Glass
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Posted:Dec 4, 2022 3:22 pm
Last Updated:Dec 5, 2022 2:52 am 5228 Views
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Hers is the kind of story about secrets in glass jars.
Of shelves holding these treasures, next to wishes cast on stars
Hers is endless forest, it is earth and fire and sky
But also 2am and smiles that don’t quite reach the eye
It’s anger and apologies in letters she won’t send
And shelves that overflow with jars still added to the end
But hers is one of change, of endless drought but flooding rain
Of shelves that once stood empty and will stand that way again
It’s a story with more pages so lets hope before the last
That hers is also of acceptance and the sounds of shattered glass
Glass
e.h.
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The Curios Shop
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Posted:Dec 4, 2022 2:51 pm
Last Updated:Mar 18, 2023 3:41 pm 5061 Views
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The Curios Shop is a story about a little shop in downtown Nothing Much that takes the right set of circumstances to be found. It’s also about creaky wood floors, an old book covered in velvet and a small cat with yellow eyes.
I’d seen the sign for the shop someday over the summer when I’d been out peddling my bike. The sign was small and wooden, hanging from an iron brace over a door I’d never noticed. And even then, I’d forgotten it as soon as I looked away. Then a week later I’d seen it again and it sparked a memory and I’d retained a bit more of it. The third time I’d ridden by, I was racing home as the sky overhead quickly turned dark and the first few sprinkles had fallen on my face and hands. Still, I’d seen the sign swinging a bit in the rising wind and this time I’d been able to read it. Painted in fading maroon letters on a dark green background was the word “CURIOS” and I’d said it a few times in my mind as I sped through the falling rain toward home.
Our downtown wasn’t large .. a few streets running north to south, a few more crossing over them, a big park with a pond and a maze of smaller alleys right in the heart of everything. In the neighbourhoods themselves, there were a few pockets here and there with a couple of buildings pushed together, housing a cafe, a corner store and maybe an office but not much more than that .. so I knew just about every block of town. How had I missed this little place? Even then, I’d seemed to have forgotten about it again. It slipped from my mind and now I’d fully intended to make a trip over to see the wares. By the time the rain had dried from my sleeves, the thought was gone. It wasn’t till today, when I’d stopped on the corner by the spice shop that all the times I’d seen it before came back and finally stuck. I’d stopped because I spotted the moon rising over the trees in the park and its pale face seemed bigger and more beautiful than I’d ever seen before. I must have been mesmerized for a few moments, lost in thinking about the moon. How distant and remote she was, yet present and known to each person in the world.
I came back to myself as someone brushed past me in a hurry to cross the street. They spun me around a bit and that’s when my eyes fell upon the sign. “Curios”, I said to myself. It was an odd sensation but it seemed like the lines of the door under the sign of the front window and its contents were coming into existence as I looked at them. I’m sure because there was so much to take in, so many details to observe. The door was solid wood, painted black but with small carvings all over it, sigals and motifs of moons and acorns and honey bees that had been meticulously shaped in the panels - and at eye height was a window which I immediately peered through. All I could make out was a hazy sort of light inside. That’s when I noticed the front window, likewise framed in carved wood, decorated here with oak leaves and paw prints and things that must be runes, inscrutable to me but pretty nonetheless.
The display was lined with jewel bright orange velvet and full of interesting objects, some I recognized and others I didn’t. There were bundles of herbs tied with string in different colours, decks of tarot cards and a wooden box filled with cones of incense. Laid out across the velvet were a dozen small candles in every colour of the rainbow and a bowl who’s bottom was as shiny and reflective as a mirror.
I couldn’t see past the window, again just that hazy bit of light from further in. I reached for the door knob thinking I’d likely find it locked, but it turned smoothly in my hand and I pulled the door open and stepped through. It was dim inside and my glasses immediately fogged up on my face. It had been chilly out on the sidewalk and the air in here was warm and smelled of rose petals and lavender and sandalwood. There were creaky wood floors under my boots and the sound of a simmering pot somewhere in the background.
I started to unwind the scarf from around my neck in the warmth and a hand reached out to take it. “I’ll just hang this up for you. So glad you finally made it in.” I turned toward the voice, pulling my fogged glasses off to wipe them on my sweater, but whoever had spoken was already gone. My scarf was twisted through the arms of a coat tree and the curtain behind the counter opposite was swaying back into place. I managed to get my now clear lenses back onto my nose and took a slow look around. It was a smallish shop with the walls painted like a starry midnight sky, dark blues and purples and the stars themselves, luminescing with a bright glow. There were a few vitrines full of tinctures and rocks and crystals and shelves full of old books and new journals. I found myself drawn to touch things, to run my finger over the spines of the books and pick up certain stones.
