by Rosa Foxxe
A stick, although certainly not optimal for self-defense, was much better than nothing. When she'd been a child there had been many times she'd turned the nose of a charging dog with a brisk swing of a stick. She'd always felt bad for hitting a dog, but she'd learned early on that some dogs were bad. Some dogs just wandered around all day trying to find something to eat or someone to harass. And no matter what you did, there really wasn't much of a chance of making them happy. Their world had been mean to them, so all they wanted to do was take. And there had been packs of dogs in the woods by the poisoned compound, some of them had been large. The packs, she and her friends had agreed, were to be avoided at all costs.
Without a stick she was pretty defenseless. But she thought that she might be able to kick a dog if one attacked her. But the things she was heard moving through the trees were not dogs, of that much she was certain. Whatever was moving, could do so very quickly, both on the ground and up above, leaping from branch to branch. And there were many of them. There was a part of Tyra that wanted to find out what she was sharing the dark with, but there was another part that knew how reckless it would be to seek out whatever was pacing her progress on the trail alongside her in the woods. Eventually, she figured, whatever the things were would make contact with her. They were probably watching her.
After walking for what seemed like forever, she sat down on the only ornament she'd seen along the trail so far—a large rock, big enough for her to sit on comfortably. So she sat down and pulled her knees up to her chest. The forest wasn't cold at all, and she was thankful for that, but it also wasn't warm. There seemed to be a fair amount of wind moving through the trees, but it wasn't ever just in one direction. When the wind really got moving it circled round and round and round so fast that the tree tops whipped in frenzied circles. It was crazy how much force the wind had, and scary when some of the trunks of the trees would test, snap, and splinter with a cracking sound so loud that Tyra could feel it in her body.
After sitting for a while, listening to the wind and the trees, another sound rose. This sound wasn't harsh, or one of nature. It was the sound of a flute being played. The song was lonely, and seemed to have many parts that wove together. Tyra sat and listened as the wind subsided, wondering what could be out there playing something so beautiful in the dark. Just when she was about to call out many other flutes started, some of them very close to her. This made her hold her tongue as the others joined the lead flute. The story they told together was one without words, one that Tyra saw in visions sometimes brief, but sometimes lasting for many minutes. In the vision the creation of the world she was in was retold.
Although she could not understand much of it, the gist that she did understand was that once there had been many Gods and all had lived above. They had all gotten along and made music together. But one God had decided to play out of turn, and intentionally caused discord in the heavens. This God was cast out and fell far, far, far below to earth. When he landed he rent the land so badly that mountains rose up from the earth in protest of how the cast out God was behaving. The other Gods knew not what to do, but then the strongest shot a dart down from heaven that poisoned the cast-out God. The poison was not of the flesh though, but rather of the mind. Now the cast-out God wanders the earth like a beggar, not knowing where he is or what he's doing.
Then suddenly the music stopped and before her sat what appeared to be some kind of humanoid ape, what would have been considered the missing link had she not been dreaming. But it was not the size of a human, and rather was about a quarter of the size of a full grown man. She looked at it for a while without speaking, wondering if it could talk or if it was mute or if it knew not a language beside its own and the flute. Time passed, but at the same time did not pass, as the creature and Tyra stared into each other’s eyes.
“You are not safe,” the creature finally said. “You have been parlaying with a man who is very
dangerous. Perhaps not to you, but all the same, his capacity for violence is something you know nothing of.”
Tyra was shocked that these were the words the creature spoke to her.
“But what of the cast out God!?” she protested. “Isn't it more important that I know and understand that strange story you played for me than we talk about the guy I'm seeing right now?”
The creature laughed. It was a strange laugh, a slow, sad, hooting. The creature rocked back and forward as it hooted, then finally sat still on its haunches.
“You humans are always so quick to think that the stories are not already about you,” the creature said. “You see, the cast out God is human ambition. Think of all the things that you humans are capable, think of all that you can do! You have touched your feet on the stained surface of the moon! You've counted the stars and named them, tracked their orbits around the sun. You've dammed up mighty rivers to harvest their power. You've created weapons so deadly that they can destroy the very planet that you live on.
You've healed disease and in many places put a stop to sickness. But the heart, like the dark side of the moon, forever remains a mystery to you. Because it lays beyond your power and understanding. Surely your people know well how to break men’s' hearts and minds by now, as they have been doing it for so long in the pursuit that you like to call war—a pursuit that is pure self-destruction and folly. But the heart eludes you because of its subtle nuances.”
Tyra wasn't sure what to say. It was like she was talking to some sage of old. And maybe she was. Maybe there was some wise man in everyone’s' subconscious.
“So you'd rather we talk about the guy I'm seeing than everything else you could explain to me, or about me?” Tyra asked. “Are you even anything more than just a part of me?”
