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Behind A Vacant Image; Psalm Twelve : Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors
Topic Started: Mar 9 2018, 06:30 PM (178 Views)
Bobby B. Barabbas
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Pull the blindfold down
So your eyes can't see
Now run as fast as you can
Through this field of trees
Say goodbye to everyone you have ever known
You are not gonna see them ever again
I can't shake this feeling I've got


She remembered walking through there, white walls, stained windows, vending machines and endless coughing. Endless, endless coughing. It wasn’t like she was ill accustomed to places like this, she was a frequent guest at the Hotel Infirmary, given career, given choices, given happenings. More often than not she was afforded the very finest of rooms, the majestic penthouse suite with twenty four hour room service, private guard at the door, luxurious bedside views and a drip to ensure absolute satisfaction. And who could forget the machine that went “ping” and the most expensive machine in the entire hotel?

My dirty hands
Have I been in the wars?
The saddest thing that I'd ever seen
Were smokers outside the hospital doors


She paced through, face upon face that didn’t belong to anyone, that didn’t even belong to those who wore them. All with one eye, all lidless and ever looking, socketed in the centre in the middle of a broken crack where the nose once was. Lips moved but there was no sound, broken teeth and forked tongues with silent hisses. Their hair was laced with torn feathers, ridden with lice and maggots that crawled, oozed and exploded before her very eyes and the heavenly white flooring seemed to crumble beneath her as she walked, the ground opening up to reveal a hellish lava below, and the warped and faceless behind her fell hand first into it. Ahead of her where people who were never there, and at this point the radiant brunette was confused for the very first time. The fake phoenix, carved out of iron but with a fro instead of flaming feathers, holding onto a prize she long sought but was forever out of reach. Then, the moose, spitting words and venom upon the floor as it swelled with bile and puss. A tin woman stood next, a crown of sweet Holly upon their head, chest opened and filled with wires, completely devoid of a heart. An artificial pump kept the black blood flowing, and trickle came out upon the red breasted parrot in it’s hands, the macaw screeching it’s vile sermon at her in short bursts before becoming deathly silent once more.

Someone turn me around
Can I start this again?


She gazed on with her dazzling heterochromia afflicted eyes, blinking once, twice, thrice. All of them were smoking tar coated cigarettes, flames bursting out as they coated their hands in wildfire. A giant painted in red and white strode past, paying no attention to anyone or anything as it crashed through the wall, a flock of headless ravens spewing forth with a sheik and a cry, an ethereal trio following out before dissipating before her. More smoke emitting from the cancerous trio, blueish grey smoke billowing out and coating the hallway in a poisonous fog.

How can we wear our smiles
With our mouths wide shut
'Cause you stopped us from singing


She was unaffected though, clad in brilliant, untainted white, her long lush curls hanging down to her shoulder and her two championship belts around her waist. She didn’t quite remember it like this, she remembered herself being tired and sweaty, having travelled across Europe straight after winning the SSWA World Championship. She hadn’t showered, she hadn’t changed, she barely stopped after stumbling through the curtain, only stopping to shake the hands of whoever reached out, stopping to hug Bart Huff before sprinting for her waiting taxi. But here she was, glowing and wonderful, feeling alive amongst all this hell and fire and smoke and brimstone. That was what bothered Anastasia more, everything else was more of the same. She glided on air as she walked, her wings flapping away idly as they protected her from the venomous fumes, an angel amongst Hades.

I can't shake this feeling I've got
My dirty hands
Have I been in the wars?
The saddest thing that I'd ever seen
Were smokers outside the hospital doors


She peered backwards as she approached the door, a frantic feeling of regret and worry washing over her, hesitant to turn the roasting hot door knob, itself having the face of the God of Anger, ever glaring with crimson eyes lifted from another. She looked down to her hands, quivering and broken, bone protruding from her wedding finger, but the ring remained in tact, glistening in the light of cigarette flame. She turned again, not sure whether to run away or carry on valiantly, knowing what was on the opposite side of those dreaded hospital doors.

Someone turn me around
Can I start this again?
Now someone turn us around
Can we start this again?


She stepped through, knowing exactly what was going to happen and yet still shaking due to the fact. There was all the traditional makeups of a hospital room, the walls, the windows. White, white, white. She unhooked a belt, the SSWA World Championship belt, and she held it out like a small child. She was so proud, so, so proud. She had spent the better part of a year chasing this. From Royal Battle, where she broke every record from entering in at Number One, to the very point that she believed she had it won… but she didn’t.

“Fuck..”

She wasn’t quite sure what hurt more, the pain she felt when she was robbed of her chance, or the pain she dealt with for working for an entire year to actually earn that spot again. Earn it… she had, she knew it but some people only paid attention to the week in front of them. Was difficult dealing with them. Especially when they were sat outside the room, smoking away and grey smoke drifting.

We've all been changed from what we were
Our broken hearts left smashed on the floor
I can't believe you if I can't hear you


But were they they?

She looked down, holding the glistening championship belt and smiled. No matter the opinion, no matter the talk, no matter the headline she had done it. She had done it. The ultimate prize, the one she had longed for, longed for for so long… It was hers.

She stood there at the end of the bed, title in hand, waiting for the first piece of appreciation for what she had accomplished. She hadn’t called her mother, she hadn’t called her Uncle. She hadn’t called her friends, allies, countrymen. There was another on her mind. Eternally on her mind.

“Where is Sophie…?”

She asked, bright, bold and tearful. A figure turned, his face a shadow of what it used to be. His face was grey, peeling of skin. His hair was white and shedding, his jaw literally clinging on for dear life, like the rest of his body. He gripped her there and then and she felt happiness for the first time in forever, even when his entire existence was falling apart. But then he did fall apart. Ash and dust, brittle bone upon the fall and ash in the air. She stood and watched, before gazing upon her gloved hands. Even the chainsaw on her middle finger was coated in dust.

We've all been changed from what we were
Our broken hearts smashed on the floor
We've all been changed from what we were
Our broken hearts smashed on the floor


She looked upon the bed, platinum blonde locks both striking and alluring. Leon crumbled to nothing before her, dying as she watched. She stared upon her eternal heart’s desire. Laid there, in slumber, never moving and never speaking. Her hair was in rings, her dress stunning, like Marilyn Monroe in her tomb.

“Why was it on paper? Why couldn’t you say anything?”

The waterfall began, staring longingly at the woman she once called wife, the ring still on her finger.

“I wish you could remember… I wish everyone could.”

Ana dropped to her knees, gripping Sophie’s hands firmly. It was only the two of them in the entire world… Until Sophie opened her eyes at last and stared directly at her.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Has anyone ever been murdered with the sheer power of words?

Now they have...

Someone turn me around
Can I start this again?
Now someone turn us around
Can we start this again?
Edited by Bobby B. Barabbas, Mar 10 2018, 04:16 AM.
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