Thoughts of a Spirit

A mind has entered a new state of being, and it is filled with questions and unresolved issues. It must rediscover itself and its calling.

awake, free, dark, empty, waiting, confused

 

light, star, sun, answers, beckoning, remote

 

moving, running, flying, swimming, reaching, failing, like when learning to swim and the instructor keeps stepping back and you have to swim even further from the pool wall so you have to continue to swim without reaching your goal

 

pool?

 

sound, noise, echo, calling, wailing, plea, wretched refuse and homeless and tempest-tossed and huddled masses yearning to breathe free

 

tempest-tossed? huddled masses?

 

source, darkness, pain, distant yet close, opposite the light

 

moving, descending, running to the rescue, falling deeper into hell.

 

Smoke and fire. Dark shadows loom beyond slender onlookers. Not onlookers, trees. Panic from the woodland creatures of the night, calm from their absence in the clearing. Not clearing, crash site.

 

Silver contraption set ablaze. Car. It’s mangled and the engine must be on fire. Why has the fuel not ignited? The light from the burning car is reflected in brilliant shards that litter the clearing. The hypnotic dance of the flames comes in and out of a hundred mirrors. From beneath the growing cloud of smoke, thousands of stars glitter in the night. What if they were broken glass reflecting the sun’s light?

 

There is the call again. Through the flames are the remains of the front seat. Two shades are on the other side, still inside. One seat has the cage crushed around the victim. The other is free but not moving.

 

I must investigate. I have to save them.

 

At the side of the driver, the one who is free, the window in the door is shattered. The door to the backseat is dented inward and thoroughly broken. It must have been smashed by something. A large tree as old as the forest is cracked just beyond view, shaken from its encounter with the car.

 

The tree is shaken?

 

The driver inside does not look good. The arm and side are riddled with glass. So is the face. The face is of a young woman, could not be out of college. She is beautiful. She was beautiful.

 

She is me. She was me

 

Star, light, beckoning, home

 

crash site, alien, fog, heavy head, blurs, wrong, leave, sick, confused

 

noise, call, plea, mary

 

Mary!

 

My sister, Mary, trapped, fire, fuel, help, I must help.

 

At the passenger’s side. Movement like a wisp. Structure collapsed on her. Mary. My little sister. Her head is bloody from the impact. She still calls out. Some shouts are whispers while others are alarms. The dash has extended to engulf her legs, and the doorway bent to unusable. Flung into the back seat were items of hers. Book decorated with a torch bearer with stars across the bottom and stripes along the top. A brightly colored, hard plastic bag filled with towels and other things once wet.

 

Pool. Drive back. Her homework. Drunk driver.

 

Drunk driver!

 

Ascend like the smoke to see the curve of the road up the hill. On the edge is another car, partly mangled but not burning. At the car on the lip of the road. He is young, almost handsome, but not worth the time after tonight.

 

He mutters to himself, cursing at the situation, but nothing more. No heroism in him. He turns to his car. It appears to be working. Like a gazelle that has spotted its end, he darts into the driver seat. The door slams. The keys fumble. He finally manages to hold the keys, but it takes a few cuts before one finds the switch.

 

Coward. Over the sound of the wilds come my sister’s screams.

 

Descend into the heart of the mechanism. Possession. Suddenly my mind narrows to a near singular purpose, but it is glorious. I am become the greatest invention by man. Every piece carefully placed, meticulously designed. Only I am master of fire while the humans flitter about with it uncontrolled and untamed. The damnable Prometheus killed my cousin in the valley and unleashed the fire upon the world. Child that makes play to be a man.

 

A command. Switch is turned. Ignition. Not for the coward. Will defeats him. I sputter and cough but do not spark. He curses. He hits. He tries again. I spit at him.

 

He falls back in his seat, trapped by his own fear and my vengeance. He turns to look down the hill at the hellfire in the valley. The path is cleared of any saplings that would interfere. Light from the stars illuminate his only choice. But still he does not act.

 

Anger boils. I would ignite and take him down there myself if I thought he would not suffer the same fate as myself. I start to sputter again without his aid. He is shocked and clearly more afraid of a fiery death at my hands than the reality he has created. Finally, he clambers out. I quiet the engine, but I do not leave. Not until he does.

 

Like a leaf in the autumn air, he suddenly moves with invisible urgency only to stop. And here he pauses overlooking the precipice. And without warning, he takes off again. He sprints down the road. I keep his headlights lit so he can see the dark pavement as he runs. But yet again he pauses. At the lip of the cliff, at the end of the burnt tire tracks, he stops. Then the wind picks up and he descends into the valley.

 

Then I depart. I follow like a shadow until he passes the closest trees. Their barks lit by the fire still raging from the engine, but behind them the night swallows the forest. I stand silently with the trees. The coward will not run while I am there.

 

He fumbles his arms into the car. He whispers to Mary, and she cries back. The seat jerks back but falls against the dash. He repositions himself. The seat moves once more. Then he grabs my sister. She is weak, but not so much that she cannot help him help her. Hand in hand, she is pulled through the shattered hole of a window.

 

Mary is safe. She coughs. He dials. They cross my sentry line. They slowly walk to the road again.

 

Explosion. Deafening blast as fire finally found the remains of the gas.

 

But Mary is not in it. She is safe. Protected.

 

She will be fine. Heal. Grow. live

 

joy, love, longing, wish to protect her

 

light, star, calling, distant, inviting, promising, eager, excited

 

wings, flight, freedom

 

Angel.

Author's Note

This is a very unique piece as part of a writing challenge. I am most concern with thoughts on the style. Is it too confusing? Are there merits to it?