Prisons of Stolen Dreams

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Prisons of Stolen Dreams Page 15

by Christopher St. John Sampayo


  He could see them eyeing their surroundings with hope. He knew they hoped this could be their life. They hoped this would be their life with him. He knew many of the boys he met were poor. They were quick to meet when he mentioned money.

  Their eyes would be so delighted by Leonard’s home that they would never notice the powder he would slip into their drinks. The powder was arsenic.

  He would sit opposite watching them sip their whisky or brandy. He would watch as the realization would appear in their eyes that something was not quite right but they were not sure what. Then he would watch that look turn into the knowledge that something was very wrong.

  He sat casually watching as they began to cough. Many fell to the floor.

  After they died he would put them into a wheeled cart. He would then take them to his special hidden room. He had a table in the room. It was close to the floor so he did not have to actually lift the bodies. He would lay the bodies on the table. He would then slice the throats and puncture all the main arteries. This would allow the body to drain of blood quite quickly.

  Once most of the blood was drained from the body he would begin the process of removing the skin from the bodies. Over the years he had learned how to tan hide. He studied it thoroughly. He took many hunting trips. It was not seen as odd for a rich man to hunt big game. But what he was really doing was studying. He was studying how to remove the skin from the boys he loved so much.

  When the skin was properly cultivated he would then sew it around one of his mannequins. He would take the skin from these young beautiful boys and he would reform them so they could last forever hidden in his secret room.

  In a smaller walled off section of the room, that Leonard constructed himself, was a tub. In the tub he would soak what remained of these boy’s bodies in lye till the bodies were completely dissolved.

  It was really the skin he craved. He liked the feel of cold dead lips, but he knew before long decay would rob these young men of their beauty. In cultivating their skin he could make their beauty last forever.

  He used the skin of these young beautiful boys for what he thought of as his forest. To Leonard it was not a forest of death but a forest of vibrant life. It was a forest of mannequins clothed in the skin of eternal, youthful, beauty.

  Leonard had performed this task eleven times so far. His forest was quite full. He would often sit in his room and stare at the beauty of his creation.

  Tonight, he was sitting in his special room of beauty. He was sitting and drinking whiskey while he admired his work. He adored his trophies. It was beautiful to see the lovely skin of these boys wrapped around his mannequins because it meant their perfection was his forever.

  He sat staring at the faces of the boys on his mannequins. He learned to save the lips perfectly with the skin. Leonard stared into his forest and imagined those lips speaking too him.

  As he sat in his room he imagined those lips confessing their love for him and their understanding of why he did what he did. He imagined them thanking him for allowing their young beauty to last forever. Sitting in his room Leonard could hear the praise from the dead lips of his trophies.

  Tonight, he did not want silence however. Tonight, he wanted music. He wanted beautiful music. He was sitting in his chair listening to Tchaikovsky as he stared at his forest. Candles were lit in the room. Leonard liked to light candles from time to time. He loved the way the flickering candle light made his beautiful eternal boys appear to dance before him.

  As he was admiring his beautiful ambition something caught his eyes. There was movement between his trees of death. However, it was not caused by the candlelight.

  For a moment fear seized Leonard. Someone was moving between his trees. An irrational thought took control of his mind. Had his beautiful boys come back to life. Was their skin now animating the mannequins they covered? Was there the thirst for revenge in those skins?

  Leonard peered further into the darkness of his forest.

  That’s when he saw her. It was a little girl wearing a cute little dress. She was dancing through his forest.

  You must be hallucinating, Leonard told himself. He stood up from his chair to follow the little girl when suddenly he collapsed back into his seat. He had no energy. He looked at the glass he had been drinking from. There had been something in it. There was something that was sapping his strength. It was just as he had done to his beautiful boys so many times. However, he was not dying. He could just no longer move.

  The little girl came out of the shadows. She ran up to him. She had a very cute smile. She stared closely at him. Then she leaned over and kissed his cheek. She then stepped away and began to twirl around the room to the sounds of Tchaikovsky.

  Leonard realized there was someone else in the room besides the little girl. Behind him someone reached over and touched his face. The person stroked the sides of his cheeks. He saw a face appear. The face was that of an old woman. She looked down at Leonard and then she looked at Leonard’s forest.

  “This is beauty,” she said as she stared around the room. The old woman then went to work. Leonard soon felt blood pouring down his face though he was powerless to wipe it away. He could not move but he could feel. He felt cutting. He started to cry. Leonard did not know why but he started thinking of his mother.

  Then as quickly as they had suddenly appeared the old woman and the little girl were gone. Leonard was alone.

  It took two days for someone to report that Leonard Gibbons was missing.

  The police were quickly brought into the matter. Leonard was a very important man and some feared the worst. Had he died? Had he been abducted?

  Detective Phillip Harris was one of the first officers to arrive at the Gibbons mansion. He had been called by the mayor personally on this.

