My ears belong to Genesis
So I wrote a 20 page short story of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway...
...which was, to say the least, a little challenging, but a lot of fun. I figured I'd listened to it around 1000 times and I had some visuals and ideas in my head about what the story meant. I could be wrong in a couple of instances for sure, but this is the way I envisioned it. Feel free to comment on it here or on BlogSpot.
http://lambliesdownonbroadway.blogspot.com/
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
1.The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Inside the movie house Rael sleeps, dreaming odd dreams of odd places and odd people. He is rudely interrupted by the usher who tells him to get out. He says the show’s done, but what he means is: New York is waking up. He gets up and stretches, watching the sleepy people as they all make a sudden rush for the exit. As if they had to be somewhere...Rael snickered. Idiots. They’ll get into their motorcars and rush around, hailing taxis, driving trucks, opening their shops. How miserable! He walked out into the streets of New York and looked up and down Time Square. It was cold so he zipped up his leather jacket and ducked into the subway tunnel. He observed his latest piece of ‘art’. Well, they didn’t call it art, they call it vandalism, but rest assured it was art. His name was painted on the wall in big shiny red letters. He admired it for a moment, then patted his aerosol can.
Of course, this was tame by Rael’s standards, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to his violent ways - not yet anyway. He’d just served a year in Pontiac, one of the cruelest little shitholes in the world. At 17 too. He had earned his stripes by serving that sentence. And it was a fucking nightmare. Cocksucker liberal bastards. You cannot buy protection from the way I feel, how can you not understand that? What part of it did you not get? One of his old friends used to say: You can tell by the night fires where Rael has been. It made Rael smile to think of that. He was revered and as powerful as anyone - and he was only seventeen. Now a year later...he took a deep breath. Well a year later and he was just out. He needed to get laid and he needed another shot of heroin. Oh...his body quivered at the thought. He swallowed and realized his throat was as dry as a desert and it felt like a bird had shit in his mouth. He swallowed again and tried to forget about the taste. He took his needle out and looked around the subway entrance to make sure no one was around. He ducked into a dark corner and wrapped his shirt around his arm, then he felt a new wave of euphoria take over his body. He opened his eyes and let them focus slowly. He had a smile on his lips, he was sure of it, but there were no mirrors around for him to make sure. He did make sure that the needle was put away though, that would be all he needed. Back to Pontiac. Make another example of the leader. No way! He’d steal what he had to steal and do what he wanted to do. That’s what made him what he was. Nerves of steel. He smirked and got up. Why was it that no one was in the subway? Usually there were at least a few people here and there, what was so different today?
He felt the wind coming from up the stairs and he decided that maybe he’d go and see what he could steal tonight. A little window shopping to pass the morning. He moved towards the stairs, realizing slowly that it was hard for him to move. What was happening? He looked down at his leather jacket and saw some kind of dust on it - and worse, it was making a crust. This jacket cost money, well it would have if Rael had actually paid for it, but the point was he liked the thing. Who was blowing this strange dust about? Sure as shit, he was gonna stick him in the heart.
He struggled up the stairs and stood looking out over Times Square. People were going to and fro like mad, but there was something in the air behind them. What was that? He looked closer at this...wall of dust that was coming towards them. He looked back at the people, but none of them seemed to notice. They didn’t seem to care at all. He pointed, but everything was going by Rael so quickly that no words came out when he tried to speak. His mouth, was his mouth closed shut by this dust? He tried to open his mouth and eventually he managed, but when he did his mouth filled with the dust. He looked back up, his eyes wide with fear. The dust in the sky had turned into a thick wall coming right towards him! But he didn’t move, couldn’t move. Something had taken hold of him, something besides the dust. Was it fear? Was it really fear? Rael was scared? Or was he having a reaction to the heroin? That was probably it. Maybe he was dying, but no, he could see people being consumed by the dust. He could also see a lamb standing on the street. People were rushing by it, but there was a glow around it. Rael focused on it and watched it as it walked slowly in a circle, then lay down. His eyes narrowed and he felt a warm tear on his face. Scared and crying? Not a good start, Rael. Not a good start at all.
2.Fly on a Windshield.
Then he was lifted into the air and bound by the dust, which had now encrusted his entire body. He could see the other people, they were caught in the same trap! He looked down and saw Times Square as it had been just moments earlier, bustling with noise. He saw things happen that he’d never seen before. People were moving at such a pace that everything felt like it was a giant whirlwind. He saw the steam coming up from the sewers. He saw the young prostitutes walking out to the street corners, some of them with desperate looks in their eyes. Need a fix honey? If I wasn’t in this predicament, I might be of service to you.
The wall came closer and the people who were in the same predicament as Rael were destroyed one at a time. He felt like a fly, waiting for the windshield on the freeway. With every passing moment the lights and sounds from Times Square get louder and louder. Rael instinctively tried to move his hands to his ears, but then remembered that he couldn’t move. His eyes were sealed open as well. He wants so badly to move, to stop seeing every molecule of the city eat away at his flesh.
3.Broadway Melody of 1974
And yet there were still questions. Rael had a lot of questions right now. Groucho Marx, Caryl Chessman - who can still smell the almond scent. You can tell a lot in a scent, right? Despite his skin melting, Rael had to be amused by that. In a scent. Innocent. What’s in a word? How about Marshall McLuhan? His head buried in the sand, but still, he always had an opinion. Or Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes? Rael had them all bickering and talking in his ear. The wall got closer. The voices grew dimmer. There was Lenny Bruce! What a character! The Klu Klux Klan serving hot soul food. Rael snickered again. What’s in a word?
4.Cuckoo Cocoon.
Jesus, the wall was on top of him now. Then there was silence. Dead silence. What...was that it? Was he dead? Because if he was, they needed to move him somewhere other than here. This feels too constricted, there’s...there’s no air. Where’s the air? Still he had questions. He shook his head and sighed in defeat. But what answers Rael? You won’t find them just by asking, you know that. Everyone here knows that. So why do you keep asking questions you can’t answer? Don’t bother. Get away, there’s something well beyond your control happening here. Everyone’s in peril and most will die. You can’t let yourself die, because then...then it’ll all be over. Or maybe it just begins. Does heaven put a whole in earth, or did earth put a hole in heaven? How wonderful to be so profound.
5.In the Cage.
Wait a second. He moved his head. Just then, he was sure of it, but he was frightened to try again lest it be his imagination playing tricks on him and he was still actually caught in a web of dust. Just try it, you might like it - but then, most don’t. He spun around. He could move, but where had that voice come from? That was Brother John. His brother was here? Well...he supposed everyone was here, but this gave him new reason to live. He needed his brother now, more than any other time in his life. Even Pontiac. He needed another piece of himself - his flesh and blood. He turned to where he thought the voice had come from, but it was pitch black. John? John are you here? Please!
Of course I’m here. Everyone’s here. You said it yourself.
There was a flicker of light from far away and he could just make out John. JOHN! JOHN! WHERE ARE YOU!? WHERE ARE WE!? The cave went dark again. That’s what he had seen in that split second, he was in a cave that went on and on for as far as his eyes could see. John was there! Right in front of him and he wasn’t in a cage, why wasn’t he helping? He was in a cage. Who had put him in a cage? You don’t like the cage Rael? Rael shook his head, he couldn’t bring himself to speak, he was thirsty. And now he felt sick because there was no way that was John’s voice. He tried as hard as he could and finally he let out a cry for help. There was no reply. John! There was that flicker again and Rael saw John walking away. He turned his head back to Rael and shook it slowly. He was silent except for a tear of blood that ran down his cheek. Then he was gone and Rael saw that the cave had hundreds and hundreds of cages, all swinging perilously. He tried to cry out again, but nothing came out. He tried to move his hands, but they were pinned in front of him. He was in a straightjacket. They had him by his neck and feet. Wait, maybe that was it! He had overdosed on the heroin and he was in jail - or worse a treatment centre of some kind. Rael knew this wasn’t true, but it comforted him to think that maybe he’d come out of this, even if he was in a jail cell in New York. His body started to spin, slowly at first, then faster and faster. His stomach began to get sicker and sicker as he felt himself spinning like a top. He wanted to vomit, but there was nothing to vomit. It felt like he was being sucked of his life force. He wanted it to stop. STOP! Then it did, with Rael in a perfect cocoon. He couldn’t move a muscle again, but now he could see perfectly. He could see the perfectly sterile factory floor below, hundreds of people like him all lurching forward on a moving floor. They all got to a fat lady who sat with a marking pen and a stamper. As they came to her they stopped and she would look down her list and stamp their skin with a number. When this was completed they would go through a door and Rael could no longer see where they went...but he sure as hell knew he didn’t want to go the same way. He moved his eyes from side to side to see if there was anyway he could get out of the cocoon, but there was nothing in the cave that he could cut with. There were sharp rocks above him, but there was no chance he could get to them in his present form. He was forced to watch as the assembly line kept moving. He thought he heard a scream of agony from beyond the door, but he took as deep a breath as he could and pretended he didn’t. Wait, that was what this reminded him of: 22nd Street and those sick bastards...try to reform Rael will you? Not a chance. Then his cocoon lurched forward, as did the rest of the cocoons around him, until they were all in a little circle. The cocoons attached at the tips and he could see into the furiously scared eyes of a women right in front of him. He tried to speak, but again, nothing came out. Shit, if he was gonna die, at least he’d die next to a woman. Before he could think about this, the top of the cocoon was cut on a sharp rock and they all hurdled down to the factory floor. The fall didn’t hurt as much as Rael thought it would, in fact, it didn’t hurt at all, and for the second time Rael felt like a life sized top as his body swung to the upright position and he got in line to got to the fat lady and her flesh stamper.
6.The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging.
Oh God! His head was throbbing like it had never throbbed before. He feared it would explode, he tried to take deep breaths to right it, but it made it worse. This is death, he thought, this is what it means to die. He did what he could to get his arms free, but they wouldn’t budge. God...let me out of this! LET ME GO! He screamed and this time he could feel his voice resonating over the loud assembly line.
The receptionist in the office looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowed. “Are you okay, sir?” Rael’s headache was replaced with a dizzying throbbing that was actually starting to subside. He looked back up at her. “Where am I?”
She was a drooping, ugly fat lady, much like the one he had seen at the assembly line. In fact, it was the same lady he had seen at the assembly line. “I’m glad you asked Rael. This is the grand parade of lifeless packaging, those you are about to see are all in for servicing, they have to go one way or another, there’s too much stock! Everything is marked down, take a look.”
She pressed a button and the assembly line cranked back to life. Cocoons came through the office and took a turn and went through a different door. “Plenty of opportunities for the shrewd investor. You can buy an ugly, malnourished model, or a perfect specimen. Be careful though, the perfect ones are very, very costly.” Rael shivered in spite of himself. Take whomever you want, but remember this Rael, we know who you’ll take - and in the End if one of our lifeless packages are taken off this line...it’ll be counter-balanced. Do you understand?”
