Darkness Until Dawn

  The voice on the phone was familiar to him and still talking, but he had stopped listening several minutes ago. She obviously didn't realize this because the cadence did not change. He was far away, floating somewhere far above where he lay sprawled on the floor, his tense hand still clutching the cold receiver in some sort of karate death grip. His breaths were slow and shallow, his body motionless, and from the vacant look in his eye, one might mistake him for dead and gone. But Eddie was very much alive on a physical level, even if emotionally he was numb. He could still hear her words in the distance. He didn't really need to hear them. He knew what the message was. In some sense he had seen this coming. He never acknowledged it, of course, but the gnawing dread, the feeling of falling, had been there in the background for quite some time. The words themselves were unimportant and expected, words like "time", "space", and "different". Yet s...

I found them easily enough. In the years after I left home, I spent my time exploring the world. I had been far too sheltered for too long. I wanted to know for myself how the world worked. I know they thought they were helping me by keeping hidden away and presenting a false facade to the world. In the end they could maintain the illusion without my ever being there at all. I made the choice to be real. I made the choice to leave. Was it easier to play along? Definitely. But if you ask me if it was a mistake to leave, I’ll tell you the truth: the mistake was not leaving sooner. So I traveled (by foot) and observed the world. I took a series of odd jobs. It was amazing to truly experience life rather then be instructed on what life was like. I had heard the word “freedom” many times before but never truly knew what it felt like.  I was on my way back one day when I came upon them. It was in the old historic district, a place I sometimes visited when I was homesick. The proud old ma...

You knew… Didn’t you? You… KNEW. Long ago… Though no one knows… Buried, ancient memories Details lost, but who paid that cost? In their place, I have your face I trusted you, you knew it too if only I had known when you were the only one I could turn to You left me in the dark alone. In my darkest hour, you shamed me into silence All the days… No words to say… But you knew what you were doing. Broken tears… so many years Lost and thrown away…  The darkest days… No voice to say I couldn’t find the words You broke me down… In shame no sound… Lost and thrown away They speak your name Were they to know? The truth will flow Your lies they’ll know Your titles won’t protect you You broke me down YOU BROKE ME DOWN Regardless what you say The games you play Will fade away And in the end they’ll see Monsters cannot hide in light Soon the truth will be in sight The doctor and his degrees… You broke me down. YOU BROKE ME DOWN. The pain you wrought… for fees They know your name Do you know sham...

Water down the mountain Dripping from the snow And as the droplets gather A Stream begins to grow Slowly Ripples join each other And down and down they flow In that moment beautiful Like that crystal snow As the stream grows larger and speeds up as it goes It descends down the rapid slope And the beauty begins to show First, it takes some time to pool Gathering poise as it slows With grace it lifts from clifftop heights seeking new life down below And so it comes to freefall From those distant heights Creating its own show of hope In that early light. And now what can be seen for miles And in morning sunlight glows Is a flight of color in the air That only the heavens could truly know. ©️ 2023, Accountec, LLC

 After it bit me, I dropped the gun and started running. I hadn’t run but maybe 20 yards when I had to stop, bending over to welcome back the contents of my stomach. There I was, all sweaty and huffing and trying to stop heaving. My hands shook, and I felt weak in the knees. I looked back. The house was farther then I thought. No sign of the dog or the thing that bit me… or my buddies. I thought maybe I could hear them calling for me, but my heart was pounding so loud that I couldn’t be sure. Then there was the wind and the darkness that obscured so much. I looked up as I panted, to see the moon coming out from behind the clouds. In the distance came a howling.  Suddenly, to my surprise, I joined in. It was a shaky but throaty howl there in the sight of the full moon. I looked down at my paws and did a double take. My knees bent under my weight as I realized that what were once hands were that no longer. I hunched over on my forelegs and ran off into the forest, never looking ...

 I had never been so lost, and of all the places to be lost… the suburbs? A true forest, a true city, either would do. You can prowl urban sprawl as easily as the wild. But this? Far too civilized. Leave it to that crazy cousin Vinny to give me bad information. I couldn’t even get a good view of the moon. One night I even caught myself howling at a street lamp. If anyone saw me I’d never live it down.  I got bitten almost a year ago, and I’ve been on the run since. Me and my buddies were out drinking outside of a small town where I grew up. Someone came up with the fool idea of tryin’ to put down the crazy old mutt that the Rileys owned, but we were all scared of old man Riley and his shotgun. For good reason too. The old man was nearly blind but he was so trigger happy that the Sheriff’s office had been up there maybe half a dozen times to tell him to lay off. The mutt was mean as the devil to everyone but him. So we took it upon ourselves to do a public service, drunk as we ...

They think I did not know. Yet even an old bat with a hangover could hear them. My father always told Vlad, verk that sonar, my boy, that’s what makes the Drakuls who we are, our famous (sometimes infamous) listening skills. You never know what you might catch. Yes, yes, I knew the girl was there. The why escaped me at first. Yet even with that blabbering dolt carrying on below, even without twitching, Vlad got the gist of the conversation. Strange, they were to me. Strangers that seemed stranger then Vlad himself, which of course I found impressive. Perhaps my arrival was vell timed, if a bit undignified. Zee legged one was more irritating in his oddness. Vlad tried to give him the benefit of the mortality. Life can be rough, I don’t know how they do it. It mystified me how anyone could choose to live here. It vasn’t dark enough, cold enough, and was made entirely from wood and fiber. Verse, it was a long fly from zee nearest cave or castle.  Vhile the little crazy one fumed, I ma...