Entwine.

The branches are twisted,

Carved into and broken,

Lost deep within the nest of the tree.

Hidden-

Inside the confines of another’s arms.

They are split, far from each other’s warm embrace;

The one that could be their saviour.

With relish they break free from their prisons,

Damaged – but free,

Still lost, but closer now.

Broken leaves are gathered and reattached.

Painstakingly fixed, one stem at a time

They find peace.

One step closer –

But still gnarled, withered, lost.

A burst of light brings them closer,

Teasingly so –

They meet at the tip, so gently,

Afraid of losing themselves again,

But time brings sweetness, gentleness and love.

New life courses through them as they join –

Growing together, slow at first, but trust blooms bright

In flowers upon their weary souls.

And they are free again –

Interlaced as one.

Storms tear through their tired frames,

They break, more than once.

But sunshine always returns

And they entwine, their lives as one –

Still lost, but in each others embrace.

Infinity.

Take yourself to the limit of existence

Where the sky joins the earth, and brushes the edges of space.

To a place where time disappears,

Where a blink of eye carries you away, into the abyss.

To remain some will lose themselves in the maze forever

For a few seconds in immortalised bliss -

Where humans are legends, yet to be proven, gods have no place,

Wars remain myth and purity is eternal.

Enter the world where innocence reigns

And destruction has no place in the heart of souls.

In a time where humanity is yet to spread its infection,

Where darkness has no place and light prevails.

Find a moment to visit,

Only to leave when the shadows must return,

Sail above it all in a world of your own creation –

Wonder the walls of your mind.

Discover the eternity within the confines,

Build mazes with no resolution, fly free on eternal winds –

Breathe purity, forget contamination.

Dive into a world all your own.

Walk in halls of shining lights,

Stare at ceilings of blinding stars,

Feel the softness of their touch,

Make their lingering presence last a lifetime.

Forget the burn of fresh wounds,

Block out the harsh words of enemies –

Run free in an everlasting infinity

Of dreams.

Untitled.

In the midst of a fight she says her farewell –

To a man she never loved, to a boy she never wanted,

To a life she wished she couldn’t remember

And to a heart lying forgotten in bloody remains.

She hides in the darkest of places

Shying from the purity of a young boy’s eyes,

Vanishing from the darkness of an old man’s soul -

Liberated from the confines of her mind.

Memories haunt her as she bends to her agony,

Shockwaves pulsating through her -

The raw hatred buried within her calls for vengeance,

Crawling toward a resolution long lost to her.

Her mind clouded with loathing,

Dreams fragmenting into thoughts of revenge,

Longings for their blood to rain down upon her satin skin.

Desperate for the retribution that will cleanse her mind

She drags herself into obscurity, shadows dancing beyond her

Full of question and wonderment, dreaming –

Dreaming of the retribution that will relinquish her;

Freeing her from the confines of his persecution.

Their blood runs through the tangled strands of her hair

Caressing the soft tendrils as a long lost lover.

Sweat glistens upon her brow as the knife reigns down  

Upon purity and darkness as one.

With the smallest hint of a rumbled groan she wakes,

Descending upon reality with unrelenting swiftness.

The shuddering breath beside her marks his presence –

Creaking footsteps name the other she wishes lost.

In her slumber her worlds may cross,

Yet she will never cross the realms –

Imagination and truth twisted endlessly

Leaving her forever free, and unfree.

Case Study 2.

Okay, so I am currently writing my first novel and in the process I am using fake case studies that characters of mine will be discussing of a variety of crimes. I decided that I would like to turn each of these case studies into either flash fiction pieces of short stories, like I wake, so here is another. Be warned this could be seen as a trigger for victims of sexual violence, it is designed to be based on the case study of a rape case. I will be doing these creative pieces for about ten different types of crime that will be featured in my novel.
---

I can feel everything. The jury’s eyes are boring into me, every flick of the judges pen resonates through every inch of me, my heart is pounding incessantly, as if it were reaching out my chest to escape. They are watching me, studying every flinch, every whimper, every misplaced hair, every blink; every breath is measured by their standards of truth and lies. My lashes meet as I pause for breath in the midst of my living hell. The blackness of the inside of my eyelids doesn’t last for long; instead of peace I meet the source of my terror. Low grunts and muffled screams echo in the confines of my mind.

With a jolt my eyes snap open and I meet the glittering dark eyes of my charismatic attacker. My blood is surging deep within me, and my breath has quickened to a pace I could have never imagined. A smirk dances on the corner of his lips as he meets my gaze, unwavering, unmoving, unstoppable.

