Eluthia Ch 5

The eyelids of Minus grew heavy, weighing the tiny circus in his brain. Past reminiscences being the greater of two evils other than present monstrosities, Sumonosthestra summoned the twisted roads of memory, roads that Minus could relate to with some faint inclination of going there.

 

The dream gods were peering through Minus’s secret window. Scenery wavered to and fro. Twenty-thousand foot Highways gleamed across the sky. You never know where you go in a dream; it is like a constant blackout from drinking. Minus found himself in a rollercoaster made of basket wood. Its delicate material made him uneasy, but somehow only the fear of falling would bring him to another destination. Blackout. Ethan. Coo. Shawl. Valuthia. There faces were hard to make out against the silhouette of other creatures that resided there. Who were these people? Going to so and so’s house to get a fix. Trees brush by rapidly like smears of green paint. Minus is think drunk. Image drunk.

 

Valuthia says, “You don’t remember me?”

 

“I don’t?” Minus said.

 

“Place some more wood on the fire, it is getting hot out here.”

 

Incoherent dialogue, blurred parts of speech, words don’t mesh well in this place. Half torso men and women make love with the sky; the ground opens up and swallows them.

 

“Did you say your name was Val I think I know you?” said Minus.

 

“Valuthia. Yes, but you don’t remember me correctly. Listen we need to run pretty soon.”

 

“Run from whom?” said Minus.

 

“The Night Whisperers.” Said Shawl.

 

“Isszz yourr name Shawn?”

 

“No, it is Shawl. You don’t remember me correctly.”

 

“My name is Boo!” Minus’s eyes eclipse when he gets startled.

 

“You mean Beef?” said Minus.

 

“You don’t remember me correctly Minus head!”

 

“My name is not Minus!” How did he know that, he thought?

 

What was once the blazing campfire is now Valuthia’s flashlight. Their childhood camping grounds are gone replaced by sounds like machines are throwing up. “They are coming!” said Valuthia.

 

“Who?”

 

“The Spawns of Ullkrest.”

 

“Who is Ullkrest?”

 

“A very, very, very, very, very, very bad man!” said Shawn in an arrhythmic tone.

 

The roads start to shimmer and stammer, fast forward motion zoom through eighty places like a film ribbon that gets tangled up in a film projector.

 

 Minus is in the school yard. He spots a spawn. It has no arms and a contorted body and looks like the inside of a tomato.. It says, “Oormph.” Minus darts through the schoolyard, he is by himself, running through air vents. “Oormph.” Through office buildings. Tons of boxes and paper are here. Paper is everywhere and a great deal of post-it notes paper the offices. Cast iron non-functional machinery clutters the streets. Buildings with no purpose what so ever are made of cast-iron. Minus surpasses the rusted smudged streets. Blackout. Minus purchases over the counter speed at a 7-11 so he can run faster.

 

 

Somewhere on a dirt road, Minus manages his way back home. The roads curve, blind spotting Minus’s effort to see what is coming up next. He makes a few stops on the way to talk to some strangers and has many meaningless conversations. One is a gas station attendant who tells him the roadmap to his house is in the mall.

 

Next stop Minus haphazardly lands in a house party. Does he know these people? He relentlessly inhales a joint, but cannot picture the face of the man who handed it to him.

 

“Where is home? What is a home?”

 

The highways spiral this way and that way; the road then loop de loops in a 360 roller coaster style. Somehow this seems normal. The height gives Minus butterflies.

 

The mall of unusual stores. The mannequin’s faces protrude towards him. They give him lighting glances, stealing any chance for consumption. Window shopping of used underwear. Torn clothes. Radios with no antennae. Brooms without a handle. Washer and dryers without a spinner. Peanut shells with no peanut. The mannequins cackle

“What is your name? What is your name?” in sing songy voices.

 

“I don’t know?” Minus cries in distress.

 

Creatures with red vacant eyes, eight arms and two mouths pursue him, screeching “What is your name, boy?” Blackout.

 

Minus finds himself in a room with an infinite number of dresser drawers. Each one of them is empty. Minus frantically opens all of them screaming, “What is my name? What is my name?” Finally he opens the last one. In it is a birth certificate with the name ‘Caleb’ on it.