Rael shook his head no. “Good. Which one do you wish to buy then?” Then Rael saw what she knew he saw. He saw Number 9 and pointed. “That’ll cost a lot, Rael. Are you sure?” This time he nodded. Her face twisted and twitched, it didn’t look human to Rael in the least. “NUMBER 9!” She roared, and Rael looked around to see if anyone else was here to hear her. John came off the assembly line and she stood up, a huge knife in her hand. She cut the material covering his body off with a terrible slurping noise. Rael looked at John, who looked blankly back at him. “Is he okay?” The ladies terrifying features looked over at Rael. “He’s okay, my dear, it’s you who will take his place." Rael snickered. “No way, come on John, we’re out of here!” She smiled. “Are you?” He was in the cocoon again. No, please, no. She was coming towards him. Her hands were on his arms and she placed him on the assembly line. She touched his penis and nodded. “Yes, you’ll do.” Suddenly Rael realized that he was going towards the door in the huge factory. Why? Where was John? The door crept closed and he saw the fat lady again. She waved her hand at him and he continued through the door. He closed his eyes because the light was so intense.
7.Back in NY City.
He was free of the cocoon! Must run as fast as possible to escape the fat lady and her dastardly deeds! He ran with the others until they were running up the stairs of a subway. He reached the final stair and looked out over Times Square. He was home! Back in New York City. Yes indeed, he needn’t plead any longer. He snickered, good drugs? Bad drugs? Whatever, he was home. He looked up and down the street and saw the same sights as he’d seen a million times before. Chaos, bustling, but something didn’t seem right. He looked out over the city streets and he saw the same steam he had seen before he overdosed, but now it shimmered. He looked back up the streets; this was last year! He knew because American Graffiti had just started in the theatres - and when he had overdosed this morning it hadn’t been American Graffiti, it had been The Poseidon Adventure. He panicked and looked at the poster around Times Square. Sure as shit they were all different. Instead of The Moody Blues poster that had been there this morning, it was now a poster loudly proclaiming the number one song in the world: You're So Vain by Carly Simon.
He looked to the Broadway streets and saw himself walking with his gang friends. He was awestruck. He knew what was going to happen, he was going to beat a guy half to death, then smear the blood under his eyelids (which in retrospect was a little dumb considering he was pinched by the police because he looked suspicious). Before he got pinched though, he would have sex with a girl for the first time. Shit, what was her name? Did it matter though? The drugs had obviously fucked him up so badly that he was living in a memory of the past, maybe a coma. He didn’t know, but he knew he wasn’t going back to Pontiac. Not today, sir. Maybe if he helped himself somehow, told himself not to do what he was about to do? But then...then those Liberals would win. I’ll burn this city, he thought. I’ll burn it to the ground. It was mine! Mine in the first place, so I’ll burn it to ash. Let anyone find me with their city burning like a torch. Maybe it’ll consume me once and for all and I can get away from terrible nightmares of cages and cocoons and Broadway. Maybe I’ll die as Rael, once and for all.
He started towards the gang and caught up with them as quickly as he could. He swung himself around and backed away startled. It wasn’t him, it was John. Why was John wearing the same clothes as he had worn - and why did John look at him with such disgust?
Find the girl. That's what he'd do...though maybe he'd finally find himself a book on how to have sex first. Not a nudy magazine, but a book that would teach him. If he remembered correctly (and he did), he had been very, very awkward when he had bedded his girl, so awkward in fact that he had cut her throat so she wouldn’t tell any of the other gang members about it. He felt an instant regret at that memory. Not his time! Not if he could help it. This time he would find her erogenous zones and pleasure her properly. “Not like that you won’t.” He turned around and saw Her. She was exactly how she was a year ago - more beautiful even. “Why would you sleep with me? Then or now?” She batted her pretty eyes at him. “I never said I’d sleep with you now.” Rael nodded. “Why a year ago then?” She looked away, distracted. “You don’t need a book Rael. You’re way past that now. Come with me. They’re coming for you, so don’t be afraid. I can help you.” Without another word he followed Her to an apartment complex. She opened the door and led him up the stairs of a dingy, dirty, rotting staircase. He could smell vomit, blood and body odour and it assaulted his nose. She finally came to a door with a Number 9 hanging loosely and let herself in. Inside there was all the fixtures of a doctor’s office. “What...?” She looked back at him. “You knew this was coming, did you not? You can’t go back out there with such a weak heart. They’ll find you Rael. You’ll be back on the assembly line - for good this time. How you escaped, no one knows, but you need to get back. You need to find John.”
“That was John, walking where I was walking a year ago.” She shook her head. “Nothing’s real here Rael. Nothing.”
“Not this?”
“This...is the part of the story where I save you from uncontainable pain and suffering. Like what John’s going through.” Rael was real. Maybe she wasn’t, maybe nothing else was, but he was. She swung around to face him. “You don’t understand. Nothing here is real Rael. This is not New York City, this is a recreation of New York City...by them.”
“Who’s them?”
“Too many questions...too little time. Take off your clothes.”
Rael’s eyes flicked over to the operating table. It gleamed clean, even if everything else in the apartment was filthy. “Take off your clothes and lay down Rael, or it’s a lifetime of pain.”
8.Hairless Heart.
Finally, he did what she asked. Trembling, but realizing now that whatever happened in this room, was probably better than what was going to happen to him in the End anyway.
She took out a scalpel and flicked her finger across it. She bled a little and smiled at him. She handed him the scalpel. “Do it.” He looked at her with a mixture of fear and confusion. “Do it and get to the Throne Room before they take you there. Find the girls. Make them yours.” Rael nodded. “Who are you?” “My name is Lilith. We’ll meet again.” She nodded. “Do it.” And all of a sudden he knew exactly what she meant. He took a deep breath and placed the scalpel on his chest. “What if I can’t?” She walked up to him, her clothes suddenly changed into dark robes. She grabbed the scalpel and cut his heart out, quickly and efficiently. Rael felt it, but he didn’t die. He watched as she took the heart to a basin and washed it down, there was hair knotted all over it. He felt the pain rushing through his body and he curled up. “NO!” He gasped for breath and stopped, looking at her. “You must stay still!” “I....I can’t.” She opened a small cage in the back of the room and took out a porcupine. She put it on the operating table next to Rael. “Now you can.” She winked at him. Fresh pain made his body writhe and he started into the fetal position, only to be pricked by the porcupine. Now the pain was replaced by shock - then of course, more pain. He tried to scream, but his voice was gone. The porcupine curled up on the table, as if daring him to try curling up himself. Instead, he tried to take the pain as best as he could. He centred his attention of Lilith’s hands. They were so beautiful, even if they were covered with the blood from his wounded heart. She had washed most of the blood off by now anyway, so he could admire her hands for their own beauty. She took out a smaller scalpel and started cutting the knots of hair that surrounded the heart she was holding. Pain struck him ten fold and he cuddled the porcupine, for no other reason than it was a lesser pain, a pain to take him mind off the pain. How bizarre! He watched as She made his heart hairless with skill and precision. She had meant him to do this? God, it wouldn’t have worked out very well. He looked at her ass and pretended he could see it through the robes. Maybe he would get to have sex with her after all. She looked over at him and shook her head. Oh. Maybe not then.
9.Counting Out Time.
He waited for her to finish. His head were filled with a woman’s erogenous zones. From head to toe, he knew where to go. But how you ask? Never mind the hows right now, now was a time to focus on the whys. She was saving him, but why was he still alive? And why was she teaching him about a woman’s erogenous zones when she had made it clear that she wasn’t going to love him when she was done with his heart. Did she learn this from the same book that he could have stolen from Times Square? Or...did he show her once upon a time and now she was repaying him the favour? Whatever it was, it certainly felt good. She was showing him where to touch a woman for instant effect. How wonderful! Did any man know of these eleven areas? I mean, yes, he knew some men knew of some of them, but did any man who wasn’t a woman, know of all eleven? He doubted it very highly, do you? Do you know all eleven? Hmmm, well he did and he sure as shit wasn’t sharing them with you.
She came towards him with a beautifully shaved heart in her left hand. She prodded the porcupine and it left. He instinctively tried to curl up but her right hand forced him down. She pushed his heart back into his body and placed a gauze over his chest. “That won’t hold!” She nodded. “It will, Rael. Now get back to where you were! Use what I have taught you.” He finally descended into darkness, the words still ringing in his ears. Use what I have taught you.
10.Carpet Crawlers.
He was back beyond the door at the assembly line. He looked back, but the door was fitted into the wall with no way in or out. He was naked and his bare feet felt the woolskin carpet underneath him. He was in an immense chamber with stairways leading up to different doors. He bounded up one of the flights of stairs and went through the door. He was right back in the central chamber. A maze?
He took a moment to look around. The walls are painted in red ochre and are marked by strange insignias, some looking like a bullseye, others of birds and boats. Further down the corridor, he could see some people; all kneeling. He walked to them and watcheed as they all murmured to themselves, waiting their turns to get through a large door. He knelt down next to a monk. “Why are we here?” He turned and yawned. “It’s a long time before dawn, we need to wait until they call our numbers.” Rael shook his head, what is this drunken monk blithering about? He was told of no number being called, how does he magically know? Rael saw more people blithering to themselves, broken sighs as they struggle to move towards the door. Why is it that they can’t move, but I can? Maybe I’m the one that calls the number. “Number 9.” No response. No one even looks at him. They all seem content to struggle towards the door.
11.The Chamber of 32 Doors.
No more! Rael walks boldly to the door and then through it. He walks into the main chamber of 32 doors. A sphinx like creature looks up at him, then continues pacing around. Rael is taken aback by the look of the creature and steps away from it. There are people here, they are more mobile than the people struggling towards the door. Their voices all come at him in waves and he finds he’s terribly sensitive to the noise. “Shut up!” Mercifully, the voices cease for a moment and he sees that there’s a countryman and a townsman and a priest huddled in the corner. He joins them. “What is this?” “This is the chamber of 32 doors, friend. Only one leads out, the rest...well we hear screams of pain for all that go through. Put the pieces together and you’ll be the jigsaw master.”
Now if there’s one thing that Rael learned from his days in New York City, it’s to never trust someone who yells what they’ve found. He turns to the priest. “Why haven’t you gone through, you know which door it is.” The priest looks up at him, then looks at the others around him sheepishly. “How do you know what I know, friend.” Rael didn’t to be honest, but the priest’s reaction was reassuring. “Because you’re the only one who’s not blabbering on like a fool. Leads me to thing that I should follow you.” The priest looked away from Rael. “Don’t trust the garbs, friend. They’ve fit you with none, after all.” Rael sees one of the sphinx creatures coming towards him. “Enough, which is it?” The priest is no longer interested in conversing with Rael. “Can’t you make out the signs...Rael?” Rael was about to ask the priest how he knew his name, but he decided to look up at the doors. There were more sign of boats, birds, bullseyes. What signs should he know? The priest is a babbler who just needed prodding to babble. Idiots. How can they be cooped up in this hemisphere and not try to get out? The townsman was huddled in the corner, useless to everyone around him, only uttering nonsense from his mouth. We’ve got to get in to get out. We’ve got to get in to get out. We’ve got to get in...