There was a table full of old golden coins and handle bells and something made from dried reeds that rattled when I shook it, and I wanted to feel the weight of each object in my hand. I noticed the black curtain behind the counter twitch and a moment later a small grey cat with bright yellow eyes jumped up and landed softly on the case in front of me. There was a fuzzy shawl spread out over the surface, already liberally decorated with grey hairs that I guessed was her favourite resting spot and I swirled it into a soft nest as she watched. She stepped daintily into it and laid down like a sphinx and just stared at me. I laid a hand on her soft body and she purred without blinking. A shiver ran up my spine and I laughed at myself - it was deja vu I was feeling but I knew I hadn’t been here before so then what was this? I stroked the kitty between her eyes and supposed it was being right where i was supposed to be at this particular moment.
The curtain shifted again and a woman with long black hair and a neat braid over one shoulder stepped through. She had a book with a green velvet cover in the crook of her elbow and a soft smile on her face. “Well” she said. “Shall we have a cup of tea and talk about it?” I smiled and nodded.
Kathryn Nicolai
Nothing Much Happens
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Witchcraft at Midnight
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Posted:Nov 10, 2022 11:38 am
Last Updated:Nov 10, 2022 10:19 pm 5075 Views
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”Kiss someone who makes you feel the magic in your bones. Who makes you wonder how can someone who looks like witchcraft at midnight .. taste so holy.”
Tonight I’m gonna break away
Just you wait and see
I’ll never be imprisoned by
A faded memory
Just when I think I’m over her
This broken heart will mend
I hear her name and I have to cry
The tears come down again
It happens all the time
This crazy love of mine
Wraps around my heart
Refusing to unwind
Ooh-hoo, crazy love
Ah ha
I count the stars in a summer sky
That fall without a sound
And then pretend that you can’t hear
These teardrops coming down
It happens all the time
This crazy love of mine
Wraps around my heart
Refusing to unwind
Ooh-hoo, crazy love
Ah ha
Tonight I’m gonna break away
Just you wait and see
I’ll never be imprisoned by
A faded memory
It happens all the time
This crazy love of mine
Wraps around my heart
Refusing to unwind
Ooh-hoo, crazy love
Ah ha
Tonight I’m gonna break away
Crazy Love
Poco
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Saudade
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Posted:Nov 8, 2022 2:24 pm
Last Updated:May 16, 2024 2:48 am 4439 Views
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Nostalgia
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Posted:Nov 8, 2022 2:20 pm
Last Updated:Mar 18, 2023 3:43 pm 4445 Views
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Dear Friend:
I miss you more than I can bear. It feels like I have heartburn from eating too much spice .. all the time .. but I know it’s just heartache from missing you. You may be miles away and the possibility of being together, parallel universes and light years apart .. but I can’t stop thinking about you, about the times we spent together. Our time together was brief but perhaps it’s better that way. I remember every detail about the moments we spent together, remember verbatim the jokes you told me, the stories .. everything. And I can’t help replaying those memories - on the train, in class, while I’m supposed to be studying. I can’t listen to Pandora anymore because every song is about love .. and every song reminds me of you.
We live in worlds apart - and that’s the problem with summer .. trips and internships bring you into different worlds that just seem to be detours on the way to real life. But I must admit, I’d leave everything behind to be with you if you cared more .. and perhaps in this day and age it wouldn’t be ridiculous and foolhardy. To be honest, I don’t know why I’m still so stuck in summer. Thinking about you has been so much wasted time .. so distracting for my studies when it’s most important. And besides, its been months since we had a real conversation. I should be mad at you but I can’t help but think how well we click, how perfect I think you are for me. It’s funny though because I never believed in Romeo and Juliet, in love at first sight .. or in soul mates. Now my heart aches because we would have been amazing together. But really, I should be so mad at you. Mad for telling me you liked me .. it would have never occurred to me to be something other than friends if you hadn’t. Mad for telling me when there was nothing either of us could really do about it. Mad for leading me on. When were you going to tell me that you got back with your ex-girlfriend? Mad for telling me you liked me .. when it seems you want to marry your girlfriend. Mad because you are getting in the way of me leading my life. You are so much wasted time.
We are just friends now. And I hate that we are still friends, that you still talk to me, though always briefly. I think it keeps me hoping that someday we might be together. But even if that impossibility occurs, a relationship with you will be fraught with its own thorns (hello ex-girlfriends! .. why do you have so goddamn many?) But I hate the idea of losing you as a friend even more because let’s face it, you are a good one. So I am still friends with you, hoping and praying that with everyday I think of you a little less. I know it will happen. I know one day I will look at you as just a friend .. really, sincerely, genuinely. But right now I miss you and I want you, and I can’t help thinking to myself - goddamit, we could be so sublimely happy together.
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you. And I am still stuck in summer.
XX
Dear Self,
It’s winter now. Get over it.
Le Love
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Home
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Posted:Nov 8, 2022 1:59 pm
Last Updated:May 16, 2024 2:48 am 4329 Views
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”We’re all just walking each other home.”