The prosecutor has spoken, I can see his mouth forming the words, but no sound reaches my ears.

He repeats. And I hear, ‘then what happened?’

And I find my mouth forming the words, pulling themselves out of my mouth, unrolling over the choked sob that is caught in my throat, dragging themselves through the motions of my tongue until they finally form the words, ‘he said I was asking for it.’

Blue Eyes.

Frozen tears adorn our cheeks,

Wipe them from our souls

We beg you, plead you,

But still no second chances –

Cleanse and forgive us,

Repent our sins.

Release us,

Relinquish the hold that chokes us.

First come, first served.

Do you have no more excuses?

Have you no other hope of blinding us?

To what truly stands before us.

A man, broken and destroyed -

You stand as a single heart beating,

In a world broken

With bloodied mane held high.

Close your eyes to the world around you,

I fail to fathom your utter disgust

As you collect our souls

Holding them within your own.

Collapsing inward, tears will stain my cheeks

Your love is a poison dart, piercing my skin

Rattling in my ears are my sister’s screams

My brother’s moans, my mother’s cries.

Collective punishment, pushing away

Those who loved you, you’ve lost them now -

We hate you, we burn you, and we loathe you.

We’ve wished upon you, fallen over you;

Our shadows hide your ever-growing hatred

Treasured monstrosity, forever lonely

Diamond tears caressing your cheeks.

Forgiveness will stay a distant dream

A woeful sigh, a forgetful glimmer,

Wishful thinking is a practised daydream.

Shallow loyalties, a careful eye –

Perhaps even the slightest of smiles,

Denying a sin repeated,

Forever unforgiven.

Neverland.

Take yourself to the limit of existence

Where the sky joins the earth, and brushes the edges of space,

To a place where time disappears,

And in a blink of eye you may be carried home again.

To remain some may sell their souls

For a few more seconds of bliss and suspended belief,

Where humans are the legends of old –

A place where wars are forbidden, where destinies may be entwined.

Every tear at the fabric of reality

Inches new life into the limbo we all crave.

Purity, love, and wonder may all be regained through one simple door -

An open door to a world of recreation.

I Wake.

This is a piece I wrote based off of the inspiration I had whilst planning for my first full length novel, and one of the case studies that will be involved in it.

---

I wake.

The mounting pressure of the water is pressing against my face, through the flimsy fabric of my clothes. Goose bumps are spread across the surface of my bare hands and feet and wrinkles crease the tips of my fingers. All of this I register first; my consciousness is crawling for sense of my situation, attempting to create a logical answer for my suspended state. I can feel plastic cutting into the skin around my mouth; the strap feels as though it is melded into my skull. It dawns on me that this is my source of oxygen in the water that surrounds me. I release the tension in my hand just as it begins to rise to remove the pressure from my face. The thoughts flying in the confines of my aching skull have finally slowed down enough to register the function of the water that encases me.

A prison.

I force my eyelids open against the pressure of the water and consider my surroundings properly. There are no bars to hold me in place; there is only the cold force of the water, and the shadows that dance behind the glass beyond it. Only the thick tube attached to my mask holds me in place, almost as if to hold me on display, prime viewing. My body has no control over its movements as the water has numbed every inch of my skin and left me draped limply in the water. The sodden clothes that cling to me weigh my lethargic limbs down as I try and push myself to the surface. They will not respond to my attempts to move. I am weary - the water has taken its toll, which sends the first true strike of fear through my body. How long have I been here? The cold is crushing as it runs through me in an instant - the shock that has been ruling my body has run out, and I am left with the crippling cold that sends shockwaves of pain through every nerve ending I possess. I stretch my arms slowly, torturously, trying to reach the edges of my cage. Instead there is only more water to reassure me that I am lost, confined. 

My memories are hazy, and I can’t remember the last time I was conscious, but I know this is the first I’ve seen of this watery prison. I know nothing else. My mind is blank but for the water and the limpness of my body. My breath is quickening as the panic courses through my veins, the oxygen mask is tightening across my cheeks as my lungs suck in precious air. I reach for the tube that stretches out into the watery abyss above me and I pull on it tentatively. I am met with an instant shock that courses through me, causing me to recoil far quicker than I thought my lethargic limbs would allow. My breath quickens once more and I feel the aftershock pulsating throughout my body.