The countryman had grown quiet and was staring at a door. Rael followed his gaze and saw a different insignia on that door. It was an X and a [ ]. What was that? He turned to the countryman. “I’ve made a mistake, it’s not the priest who knows, it’s the one who doesn’t yell what he’s found.” The countryman looked up at Rael and smiled, his smile all at once evil and knowing. “You can’t though. If you do, you have to be ready. People spend an eternity trying to get ready. Many have tried to die in doing so. How can you approach the door when you don’t know what’s behind it? And if you knew, would you still approach it? Someday the crawlers here will be called by the caller and they’ll move through a door into...” Rael stared at him. “Into?” “Well, no one knows, but at least we’re safe here.” Rael shook his head, such logic wasn’t logic at all, in fact, it was nonsense. “What if I told you I knew what the insignia meant countryman?” He looked at Rael. “I would be hard pressed to believe you sir...or is it ma’am?” “You can see plain as day that I’m a sir, just as I can see plain as day that you are too.” The countryman shook his head. “Not for long, friend. Not for long.”
12.Lilywhite Lilith.
Rael has talked for so long with these idiots that he realized the noise was whirling around him again. He tries to cover his ears, but the noise rings through. We’ve got to get in to get out. He moves away from the three and settles in the corner. X and [ ]. X [ ]. Times Square? If he’s wrong about the symbol, will he become one of the screaming people they referred to? A lifetime of pain? A quiet figure shroud in dark robes mutters quietly to herself. He leans in to hear what she is saying.
“I need a guide. I’m blind and I need a guide to maneuver through the people to the door. Will anyone help me?” Her face is covered by the robe, but Rael can see her eyes, which are oblique. “I can feel you standing there. I need to get through the door. It’s getting through the tunnels that I can help you with. Give me your arm. Help me to the door.” Rael doubts her briefly. “How do you know which door is right if you can’t see.” She looks at him and it makes Rael look away uncomfortably. “It’s plain as day. How can you not see it? I’ve got somewhere to go, if you take me through the noise, I'll show you. I’m a creature of the caves and I follow the way the breezes blow.” Even though there was not a breeze to be felt, Rael let her grab his arm and he guided her through the crowd. She muttered the way to one of the doors and Rael took her to it. The crowd dismissed this as a quest doomed to fail, so they paid them no heed. He opened the door and they both passed through it and into a deep dark tunnel. The noise from the crowd started to dim as they walked. The cave was dark and getting darker, but she kept on in perfect step while Rael stumbled over the uneven trail. When they finally has descended for what seemed like an eternity to Rael, she asked him to stop. “I have to sit down.” He guided her to a rock and she sat. He found a rock for himself and he sat down, almost bolting up immediately. It was cold and it felt so smooth. He ran his fingers over it. This was a rock alright, but it was jade. He could feel her looking at him in the darkness. “I must leave you now. We travel different roads.”
Rael felt a fear rising inside of him. “Why must you leave? Who are you?” His eyes were adjusting to the dark now and he could see her figure stop. “Don’t you know me, Rael? You’re still a boy of too many questions and too little time.”
“Lilith?”
“They’re coming for you now, don’t be afraid.”
Then, without another word, Lilith leaves Rael to face his fears once again.
Almost immediately he hears the whirring of some kind of machine. Its lights illuminate the cave that he’s sitting in. It’s all jade, even the throne he sits on. His mind races back to Lilith in the New York City apartment...get to the Throne Room before they take you there. Find the girls. Make them yours.
13.The Waiting Room.
Now the whirring sound comes closer and closer to him. Its lights get brighter and brighter until they blind Rael. He gropes the jade, feeling for something to guide him, but there’s no one there. No one to guide him. There is a stone though. Maybe if he...he picks the stone up and hurls it at the bright light bearing down on him. It shatters against it and his vision is restored partially. He sees two golden globes disappearing down the jaded tunnel. He hears the sounds of glass breaking and looks up to see the roof cracking slowly above him. What has he done? Where is Lilith in all this? When the globes disappear completely there is moment of silence before a resounding crack sears across the roof. It collapses all around him, trapping him once again. He tries to move the rocks, but they are too big and too heavy for him to lift. This is it. Damn, this is the end of Rael’s road, but he doesn’t want to die trapped in this little enclave - inside a cave.
Fine, fuck it all. The pumping’s nearly over for my sweet heart. Give it some time, close your eyes and die like everyone dies. How dare she? How dare she make my heart so pure, then rip it away by leading me here. I’m sick of what she wanted me to be; a modern day Casanova, she even stuffed cotton in my wound to make sure I wouldn’t bleed to death. All for this? Fuck her and fuck this dream! This heroin dream. I must be having a heart attack in some hospital room in New York as we speak. No one notices and no one cares. When they come to check on him, he’ll be dead, then they’ll throw him away with the rest of the trash because no one really cared for Rael. Least of whom was Lilith. Of course she was going to do this to him, what had he done to her only a year previous? He had lost his drive - so to speak - gone limp on her and then made her spring a leak through her neck. Not very romantic at all. Now she had re-paid him by ruining his evil heart and leaving him here to die alone - thoughts of home still on his mind. A sickness for home - a longing that will never be cured. She had to go through all of that to get her revenge? She couldn’t have just tied him down to the table and lopped his cock off? That would have been a crime that would’ve been justified in this case.
14.Anyway.
Anyway. That’s that then, isn’t it? Rael will wait to die like a good boy, cursing her name all the while. Boy, he wished someone had ended him in Pontiac. God knows it had been close.
Anyway. They say she comes on a pale horse, but I’m sure I hear a train. Oh boy! I don’t even feel no pain. I guess I must be driving myself insane. Damn it all! Does earth plug a hole in heaven, or heaven plug a hole in earth? How wonderful to be so profound. When everything you are is dying underground.
15.Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist.
I’m so tired of all this philosophy. It’s all so final, though. If there is an ending and a beginning. Oh Rael, not again! Focus! Focus on dying.
Then he sees what he’s been waiting to see: his hero, Death. Or it used to be his hero, now he feels little towards him one way or another. He waits as Death hovers around his rocky tomb. He tries to see him, but all he can see is a face covered by a white mask, a permanent little smile carved into it. Death is dancing around him, shroud in a white disguise, a mist following him as his eyes fix on Rael. He swirls around and comes closer to him, his body floating like an angel. Oh...Rael understood the term Angel of Death now, what a time to learn something new!
Death produces a cannister and opens it, releasing a puff of fragrance that Rael cannot help but breathe in.
Rael waits for Death to carry him away, but after some time he opens his eyes. He’s alive alright, perfectly alive! Wait, is that good or bad? He’s still stuck in this pile of rocks after all. He touches his face to confirm he’s still of this earth - or better yet, he’s stuck in the earth. There’s a heavy, musky odor around him, but save that, there’s nothing different. Or is there? He feels somewhat rejuvenated. Imagine Death rejuvenating you? Maybe he should steer right clear of God if he happens upon him. Rael snickers to himself. Up is down, down it up. Then he smells something that takes him back to that apartment in New York! He can smell the most beautiful of perfumes - and better, they’re coming from outside these rocks. Or is that worse? Up is down...
He can just move to a side of the rubble where the perfume is strongest. He can move these rocks! He’s making a little tunnel for himself and it’s taking no time whatsoever. Soon he’ll be out, on the other side. In the jade throne room again - and the best part: he’ll be alive.
16.The Lamia.
On the outside of the pile of rubble, Rael looks around with a new sense of desire and purpose. He sets out through the jade room and through the tunnel once again - determined to find the source of these wonderful smells. His bare feet plod along the jade, much more sure of themselves than they were before. He walks around the corner of the tunnel and sees a lavish pool of water, steam coming up from its warmth. There are torches lit in every corner of the room and Rael feels a profound sense of happiness.
Such beauty! The walls are adorned with maroon velvet upon which honeysuckle is growing. The pool is much larger than Rael first thought. There is a mist coming from the water that isn’t due to its warmth. No, there are a series of ripples that are lapping at his toes.
Three snakelike creatures are swimming towards Rael. Their bodies are snakes, but their heads and breasts are of the most beautiful women Rael has ever seen in his life. His horror quickly turned to infatuation as their warm green eyes stared into his. “Rael, welcome, we are the Lamia, join us and taste the sweetness of the water.” He starts forward into the pool without further hesitation. He stares in awe at the beauty of these three creatures before swallowing some of the rich liquid. As he drinks the water, a glowing sweat drips from his body. The three lick the sweat off his body and he feels the ecstasy that he had once only dreamed about. He thought back on the lessons Lilith had taught him, but they were the ones in control. They kneaded his flesh and writhed in pleasure, and still he drank. They began now to nibble at his flesh, loving him, but needing him to live. When they had finally broken through his flesh they all tasted his blood and the writhing ceased momentarily. Rael was confused, he drank more of the water so they would continue their exotic kissing, but as he looked upon their faces, mortal pain was evident. Their eyes were blackening and their bodies were dying. Rael held each one close to his body, feeling them die, his heart bending, but not breaking (thank you Lilith!).
17.Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats.
One by one their bodies shook in the throws of death, and all he could do was watch helplessly. “Please don’t leave me! I’ll drink more of the water.” But his cries fell on deaf ears. The three were dead, their bodies floating gently around Rael. Silent sorrows in empty boats. He looked up at the torches, which were now flickering. He wondered if he could bring their bodies with him, he couldn’t bear to leave them this way. He leaned his head down and began to eat their flesh, his final desperate attempt to take his three lovers with him. “I will take your flesh as my food. I will love you forever!”
Rael left the pool with a deep sense of loss. He looked back, a tear in his eye, and almost thought he saw the creatures come back to life. He shook his head and started back the same way he had come. The torches flickered to life again and the stage was set for the next visitor. Rael didn’t look back, he knew it and it filled him with a terrible jealousy.
18.The Colony of Slippermen (Arrival - A Visit to the Doktor - Raven).
The Arrival.
Rael found his way up the rocky tunnel to the door that led to the chamber of 32 doors. He opened it and he was nowhere near the chamber, instead he was in some chaotic ghetto that made him immediately turn around and reach for the door. But now the door was gone and he was alone. There were terrible creatures all around him, freaks. Disfigured freaks! That’s what these people were. And there was an entire colony of them. As long as they didn’t see him, Rael thought he might be able to get to shelter and collect his thoughts, but it was not to be. A group of them looked over at Rael and started howling with laughter. Ha ha, he thought. Whatever happens to me, at least I don’t look like you. One of the group walked towards him, his legs barely able to carry his disgusting form. Rael stepped back, repulsed at the sight.
His feet squeak as he approaches Rael, a hideous creature of lumps and stumps. His smile slides across his grossly deformed mouth and he offers a slippery hand in welcome. Not wanting to upset these creatures, Rael shakes his hand, although he was sure his face of distaste gave him away. “Welcome to the Colony, boy.”
“What colony? Where am I?”
“You’re in the colony of Slippermen.”
“Why?” Now Rael wants to get away from this grotesque group of beings and he’s doing precious little to hide it.
“Why do you think?”
“I asked you first.”
“That look you have, don’t be alarmed at what you see here. We’re all in the same boat, boy.” His words were getting less and less kinder and more and more ominous.
Rael grunts. “What kind of boat are you all in?”
“We. We’re all in it. You’re just like us now. You’ve tasted the deepest love imaginable, just like us, and now you’re part of our colony. So be happy, or be sad. But you must be.” His lips slid across his face in a smile again. “Oh yes, you thought you were the only one to be loved by the Lamia, didn’t you?” A fresh wave of laughter behind the Slipperman. “We, like you, have tasted love. Don’t be alarmed at what you see. You yourself are just the same as what you see in me.”
