’t sound like Al Gore at all right now- The expression on her face becomes more serious, -did she hear me? - He decides to respond, “Really?!”  “Yeah...but let’s get back to the book” Jeremy nods his head, the truth is he is having a real hard time trying to accept all of this, coming from the background he has, things like this has a place, and that’s up there on the podium at his church, being shouted at you by some drunkard with a hard-on. She turns the page again. ”Now, normally when a person cannot remember the dream they had the night before, they either got high or drunk, or in the least likely of cases been visited by an ethereal being like a God or Goddess.” Jeremy frowns, “But you said, this was an animal spirit right?” she agrees, “Right, but yours were different; you said that you gained flight after interacting with the crow didn’t you?”

“No, I said I grew wings, what I didn’t mention was the fact after I leaped off a sky scraper, the wings did shit for me...I fell to my death.”

“Yeah, but what else can you tell me about these dreams, any other constants, things that stay the same or are present in each dream?” -I know what constant means...- “Uhm, there’s this tree, I guess, a dead tree, the crow is always on it if it’s not chasing me to my doom...”

“Is this tree any special color?” he acts like he’s thinking, “Uhm, well the leaves on this tree are both red and green, but they still look like they are alive.” She slowly shuts the book, it creaking as it folds shut. “Rebirth, Jem, It wants you to experience re-birth. She comes out from behind the counter again, and goes and stands right in front of him leaning against the counter behind her. “Listen Jeremy, can I ask you a favor?” he shrugs back and breaks eye contact. “Sure, I guess.” His voice unsure.

“Can I trace your face with my fingers like you did my door with yours?” His eyes clearly tell that he is frightened, but still he swallows and says ''Yes”. She puts her left hand lovingly on his left cheek, softly caressing it with the utmost care. He drifts away in this feeling of security, closing his eyes, letting her take him, all of him. He hasn’t felt like this since before...

She takes her other hand and begins slowly tracing it over his long curly brown hair, then touching the plaster on his forehead, slowly moving over his big brown eyes onto his malformed nose, her eyes closed as well, taking in what he is giving her, all of it. She reaches his chapped, broken lips. He feels her warm breath playing with his, their lips a heart beat from one another, now tracing him with her warm breath. Tear drops begin falling from her eyes. She grabs him towards her, embracing him as if he were her own. She feels his pain; she sees it through her pale white eyes. Feels it as if it were her own. “Come here...” she whispers as she slowly puts his hands over her eyes and onto her glasses. He pulls it off to reveal her blind eyes. “You’re blind?” He says suddenly in a comforting low voice. She looks down to where she feels his warm breath touching her. She nods her head, “Uh huh, I was born blind, I have never seen, anything, like you have,”

“But how could you, all this time?”

“I see but not physically, I experience things.” he puts his head back onto her breast again, this time holding onto her, as if she were his own. “I...can see your pain, Jem.” That word. Jem. He feels her voice against his ear. She feels her breast getting wet and slowly starts caressing his head, slowly dragging her fingers through his hair.

“And I know what you want; I felt it the moment you appeared in front of my closed door caressing it with your weary hands, I felt your overpowering desire threatening to burst over.” he opens his mouth, “I was afraid, but now, I’m not, not anymore.” He grips onto her more tightly, almost hurting her. “I’m going to help you Jem. I’m going to set you free.”

He lets go of her and steps back, looking into her eyes. “How?”

“I’m going to give you what you want.”

“Why? You don’t even know me.”

She takes her hand over his arm and she takes his pain away.

“Well first, and foremost, I like you.” he looks away, -don’t, I don’t deserve it- she smiles.

“And secondly, it’s because I understand a little of what you are going through.” this time he looks her straight in the eyes and yells, “How could you ever understand, when the person you used to look up too, decides to one day look at you with hate? Wish you were never born? How could anybody ever understand me?”

“I’m a witch, Jem, a blind witch; you think it’s fucking easy being a witch in this town, in this country? Black, white, it doesn’t matter, they hate and fear you, even in today’s day and age, the only way they’d like to see me is on fire, Christian assholes come in here and call me a satan worshiper, tell me I have no right on this earth. And worst of all, no man ever gives me a second look, I’m a blind witch, they think I’m gonna curse them or something, just like my fuckin parents probably did when they left me at some convent when I was born!” She starts to cry, Jeremy feels bad that he has upset her.

“I’m...sorry, please forgive me,” he tries to comfort her by patting her on the back. “Well...what ever” she wipes her tears and puts her glasses back on. “Okay, lets go!” she grabs him by his arm and pulls him into a dark room, hidden at the back of her store, she slams the door shut behind them. “Hey, wait! Aren’t we going to talk about this first?” he protests as he feels himself being strapped down in a chair. “What’s there to talk about?” she restrains his arms.

“What, wait? Aren’t witches supposed to be all afraid of karma and shit?” She just continues, he gets to feel how life for her must feel like, its pitch black all around him, he only gets to hear what's going on and not see it. “You mean bad karma, don’t you?”