I think tears have finally sprung from my eyes but I can’t tell absolutely in the water that weighs down upon me. I can feel my throat constricting as a choked attempt at a sob wracks through my body. I feel as though the pounding of my heart is resonating in every inch of my endless blue prison. Only shadows dance in reaction to my frantic attempts at sobs.

My cage – I have only been conscious for a few elongated minutes, but it is mine now. I am going to die in here. I can feel it. For what else could be my purpose for my place in this prison. There can only be torture for an explanation. Or pleasure from my presence here. But it must lead to my death. There is only inevitably, not probability.

I must be crying now as my mind flashes images of my family in front of my closed eyelids. In the darkness of my mind I find myself wanting to scream, to yell, to weep and I yearn for my freedom. But that would only dislodge the precious lifeline attached to my face. I can’t die yet; I must, but not yet. My mind needs time. For I must also know who has brought me here, who has placed me in this cage, my watery grave. Even with my acceptance of the fate that lies ahead of me my human nature allows me one last glimmer of hope - escape. A distant wish, but a wish just the same.

I twist my head to study the water around me, attempting to squint through the never-ending waters to see out of the glass that contains me. Only shadows greet my longing stares into the water. The urge to scream builds in my chest and it tightens as my fists clench against my cheeks as I desperately try to stay conscious. Panic is rife in my body, vicious in its torrent through my blood stream. The edges of my vision grow dark as my chest heaves in attempt to keep up with my desperate gasps of air. My body finally releases its tension as I fall into darkness once more. I am still grappling with my mind, frantic to remain aware of what little I know of my surroundings. It doesn’t listen. It never does. There is only darkness once more.

---

Streams of light are poking through my eyelashes as I struggle to prise my eyes open again. The water is light this time, there must be floodlights streaming in, it feels as though I’m staring directly into the suns unforgiving rays. The cold has truly set in now, and I can feel spikes of pain running through every nerve ending in my now naked body. I shiver as my lack of clothing becomes more evident; I try and pull my arms and legs closer to myself to cover my dignity, but my limbs are still unresponsive. I open my eyes a fraction again, trying to register where the light is coming from, but there appears to be no source, it is simply relentless in its take over of every corner of my prison.

At first there is only light surrounding me, revealing every inch of my skin as I attempt to shy away from the unyielding brightness that illuminates my cell. Then there is shadow, which comes in waves as the water responds to my uncontrollable shivering. The shadows appear as though they are coming towards me on the ripples of the water, but my brain slowly registers that the shadow itself must be coming closer to the edge of the tank. I cannot be sure, for I can’t reach the glass that would reveal this answer to my weary mind.

Hours could have passed but my mind is drained, and my body fatigued and can bear no register of time. Hours, minutes, seconds or even days later I can just see the shape of a wavering figure, warped by the water and the glass that separates us. Both fear and curiosity strike me simultaneously as I slowly realise that the answer for my capture may be within my grasp. Though my death must surely follow.

My captor is here.

I wish I had not woken.

I wish I had screamed.

I wish the oxygen had failed.

I wish.

I scream.

Memory.

Freckles of light are dancing through the sun-dappled leaves; the sun is pushing itself through the webs of the trees web of branches that mar the perfect blue sky. I can finally feel my high reaching my blood stream and I’m weightless once more, my thoughts floating in the wind with the leaves. I can hear the giggles of those lying on the soft ground around me as if in another realm, echoing so lightly it’s as though they are shadows of words already spoken. I feel as though I am suspended in time, the high of the drugs, the alcohol and the cigarettes mingling with my mind to take me higher. We are together. But our minds are in the ether, hanging separately in a world not our own, but of our own imaginations.

Laughter permeates the air as each breath brings about new joy, and new memories. A moment of pure perfection, one of innocent charm and wonder. But one with a limited amount of time on the clock, the seconds are already ticking by, quickly now, and faster still. The sun will be rising soon and the high will begin to fade, the drugs have run out, and the alcohol has run dry, the cigarettes have been smoked and soon we must return to our reality. Their voices are coming back to me now, louder and louder until I’m no longer in the limbo I crave, and my suspension in the sky is no longer possible.

I long for the day when I can float in oblivion without having to be dragged down to earth again. But my memories fight their way free and rampage into the darkest corners of my mind, raking their fingers over old wounds. The monsters are lying in wait to take a hold of me again; they want to pull me into the hole where the nightmares live. And the high that is permeating my brain can only push them away for so long. I find myself longing for a new release upon my arrival back into the world of truth. The drugs have left my system now and I am left empty once more. I need more. Something better. Something stronger.

