Writing Blocks

[sothatwasmylife]

Looking for Lilith

A rusty drooping barbed wire fence ran alongside the left hand side of the river leaving a more or less flat banking as a walkway..the river itself wasn't particularly broad 6metres or so but in spate it encrouched onto half of the walkway..Lilith had just driven..got in her little car and just driven..she wanted to put distance between her and her unhappyness, she had been driving numbed, for several hours when she spotted the small stone built bridge...she was stiff from driving, her back and shoulders felt like metal plate implants..she desperately needed to stretch her legs and feel the air the cold damp air that rose from the river looked delectable..
The river ran amber in flood...forming heavy sediment filled rapids the consistency of marmalade, along one side of the river where the waters thoughtless enthusiasm was constrained by a high wall, it formed eddieing pools that slowly spiraled sedately arround creating areas of flat slick water.. Saturation was everywhere, in the trees, and all the vegetation that grew along the river bank..water dripped, and leaden engorged beads of it splashed onto the ground and spilled out onto the surface absorbed into the sponge of the earth. The sodden mist hung virtually static in the air..wisps of it leaching under jackets and tendril's fingering their way into the cold numbed bottom of gumboots..the only part of Lilith that was warm was her head ..covered by a thick woolen hat and insulated by her hair...Lilith could only make slow progress on the squelching ground her gumboots sinking a little with each footfall but that was ok while she was negotiating the ground...seeking out those areas that were a little firmer ...her mind was less inclined to try to consume itself...dawn crept up announcing itself to her mind quite abruptly..she felt a little better but her head hurt and her eyes felt like they had been compressed back into her skull...just walk she told herself..just walk and you can walk away from all the ****.

 

[sothatwasmylife]

Away from all the ****, all the people that only really wanted to unload their **** on you..**** them...**** them all, **** them and their ****..she thought loudly in her own head. Lilith had grown somewhat cynical of late, not embittered, life's lessons were finally taking root and she was going to do her best to make them flourish...so **** them, and **** their **** she concluded and laughed a free and self approving laugh out loud accompanied by a spontaneous spray of spit.
The morning had warmed up and barely a few wisps of mist floated like phantoms above the river..following the river bank still using the firmer earth techneque that she had devised, Lilith found what had been a restricted area of walkway opening out into a very large, quite flat open area that seemed to stretch for miles. Distant trees marched like soldiers across the landscape...Lilith assumed these must be windbreaks, and close to she could see areas of tall grasses and ferns and what she thought may be Rosebay Willowherb...areas unscathed by browsing animals...the mobile white haystacks she could see in the distance.
Lilith became aware that her thoughts were being projected outward not inwardly clamoring for attention bouncing off one another in what sometimes felt like some kind of Hadrons collider

 

[SophiaGrace]

She stretched her arms out towards the sky, her breath puffing clouds of small mists into the air in front of her. She was glad that the things which troubled her had been left behind. Her body began to relax as she continued to walk onto the flat open area.

For a long while, Lillith had felt empty and alone. Used by her friends, she had no one to confide in, and had begun to feel as if she were withering away into a husk.

Pulling up her collar, she continued on until, at some point in the flat open area, she sat down. Yes, the ground was moist and damp, but nobody had ever died from this, and quite frankly she didn't give a darn whether she did get sick anyways. Being sick in the head was a whole lot worse than a little cough and sniffle.

Trailing her finger in the mud beside her, she began to draw a crude representation of the sun. A circle, and some straight lines leading away from it to represent its rays. She supposed she wished it were sunny out. A small resigned sigh escaped her.

 

[sothatwasmylife]

A sigh that would very soon be unexpectedly stifled by the appearance of a tall scrawny man, dressed in clothing more suited to a bygone era...a black top hat sporting a ribbon band...a long snugly fitting topcoat....and unremarkable trousers which terminated in mud caked spats. Lilith had been so completely absorbed in her own thoughts that she had been oblivious of his approach.He was advancing on her gradually and with some difficulty as he didn't seem to be particularly stable on his feet, which given the slippery nature of the sodden ground and his completely inappropriate footwear was unsurprising. Lilith got slowly and stiffly to her feet..sitting on the ground she decided had been quite rash as her rear end had effectively acted as a sponge and she was wet through....Lilith felt awkward rather than fearful..standing next to a radial sun design she had drawn in the mud with a muddy water saturated backside...she felt he could only conclude that she was a madwoman...and at the precise time she would have been forgiven for doubting her own sanity....this was a very pecular encounter..after a torturous period of time the tall oddly dressed man stood only a short distance from her and seemingly his attention not in any way drawn to her but to her design sculpted in the mud...for some time he simply stood stock still. staring deeply into the design as if it contained so much more than was actually visible...without a word of warning he suddenly launched himself like some ludicrous bespatted grasshopper into the centre of the design and promptly vanished.