“Yeah, that!”

He hears what seems to be a chain being dragged over a stone floor. “Uhh, don’t you think being born blind is bad enough karma to last one a lifetime? Besides, I did a spell to give me unlimited good karma; I call it the I-D-D-Q-D. spell.” she laughs as she pulls a rope hanging from the roof. A light goes on and the first thing he notices is her manic grin. “Uhm, hey why are you so happy?” The leather restraints around his arms are really tight, he looks down, and the second thing he notices, “WHY THE HELL ARE YOU NAKED?!” she is, as they say, butt naked. He sees everything, and for the first time in his life this isn’t porn or a dream. She just smiles at him. On the floor a pentagram is being drawn beneath him, in red chalk. “ Oh my God, this is one of Satanic rituals I’ve been warned in school about...your going to offer me to your goat headed God aren’t you?!” he’s freaking out. She doesn’t stop, just answers, “You should probably ask for a refund then.”

“I CAN’T IF I’m DEAD! Oh my God here it comes, I can here it already Slayer playing in the back of my fuckin head,

Waiting the hour destined to die
Here on the table of hell
A figure in white unknown by man
Approaching the altar of death
High priest awaiting dagger in hand
Spilling the pure virgin blood
Satan's slaughter, ceremonial death
Answer his every command” he chants.

Now she stops midway through, unable to believe her ears “Have you lost your mind? You know I can stop now if you want, this won’t work if you have gone crazy...” she sounds serious.

“NO, I mean I haven’t gone crazy...”

“Good” she continues.  -what the fuck is wrong with me? What if I die? -  There are candles all over the room, all different colors. She gets up to light them. He sees her ass for the first time, - wow, this is like some whacked out vampire porno, filed under bondage and mature -

The candles all appear to have different scents, from lavender to incense. She turns around and walks towards him, he looks away when he sees her...

“Ready? Oh snap, I forgot the main ingredient, be right back!” she turns around and heads for the door.
”Altar of sacrifice, curse of the damned
Confronting the evil you dread
Coalesce into one your shadow and soul
Soon you will meet the undead,” she chants mockingly in her falsetto.

“SHIT, NO! wai..wait I think I want to stop now!”

“There’s no stopping now.”

“But you said...”

“I lied,” she laughs as she closes the door behind her. 

He starts to panic, he realizes that no matter how fucked up his life might be, he doesn’t want to die, even in his current state of pseudo depression, he comforts himself, my hell is nothing compared to -what they will go through when I decide to take my revenge- that’s the only thing keeping him from pulling the trigger of his father’s rifle and blowing his brains out. He starts to struggle, trying to get loose, but the constraints are tied down really tight and all he does is create new scars on his arms. Muffled voices come through the only door in the room. -Help!-

“OH MY GOD! Look at that father, she’s, she’s naked, lord knows what kind of evil she’s been doing!”

“Oh you know, reciting Slayer lyrics, teaching my cat to speak. Very, Evil, Stuff...the usual, what the hell are you doing here again?”

She’s dreadfully sarcastic.

-Father?-                

“St...Stand back Rose, let me deal with this sinner.”

“What, you’ve come to smite me then father? You got the hand of God with you, like I said before, this is private property, get out now. Or I’ll call the police.”

Jeremy tries to bite through the leather, but with no luck so far. “Oh lord father, she’s threatening us.”

“I, uh, I see that Rose.”

“Oh shit, you’re staring at my breasts aren’t you?”

“Nuh, no! I’m a man of the Lord!”

“Look, look father, I thought she was blind, she, she saw you staring!” Rose is a very dramatic old lady, a pretentious, and holier than thou 60 year old kind of bitch, who loves Jesus and gossip more than her own life.

“Be gone spawn from hell!”

“Is that a cross? Jesus, Fuck! That’s it.”

-What’s going on out there? -

“IEEEEEEEAAAH!” a loud thud comes through the closed door. -Oh shit!- 

The door opens again; she enters with something in her left hand covered with a black blanket, inside it rattles like Jeremy is going to in a minute. 

“Sorry Jem, had to deal with two very unsatisfied customers real quick.” she’s covered in blood. To him this doesn’t matter, he doesn’t even care that she’s naked anymore, all he wants to know is, “What's in there?” she responds, “You know what it is.”

“I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Don’t lie to me! You know you can’t.”

She removes the blanket to reveal the frightened crow underneath it in a rusted cage. He stutters back as it flutters around wildly. She slowly opens the cage door and grabs onto the bird. It pecks at her hand, making her bleed. She holds it out towards Jeremy. “Look at it, look at its brilliance.” She walks over to him and seductively slides onto his lap. He swallows. “This is it Jem, this is what you wanted.” she flashes him that same smile as before.

