Frankie started off in a happy home, cute family, happily married couple with 2 beautiful daughters. Well what appeared to be a happily married couple, the perfect household but something changed. Geoffrey the father decided to give up his addiction to chocolate coated peanuts, his obsession was apparent, they were always on his mind, the glossy finish on the chocolate domes, the hidden crunch of the peanut, it was all he wanted. First, it was on his mind, all the time, then began the cold sweats, hot flushes rushed through his body like a trophy housewife holding onto her youth going through menopause, his hands would shake. Full withdrawals kicked in and with that his mind, his emotion, his soul became withdrawn from reality. Distant, angry, brewing, day after day he thought of the chocolate coated goodness he once enjoyed, it was all on his mind. The rhetoric changed, voices became louder in his mind, “you’re wife Dolly did this “, “Dolly took the peanuts away from you”, “Dolly wants to see you in pain”, his memory clouded, this was his decision, earlier in the year Geoffrey completed a charity 24 hour fast to raise money for flood victims in the Sahara and recognised his addiction, identified it and wanted to change it. The voices became louder, shouting, screaming “DOLLY TOOK THE PEANUTS AWAY FROM YOU, DESTROY HER”! At first he ignored them, but he could not escape the voices, the peanuts, he began to see them everywhere. Geoffrey notice the peanuts in the ads on his favourite shows, random peanuts packets left in the dairy isle, laughing at him, taunting him. Until one day he came home, hands shaking, sweat groping to his back, his shirt pressed against him, it’s a cold winters eve to find Dolly with her daughters Josephine and Bindi eating chocolate peanuts, Frankie on his favourite chair watching the glamorous trio laughing while enjoying their fathers favourite snack. This was enough for Geoffrey to snap, he grabbed the kitchen knife and began slashing, left, right, left, right, Dolly’s face gushing, severed open by the gleaming silver blade now dripping in blood, Bindi screams, while Josephine finds herself shaking in a pool of her own piss, the chocolate peanuts once in her hand had fallen to the ground, now with a gloss finish from the young girls urine. Geoffrey turns and lunges forward, shoving the blade into his youngest daughter, ripping it out and slicing the neck of a girl who once filled his heart with love. Geoffrey stands there, blood dripping from his face, he had severed an artery when he took the life from Josephine's fear frozen body. Geoffrey grabs a single chocolate coated peanut, he places it in his mouth and chews slowly, savouring each moment but he feels nothing, the taste was not what it once was, with his family now dead the one thing that could bring him joy fills him with nothingness, empty, an abyss. He turns the blade to his wrist, cutting deeply vertically into his arm and watches as the blood drains from his body….
4 days go by, Bindi and Josephine are missed in school and the principal Benjamin visits their home to find Frankie shaking in the corner, he proceeds to the kitchen to see a pool of blood and the lifeless bodies of the perfect family he once knew and thought of so fondly. He left with Frankie, shaking, as the blue and red lights arrived to the house. Benjamin couldn’t find the ability to return to the school. Every child face was replaced by Bindi and Josephine, they haunted his thoughts and followed him just like the chocolate coated peanuts followed Geoffrey. Frankie now had to become the man of the house, he began to roam the streets of Chrin Park until one day a lonely old barber saw his potential, saw in him what others couldn’t. Saw the pain in his eyes and decided to give him a chance. That was 7 years ago now. Frankie has has his own barber chair and spends his days collecting his cut from every patron that walks in the door, taking payment in treats, belly rubs and chocolate coated peanuts.