Rael pushes him backwards, his hands full of slime from his body. “Me? Like you? Like that!” He laughs. “I don’t think so.”
With a surprising speed the Slipperman grasps Rael by the shoulders and slams him up against a brick wall, his horrible mouth inches away from Rael’s. “You’d better watch it son, your sentence has only just begun. You better run and join your brother John.”
Rael’s head snaps up and he sweeps the crowd with his eyes until he sees what’s left of his Brother John. He runs towards him as fast as his destroyed legs will carry him and they embrace. Rael looks back and sees the Slipperman has gone back to his group. “Is it true, John? Did you taste the Lamia as well?”
“It is true, brother Rael. We all have. I felt the same as you when I got here, but it’s true. They all give the same details.”
“I...ate them.”
“We all did.”
“What made us do that?”
“Love, lust, desire. Call it what you want. I waited for you here as long as I could. I don’t know how much longer I could have...”
“What is it that we’re meant to do here?”
“You haven’t noticed? We’re all here to do the Lamia’s work. We need to quench the thirst for desire. It’ll never weaken...unless.” John looks around nervously.
“Unless, what?”
John lowered his voice. “Unless we escape.”
“Escape?” Rael looked up and down the narrow street. It seemed to go on forever. “Where?”
“We can get our old forms back, but it costs more than most bargain for. We must visit the Doktor. Only then can we end this living hell.”
“Then we must go straight away!”
“Yes, Rael. I’ve planned this ever since I got here. There is a way out. Not many have done it, but there is a way. We must wait until nightfall.”
Rael nodded and looked past John to a store window. There was nothing in the store, or if there was, it had long since perished. He caught a glimpse of himself and backed away in horror. “No. We must go now!”
John shushed him. “Quiet! If they hear you, you’ll live a long life of the highest ecstasy. I’ve been chosen and I’ve done it and it’s the worst possible feeling, like being on the edge of the greatest climax you can imagine, without ever experiencing the climax. If I had to do that for the rest of my life, I’d go mad!”
“Tonight?”
“Tonight.”
“Tonight.”
A Visit to the Doktor.
John leads Rael through several underground passageways, past tens of Slippermen who watch them with interest. It’s a thriving underground city that’s not known to the entire colony. Rael silently wondered what it took for John to gain entrance here, but thought the better of it. Some things were better left unsaid.
They came to a dingy building with no lettering on the front. John stopped and led Rael inside. There was no one in the lobby of the filthy building and John hurried Rael up a flight of stairs. They came to a door with a sign reading:
Doktor Dyper, reformed sniper - he’ll whip off your windscreenwiper.
Rael was puzzled, but he was learning to stop asking so many questions (John’s advice), however, he sincerely didn’t like the sound of that sign. Still John pressed on, he opened the door and went inside.
They entered the filthiest little waiting room Rael has ever seen - and remember, he had lived in New York City. There were plastic chairs aligning one side of the room and a small reception desk where an average looking middle-aged lady was sitting. She looked instantly excited. “Excellent. Have a seat and I’ll summon the Doktor.”
It wasn’t even a minute before the Doktor followed his receptionist out into the waiting area. He grunted his happiness. “This is not reversible. You understand?” John nodded and the Doktor looked to Rael. He nodded slowly. “Good. Come with me.”
They entered his operating room and Rael instantly thought of Lilith. He wasn’t sure if he could take another nightmare surgery, but as long as John was here, and as long as it meant he could get out of this place...he’d do it. He noticed a long, clear tube jutting out from the ceiling and wondered what that was for. He shifted his eyes back and forth trying to get a feel for what he was in for.
“Rael, is it?”
Rael snapped back to the Doktor and nodded. “Understand Rael: this is the end of your tail.” He produced a scalpel. “It’s not reversible.” Rael looked to John who nodded. “It’s the only way out Rael.” He turned back to the Doktor, a renewed sense of courage. “Dock the dick.”
It was far more painful than Rael could’ve ever imagined, even more painful considering he had to sit mopping up his own blood while his brother has his member cut. The Doktor, satisfied with his work, placed them into separate plastic tubes and sent them up another larger tube. When they came back down, they were perfectly sealed inside. Proudly the Doktor handled the tubes. “Want them, dontcha? Where’s the payment?” John instantly produced a shrivelled piece of something and handed it to the Doktor, who in turn examined it closely, even smelling it. “What is it John?”
John looked over at him and whispered, “A piece of the Lamia.”
“Where’d you get it?”
“I brought it with me.”
“Where’d you hide it?”
John looked over at his little brother. Exasperating little fella, but loyal. “Where the sun don’t shine, Rael.”
The Doktor handed over the tubes, never looking away from this piece of treasure in his hand. “You’ll find a door on the other side of the office. It will open and you’ll be back in the cave. How you get out of there, I don’t know - or care. Take clothes from my wardrobe and get out.”
The brothers got up, put clothes on, and left the office. John stored his tube in his pocket and led Rael out into the cave. The entire time Rael was staring at the tube carrying his manhood, wondering how the hell the countryman knew to call him ma’am in the chamber.
Raven.
On the other side of the door, they were indeed back in the cave. Rael never thought he’d be happy to see this dank hole again, especially considering how close he came to dying here, but a visit to the Colony of Slippermen could do that to a person.
“Put the tube away, Rael. It’s not something to be parading about like that.”
“Who’s gonna see?”
And just like that, the tube was gone. A massive raven had descended from the top of the cave and snatched it clean out of Rael’s hand. He stared wide-eyed at John. “What...” Rael turned his attention back to the raven. “John, come on! I have to get it back.” He started running towards the raven, then stopped and turned around. “John! Come on!”
John wouldn’t budge. He shook his head. “I will not chase a black raven. Down here you must read and obey the omens. There’s disaster where the raven flies. Trust me, Rael, I know this place much better than you.” Without another word he turns and walks the other way. A crushing feeling came over Rael. He wanted to stay with his brother, but he couldn’t let this huge bird get away. “Don’t leave me again, John! I came after you when there was hardly any reason for me to. You’re the reason I lost my tail in the first place.” But John was gone. He had turned around a corner in the tunnel. “Damn you Brother! Damn you.” Then Rael started to run, he ran as fast as he possibly could until he was closing in on the raven.
The raven flew down a tunnel which Rael had a hard time even fitting into. Once he was on the other side, he realized he wasn’t in the cave anymore. There was sky, but the sky was turning from a tranquil blue to a dark cloudy purple. He was standing on the edge of a massive ravine. He watched helplessly as the raven dropped his precious member down the ravine and into the rushing water. For God’s sake, this was enough to drive a man mad. One thing after the other.
For the first time since the black cloud caught him in Times Square, Rael wasn’t just confused. He was mad. Really mad. He glowered at the bird and watched as the tube floated away slowly. The rocks were dangerous, the fall lethal. He was in another bind alright. He cursed the bird, then he cursed his brother again and instantly felt guilty.
19.Ravine.
Twists and turns as Rael runs across the top of the ravine. Luckily, there’s enough room for him to follow the bobbing tube and not fall ass over teakettle to his demise. More twists and turns, and then Rael sees something that almost makes him fall over the edge of the rocks. It’s a skylight...
20.The Light Dies Down on Broadway.
A skylight? In the middle of...well it still must be a cave. Or if not a cave, it’s a skylight in the middle of rocky cliffs. He turns the corner and is hit with a sense of yesteryear. He can see his hometown. His home! Broadway. New York. Bustling and busy with the sounds of complaints and the honks of car horns. Never had he imagined he’d be so happy to see it - or hear it! He walked around the corner and followed the skylight. He started to run, his arms open wide. There’s a window above one of the embankments. Could it really be? Is this the way out of the endless scene, or just an entrance to another dream?
No. This is it! I’m going home. Get to the window Rael. Go through before it’s too late!
Climbing. He’s close now. Then he hears the muffled cry of his brother. He freezes and looks back. John is hanging from one of the rocks on the other side of the gorge. He falls into the rapids. He must have noticed the same thing as me. The difference here is: I’m here, he’s there. He could’ve helped me. Then he’d be here too. Rael shakes his head, no time to think about his brother abandoning him. The window’s fading, the time is short!
21.Riding the Scree.
Rael rushes to the rocks and starts scrambling down them. One false move...no time to think of that right now. Get to the rapids, Rael. It takes him a considerable amount of time to get to the bottom, but he does, unscathed at that. Now he stares the rapids in the face. I can’t do this. He looks back up, trying to see if the window is still there, but his view is skewed by the rocky cliff.
He can’t do this! If he jumps into the rapids, he’ll be torn apart. He closes his eyes. If I want John alive, I’ve gotta ditch my fears and take a dive. At least, while I’ve still got my drive to survive.
Evel Knievel you got nothing on me. Here I go!
22.In the Rapids.
Rael dives into the rapids, the cold sending shockwaves through his body. The water churns him around, spinning again! He crashes against the rocks and holds on. He looks for John and sees him hanging onto a rock further down. He is semi-conscious, fading fast. Hang on John! Rael lets go of the rock and the current sends him past John to another rock. He holds on for dear life. Now John! Let go! John loses consciousness and comes towards Rael. He strikes his arm out and catches John’s unconscious body. He locks arms with his brother and lets go. Please don’t let me hit a rock - or drown. Please...
After some time, the current lets up just enough for Rael to struggle to shore with John. He takes a moment to catch his breath, then turns his attention to John. He staggers back in recoil, for staring at him with eyes wide open is not John’s face, but his own.
He can’t move anymore. He doesn’t want to. He lifts his head enough to see that the window has closed. He turns his attention back to his own face, lifeless now, the eyes still staring back at him. He can see his body now, laying dead on the edge of the rapids. He floats higher and higher until all he can see is a speck, surrounded by a purple haze. But don’t worry, it’ll be over to you soon enough.
Somewhere in that other world the lamb lies down on Broadway. And the coroner is called to collect the body of another dead junkie.
23.it.
When it's cold, it comes slow.
it is warm, just watch it grow.
-all around me.
it is here. it is now.
Just a little bit of it can bring you up or down.
Like the supper it is cooking in your hometown.
it is chicken, it is eggs,
it is in between your legs.
it is walking on the moon,
leaving your cocoon.
it is the jigsaw. it is purple haze.
it never stays in one place, but it's not a passing phase,
it is in the single's bar, in the distance of the face,
it is in between the cages, it is always in a space
it is here. it is now.
Any rock can be made to roll,
If you've enough of it to pay the toll.
it has no home in words or goal,
Not even in your favourite hole.
it is the hope for the dope.
When you ride the horse without a hoof.
it is shaken, not stirred;
Cocktails on the roof.
When you eat right fru-it you see everything alive,
it is inside spirit, with enough grit to survive
If you think that it's pretentious, you've been taken for a ride.
Look across the mirror, before you chose decide
it is here. it is now
it is real. it is Rael
'cos it's only knock and know-all, but I like it.
http://lambliesdownonbroadway.blogspot.com/
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
1.The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Inside the movie house Rael sleeps, dreaming odd dreams of odd places and odd people. He is rudely interrupted by the usher who tells him to get out. He says the show’s done, but what he means is: New York is waking up. He gets up and stretches, watching the sleepy people as they all make a sudden rush for the exit. As if they had to be somewhere...Rael snickered. Idiots. They’ll get into their motorcars and rush around, hailing taxis, driving trucks, opening their shops. How miserable! He walked out into the streets of New York and looked up and down Time Square. It was cold so he zipped up his leather jacket and ducked into the subway tunnel. He observed his latest piece of ‘art’. Well, they didn’t call it art, they call it vandalism, but rest assured it was art. His name was painted on the wall in big shiny red letters. He admired it for a moment, then patted his aerosol can.
