Bird As Fish

As you step beneath these hallowed arches that stretch up and up, the lone echo of your footsteps lets you know that you are the only one here. You walk quietly up the nave towards a lone candle burning at the altar. It is the only illumination and it's shaky lights bounces off a mosaic of mysterious religious symbols on the floor and bounces off a nearby pillar. Everything here is shadows and guesses. You think you see something moving behind the arches, pillars and chapels to the sides, as it slowly circles around you, but you can't be sure. A little nervously, you pick up the candle and go to investigate. This place, you realize is much larger than you thought it was. The chapels extend into smaller chapels and other alcoves of varying dimensions. Some have glittering walls of precious stones, and tiled crystal, some are painted with strangely familiar religious figures who all seem to be staring right through you, some are plain stone with a bench on which to sit and contemplate. Some are broken down, crumbling places that could have once been beautiful. Vandals have broken in in some places and written obscene and obscure things on the walls. Every now and then, you hear a little sound nearby, and you jump and turn around to see nothing. You convince yourself that it is only your echo bouncing off a pillar or a wall, but deep down, you know there must be someone following you. You push the fear out of your mind and go to continue on, but you realize you are lost, and that you have no idea where you are. Something rushes by your back, you turn and see a cloaked figure quickly retreating into darkness. You shout, but your voice echoes and bounces back distorted a thousand different times. Unwilling to lose the one contact you have in this foreign place, you chase after it. After following it through tunnels and under arches and into an old alcove with stalactites hanging from the ceiling, you catch onto its cloak and it finally turns around. In the sputtering light of your candle, you see the face of a young girl with deadly white skin and stone cold lips. She surveys your face with a long, seaching look, as if deciding what to do with you. Her mouth turns up a bit at the corners, into almost a smile and whispers these words:

"Welcome to the secret life of Bird As Fish"

The candle suddenly sputters out and you are left in the dark.

© 2003 All rights reserved MJ Jackson
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