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Yugambeh
A flicker of light hovers in the distance, alone down the dark twisting lane. Red bricks, cramped on one another brought to life by the fluorescent stains of local artists. Gleaming smiles of devilish creatures, a dark silhouette, a lost girl, face bowed, engulfed by darkness, we’re all mad here, I’m mad, You’re mad glides across the red face of the narrow lane. Sunflowers, tulips, Lilly’s, dying roses. I follow the light and find myself standing in front of an oak wooden door. Grains deeply rooted, weather bashed and faded yet powerful, immovable. Knock, Knock, Knock, the wooden panel slides to the left, rusted, jagged, darkness stares into my soul “Two roads diverged in a wood and I”, I clear my throat, and replied “I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference”. A moment pass, slam, the peephole closes shut and a collection of locks begin to clink and clank. One, two, three, four, a twist, the door opens up and I am greeted by a toothless smile, “Welcome to Yugambeh, where the mind and soul come to converse, follow me sir”. My beating heart, dwindles, my trembling hand steadies as I follow the sound of the doorman steal capped boots knock along the wooden floor. Beat, drag, beat, drag, his hips are out of place, perhaps he experienced a tragic act of misfortune, perhaps a greater power chose for him to walk the earth in this manner. Portraits of this nations ancestors decorate the corridor, stone faced, a man stands beside the sign “Gleann-na-nGealt”, It means valley of the mad, the voice of the doorman echoed down the corridor as he caught my eyes staring at the portrait, the patches of matted black hairs on the back of his head always facing me. At the end of the corridor the tributary opened up into candle lit vastness. A rusted bicycle hanged upside down on the wall, beneath it sat a gluttonous creature, yellow stained finger nails curling around the the extended pipes of a hookah, a velvet green couch withstanding the immense pressure it is unwillingly exposed to. Psilocybin mushrooms penetrate through the cracks in the ground, a chandelier of antler towers over my head, candles flicker on the extensions of the once dear skulls, the wax is stagnant. I am directed to a low standing table sitting upon a hand woven rug, surrounded by misplaced cushions, flat, worn, lifeless. I sit crosslegged on a a circular mandala cushion, once vibrant now faded, I feel the energy of the thousands who have sat here before me. A tall brass tea pot and a single tea cup is laid in front of me. Tall whiskers emerge from the darkness, long and twisted at the end zealously sitting upon thin lips below sunken eyes. “speak not, for you do not converse with words at Yugambeh, this is your first pilgrimage?” I nod, however I knew the figure across from me was not requesting an answer. “for centuries one searches for meaning, meaning in the light of day, meaning in the voices of wind, meaning in the colours on the wings of bird, yet what if it is meaningless?. I open my mouth “speak not!” I am sharply reminded. “you come for answers I cannot provide but answers you will receive”. “first you must close your mind, clear what bothers you… you will not find the answers to what troubles you, you must accept the answers you receive”. A withered arm extends from the slackened sleeve as the murky brew slithers from the tall brass tea pot, rounded bottom, burnt, archaic. “Accept the answers you receive, accept the journey gifted to you, do not resist for once the journey begins one cannot cease until Yugambeh has chosen your destination” “Proceed with caution, accept the answers you receive”. I lift the elixir to my lips, pause, take a final breath before consuming the entirety of the tea cups contents. Stillness, nothingness, then the blues of my eyes roll back to white and my journey begins, I am at the mercy of Yugambeh now. My steps are light, a strap weighs down my left shoulder, I do not understand where I am going and yet I keep moving forward. I look down to my right, a bag, large ellipsoidal hanging, my hands, they are smooth, young I continue to walk forward. My surroundings are familiar, theres a sharpness in the air, a moistness in the dew of the grass lining the road. My feet stop, “is this a memory, where am I”, I wait, I know not what I am waiting for but move no further. A leafless tree hangs overhead, a brick wall once resistant to all those that met it, now crumbling. I wait… My breath is shallow, white, as are my finger tips. I hear a light patter and a gnarl, the mouth of a furious fury beast growling at me. Teeth like razors, eyes dark, brown knotted fur, the beast stalks me, circling, deep low growl projected towards me. BANG, the beast vanished as did the tree that once spied above me, a warmth sticks to my back, sweat trickles down, blood drips from the ceiling, screams besiege the depths of my skull. The wailing of a loved one, black pants, grey suspenders, white shirt, aged fedora tilted, straight brown hair beside me. The face engraved with horror, the blood continues to leak onto the floor. I sink further, surrounded by darkness, and pressure builds on my body, crushing my lungs, my bones begin to crack, I sway my arms in the darkness. Frigid movement, the sounds intensify, in the distance I see a burning and I gravitate towards it. A mound or logs, stacked in a box a white sheet atop, scorching. The sheet disintegrates a foot emerges, burning, a body crumbles under the intense heat. Mesmerised, my feet drift towards the flame, hairless, the body burns, I dive head first into the fire. I feel a warmth, an arm over my shoulder, blonde hair sways in the wind and steal blue eyes stare into mine. Laughter rings in my ears, water gently caresses against the harbour walls and I am drawn to dark bluish-grey eyes staring into mine. I stare down and the water surrounds my calfs, a dark cloud flaps in the shallows of the ocean, joyous screams circle as my back is weighed down, arms draped over my shoulders, a kiss on my neck. I turn to find myself in the sand, my feet sliding, the thousand grains comfort me while an explosion of colours bolster my existent, a light touch. The bluish eyes stare at me once again, I lean forward. Music caresses my body, dim light, she glides, beauty, rhythm her body moves freely to the melody that fills the room. I am weightless, entranced, my feet move towards the nordic goddess and I embrace her energy. The darkness diminishes as I feel her touch, I don’t want to leave, I feel safe for the first time in my existence, whole, she leans towards me and whispers “accept the answers you have received”.
By Shaun Botica4 years ago in Fiction
Our Song
Evening has given way to night. Gently, I settle next to you on the comfortable, old love seat and reach for your hand. You snatch it away, again. It cuts me to the quick, but I hide the pain, understanding that the reaction is but part of your demented state. Since the accident, your presence here in our cozy home has been clouded by a haze I can't see. Nevertheless, I feel the frigidity of your expressions and it serves as an excruciating reminder of the immeasurable distance between us.
By Dana Crandell5 days ago in Fiction
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