(This is the basis for a character I created and was carried on in an RP at the DWM website listed here under 'universe')
Even from behind closed eyes, I could sense the light.
The unknown shadows had fled.
At least, I so hoped.
Squeezing my lids tightly,
I was uncertain of whether to open them
or not.
Unsure of what lay beyond
and then there was a voice-
"How are you feeling this morning?" it inquired.
My curiosity got the better of me and
as I opened, the light entered,
streaming through my entire being.
When thoroughly adjusted, I saw, standing before me
in the stark sterile room,
a woman dressed all in white.
She smiled at me as she sat a tray containing a steaming pot, cup with saucer, and some delicate little sandwiches
on the stand next to the bed I realized I was lying in.
"Now," she began, "do you know where you are?"
I looked about the room, it somehow looked familiar.
All I could manage was "hospital?"
"Yes," she replied, then added "do you have a name?"
I thought for a moment. Name? What is my name?
I shook my head from side to side.
No name came to me.
Nothing registered.
I could read in her eyes there was compassion.
"Don''t worry," she said, "the doctor will be here shortly and explain everything.
Now eat something. You need to build up your strength."
And she left the room.
I reached over and took a small sandwich from the tray.
Cream cheese and cucumber.
It tasted fresh, and cool, and reassuring for some strange reason.
Famished, I relished it''s texture, the mix of flavors it presented to my tongue.
I wiped my lips on a napkin from the tray.
Reaching, I lifted the cup from the saucer and shakily added some cream to the tea which the woman, obviously now recognized as a nurse, had poured before leaving.
My left hand trembled as I did so, thus grasping with the other I used both to cradle the cup so as not to spill the warm, comforting brew upon myself and the bed.
As I finished, the door opened and the doctor entered.
Again a smile, but a seriousness lay behind it.
"We've listed you as one Therese de Bertole" he said holding up a tattered old book, the cover barely holding it together.
"You were carrying this" signifying said book "along with these."
He held aloft what appeared to be a raggedy old doll, and a small tin of watercolours, then laid them beside me on the bed.
"Do you recognize them?" he asked.
I picked up the doll. Not a doll, a puppet. "Puipéid" I mutter, making the little figure dance across the bedding, a little fantoccini, a poppet. It brought a smile to my lips and a tug at my heart.
My interest turned to the other articles.
I ran my fingers across the tin and gently touched the book, wondering what it would tas.....
Snapping back into reality, I again shook my head no in response to his query.
It was all gone. All that I was.
The doctor''s forehead wrinkled with worry but his words were
"Don''t fret, it will all come back to you in time."
Then an explanation.
"You were brought to us by a young lad who found you wandering in a nearby forest.
You frightened him at first. He thought you a ghost or will-o’- the-wisp, you were so pale.
Does any of this ring a bell?"
"No" I said.
"It will return. These things take time" he replied as he patted my shoulder then turned and left the room.
My mind raced.
Who am I? What had happened that caused me to lose all recollection of self?
I remembered....nothing.
The question,
did I really want to?
Fleeting memories came
and were gone
just as swiftly.
Running.
Always running.
But, was it away
or towards?
I could not recall
no matter how hard,
I tried.
It had been weeks,
or so I thought.
I was beginning to feel stronger.
At least physically.
My memories now,
if any,
were flashes of a confusing
repertoire.
Music within my head.
Tunes without lyrics.
Haunting melodies
I could not re-collect.
Faces,
places,
hazed over
with smoke and mirrors.
I knew I would have to leave the hospita(b) l (e)
eventually.
Go out into the world on my own.
Face whatever was out there.
Fearful of the unknown.
Alone.
As the days grew shorter
and nearer my departure
from one world,
to enter another,
the dread of leaving
this haven of safety
became nearly unbearable.
I trembled with trepidation
or was it rapture?
Having no set path,
no star to guide in the darkness,
not an inkling of what lay beyond
these construct walls
both within and without,
I must add venture to the uncharted.
I seek
what is hidden from me.
I count each day
as I lay deep in thought.
Three days.
A trinity of significance
known only to myself.
A hand,
my own,
instinctively takes
the tattered puppet
from beneath my pillow.
In doing so,
I swore I heard it whir
softly.
But that was impossible
it is a mere toy
a plaything.
It was surely an insect
buzzing a secret
in my ear.
A withheld truth.
Whispering
foretelling my future.
Sheer terror
of dreams
awake.
Omens.
Plague unleashed,
Pestilence unbridled,
arouse me
from this slumber
to sleep once more.
I close my mind’s eye
until a single day
has passed.
Past.
Hickroy Dickory
the clock works
away the hours.
A grey sky
blending black with white
as night’s shade
is rolled aback
once again
for it was dawning
on the mo(u)rning
of my forever after.
No more could I
nor should I
remain.
Yet I did.
Trinity passed,
the sentence postponed
a reprieve given.
An allowance
and offer was presented,
I could remain
if so I wished.
A decision required.
Lagniappe-
Softly lips brush
the surface
barely touching.
Just a whisper
heard
as they part.
One final embrace. as
I take my thoughts,
feelings
place them in an
impenetrable casket
bury it so
deep within my being
as to never escape again.
None enter
nothing leaves.