  When there was no answer at the door the policemen kicked the door open. Leonard had servants but they only came on Sunday and Thursday afternoons. Phillip and his patrolmen began searching the house.

  Phillip was moving up the staircase when suddenly he heard someone calling his name. “Phillip…Phillip…”

  Phillip ran to the sounds of the person who was calling him. When he got to the location he saw one of his patrol men vomiting.

  “What's wrong,” Phillip asked. The patrol man pointed at a door. Phillip noticed how odd the door was. It was open but had it not been they might never have noticed it. It was easily concealed in the paneling of the wall. Phillip also noticed a large painting on the floor. He realized the painting had sat on the wall to conceal the door even more.

  Philip wasn't sure why but before proceeding he pulled his gun. He knew he did not have to worry about being attacked because the patrolman would have warned him. He pulled his gun anyway. It's was as if some precognition was telling him that he would see something that would change him forever.

  Phillip entered the room and stepped into hell. In his darkest nightmare, he never could have imagined something like this. He felt his mind slip a little but he managed to hold on to it. If not he might have completely lost his sanity.

  There was a chair in the room. He saw Leonard Gibbons seated in it. He was alive, but he had a large open wound in his scalp. He was sitting in his filth. He had pissed and shit himself repeatedly.

  Yet he smiled when he saw Phillip.

  “My beautiful.... beautiful...” he said. His words were slightly slurred but still he smiled. “They sing to me,” Leonard said. “They are singing.” He was now pointing and smiling. He smiled with tears in his eyes.

  This was when Phillip saw the full horror of this awful moment.

  For years after, in his dreams, in his nightmares his mind would replay this very moment. However, his mind would take things a bit further. In his dreams, he would walk through this macabre forest. He would hear Leonard off in the distance saying, “my beautiful...my beautiful...they sing to me.”

  From the most awful dreams, in the darkest nights, Phillip awoke wanting to get his revolver and put it in his mouth t
o erase himself from a world so dark and terrible.

  In those nightmares, feeling dread which touched his very soul, Phillip would hear the mannequins singing to him.

  ***

  The Philosophical Principles of Death. The Scripture of Farinata Uaegli Abertio.

  Gospel 000377

  The one to kill the many is the true servant of God. The one to take the mantle of the reaper and the harvester of humanity is anointed by God.

  God touches the forehead of the murderers and upon them grants his blessing.

  The one to sacrifice willingly their life to the murderer is also blessed. They are blessed and their place is sacred even to God.

  We must establish order in the chaos to do that which is required of us.

  All cannot be murders. All cannot be the sheep.

  A cast system shall be written into the fabric of our people as we move forward in to this quest through which God has selected us to be his chosen people.

  Behold ye chosen people of the Lord as I share the wisdom of the word of God that was whispered into my ears.

  God’s hands touched my eyes and gave me visions.

  We shall seek out and identify those who would be the anointed murderers of God. They shall be blessed and it is the duty of the people to aid them…

  Verse Nine: Lessons

  Sarah thought often of the poor creature that dwelled in the Forest of Uncertainty. She found herself at times staring at the forest and wondering if the same fate awaited her. She wondered if the forest was ultimately her final destination.

  She visited the creature when she could. She felt pity for the woman who lurked in the shadows. She was a horrific site, but Sarah understood that behind that eye lay a mind that knew a life that was tragic. She also understood that the mind was near broken by the tragedies it had witnessed.

  Would this be how all the children ended up? Were they used and then discarded in the woods? Was that the ending for children that were disposable? She could not tell the others till she knew more. If she did this she would cause a panic and what purpose would all that fear serve with children who had nowhere to go?

  Sarah once asked Belili for more information about the forest. Belili told Sarah that the forest was a shadow of what might have been and could yet still be. Belili constantly warned the children to not venture into the forest and Joshua stood watch often.

  As far as she was aware Sarah was the only one who had been inside the forest, though some of the other children had seen the creature in the woods. They had seen it from a distance lurking behind the trees. The creature was becoming one of the campfire tales the children told each other. The tales were met with skepticism but also with the slightest fear. The stories grew as all campfire tales grow with each telling. The children said the creature was trying to capture their souls.

  Sarah kept quiet during these discussions. She knew more about the creature in the woods then any of them did, but she did not let others become aware of this. She knew they would not understand. They had not heard the weeping. The weeping of the creature had been real. The weeping had been the woman's heart and soul.

  In the world outside the forest, among the children there were certain ones who were starting to stand out. They were the gifted among the gifted. All the children were brilliant but it was known that a select few were different than the others. Their aptitudes were much higher. Sarah was one. So too were Isiah and Catalina.

  However, all the children understood that Patrick was the best of them. None of them could come close to his brilliance. He excelled at all he did.

  As the years were passing Patrick was becoming something more than just a classmate to Sarah. To Sarah, Patrick was beautiful. He was beautiful for his mind and he was beautiful for his appearance. In this strange Never, Never Land Sarah thought of Patrick often. He did not stay in the dorms with the rest of the children. He lived somewhere in the city, but he would often appear in the fields.