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The Haunting of Hill House
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Posted:Nov 3, 2022 6:26 pm
Last Updated:Nov 4, 2022 7:25 am 4321 Views
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”No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
The Haunting of Hill House
Shirley Jackson
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Cast a Deadly Spell
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Posted:Nov 3, 2022 6:09 pm
Last Updated:Nov 4, 2022 7:30 am 4409 Views
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And so it was that Kat found herself dancing closer to the devil than she ever intended to get (at least in this lifetime) .. and the spell he wove was proving to be more powerful than even she had bargained for. Balancing precariously on the very brink of surrender, Kat closed her eyes and allowed his touch to take her to places she had never thought possible. His hands became possessive as they explored the uncharted depths of her passion .. and he smiled in wicked delight knowing just how close he was to claiming her very soul.
Kat sighed with pleasure as his fingertips traced the soft outline of her mouth .. a gentle caress intended to tease, enticing her to yield to the temptation that now threatened to engulf her entire body. His eyes filled with a dark passion as he drank in the exquisite charm of her beauty .. his fingers coming to rest and delicately linger upon her bottom lip until she quivered in anticipation of the moment. And when his lips found hers - the world exploded until Kat could feel herself giving in, melting beneath his touch in the seconds before his mouth claimed hers and his tongue tasted her sweetness. She surrendered to the longing that now poured over her like a tidal wave, as helpless as a house of cards in a hurricane. The kiss was dark and delicious, filled with the strawberry sweet taste of magic. But underneath it all she could sense something else .. something so out of place and so wrong that it terrified her completely. Kat felt his hunger as though it were a living thing and his desire awakened her senses to the animal within.
And so it was his kiss that finally sent Kat over the edge, pushing her hard until she could feel herself falling, slipping quickly beneath the fine lines of reality to that familiar place where Sariel once ruled her world. She felt the panic rise within her as she realized she could no longer fight his will and she knew she was trapped .. defenceless and at the mercy of his ruthless desires. But she also knew now what he had come for and why - and her heart skipped a beat. He could no longer hide it from her - for she knew what he was. No longer could he mask it behind the pretense of love .. because in Hell there was no place to hide! Kat fought hard to claw her way back to the light .. but the longer she spent in his realm, the more difficult it became to find her way home. Time was running out as she struggled against the Devil’s will, and as the air gradually disappeared her breathing became labored. Minutes passed by like hours and a heavy silence fell until there was nothing left. The struggle was over, all the fight was gone - and Kat knew with certainty that no saviour was going to find her now. Her eyes became heavy as death approached and Sariel reached out from the abyss to steal her immortal soul.
A single tear was all there was to mark the end. The darkness had won the moment love had bowed its head in defeat - and Kat mourned its death. But just as she was about to lay bare her soul, letting the darkness win .. a clock began to chime from somewhere in the distance. Each discordant note resonated with optimism and hope, penetrating through the ether, reaching the place where the last of her awareness resided. And in the vast stillness of the void, another joined in and then another until her whole world was filled with the sound of clocks as they struck the midnight hour. The notes expanded to fill her consciousness and she reached out blindly, trying desperately to hold onto anything that would save her. It was midnight and the unmasking was about to begin. Kat knew now that it was the clocks that would be her salvation - and her soul energy followed the sound of the chimes - allowing them to draw her back to the safety of the earth plane. The only place where the Devil’s power could be contained.
The moment Kat’s soul entered her body .. her eyes flew open and she gasped, her lungs burning as they made contact with the sweet air and she could breathe again. Indeed she would have immediately fallen to the floor had Sariel not stood before her, holding her so tightly that his fingers left the tender flesh on her arms bruised and swollen. And she could tell from the dark storm brewing in his eyes that he was more than just angry at having been denied once again. She had escaped him this time but there was still a chance for him to win - IF he was clever enough, There was still one card left that he hadn’t played and now he was given no choice but to lay it down. All at once from across the room a familiar voice yelled “Unmask” and fear rose from somewhere deep within her heart, wrapping itself around her like a second skin. She fought the urge to see him for what he really was by turning her head away .. but something much stronger made her turn back. Sariel smiled at Kat as he reached up to slowly remove the ebony mask that had covered his face for most of that evening. It was a smile so hideously charming it would have done Satan proud. And then the mask was off and Kat stood anxiously before him trembling .. expecting the worst .. but finding only the beautiful face of the man she still loved. Oh God how her heart ached to be so near to him, to have his hands caress her so gently and with such care. And in that very moment, words were rendered useless. This was the man she loved .. the one she would always love and the one she would die for! And she ached for him with everything that she had. Ached to feel him deep inside her as they moved together in the dark. Sariel could sense how close she was to giving in and that’s when he played his final card. For you see he knew exactly what it would take to have her completely in his power .. mind, body - and soul. And at long last he uttered the words that he knew were like kryptonite to her captured heart .. “mein tumse pyaar karthi hoon. I love you Kat.”
~~ Isabella
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Between Worlds
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Posted:Oct 28, 2022 10:01 pm
Last Updated:May 16, 2024 2:48 am 4348 Views
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”The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?”
Edgar Allan Poe
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