The creature again hooted slowly, but this time even more sadly. When it held still at the finish it wiped tears from its eyes. Tyra wondered if laughing and crying were any different to these creatures.
“I could speak to you about many things,” the creature said. “I could talk to you about your father and how that relationship has affected all the others you've had with men. I could talk to you about your mother and how much she loved you. I could talk to you about your childhood, or about your young adulthood. I could talk to you about your boss. I could talk to you about anything I want. And if I am a mere extension of you, how do I see things with such clarity? How am I able to know what is and is not? If you knew you would know already. But I know continually, while you must be made to remember. Are there not some basic truths being exposed by this? Surely you can see this.”
The wind was picking up again. Tyra looked around the forest and found many pairs of glowing eyes looking at her. Then the hooting started. It wasn't a frantic hooting, or even a clamor, but a few of the other creatures called out. The one squatting not far from her on the path answered.
“What are they saying?” Tyra asked.
“Human. They are saying that I am wasting my time talking to you. They are saying that we should go before the winds return and make our movement through the tree tops impossible. They are saying that you know nothing of us and think nothing of us and do not care what happens to us, so we should flee and leave you here; since what happens in this world has no bearing on what happens in yours.”
“Is something going to happen? Why do you need to flee? Is there something in the woods that wants to hurt me?”
The creature hooted again, but did not cry this time.
“Human, there is always something in the woods that wants to hurt you. Is that not the nature of things? Does not one thing consume another in order to survive? You, my dear lost human, must decide in your own life who is there to be of virtue to you, and who is there to consume you. Is this man that you are letting into your heart, is he a man who will plant seeds and grow flowers? Or is he a man of conquest, caring more about making his mark in the mind of other humans than being a steward of the heart?
And no, I don't expect you to answer right now, but I want you to listen! And I
want you to think, dear human. I want you to think ahead into your own future, and try to see what it holds. Too often you humans have no concern for anything but the present. How is this fair to yourself? How can you pretend that you care about yourself when you only care about yourself of the present? You so readily abandon the self of the past and neglect the self of the future. It is no wonder you are lost!”
The wind whipped the trees so that the cracking sound came from a ways off in the forest. The little creature in front of her cringed when he heard the sound, and made a loathsome face. Tyra knew that he was staying to talk to her against the advice of his peers and against what was best for his own safety.
She didn't know what was in the forest that wouldn't want to hurt these strange and fascinating little creatures, but she wondered if it was on its way somewhere or in hiding from the storm. Just then, on the other side of a nearby draw, something crashed through the undergrowth. The creatures hooted and the one in front of her blanched in fear.
“He has come!” the creature said between hoots. “He has come! We must go. I am sorry I could not help you more, lost human. But be careful! You must know that not all things care about you. That sometimes you must look after yourself first! Goodbye!”
The creatures grabbed onto the nearest sturdy branch and heaved themselves upward into the tree tops. Tyra stayed sitting on the rock. She'd decided that if there was something coming she'd sit and wait for it just like she'd waited for the strange creatures that had just departed. Whatever it was couldn't hurt her, or so the flute playing humanoids had said. So she trusted in that and saw no reason to run or cower in fear, even though the wind around her had turned into a tempest that was pulling trees from the earth and sending them flying out onto the plain. She wondered what kind of weather formation was going on to muster so much strength from the wind, if it was some kind of tornado or something else entirely.
“Tyra!”
She turned to look behind her on the trail and there was Vinnie. He was panting and had scratches on his face. It looked like he had tried to leave the path and go through the trees. She wondered how that had worked out for him, and then figured it might be best to not ask considering how disheveled he looked. Usually Vinnie was very well kept, but the current situation had not been king to him.
“You're here as well?” Tyra asked. “It's funny to see you in my dream.”
“Dream?” Vinnie asked. “Is that what this is? I guess you're right! I'd just thought I'd been kidnapped and brought here as some kind of cruel joke. Now that I think about it, I should have known this was a dream from the start.”
“Did you leave the path,” Tyra couldn't help but ask.
“I tried, but the trees are so thick!” Vinnie said. “I found a place not far from here, though. It's not off the path but on a path that leaves the main path and is really overgrown. That's why you missed it. Follow me!”
With that Vinnie turned and headed back up the path with a quickness. Tyra followed, not knowing what else to do. The weather was getting so bad that she wouldn't be able to stay put much longer anyway, and if Vinnie had found any kind of shelter she couldn't wait to be inside it. It had been many, many years since she had been out in the forest in weather such as this. It wasn't safe. Anything could happen when the wind moved with such force and the rain pounded down so quickly. Keeping up with Vinnie was a lot harder than she'd thought. He moved with a quickness that she wasn't used to, and she wondered how he kept such sure footing on terrain very uneven and soaked with water.