Of course, this was tame by Rael’s standards, but he wasn’t quite ready to go back to his violent ways - not yet anyway. He’d just served a year in Pontiac, one of the cruelest little shitholes in the world. At 17 too. He had earned his stripes by serving that sentence. And it was a fucking nightmare. Cocksucker liberal bastards. You cannot buy protection from the way I feel, how can you not understand that? What part of it did you not get? One of his old friends used to say: You can tell by the night fires where Rael has been. It made Rael smile to think of that. He was revered and as powerful as anyone - and he was only seventeen. Now a year later...he took a deep breath. Well a year later and he was just out. He needed to get laid and he needed another shot of heroin. Oh...his body quivered at the thought. He swallowed and realized his throat was as dry as a desert and it felt like a bird had shit in his mouth. He swallowed again and tried to forget about the taste. He took his needle out and looked around the subway entrance to make sure no one was around. He ducked into a dark corner and wrapped his shirt around his arm, then he felt a new wave of euphoria take over his body. He opened his eyes and let them focus slowly. He had a smile on his lips, he was sure of it, but there were no mirrors around for him to make sure. He did make sure that the needle was put away though, that would be all he needed. Back to Pontiac. Make another example of the leader. No way! He’d steal what he had to steal and do what he wanted to do. That’s what made him what he was. Nerves of steel. He smirked and got up. Why was it that no one was in the subway? Usually there were at least a few people here and there, what was so different today?
He felt the wind coming from up the stairs and he decided that maybe he’d go and see what he could steal tonight. A little window shopping to pass the morning. He moved towards the stairs, realizing slowly that it was hard for him to move. What was happening? He looked down at his leather jacket and saw some kind of dust on it - and worse, it was making a crust. This jacket cost money, well it would have if Rael had actually paid for it, but the point was he liked the thing. Who was blowing this strange dust about? Sure as shit, he was gonna stick him in the heart.
He struggled up the stairs and stood looking out over Times Square. People were going to and fro like mad, but there was something in the air behind them. What was that? He looked closer at this...wall of dust that was coming towards them. He looked back at the people, but none of them seemed to notice. They didn’t seem to care at all. He pointed, but everything was going by Rael so quickly that no words came out when he tried to speak. His mouth, was his mouth closed shut by this dust? He tried to open his mouth and eventually he managed, but when he did his mouth filled with the dust. He looked back up, his eyes wide with fear. The dust in the sky had turned into a thick wall coming right towards him! But he didn’t move, couldn’t move. Something had taken hold of him, something besides the dust. Was it fear? Was it really fear? Rael was scared? Or was he having a reaction to the heroin? That was probably it. Maybe he was dying, but no, he could see people being consumed by the dust. He could also see a lamb standing on the street. People were rushing by it, but there was a glow around it. Rael focused on it and watched it as it walked slowly in a circle, then lay down. His eyes narrowed and he felt a warm tear on his face. Scared and crying? Not a good start, Rael. Not a good start at all.
2.Fly on a Windshield.
Then he was lifted into the air and bound by the dust, which had now encrusted his entire body. He could see the other people, they were caught in the same trap! He looked down and saw Times Square as it had been just moments earlier, bustling with noise. He saw things happen that he’d never seen before. People were moving at such a pace that everything felt like it was a giant whirlwind. He saw the steam coming up from the sewers. He saw the young prostitutes walking out to the street corners, some of them with desperate looks in their eyes. Need a fix honey? If I wasn’t in this predicament, I might be of service to you.
The wall came closer and the people who were in the same predicament as Rael were destroyed one at a time. He felt like a fly, waiting for the windshield on the freeway. With every passing moment the lights and sounds from Times Square get louder and louder. Rael instinctively tried to move his hands to his ears, but then remembered that he couldn’t move. His eyes were sealed open as well. He wants so badly to move, to stop seeing every molecule of the city eat away at his flesh.
3.Broadway Melody of 1974
And yet there were still questions. Rael had a lot of questions right now. Groucho Marx, Caryl Chessman - who can still smell the almond scent. You can tell a lot in a scent, right? Despite his skin melting, Rael had to be amused by that. In a scent. Innocent. What’s in a word? How about Marshall McLuhan? His head buried in the sand, but still, he always had an opinion. Or Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes? Rael had them all bickering and talking in his ear. The wall got closer. The voices grew dimmer. There was Lenny Bruce! What a character! The Klu Klux Klan serving hot soul food. Rael snickered again. What’s in a word?
4.Cuckoo Cocoon.
Jesus, the wall was on top of him now. Then there was silence. Dead silence. What...was that it? Was he dead? Because if he was, they needed to move him somewhere other than here. This feels too constricted, there’s...there’s no air. Where’s the air? Still he had questions. He shook his head and sighed in defeat. But what answers Rael? You won’t find them just by asking, you know that. Everyone here knows that. So why do you keep asking questions you can’t answer? Don’t bother. Get away, there’s something well beyond your control happening here. Everyone’s in peril and most will die. You can’t let yourself die, because then...then it’ll all be over. Or maybe it just begins. Does heaven put a whole in earth, or did earth put a hole in heaven? How wonderful to be so profound.
5.In the Cage.
Wait a second. He moved his head. Just then, he was sure of it, but he was frightened to try again lest it be his imagination playing tricks on him and he was still actually caught in a web of dust. Just try it, you might like it - but then, most don’t. He spun around. He could move, but where had that voice come from? That was Brother John. His brother was here? Well...he supposed everyone was here, but this gave him new reason to live. He needed his brother now, more than any other time in his life. Even Pontiac. He needed another piece of himself - his flesh and blood. He turned to where he thought the voice had come from, but it was pitch black. John? John are you here? Please!
Of course I’m here. Everyone’s here. You said it yourself.
There was a flicker of light from far away and he could just make out John. JOHN! JOHN! WHERE ARE YOU!? WHERE ARE WE!? The cave went dark again. That’s what he had seen in that split second, he was in a cave that went on and on for as far as his eyes could see. John was there! Right in front of him and he wasn’t in a cage, why wasn’t he helping? He was in a cage. Who had put him in a cage? You don’t like the cage Rael? Rael shook his head, he couldn’t bring himself to speak, he was thirsty. And now he felt sick because there was no way that was John’s voice. He tried as hard as he could and finally he let out a cry for help. There was no reply. John! There was that flicker again and Rael saw John walking away. He turned his head back to Rael and shook it slowly. He was silent except for a tear of blood that ran down his cheek. Then he was gone and Rael saw that the cave had hundreds and hundreds of cages, all swinging perilously. He tried to cry out again, but nothing came out. He tried to move his hands, but they were pinned in front of him. He was in a straightjacket. They had him by his neck and feet. Wait, maybe that was it! He had overdosed on the heroin and he was in jail - or worse a treatment centre of some kind. Rael knew this wasn’t true, but it comforted him to think that maybe he’d come out of this, even if he was in a jail cell in New York. His body started to spin, slowly at first, then faster and faster. His stomach began to get sicker and sicker as he felt himself spinning like a top. He wanted to vomit, but there was nothing to vomit. It felt like he was being sucked of his life force. He wanted it to stop. STOP! Then it did, with Rael in a perfect cocoon. He couldn’t move a muscle again, but now he could see perfectly. He could see the perfectly sterile factory floor below, hundreds of people like him all lurching forward on a moving floor. They all got to a fat lady who sat with a marking pen and a stamper. As they came to her they stopped and she would look down her list and stamp their skin with a number. When this was completed they would go through a door and Rael could no longer see where they went...but he sure as hell knew he didn’t want to go the same way. He moved his eyes from side to side to see if there was anyway he could get out of the cocoon, but there was nothing in the cave that he could cut with. There were sharp rocks above him, but there was no chance he could get to them in his present form. He was forced to watch as the assembly line kept moving. He thought he heard a scream of agony from beyond the door, but he took as deep a breath as he could and pretended he didn’t. Wait, that was what this reminded him of: 22nd Street and those sick bastards...try to reform Rael will you? Not a chance. Then his cocoon lurched forward, as did the rest of the cocoons around him, until they were all in a little circle. The cocoons attached at the tips and he could see into the furiously scared eyes of a women right in front of him. He tried to speak, but again, nothing came out. Shit, if he was gonna die, at least he’d die next to a woman. Before he could think about this, the top of the cocoon was cut on a sharp rock and they all hurdled down to the factory floor. The fall didn’t hurt as much as Rael thought it would, in fact, it didn’t hurt at all, and for the second time Rael felt like a life sized top as his body swung to the upright position and he got in line to got to the fat lady and her flesh stamper.
6.The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging.
Oh God! His head was throbbing like it had never throbbed before. He feared it would explode, he tried to take deep breaths to right it, but it made it worse. This is death, he thought, this is what it means to die. He did what he could to get his arms free, but they wouldn’t budge. God...let me out of this! LET ME GO! He screamed and this time he could feel his voice resonating over the loud assembly line.
The receptionist in the office looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowed. “Are you okay, sir?” Rael’s headache was replaced with a dizzying throbbing that was actually starting to subside. He looked back up at her. “Where am I?”
She was a drooping, ugly fat lady, much like the one he had seen at the assembly line. In fact, it was the same lady he had seen at the assembly line. “I’m glad you asked Rael. This is the grand parade of lifeless packaging, those you are about to see are all in for servicing, they have to go one way or another, there’s too much stock! Everything is marked down, take a look.”
She pressed a button and the assembly line cranked back to life. Cocoons came through the office and took a turn and went through a different door. “Plenty of opportunities for the shrewd investor. You can buy an ugly, malnourished model, or a perfect specimen. Be careful though, the perfect ones are very, very costly.” Rael shivered in spite of himself. Take whomever you want, but remember this Rael, we know who you’ll take - and in the End if one of our lifeless packages are taken off this line...it’ll be counter-balanced. Do you understand?”
Rael shook his head no. “Good. Which one do you wish to buy then?” Then Rael saw what she knew he saw. He saw Number 9 and pointed. “That’ll cost a lot, Rael. Are you sure?” This time he nodded. Her face twisted and twitched, it didn’t look human to Rael in the least. “NUMBER 9!” She roared, and Rael looked around to see if anyone else was here to hear her. John came off the assembly line and she stood up, a huge knife in her hand. She cut the material covering his body off with a terrible slurping noise. Rael looked at John, who looked blankly back at him. “Is he okay?” The ladies terrifying features looked over at Rael. “He’s okay, my dear, it’s you who will take his place." Rael snickered. “No way, come on John, we’re out of here!” She smiled. “Are you?” He was in the cocoon again. No, please, no. She was coming towards him. Her hands were on his arms and she placed him on the assembly line. She touched his penis and nodded. “Yes, you’ll do.” Suddenly Rael realized that he was going towards the door in the huge factory. Why? Where was John? The door crept closed and he saw the fat lady again. She waved her hand at him and he continued through the door. He closed his eyes because the light was so intense.