 

[sothatwasmylife]

Only to reappear some 18" away, barely outside the perimeter of the design...looking a little more alert than when he'd vanished and generally better composed but in every other respect completely unchanged. Lilith felt unable to react in any profound way, of course there were elements of disbelief, and real concerns about her sanity, but her frame of mind over the last few months had led her to a place where the events she at least imagined she had just witnessed failed to impact on her with any significant force.
"Good morning" he said his tone was quite chirpy..He had every appearance of being very amiable and was obviously quite happy to recognise Lilith's existence...which he had totally overlooked prior to leaping into the centre of her design. "Your probably wondering about me jumping" he said. So it was for real thought Lilith...."er it seemed very strange, you seem very strange I mean I'm not trying to be ....but surely you can ....it's just so strange" well your right ? he hesitated expectantly, Lilith looked a bit askance but collecting her wits and picking up the cue said "Lilith". .."Charmed, and what a charming name Lilith. ..Jhon...that's me ,Jhon Goodshore I live in that cottage over there"...he pointed into the distance behind him.
But your very very wet said Jhon with real concern. not good for you to be walking around in such wet clothing..catch your death..catch your death, he trailed off into silence and looked very thoughtful before saying "jump" " jump "echoed Lilith "Yes just jump in there" said Jhon Goodshore with complete conviction

 

[sothatwasmylife]

Only to reappear some 18" away, barely outside the perimeter of the design...looking a little more alert than when he'd vanished and generally better composed but in every other respect completely unchanged. Lilith felt unable to react in any profound way, of course there were elements of disbelief, and real concerns about her sanity, but her frame of mind over the last few months had led her to a place where the events she at least imagined she had just witnessed failed to impact on her with any significant force.
"Good morning" he said his tone was quite chirpy..He had every appearance of being very amiable and was obviously quite happy to recognise Lilith's existence...which he had totally overlooked prior to leaping into the centre of her design. "Your probably wondering about me jumping" he said. So it was for real thought Lilith...."er it seemed very strange, you seem very strange I mean I'm not trying to be ....but surely you can ....it's just so strange" well your right ? he hesitated expectantly, Lilith looked a bit askance but collecting her wits and picking up the cue said "Lilith". .."Charmed, and what a charming name Lilith. ..Jhon...that's me ,Jhon Goodshore I live in that cottage over there"...he pointed into the distance behind him.
But your very very wet said Jhon with real concern. not good for you to be walking around in such wet clothing..catch your death..catch your death, he trailed off into silence and looked very thoughtful before saying "jump" " jump "echoed Lilith "Yes just jump in there" said Jhon Goodshore with complete conviction
So as the day progressed toward noon, the vegetation having lost at least enough of it's watery burden to stand upright and a fat brown trout attempted to drown a grasshopper which had inadvertantly landed in one of the areas of slack water Lilith for no good reason jumped with determination into the muddy mess that contained her now barely recognisable symbol.

 

[SophiaGrace]

And suddenly Lillith was no longer by the stream. Instead, she was whirling through this vortex of a tingling streaming liquid-like substance. The bubbles in it, catching on her earlobe, and tickling her nose. She streamed downward, through the shimmering substance. Half-terrified and horribly disoriented until she felt her body slow to a stop…as if it were suspended. Her whole body tingled, and her ears only heard silence….


Slowly the bubbles began to dissapear, the veil was unweaving itself, shimmering back into reality…as she realized she was in the interior of a dark wooden cabin.

 

[sothatwasmylife]

Hadn't foreseen that...that's pretty cool

 

[Blue Bob]

Lilith slowly turned a full circle taking in her surroundings. The room was small and rectangular, but not confining. Three of the walls were lined with windows showing the wooded area outside. On one end of the room there was a rustic kitchen with free standing cabinetry, a wood fire stove, and a hand pump at the sink. Dishes stood in a rack as if freshly washed. A table and three chairs sat empty in the center of the kitchen. A door, presumably the front door to the outside, stood in the center of one of the long walls. Opposite the door sat a pot belly stove atop a rock slab. Along the wall opposite the kitchen was a small bed. More so a cot than a bed. A heavily ornamented armoire stood along the back wall. Its doors open exposing the dressing mirrors on their back sides. Lilith moved toward the armoire to inspect the contents when her eyes were drawn to a portrait hanging beside it. She froze.