“Vinnie! Vinnie wait!” she called.
But he pressed on like he couldn't hear her. And maybe he couldn't. The wind was so loud now that it sounded like a train running through the sky not so far above them. Tyra did her best to follow with a determination that didn't waiver or falter. When Vinnie ducked onto a different path she was glad she'd been watching him because if she'd been looking somewhere else it would have been like he'd just disappeared. The trail that he had taken was a side trail like he had described—overgrown and something that she missed because it blended into the forest. Vinnie walked the trail like he had a million times before, his footing was so sure.
Tyra followed after him and after a few minutes and saw ahead the entrance to a small cave in the side of a rock face. She was glad that Vinnie had taken the time to try to get off the trail so they had somewhere to hide from whatever was going on.
“Welcome!” Vinnie said when she entered.
Vinnie flourished his arm so that it swept the rest of the small cave. He'd built a fire in the middle, and when she looked up, she followed the smoke with her eyes all the way to the small hole in the ceiling far above them.
“What a place!” She said. “We are so lucky that you found this place!”
Vinnie sat down with his back to the cave's wall opposite the entrance and motioned that Tyra sit next to him.
“I know, right!?” he said. “Without this place we'd be completely fucked right now. And what the fuck is up with the weather in this God damned dream world? I think the cops slipped us something. Did you drink anything they gave you?”
Tyra sat down next to Vinnie and leaned up against him.
“Now that you mention it they did give me something to drink right when I got there,” she said. “Maybe they were just talking a bunch to see if it would kick in. But what do they have to gain from knocking us both out? I mean, they are the cops, after all. We were logged into the station. People know that we are there, it's not like you didn't text your lawyer as soon as shit started to go wrong.”
Vinnie's body was tense, but she could also feel the exhaustion in it. She wondered how long he'd been walking the trail, and how much effort he'd put into trying to leave it. It was just like Vinnie to want to leave the trail and find things for himself. Which was one of the things that she really liked about him. If he'd just stuck to the trail like she had then he'd not have found this great little cave and they would both be outside in weather that, from the looks and sounds of it, wasn't a place that any living creature would willingly be. She wondered where the strange creatures had gone with their flutes and if they had made it there all right. She also wondered what all of the deer, rabbits, and other animals were doing at the moment.
“God damn the weather is bad out there!” Vinnie said. “But at least it's better than being awake in the cop shop. Have they talked to you yet? They haven't even talked to me. I'm just waiting in the room, napping with my feet on the table. And I haven't been a dick or anything! I just told them that I wanted to see my lawyer and they said fine and then I haven't seen them for a few hours.”
“They told me some bad stuff about you and your family,” she said. “They say that you are all mobsters. And that you especially are a violent man. I don't know if they are just trying to divide us, though. You know what I mean? It's not that tough to put myself in the shoes of a cop. They want to catch you and can lie to do so. So they might just be feeding me a line of shit so that I stay away from you in hopes that doing so would shake you up enough that maybe you'd reconsider whatever it is you are doing that is pissing them off.”
Vinnie let out a long sigh and his body sagged into hers. The wind howled over the entrance to the cave like an obnoxious child blowing on an empty bottle. She was so glad that she was in this cave with Vinnie and a fire to keep her warm. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be out there in the elements.
“I'm sure they told you some things you didn't know and some things you already knew,” Vinnie said. “What is important to keep in mind is that I've never lied to you. Not once. I've never hid anything from you and I've never minimized anything and I've never embellished anything. Do you really believe that the police can say the same?
I mean, sure, me and my family aren't afraid to hurt people. But it's not like we are monsters. The police kill innocent people every single day and get away with it! You watch the news, you know! But whenever it suits them they get on some high horse about
violence and doing business. Well consider this! The police have a monopoly on the use of force in this nation. No one can resist what they do or it is a crime, one that will be met with violence ten fold. And if you go to court and try to protest whatever they did, most likely you won't win, and if you do win it's because the media got wind of it and decided to back you on whatever happened.”
Tyra rubbed Vinnie's back in an effort to calm him. He was all worked up. She figured that he would be when he found out that the police had told her some things that he probably was saving until they'd really gotten to know each other.
“This isn't what I wanted for us,” Vinnie said. “I wanted you to be able to get to know the fun me, not the serious part of me. The fun me is a blast. I like to do fun things. I run a casino for crying out loud! But I did plan on telling you about the serious part of me in six months or so. I wanted us to take the commitment part of our relationship slow so it was real, and that way you would really consider if you wanted to stay with me or take off. Because, believe me, when it comes out that I'm part of the mob, most people split. Or they stick around because they are a mob hang-around that lusts after the power and the money. Those are the worst kind of people.”