The crow screaming at her to let it go, she continues. “Your misery Jem, your wretch, I want to take it away. Take that overflowing shell of yours and dump it on the ground beneath us.”

He looks up at her face. “I need those, without it, I’m nothing without it my whole existence means nothing.” She leans forward, her nipples almost touching his face. He looks away, blushing. Her breathing is erratic. -fuck! What should I do? -

“You know Jem you can look if you want to I don’t mind, go on, I know I would if I could.”

“...”

“Go on, feel them, cup them with your big manly hands, I know I like playing with them...” She takes her hands still holding onto the bird and wraps them around her bare breasts.

“It’s no fun when you have permission, hey?” Jeremy is frightened to death, she wants him, and he has no idea how to react or what to do, he might die tonight and all he can think about is sex.

“Come on look, touch them if you like.” She takes her forefinger and pushes his head into her.

“No.” He turns his head upward to her face, it feels like she’s looking straight into his soul. -act cool, okay, we’ll deal with it when it happens.-  She is still wearing her sunglasses.

“Besides, even if I wanted to, I can’t ’cause I’m all tied up.” she feels him shaking beneath her, his brave façade is starting to buckle, and the mask is cracking.

“Okay, then, lets suffer together Jem, for without pain you can never truly know what happiness is, can you?” she isn’t even done talking and her arms go up, towering over them, the crow still pecking and biting at her bloodied hands as its being unfolded above their temples. She starts chanting silently, starting slow and then increasing her speed as she gets more excited. Her fingers wrapping tightly around its fragile neck, choking the fading black figure like it was nothing. He feels her body building up momentum, grinding against his hardness. Forwards-backwards-forwards-backwards- He wants her now, needs her, more than she needs him. He closes his eyes as she tears off the crows head above him, the blood rushing down onto her face, running in between her breasts onto his face, the candles dance to her rhythmic, tribal shrieks. She unzips him and slips his hard wanting shaft out onto her silky soft palm. -is this a dream? - And into her voluptuous cavern. She exclaims, then tips the severed head over into her mouth, letting the blood poor into and over her orifice of perception. She drops the two lost parts, drifting down in between them and leans down to give Jeremy the kiss of life, she pushes the blood into his mouth letting her tongue be the guide, he accepts, pushing out his own and playfully thanking her. Her hand grabs onto his jugular and starts massaging it as she rides faster, while he cups her full, unscarred breasts, letting him lick and suck on them, pulling her pink hardness with his front teeth. His hands coil into fists and she feels him reach the point of no return, his body shuts down. His heart stops, his head falls back and his lungs stop working and for a few seconds, she is alone. “Come on, uh, come on, come on.” She tries to jump start him, she doesn’t know if he’ll make it or not, she is never sure of anything really. She goes faster until she hears her heart pumping triple base, until she can’t anymore. “No, no, come on!” she goes on for a while still until she stops, she feels the tears bubbling over, ''Jem, no, Jem please come back, please...” her words are futile, for the boy known as Jeremy Harrison is now dead........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................./\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

- I LIVE! - He breathes for the first time in his life, he sees for the first time in his life. “HE’S ALIVE! Oh my God, He’s alive!” she starts moving again. The restraints can no longer hold him as he breaks free and grabs onto her, picking her up and slamming her against a wall.

“Ow!” he can only grunt as some strange force of nature is in control now. He drags his hands over her silky back, “Yes, take me now!” the look in his eyes are intense, he drives at her violently bashing his lower body against her. He pushes her arms up against the wall, and does exactly what she wants, how she wants it, he doesn’t know why, but he hears her in his mind, as if she is yelling it out to him and for three hours straight, he satisfies her in every way she can imagine, never so much as breathing. He has never even kissed a girl before let alone had sex, now he’s like the God of Fuck. “Ahh, wait - wait, I can’t, ah take anymore, you’re gonna, ahh fuck my brains out.” she motions him to stop and he lets her ragged, tired body go, her eye shadow smeared downwards under her pale eyes, her hair looking like a filthy spaghetti mop. She gives a tired laugh and kisses him gently. He comes to, him too covered in sweat, cum and spit, how sweet. “Listen...I gotta...”

“Ramble?”

“Yeah...”

“Story of my life.” she smiles.

He goes down and gives her a very deep kiss and grabs his clothes on the way out. He enters the shop once again to find the place covered in blood and two dead, mutilated headless bodies lying in front of the counter. Not far from the door lies the two severed heads, one of a grayish man and the other of an old fat middle aged lady. He ignores it and tip toes through the blood with his white tube socks, dressing as he goes on. He nears the closed door to find that it’s locked. In the other room she lies there naked on the cold floor where he left her, -better unlock the door- she lifts her hand and it unlocks. He tries again and exits trough the door. “I hope to the Goddess that was just a crow...if not.” she sighs -He didn’t even ask me what my name was, they fuck me then they leave me to clean up the mess - “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.” She lays there laughing herself to sleep until the twilight hours of the morning.