Torment

The girl is walking, walking along the corridor, the tunnel, turning corners, walking, walking, over the stone - through the stone - under the stone, through the dark, through the dank. walking through the dark to the next small light.  Craving the light, the slight windows of light, but bars, bars always the bars - on and on, past the light, past the bars, always the bars.

She is small.  She scrapes her nails across the brutal stone ceiling - when she has the strength, the strength to raise her dirty, dainty, weak - strong arms.  "Hurt me!  Hurt me!  Break my nails!"  The strength is gone - hands weakly fall, arms release, small hands fall - fall to thighs.  Blood, blood from dainty fingertips, blood from broken nails, blood courses down thighs - opening channels - channels through the grime - channels of pale white - white flashing through the burgundy of blood - channels of white reflecting through grime.

Walk, walk on, on, forward, forward through the stone lined tube.  Tube-like mucoid intestine , intestine of some slime mold beast, scale lined gut, on and on, to crawl from the anus of a monster?  No.  The girl doesn't think - she doesn't dare think.  Just walk, walk on, and on, through the foaming, fetid, foul, foul bile - through the gut of the beast, the God with no eyes!  A small girl cries to the God with no eyes.

Some windows look on beauty, walk, walk - beauty behind bars - walk, walk, hurry! - don't wait! - look quickly! - speed! - speed!  Walking on, always bars, small beauty framed in stone, beauty concealed by bars.  She stops.  She looks.  She raises her arms.  She holds the bars.  The beauty is green and red - beauty of life - blue and purple - beauty of night - yellow and orange - beauty of sky. Hands grip bars - cheeks press cold, hard, metallic bars - white cheeks stained with filth, smeared with cave wall  secretions - white cheeks caress cold bars.  A pink tongue twines through the bars - tasting the condensing moisture of life - lifee outside the bars.  Eyes secrete tears - tears try to cleanse the soiled cheeks.  Cheeks of the small girl stained with filth.

Walk, walk.  She is so anxious to get there.  "where do I go?"  Walk small girl!  Hurry! - Don't be late!  "WHERE DO I GO?"  A small girl screams at a God with no tongue.  You go to the next window small girl - on and on - Some with light, some with dark - some with paintings of beauty. some of hell - some with sunlight or moonlight or starlight reflecting off the snow - some with rainbows reflecting in dew drops on tropical leaves.  Walk, walk - not to heaven or hell -no - just to the end of the hall - ignore the rough stone - ignore your torn festering feet - ignore the blood and puss - on and on - past the ever changing windows - past the bars - all the same.  Of course you'll get there - just to the end of the hall.

                                To Be Continued.