7.Back in NY City.
He was free of the cocoon! Must run as fast as possible to escape the fat lady and her dastardly deeds! He ran with the others until they were running up the stairs of a subway. He reached the final stair and looked out over Times Square. He was home! Back in New York City. Yes indeed, he needn’t plead any longer. He snickered, good drugs? Bad drugs? Whatever, he was home. He looked up and down the street and saw the same sights as he’d seen a million times before. Chaos, bustling, but something didn’t seem right. He looked out over the city streets and he saw the same steam he had seen before he overdosed, but now it shimmered. He looked back up the streets; this was last year! He knew because American Graffiti had just started in the theatres - and when he had overdosed this morning it hadn’t been American Graffiti, it had been The Poseidon Adventure. He panicked and looked at the poster around Times Square. Sure as shit they were all different. Instead of The Moody Blues poster that had been there this morning, it was now a poster loudly proclaiming the number one song in the world: You're So Vain by Carly Simon.
He looked to the Broadway streets and saw himself walking with his gang friends. He was awestruck. He knew what was going to happen, he was going to beat a guy half to death, then smear the blood under his eyelids (which in retrospect was a little dumb considering he was pinched by the police because he looked suspicious). Before he got pinched though, he would have sex with a girl for the first time. Shit, what was her name? Did it matter though? The drugs had obviously fucked him up so badly that he was living in a memory of the past, maybe a coma. He didn’t know, but he knew he wasn’t going back to Pontiac. Not today, sir. Maybe if he helped himself somehow, told himself not to do what he was about to do? But then...then those Liberals would win. I’ll burn this city, he thought. I’ll burn it to the ground. It was mine! Mine in the first place, so I’ll burn it to ash. Let anyone find me with their city burning like a torch. Maybe it’ll consume me once and for all and I can get away from terrible nightmares of cages and cocoons and Broadway. Maybe I’ll die as Rael, once and for all.
He started towards the gang and caught up with them as quickly as he could. He swung himself around and backed away startled. It wasn’t him, it was John. Why was John wearing the same clothes as he had worn - and why did John look at him with such disgust?
Find the girl. That's what he'd do...though maybe he'd finally find himself a book on how to have sex first. Not a nudy magazine, but a book that would teach him. If he remembered correctly (and he did), he had been very, very awkward when he had bedded his girl, so awkward in fact that he had cut her throat so she wouldn’t tell any of the other gang members about it. He felt an instant regret at that memory. Not his time! Not if he could help it. This time he would find her erogenous zones and pleasure her properly. “Not like that you won’t.” He turned around and saw Her. She was exactly how she was a year ago - more beautiful even. “Why would you sleep with me? Then or now?” She batted her pretty eyes at him. “I never said I’d sleep with you now.” Rael nodded. “Why a year ago then?” She looked away, distracted. “You don’t need a book Rael. You’re way past that now. Come with me. They’re coming for you, so don’t be afraid. I can help you.” Without another word he followed Her to an apartment complex. She opened the door and led him up the stairs of a dingy, dirty, rotting staircase. He could smell vomit, blood and body odour and it assaulted his nose. She finally came to a door with a Number 9 hanging loosely and let herself in. Inside there was all the fixtures of a doctor’s office. “What...?” She looked back at him. “You knew this was coming, did you not? You can’t go back out there with such a weak heart. They’ll find you Rael. You’ll be back on the assembly line - for good this time. How you escaped, no one knows, but you need to get back. You need to find John.”
“That was John, walking where I was walking a year ago.” She shook her head. “Nothing’s real here Rael. Nothing.”
“Not this?”
“This...is the part of the story where I save you from uncontainable pain and suffering. Like what John’s going through.” Rael was real. Maybe she wasn’t, maybe nothing else was, but he was. She swung around to face him. “You don’t understand. Nothing here is real Rael. This is not New York City, this is a recreation of New York City...by them.”
“Who’s them?”
“Too many questions...too little time. Take off your clothes.”
Rael’s eyes flicked over to the operating table. It gleamed clean, even if everything else in the apartment was filthy. “Take off your clothes and lay down Rael, or it’s a lifetime of pain.”
8.Hairless Heart.
Finally, he did what she asked. Trembling, but realizing now that whatever happened in this room, was probably better than what was going to happen to him in the End anyway.
She took out a scalpel and flicked her finger across it. She bled a little and smiled at him. She handed him the scalpel. “Do it.” He looked at her with a mixture of fear and confusion. “Do it and get to the Throne Room before they take you there. Find the girls. Make them yours.” Rael nodded. “Who are you?” “My name is Lilith. We’ll meet again.” She nodded. “Do it.” And all of a sudden he knew exactly what she meant. He took a deep breath and placed the scalpel on his chest. “What if I can’t?” She walked up to him, her clothes suddenly changed into dark robes. She grabbed the scalpel and cut his heart out, quickly and efficiently. Rael felt it, but he didn’t die. He watched as she took the heart to a basin and washed it down, there was hair knotted all over it. He felt the pain rushing through his body and he curled up. “NO!” He gasped for breath and stopped, looking at her. “You must stay still!” “I....I can’t.” She opened a small cage in the back of the room and took out a porcupine. She put it on the operating table next to Rael. “Now you can.” She winked at him. Fresh pain made his body writhe and he started into the fetal position, only to be pricked by the porcupine. Now the pain was replaced by shock - then of course, more pain. He tried to scream, but his voice was gone. The porcupine curled up on the table, as if daring him to try curling up himself. Instead, he tried to take the pain as best as he could. He centred his attention of Lilith’s hands. They were so beautiful, even if they were covered with the blood from his wounded heart. She had washed most of the blood off by now anyway, so he could admire her hands for their own beauty. She took out a smaller scalpel and started cutting the knots of hair that surrounded the heart she was holding. Pain struck him ten fold and he cuddled the porcupine, for no other reason than it was a lesser pain, a pain to take him mind off the pain. How bizarre! He watched as She made his heart hairless with skill and precision. She had meant him to do this? God, it wouldn’t have worked out very well. He looked at her ass and pretended he could see it through the robes. Maybe he would get to have sex with her after all. She looked over at him and shook her head. Oh. Maybe not then.
9.Counting Out Time.
He waited for her to finish. His head were filled with a woman’s erogenous zones. From head to toe, he knew where to go. But how you ask? Never mind the hows right now, now was a time to focus on the whys. She was saving him, but why was he still alive? And why was she teaching him about a woman’s erogenous zones when she had made it clear that she wasn’t going to love him when she was done with his heart. Did she learn this from the same book that he could have stolen from Times Square? Or...did he show her once upon a time and now she was repaying him the favour? Whatever it was, it certainly felt good. She was showing him where to touch a woman for instant effect. How wonderful! Did any man know of these eleven areas? I mean, yes, he knew some men knew of some of them, but did any man who wasn’t a woman, know of all eleven? He doubted it very highly, do you? Do you know all eleven? Hmmm, well he did and he sure as shit wasn’t sharing them with you.
She came towards him with a beautifully shaved heart in her left hand. She prodded the porcupine and it left. He instinctively tried to curl up but her right hand forced him down. She pushed his heart back into his body and placed a gauze over his chest. “That won’t hold!” She nodded. “It will, Rael. Now get back to where you were! Use what I have taught you.” He finally descended into darkness, the words still ringing in his ears. Use what I have taught you.
10.Carpet Crawlers.
He was back beyond the door at the assembly line. He looked back, but the door was fitted into the wall with no way in or out. He was naked and his bare feet felt the woolskin carpet underneath him. He was in an immense chamber with stairways leading up to different doors. He bounded up one of the flights of stairs and went through the door. He was right back in the central chamber. A maze?
He took a moment to look around. The walls are painted in red ochre and are marked by strange insignias, some looking like a bullseye, others of birds and boats. Further down the corridor, he could see some people; all kneeling. He walked to them and watcheed as they all murmured to themselves, waiting their turns to get through a large door. He knelt down next to a monk. “Why are we here?” He turned and yawned. “It’s a long time before dawn, we need to wait until they call our numbers.” Rael shook his head, what is this drunken monk blithering about? He was told of no number being called, how does he magically know? Rael saw more people blithering to themselves, broken sighs as they struggle to move towards the door. Why is it that they can’t move, but I can? Maybe I’m the one that calls the number. “Number 9.” No response. No one even looks at him. They all seem content to struggle towards the door.
11.The Chamber of 32 Doors.
No more! Rael walks boldly to the door and then through it. He walks into the main chamber of 32 doors. A sphinx like creature looks up at him, then continues pacing around. Rael is taken aback by the look of the creature and steps away from it. There are people here, they are more mobile than the people struggling towards the door. Their voices all come at him in waves and he finds he’s terribly sensitive to the noise. “Shut up!” Mercifully, the voices cease for a moment and he sees that there’s a countryman and a townsman and a priest huddled in the corner. He joins them. “What is this?” “This is the chamber of 32 doors, friend. Only one leads out, the rest...well we hear screams of pain for all that go through. Put the pieces together and you’ll be the jigsaw master.”
Now if there’s one thing that Rael learned from his days in New York City, it’s to never trust someone who yells what they’ve found. He turns to the priest. “Why haven’t you gone through, you know which door it is.” The priest looks up at him, then looks at the others around him sheepishly. “How do you know what I know, friend.” Rael didn’t to be honest, but the priest’s reaction was reassuring. “Because you’re the only one who’s not blabbering on like a fool. Leads me to thing that I should follow you.” The priest looked away from Rael. “Don’t trust the garbs, friend. They’ve fit you with none, after all.” Rael sees one of the sphinx creatures coming towards him. “Enough, which is it?” The priest is no longer interested in conversing with Rael. “Can’t you make out the signs...Rael?” Rael was about to ask the priest how he knew his name, but he decided to look up at the doors. There were more sign of boats, birds, bullseyes. What signs should he know? The priest is a babbler who just needed prodding to babble. Idiots. How can they be cooped up in this hemisphere and not try to get out? The townsman was huddled in the corner, useless to everyone around him, only uttering nonsense from his mouth. We’ve got to get in to get out. We’ve got to get in to get out. We’ve got to get in...
The countryman had grown quiet and was staring at a door. Rael followed his gaze and saw a different insignia on that door. It was an X and a [ ]. What was that? He turned to the countryman. “I’ve made a mistake, it’s not the priest who knows, it’s the one who doesn’t yell what he’s found.” The countryman looked up at Rael and smiled, his smile all at once evil and knowing. “You can’t though. If you do, you have to be ready. People spend an eternity trying to get ready. Many have tried to die in doing so. How can you approach the door when you don’t know what’s behind it? And if you knew, would you still approach it? Someday the crawlers here will be called by the caller and they’ll move through a door into...” Rael stared at him. “Into?” “Well, no one knows, but at least we’re safe here.” Rael shook his head, such logic wasn’t logic at all, in fact, it was nonsense. “What if I told you I knew what the insignia meant countryman?” He looked at Rael. “I would be hard pressed to believe you sir...or is it ma’am?” “You can see plain as day that I’m a sir, just as I can see plain as day that you are too.” The countryman shook his head. “Not for long, friend. Not for long.”
12.Lilywhite Lilith.