--

Anger, grief, guilt, fear, sorrow, wrath; they whirl within me, fighting for dominance and desperately clawing toward the surface. But none shall escape; they remain bubbling at the surface, waiting to explode or be filtered out by yet another high. Reality has set in, and once more I am holding myself down, forcing restraints across the wrists of the swirling thoughts in my head.

Instead splashes of blood splatter the skin of my thighs, my ribs, my arms and my hands. Red scars my vision as the pain holds me upright, pushing through heaviness that rests on my chest. The second the blade rains down is my release, it holds peace in its grasp as it holds me tight before letting me go all over again. The swift nick of savagery upon my skin acts as my blessing from the whirlwind that acts as my thoughts. Only numbness and hurried swipes of the razor hold my sanity now.

--

When my eyes shut upon the world I can still see the dancing light above me, creeping through the low shade of the leafy canopy overhead. Smoke trails twisting in the air, unravelling from the cigarette between my fingers, lingering in the air like forgotten dreams. They twirl in the sky reaching ever higher, curling into the heavens I long to embrace. When my eyes are shut, and the blade is singing its release I can find my way back there, to the place where the high is the only thing rampaging across my mind. Escape still remains a dream shadowed in the back of my mind, beneath the twisting roars of the memories that still remain.

The poison spreads across my conscious, unrelenting, only staying at bay for the seconds I can claw back to me. I find myself longing for moments of wretched relief. I long for the enchantments that rule my mind to break, to free me, to let me remain in this moment of freedom. I long for the high to last forever, for the buzz of the alcohol to hold me above all else, but instead I find myself lost amongst the leaves in my dreams. Running through the forests that tower above me, they tower within the walls of my mind as they make the monsters small again. For seconds at a time I’m suspended, held up by the lashings I inflict upon myself. But it remains that I must linger in reality until my fantasies can fly me away from the nightmares that rule my thoughts.

Within These Walls.

Echoing screams call out from the shadowed ruin,

A once glorious tower lurks.

Souls crawl between the cracks,

Beckoning new visitors, yearning.

Emergency lights flicker

And rats rule the halls.

Plush red carpets are no longer,

Ragged remains are aplenty.

Children’s cries resonate still,

Happy shrieks as they run the halls,

Haunted howls of fear and pain

They have wept, they have laughed.

Women’s laughter rings true,

Bells of absolute happiness,

Of honeymooning lovers,

And false tones of the whore.

Men’s voices boom through

Scolding children, and wives alike.

Loving caresses, contrasted with

Furious blows.

Nothing is missed by them,

Blood has rained down.

Fire has roared through its halls

Children have been made upon its floors.

They haunt the skyline now,

Forgotten, but still bearing down

On those who have forgotten

The memories it still holds dear.

Untitled.

Whistling trees curling branches around the wind;

Heavy with heart and rain.

Pushing their branches to the sky

Straining for new heights, new leaves.

Yearning for the rays of rebirth;

A desire for reunion.

Returning love, growing from roots to branch end.

Stretching for that comforting push

Of leaves flowering on branch ends.

With the return of promise;

Of renewed contact.

Standing, beaten, woven, tall.

Dappled rays fanning its growth,

From speechless to mighty.

Always reaching.

Pouring strength to its roots,

Feeding with caresses of wisdom

And precious understanding.

Leaves fall away,

Returning termly.

Never forgetting

Still reaching, still fighting,

Inspired saplings, following.

Rising.

Wonder

Reach for the stars that have evaded you,

Reach for the light that fades from you.

Reach for the summit that shrinks from you,

Reach until your body gives in

– until the sun brushes your fingertips.

Climb for the new beginning that has been granted,

Climb for the new life you fought for.

Climb for that fairytale ending,

Climb until you have found that freedom

- until you hold your dreams in the palm of your hand.

Fight for the power you lost,

Fight for that breath you needed.

Fight for the redemption you deserve,

Fight until your body is weary

- until you have broken down the walls.

Release all that haunts you,

Release those blind to realities truth.

Release your tainted heart,

Release and let the light back in

- until your heart is reborn anew.

Dance through the world that beckons you,

Dance around those trying to claw you back.

Dance to feel the sun upon your skin,

Dance and embrace the change of your singing heart

- until your feet carry you into a new world of fresh dreams.

Breathe the air of an untainted future,

Breathe in your future of smiles.

Breathe through the pain and the heartache,

Breathe, deep until your last

- until every scar heals.