  Sometimes Sarah would see Patrick sitting alone in the distance.

  She wondered if his brilliance made him feel separate from others. Brilliance was a good word for Patrick. Because he shined. He shined with a light that was much brighter than the rest of them.

  She would watch him as he stared at the horizon. She wondered what thoughts crossed his mind. Where was he lost inside his head?

  She knew some of the other kids were jealous of Patrick. They were jealous because many of them understood he was the one. None of them said it aloud. They just knew it. He was the one this place was created to find. He was the one perfect brilliant mind. Sarah could tell Belili knew this too.

  As Sarah watched this quiet boy Sarah realized that to her, he was perfect. In her heart she knew that he was the one that the people of Verse Zero had searched generations for. He was what a civilization had hoped for and sought. He was the one they had been preparing this place for. A glass world had been built for him. He would be the one to save them.

  However, for now he was still just a boy. He was still learning. He was becoming what he would be but he was not yet there. He was the spark of unparalleled potential.

  Today, for the first time Sarah approached Patrick as he sat alone in the field. He was looking off at the strange horizon as he often did.

  “Hi, Patrick,” she said as she neared.

  Patrick did not immediately respond. After a few moments he blinked several times. He had been lost in some thought. He had been somewhere in his mind when Sarah’s voice had pulled him from that place.

  He looked to Sarah. He gave her an awkward smile. Then he went back to looking at the horizon.

  “Can I join you?” Sarah asked.

  Patrick blinked again and nodded. Sarah sat beside him.

  The silence remained. In a million different worlds it would have been awkward. However, Sarah knew this place was not like others.

  After a moment she asked, “What do you think of when you look at the horizon? I see you do it often.”

  Patrick looked to Sarah. Then he looked back at the swirling sky. He shrugged.

  “I wonder,” he said. “I look at the horizon and I just wonder. I wonder about a lot of things. I wonder what possibilities are out there.”

  He looked down. He was quiet for a few moments. Then he said “I wonder what possibilities were there for me?”

  After a pause he went on. “What if I had not been taken? I know they say it was for the greater good. But what if…what if I had been a normal boy. Living a normal life?”

  Patrick then looked to Sarah. “But it wouldn't have mattered would it?” he said.

  A sad smile appeared on his face. “I was always meant to be this person and in the end tragedies are what define us the most.”

  Sarah thought of his words. She understood the truth in them. The happy times are always remembered fondly. However, it was painful moments in life that shaped a person the most.

  “I’m sorry,” Patrick said. He looked down. “I can ramble I suppose.”

  He looked back up and stared to the horizon. In that moment his eyes were lost in it again.

  “But Sarah…do you ever stop sometimes and think somewhere there is a different you? Somewhere you are living a different life. You are a different person. And you have to wonder about that. What makes you who you are? How did these situations shape you differently than the you that you could have been?”

  Sarah reflected on this. She then instinctively stared back at the Forest of Uncertainty in the distance. She thought of the one-eyed creature who lived in those woods. She wondered if the creature was watching her now with that one eye.

  Sarah felt a chill but she was unsure why.

  ***

  Studying helped the children learn to more easily identify things. Science allowed the children to learn elements and to understand the movement of objects. It helped them to understand the relationships in nature. Math helped the children to understand patterns and it taught them how to understand the relationships
between different patterns. It helped them to identify variables and how the altering of a variable could reshape a structure.

  All of this was to serve one ultimate purpose. It was to move them all towards one goal. Identifying patterns and structures in a Multiverse was of paramount importance. Belili told them, it allowed one to see a path into another you.

  Today all the lessons and the years of study were to be put into practice. The things the children had worked towards and in many cases their minds had been built for were about to begin.

  The day started with Belili gathering the children. When they were all together she said simply, “Today is the day you step into the sea.” She then once again led the children to the shores of the Sea of Glass.

  When they reached the beaches of Verse Zero, Belili instructed them all to pick a spot along the shores of infinity. They all did as they were told. All the children felt some sense of excitement. They had been preparing for this for a long time.

  Sarah stood at the boundaries of time and space staring out into the flowing Multiverse. Even after all the years that had passed she was still mesmerized by it.

  Isiah was beside Sarah. Over the years Sarah understood that Isiah was always focused. He had determination in all he did. Even now while the other children displayed their uncertainty Isiah stared into the ocean ready to begin.

  Sarah looked to her other side and she saw Patrick. Watching his eyes as he stared into the moving infinity before them she felt her heart swell. She could see something in his eyes as he stared at the impossible vortex. She could see understanding. He was already identifying how to begin.

  Behind them Belili began to speak.

  “Today children you start to truly understand why you are here. Today you begin to see what you are capable of. You will truly see how you have gifts that separate you from others.”

 

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