A dirge plays within
I thank the piper
then pay him
his due.
Even from behind closed eyes, I could sense the light.
The unknown shadows had fled.
At least, I so hoped.
Squeezing my lids tightly,
I was uncertain of whether to open them
or not.
Unsure of what lay beyond
and then there was a voice-
"How are you feeling this morning?" it inquired.
My curiosity got the better of me and
as I opened, the light entered,
streaming through my entire being.
When thoroughly adjusted, I saw, standing before me
in the stark sterile room,
a woman dressed all in white.
She smiled at me as she sat a tray containing a steaming pot, cup with saucer, and some delicate little sandwiches
on the stand next to the bed I realized I was lying in.
"Now," she began, "do you know where you are?"
I looked about the room, it somehow looked familiar.
All I could manage was "hospital?"
"Yes," she replied, then added "do you have a name?"
I thought for a moment. Name? What is my name?
I shook my head from side to side.
No name came to me.
Nothing registered.
I could read in her eyes there was compassion.
"Don''t worry," she said, "the doctor will be here shortly and explain everything.
Now eat something. You need to build up your strength."
And she left the room.
I reached over and took a small sandwich from the tray.
Cream cheese and cucumber.
It tasted fresh, and cool, and reassuring for some strange reason.
Famished, I relished it''s texture, the mix of flavors it presented to my tongue.
I wiped my lips on a napkin from the tray.
Reaching, I lifted the cup from the saucer and shakily added some cream to the tea which the woman, obviously now recognized as a nurse, had poured before leaving.
My left hand trembled as I did so, thus grasping with the other I used both to cradle the cup so as not to spill the warm, comforting brew upon myself and the bed.
As I finished, the door opened and the doctor entered.
Again a smile, but a seriousness lay behind it.
"We've listed you as one Therese de Bertole" he said holding up a tattered old book, the cover barely holding it together.
"You were carrying this" signifying said book "along with these."
He held aloft what appeared to be a raggedy old doll, and a small tin of watercolours, then laid them beside me on the bed.
"Do you recognize them?" he asked.
I picked up the doll. Not a doll, a puppet. "Puipéid" I mutter, making the little figure dance across the bedding, a little fantoccini, a poppet. It brought a smile to my lips and a tug at my heart.
My interest turned to the other articles.
I ran my fingers across the tin and gently touched the book, wondering what it would tas.....
Snapping back into reality, I again shook my head no in response to his query.
It was all gone. All that I was.
The doctor''s forehead wrinkled with worry but his words were
"Don''t fret, it will all come back to you in time."
Then an explanation.
"You were brought to us by a young lad who found you wandering in a nearby forest.
You frightened him at first. He thought you a ghost or will-o’- the-wisp, you were so pale.
Does any of this ring a bell?"
"No" I said.
"It will return. These things take time" he replied as he patted my shoulder then turned and left the room.
My mind raced.
Who am I? What had happened that caused me to lose all recollection of self?
I remembered....nothing.
The question,
did I really want to?
Fleeting memories came
and were gone
just as swiftly.
Running.
Always running.
But, was it away
or towards?
I could not recall
no matter how hard,
I tried.
It had been weeks,
or so I thought.
I was beginning to feel stronger.
At least physically.
My memories now,
if any,
were flashes of a confusing
repertoire.
Music within my head.
Tunes without lyrics.
Haunting melodies
I could not re-collect.
Faces,
places,
hazed over
with smoke and mirrors.
I knew I would have to leave the hospita(b) l (e)
eventually.
Go out into the world on my own.
Face whatever was out there.
Fearful of the unknown.
Alone.
As the days grew shorter
and nearer my departure
from one world,
to enter another,
the dread of leaving
this haven of safety
became nearly unbearable.
I trembled with trepidation
or was it rapture?
Having no set path,
no star to guide in the darkness,
not an inkling of what lay beyond
these construct walls
both within and without,
I must add venture to the uncharted.
I seek
what is hidden from me.
I count each day
as I lay deep in thought.
Three days.
A trinity of significance
known only to myself.
A hand,
my own,
instinctively takes
the tattered puppet
from beneath my pillow.
In doing so,
I swore I heard it whir
softly.
But that was impossible
it is a mere toy
a plaything.
It was surely an insect
buzzing a secret
in my ear.
A withheld truth.
Whispering
foretelling my future.
Sheer terror
of dreams
awake.
Omens.
Plague unleashed,
Pestilence unbridled,
arouse me
from this slumber
to sleep once more.
I close my mind’s eye
until a single day
has passed.
Past.
Hickroy Dickory
the clock works
away the hours.
A grey sky
blending black with white
as night’s shade
is rolled aback
once again
for it was dawning
on the mo(u)rning
of my forever after.
No more could I
nor should I
remain.
Yet I did.
Trinity passed,
the sentence postponed
a reprieve given.
An allowance
and offer was presented,
I could remain
if so I wished.
A decision required.
Lagniappe-
Softly lips brush
the surface
barely touching.
Just a whisper
heard
as they part.
One final embrace. as
I take my thoughts,
feelings
place them in an
impenetrable casket
bury it so
deep within my being
as to never escape again.
None enter
nothing leaves.
A dirge plays within
I thank the piper
then pay him
his due.