Rael has talked for so long with these idiots that he realized the noise was whirling around him again. He tries to cover his ears, but the noise rings through. We’ve got to get in to get out. He moves away from the three and settles in the corner. X and [ ]. X [ ]. Times Square? If he’s wrong about the symbol, will he become one of the screaming people they referred to? A lifetime of pain? A quiet figure shroud in dark robes mutters quietly to herself. He leans in to hear what she is saying.
“I need a guide. I’m blind and I need a guide to maneuver through the people to the door. Will anyone help me?” Her face is covered by the robe, but Rael can see her eyes, which are oblique. “I can feel you standing there. I need to get through the door. It’s getting through the tunnels that I can help you with. Give me your arm. Help me to the door.” Rael doubts her briefly. “How do you know which door is right if you can’t see.” She looks at him and it makes Rael look away uncomfortably. “It’s plain as day. How can you not see it? I’ve got somewhere to go, if you take me through the noise, I'll show you. I’m a creature of the caves and I follow the way the breezes blow.” Even though there was not a breeze to be felt, Rael let her grab his arm and he guided her through the crowd. She muttered the way to one of the doors and Rael took her to it. The crowd dismissed this as a quest doomed to fail, so they paid them no heed. He opened the door and they both passed through it and into a deep dark tunnel. The noise from the crowd started to dim as they walked. The cave was dark and getting darker, but she kept on in perfect step while Rael stumbled over the uneven trail. When they finally has descended for what seemed like an eternity to Rael, she asked him to stop. “I have to sit down.” He guided her to a rock and she sat. He found a rock for himself and he sat down, almost bolting up immediately. It was cold and it felt so smooth. He ran his fingers over it. This was a rock alright, but it was jade. He could feel her looking at him in the darkness. “I must leave you now. We travel different roads.”
Rael felt a fear rising inside of him. “Why must you leave? Who are you?” His eyes were adjusting to the dark now and he could see her figure stop. “Don’t you know me, Rael? You’re still a boy of too many questions and too little time.”
“Lilith?”
“They’re coming for you now, don’t be afraid.”
Then, without another word, Lilith leaves Rael to face his fears once again.
Almost immediately he hears the whirring of some kind of machine. Its lights illuminate the cave that he’s sitting in. It’s all jade, even the throne he sits on. His mind races back to Lilith in the New York City apartment...get to the Throne Room before they take you there. Find the girls. Make them yours.
13.The Waiting Room.
Now the whirring sound comes closer and closer to him. Its lights get brighter and brighter until they blind Rael. He gropes the jade, feeling for something to guide him, but there’s no one there. No one to guide him. There is a stone though. Maybe if he...he picks the stone up and hurls it at the bright light bearing down on him. It shatters against it and his vision is restored partially. He sees two golden globes disappearing down the jaded tunnel. He hears the sounds of glass breaking and looks up to see the roof cracking slowly above him. What has he done? Where is Lilith in all this? When the globes disappear completely there is moment of silence before a resounding crack sears across the roof. It collapses all around him, trapping him once again. He tries to move the rocks, but they are too big and too heavy for him to lift. This is it. Damn, this is the end of Rael’s road, but he doesn’t want to die trapped in this little enclave - inside a cave.
Fine, fuck it all. The pumping’s nearly over for my sweet heart. Give it some time, close your eyes and die like everyone dies. How dare she? How dare she make my heart so pure, then rip it away by leading me here. I’m sick of what she wanted me to be; a modern day Casanova, she even stuffed cotton in my wound to make sure I wouldn’t bleed to death. All for this? Fuck her and fuck this dream! This heroin dream. I must be having a heart attack in some hospital room in New York as we speak. No one notices and no one cares. When they come to check on him, he’ll be dead, then they’ll throw him away with the rest of the trash because no one really cared for Rael. Least of whom was Lilith. Of course she was going to do this to him, what had he done to her only a year previous? He had lost his drive - so to speak - gone limp on her and then made her spring a leak through her neck. Not very romantic at all. Now she had re-paid him by ruining his evil heart and leaving him here to die alone - thoughts of home still on his mind. A sickness for home - a longing that will never be cured. She had to go through all of that to get her revenge? She couldn’t have just tied him down to the table and lopped his cock off? That would have been a crime that would’ve been justified in this case.
14.Anyway.
Anyway. That’s that then, isn’t it? Rael will wait to die like a good boy, cursing her name all the while. Boy, he wished someone had ended him in Pontiac. God knows it had been close.
Anyway. They say she comes on a pale horse, but I’m sure I hear a train. Oh boy! I don’t even feel no pain. I guess I must be driving myself insane. Damn it all! Does earth plug a hole in heaven, or heaven plug a hole in earth? How wonderful to be so profound. When everything you are is dying underground.
15.Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist.
I’m so tired of all this philosophy. It’s all so final, though. If there is an ending and a beginning. Oh Rael, not again! Focus! Focus on dying.
Then he sees what he’s been waiting to see: his hero, Death. Or it used to be his hero, now he feels little towards him one way or another. He waits as Death hovers around his rocky tomb. He tries to see him, but all he can see is a face covered by a white mask, a permanent little smile carved into it. Death is dancing around him, shroud in a white disguise, a mist following him as his eyes fix on Rael. He swirls around and comes closer to him, his body floating like an angel. Oh...Rael understood the term Angel of Death now, what a time to learn something new!
Death produces a cannister and opens it, releasing a puff of fragrance that Rael cannot help but breathe in.
Rael waits for Death to carry him away, but after some time he opens his eyes. He’s alive alright, perfectly alive! Wait, is that good or bad? He’s still stuck in this pile of rocks after all. He touches his face to confirm he’s still of this earth - or better yet, he’s stuck in the earth. There’s a heavy, musky odor around him, but save that, there’s nothing different. Or is there? He feels somewhat rejuvenated. Imagine Death rejuvenating you? Maybe he should steer right clear of God if he happens upon him. Rael snickers to himself. Up is down, down it up. Then he smells something that takes him back to that apartment in New York! He can smell the most beautiful of perfumes - and better, they’re coming from outside these rocks. Or is that worse? Up is down...
He can just move to a side of the rubble where the perfume is strongest. He can move these rocks! He’s making a little tunnel for himself and it’s taking no time whatsoever. Soon he’ll be out, on the other side. In the jade throne room again - and the best part: he’ll be alive.
16.The Lamia.
On the outside of the pile of rubble, Rael looks around with a new sense of desire and purpose. He sets out through the jade room and through the tunnel once again - determined to find the source of these wonderful smells. His bare feet plod along the jade, much more sure of themselves than they were before. He walks around the corner of the tunnel and sees a lavish pool of water, steam coming up from its warmth. There are torches lit in every corner of the room and Rael feels a profound sense of happiness.
Such beauty! The walls are adorned with maroon velvet upon which honeysuckle is growing. The pool is much larger than Rael first thought. There is a mist coming from the water that isn’t due to its warmth. No, there are a series of ripples that are lapping at his toes.
Three snakelike creatures are swimming towards Rael. Their bodies are snakes, but their heads and breasts are of the most beautiful women Rael has ever seen in his life. His horror quickly turned to infatuation as their warm green eyes stared into his. “Rael, welcome, we are the Lamia, join us and taste the sweetness of the water.” He starts forward into the pool without further hesitation. He stares in awe at the beauty of these three creatures before swallowing some of the rich liquid. As he drinks the water, a glowing sweat drips from his body. The three lick the sweat off his body and he feels the ecstasy that he had once only dreamed about. He thought back on the lessons Lilith had taught him, but they were the ones in control. They kneaded his flesh and writhed in pleasure, and still he drank. They began now to nibble at his flesh, loving him, but needing him to live. When they had finally broken through his flesh they all tasted his blood and the writhing ceased momentarily. Rael was confused, he drank more of the water so they would continue their exotic kissing, but as he looked upon their faces, mortal pain was evident. Their eyes were blackening and their bodies were dying. Rael held each one close to his body, feeling them die, his heart bending, but not breaking (thank you Lilith!).
17.Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats.
One by one their bodies shook in the throws of death, and all he could do was watch helplessly. “Please don’t leave me! I’ll drink more of the water.” But his cries fell on deaf ears. The three were dead, their bodies floating gently around Rael. Silent sorrows in empty boats. He looked up at the torches, which were now flickering. He wondered if he could bring their bodies with him, he couldn’t bear to leave them this way. He leaned his head down and began to eat their flesh, his final desperate attempt to take his three lovers with him. “I will take your flesh as my food. I will love you forever!”
Rael left the pool with a deep sense of loss. He looked back, a tear in his eye, and almost thought he saw the creatures come back to life. He shook his head and started back the same way he had come. The torches flickered to life again and the stage was set for the next visitor. Rael didn’t look back, he knew it and it filled him with a terrible jealousy.
18.The Colony of Slippermen (Arrival - A Visit to the Doktor - Raven).
The Arrival.
Rael found his way up the rocky tunnel to the door that led to the chamber of 32 doors. He opened it and he was nowhere near the chamber, instead he was in some chaotic ghetto that made him immediately turn around and reach for the door. But now the door was gone and he was alone. There were terrible creatures all around him, freaks. Disfigured freaks! That’s what these people were. And there was an entire colony of them. As long as they didn’t see him, Rael thought he might be able to get to shelter and collect his thoughts, but it was not to be. A group of them looked over at Rael and started howling with laughter. Ha ha, he thought. Whatever happens to me, at least I don’t look like you. One of the group walked towards him, his legs barely able to carry his disgusting form. Rael stepped back, repulsed at the sight.
His feet squeak as he approaches Rael, a hideous creature of lumps and stumps. His smile slides across his grossly deformed mouth and he offers a slippery hand in welcome. Not wanting to upset these creatures, Rael shakes his hand, although he was sure his face of distaste gave him away. “Welcome to the Colony, boy.”
“What colony? Where am I?”
“You’re in the colony of Slippermen.”
“Why?” Now Rael wants to get away from this grotesque group of beings and he’s doing precious little to hide it.
“Why do you think?”
“I asked you first.”
“That look you have, don’t be alarmed at what you see here. We’re all in the same boat, boy.” His words were getting less and less kinder and more and more ominous.
Rael grunts. “What kind of boat are you all in?”
“We. We’re all in it. You’re just like us now. You’ve tasted the deepest love imaginable, just like us, and now you’re part of our colony. So be happy, or be sad. But you must be.” His lips slid across his face in a smile again. “Oh yes, you thought you were the only one to be loved by the Lamia, didn’t you?” A fresh wave of laughter behind the Slipperman. “We, like you, have tasted love. Don’t be alarmed at what you see. You yourself are just the same as what you see in me.”
Rael pushes him backwards, his hands full of slime from his body. “Me? Like you? Like that!” He laughs. “I don’t think so.”
With a surprising speed the Slipperman grasps Rael by the shoulders and slams him up against a brick wall, his horrible mouth inches away from Rael’s. “You’d better watch it son, your sentence has only just begun. You better run and join your brother John.”
Rael’s head snaps up and he sweeps the crowd with his eyes until he sees what’s left of his Brother John. He runs towards him as fast as his destroyed legs will carry him and they embrace. Rael looks back and sees the Slipperman has gone back to his group. “Is it true, John? Did you taste the Lamia as well?”
“It is true, brother Rael. We all have. I felt the same as you when I got here, but it’s true. They all give the same details.”
“I...ate them.”
“We all did.”
“What made us do that?”
“Love, lust, desire. Call it what you want. I waited for you here as long as I could. I don’t know how much longer I could have...”
“What is it that we’re meant to do here?”
“You haven’t noticed? We’re all here to do the Lamia’s work. We need to quench the thirst for desire. It’ll never weaken...unless.” John looks around nervously.
“Unless, what?”
John lowered his voice. “Unless we escape.”
“Escape?” Rael looked up and down the narrow street. It seemed to go on forever. “Where?”
“We can get our old forms back, but it costs more than most bargain for. We must visit the Doktor. Only then can we end this living hell.”
“Then we must go straight away!”
“Yes, Rael. I’ve planned this ever since I got here. There is a way out. Not many have done it, but there is a way. We must wait until nightfall.”
Rael nodded and looked past John to a store window. There was nothing in the store, or if there was, it had long since perished. He caught a glimpse of himself and backed away in horror. “No. We must go now!”
John shushed him. “Quiet! If they hear you, you’ll live a long life of the highest ecstasy. I’ve been chosen and I’ve done it and it’s the worst possible feeling, like being on the edge of the greatest climax you can imagine, without ever experiencing the climax. If I had to do that for the rest of my life, I’d go mad!”
“Tonight?”
“Tonight.”
“Tonight.”
A Visit to the Doktor.
John leads Rael through several underground passageways, past tens of Slippermen who watch them with interest. It’s a thriving underground city that’s not known to the entire colony. Rael silently wondered what it took for John to gain entrance here, but thought the better of it. Some things were better left unsaid.
They came to a dingy building with no lettering on the front. John stopped and led Rael inside. There was no one in the lobby of the filthy building and John hurried Rael up a flight of stairs. They came to a door with a sign reading:
Doktor Dyper, reformed sniper - he’ll whip off your windscreenwiper.
Rael was puzzled, but he was learning to stop asking so many questions (John’s advice), however, he sincerely didn’t like the sound of that sign. Still John pressed on, he opened the door and went inside.
They entered the filthiest little waiting room Rael has ever seen - and remember, he had lived in New York City. There were plastic chairs aligning one side of the room and a small reception desk where an average looking middle-aged lady was sitting. She looked instantly excited. “Excellent. Have a seat and I’ll summon the Doktor.”
It wasn’t even a minute before the Doktor followed his receptionist out into the waiting area. He grunted his happiness. “This is not reversible. You understand?” John nodded and the Doktor looked to Rael. He nodded slowly. “Good. Come with me.”
They entered his operating room and Rael instantly thought of Lilith. He wasn’t sure if he could take another nightmare surgery, but as long as John was here, and as long as it meant he could get out of this place...he’d do it. He noticed a long, clear tube jutting out from the ceiling and wondered what that was for. He shifted his eyes back and forth trying to get a feel for what he was in for.
“Rael, is it?”
Rael snapped back to the Doktor and nodded. “Understand Rael: this is the end of your tail.” He produced a scalpel. “It’s not reversible.” Rael looked to John who nodded. “It’s the only way out Rael.” He turned back to the Doktor, a renewed sense of courage. “Dock the dick.”
It was far more painful than Rael could’ve ever imagined, even more painful considering he had to sit mopping up his own blood while his brother has his member cut. The Doktor, satisfied with his work, placed them into separate plastic tubes and sent them up another larger tube. When they came back down, they were perfectly sealed inside. Proudly the Doktor handled the tubes. “Want them, dontcha? Where’s the payment?” John instantly produced a shrivelled piece of something and handed it to the Doktor, who in turn examined it closely, even smelling it. “What is it John?”
John looked over at him and whispered, “A piece of the Lamia.”
“Where’d you get it?”
“I brought it with me.”
“Where’d you hide it?”
John looked over at his little brother. Exasperating little fella, but loyal. “Where the sun don’t shine, Rael.”
The Doktor handed over the tubes, never looking away from this piece of treasure in his hand. “You’ll find a door on the other side of the office. It will open and you’ll be back in the cave. How you get out of there, I don’t know - or care. Take clothes from my wardrobe and get out.”
The brothers got up, put clothes on, and left the office. John stored his tube in his pocket and led Rael out into the cave. The entire time Rael was staring at the tube carrying his manhood, wondering how the hell the countryman knew to call him ma’am in the chamber.
Raven.
On the other side of the door, they were indeed back in the cave. Rael never thought he’d be happy to see this dank hole again, especially considering how close he came to dying here, but a visit to the Colony of Slippermen could do that to a person.
“Put the tube away, Rael. It’s not something to be parading about like that.”
“Who’s gonna see?”
And just like that, the tube was gone. A massive raven had descended from the top of the cave and snatched it clean out of Rael’s hand. He stared wide-eyed at John. “What...” Rael turned his attention back to the raven. “John, come on! I have to get it back.” He started running towards the raven, then stopped and turned around. “John! Come on!”
John wouldn’t budge. He shook his head. “I will not chase a black raven. Down here you must read and obey the omens. There’s disaster where the raven flies. Trust me, Rael, I know this place much better than you.” Without another word he turns and walks the other way. A crushing feeling came over Rael. He wanted to stay with his brother, but he couldn’t let this huge bird get away. “Don’t leave me again, John! I came after you when there was hardly any reason for me to. You’re the reason I lost my tail in the first place.” But John was gone. He had turned around a corner in the tunnel. “Damn you Brother! Damn you.” Then Rael started to run, he ran as fast as he possibly could until he was closing in on the raven.
The raven flew down a tunnel which Rael had a hard time even fitting into. Once he was on the other side, he realized he wasn’t in the cave anymore. There was sky, but the sky was turning from a tranquil blue to a dark cloudy purple. He was standing on the edge of a massive ravine. He watched helplessly as the raven dropped his precious member down the ravine and into the rushing water. For God’s sake, this was enough to drive a man mad. One thing after the other.
For the first time since the black cloud caught him in Times Square, Rael wasn’t just confused. He was mad. Really mad. He glowered at the bird and watched as the tube floated away slowly. The rocks were dangerous, the fall lethal. He was in another bind alright. He cursed the bird, then he cursed his brother again and instantly felt guilty.
19.Ravine.
Twists and turns as Rael runs across the top of the ravine. Luckily, there’s enough room for him to follow the bobbing tube and not fall ass over teakettle to his demise. More twists and turns, and then Rael sees something that almost makes him fall over the edge of the rocks. It’s a skylight...
20.The Light Dies Down on Broadway.
A skylight? In the middle of...well it still must be a cave. Or if not a cave, it’s a skylight in the middle of rocky cliffs. He turns the corner and is hit with a sense of yesteryear. He can see his hometown. His home! Broadway. New York. Bustling and busy with the sounds of complaints and the honks of car horns. Never had he imagined he’d be so happy to see it - or hear it! He walked around the corner and followed the skylight. He started to run, his arms open wide. There’s a window above one of the embankments. Could it really be? Is this the way out of the endless scene, or just an entrance to another dream?
No. This is it! I’m going home. Get to the window Rael. Go through before it’s too late!
Climbing. He’s close now. Then he hears the muffled cry of his brother. He freezes and looks back. John is hanging from one of the rocks on the other side of the gorge. He falls into the rapids. He must have noticed the same thing as me. The difference here is: I’m here, he’s there. He could’ve helped me. Then he’d be here too. Rael shakes his head, no time to think about his brother abandoning him. The window’s fading, the time is short!
21.Riding the Scree.
Rael rushes to the rocks and starts scrambling down them. One false move...no time to think of that right now. Get to the rapids, Rael. It takes him a considerable amount of time to get to the bottom, but he does, unscathed at that. Now he stares the rapids in the face. I can’t do this. He looks back up, trying to see if the window is still there, but his view is skewed by the rocky cliff.
He can’t do this! If he jumps into the rapids, he’ll be torn apart. He closes his eyes. If I want John alive, I’ve gotta ditch my fears and take a dive. At least, while I’ve still got my drive to survive.
Evel Knievel you got nothing on me. Here I go!
22.In the Rapids.
Rael dives into the rapids, the cold sending shockwaves through his body. The water churns him around, spinning again! He crashes against the rocks and holds on. He looks for John and sees him hanging onto a rock further down. He is semi-conscious, fading fast. Hang on John! Rael lets go of the rock and the current sends him past John to another rock. He holds on for dear life. Now John! Let go! John loses consciousness and comes towards Rael. He strikes his arm out and catches John’s unconscious body. He locks arms with his brother and lets go. Please don’t let me hit a rock - or drown. Please...
After some time, the current lets up just enough for Rael to struggle to shore with John. He takes a moment to catch his breath, then turns his attention to John. He staggers back in recoil, for staring at him with eyes wide open is not John’s face, but his own.
He can’t move anymore. He doesn’t want to. He lifts his head enough to see that the window has closed. He turns his attention back to his own face, lifeless now, the eyes still staring back at him. He can see his body now, laying dead on the edge of the rapids. He floats higher and higher until all he can see is a speck, surrounded by a purple haze. But don’t worry, it’ll be over to you soon enough.
Somewhere in that other world the lamb lies down on Broadway. And the coroner is called to collect the body of another dead junkie.
23.it.
When it's cold, it comes slow.
it is warm, just watch it grow.
-all around me.
it is here. it is now.
Just a little bit of it can bring you up or down.
Like the supper it is cooking in your hometown.
it is chicken, it is eggs,
it is in between your legs.
it is walking on the moon,
leaving your cocoon.
it is the jigsaw. it is purple haze.
it never stays in one place, but it's not a passing phase,
it is in the single's bar, in the distance of the face,
it is in between the cages, it is always in a space
it is here. it is now.
Any rock can be made to roll,
If you've enough of it to pay the toll.
it has no home in words or goal,
Not even in your favourite hole.
it is the hope for the dope.
When you ride the horse without a hoof.
it is shaken, not stirred;
Cocktails on the roof.
When you eat right fru-it you see everything alive,
it is inside spirit, with enough grit to survive
If you think that it's pretentious, you've been taken for a ride.
Look across the mirror, before you chose decide
it is here. it is now
it is real. it is Rael
'cos it's only knock and know-all, but I like it.
Comment
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Comment by Peter Thompson on November 25, 2009 at 10:59am - Thanks for the comment Joe! Much appreciated. I'm interested in seeing the Rael History you're making as well!
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Comment by Joe Dukaki on November 10, 2009 at 2:32am -
It's a very beautiful interpretation of the Rael History. Very very good. My compliments.
I am trying to represent the Rael History on a T-Shirts sequence.
My best wishes
Joe
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Comment by Peter Thompson on October 22, 2009 at 7:43am
- Thanks a lot RRR! It took me 2 nights after thinking about it for a while. It's not re-written at all, what you see is what I wrote. When I was done, I asked my wife to read it (she's not a huge fan to be honest) and she was blown away to be honest. So I thought, okay, the BS detector has said it's good, I'll post it for actual Genesis fans to read on the Genesis Website, but no one took the time to read it. I post it here and I get a nice comment and reply right away. Go figure, thanks again RRR. :)
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Comment by RedRainRaven on October 21, 2009 at 8:23pm - Wow! This is an amazing interpretation and story! How long did it take you to write this?
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