 

[sothatwasmylife]

It was unmistakably a portrait and recent at that, executed well but by a less experienced artist, in what to her eye looked like oil paints...she had recognised that particular luminosity they possessed from her art college days...a good likeness of Nick Glegg the leader of the now more or less non existent UK Liberal party..

The same Nick Glegg that had renaiged on funded education and had led to her current sorry circumstances...it seemed just so incongruous ,Nick Clegg adorning the wall of a cottage? surrounded by what were obviously period furnishings....it made absolutely no sense...she bolted for the door opened it pushed through and found herself standing a little way beyond her departing jump...she was absolutely dry...just a crust of dry mud to bear witness to her previous discomfort...

Jhon Goodshore nodded approvingly balalancing his top hat with the flat of his hand..."see your dry now...you could've gone down something really nasty...so wet could've caught your death" "it's the seam you see ..the seam of small but significant events"..."the seam of small but significant events" repeated Lilith as if in a trance."yes" said john...they all say it's very incongruous... "Nick Clegg was it ?"he inquired knowingly.."that bugger gets everywhere" he said.."but it was bizzare said Lilith so many strange sensations and this strange place...it was like a cabin... or a cottage, my head is just....it was...strange, and real and supernatural and then Nick Clegg.". .

"I know said Jhon I know it doesn't have any real explanation but let me try to put it like this...people like yourself like me four years ,ago come here with a head full of worries and sooner or later they start to make the same marks you made today...it's like because of all the worry they can pinpoint the seam , I think at first people just accidently fell into it...you know they were just looking at the marks left by someone and then that was it...they didn't know what had happened because nothing seemed to have happened..but it had , maybe a torn coat was ok now, or someone without a warm hat suddenly had a hat but thought they just didn't remember putting it on...small things.."why did you jump then asked Lilith"..."when you've jumped a few times you get to smell it ....

When someone makes the marks you can smell them....from a long way..from my cottage that's why I came and jumped...you never know what the gift will be....but it's not just the gift it gets addictive when you smell the seam you want to jump...it's different every time...it's always different ...it's good.....it's 'knowing' of sorts...

My hat your probably wondering"... "well yes" said Lilith "and your spats you were slipping and sliding everywhere"...."well that's my 'knowing' Lilith the top hat reminds me that I've got stature in the world"..."but only if you wear the hat said Lilith.."that's it you see "Jhon said "only if I wear the hat" " and the spats" poised Lilith..."the spats don't help at all just slip and slide you saw that" .."well exactly" said Lilith.."well that's it you see I create my own things to deal with sort of make problems for myself you see". "but why "said Lilith..."so I can stop them, I don't always wear the spats...I've got heavy boots with souls like this"...he showed Lilith index and thumb with an inch and a half of empty space between them.."really thick heavy boots"

 

[Blue Bob]

Lilith turned and walked in the direction she believed her car to be. John immediately fell in step at her side. As they neared the river their path was obstructed by a multitude of water puddles. John rushed forward, leapt high in the air and did an insane can opener entry into one of the puddles. When he didn’t resurface Lilith thought it strange because the puddle didn’t seem to be that deep. She proceeded on her way skirting the puddles the best she could. Several minutes later Lilith was seated in her car. She reached into the center console and removed a small tin. She opens the tin and thinks out loud, “Next time I do LSD there’s gotta be a designated driver.” From the rear seat she hears John exclaim "I'll drive!"

 

[sothatwasmylife]

Thanks Blue Bob.....are you going to start the next storyline ?

 

[sothatwasmylife]

Thanks Blue Bob.....are you going to start the next storyline ?

To be honest I didn't want to end it so abruptly...and kind of think it's got more to explore...so am going to pick it back up from the previous block and maybe you might like to create an entirely new storyline with it's own title ?

---

In Search of Lilith Continued from block 30 omitting blocks 31,32,33.

 

[sothatwasmylife]

Continued from post 30
Lilith could almost see some logic...he was without any doubt eccentric but she was fairly sure he wasn't dangerously deranged..after all she had just had an extremely strange experience and where she had been so uncomfortably saturated..she was now completely dry. And if she thought about his views on the hat and the spats..maybe you could even arrive at the conclusion that it made some kind of sense.

Lilith acknowledged that the soles of his boots...were indeed very thick..simply by nodding sagely, which entirely satisfied Jhon...It occurred to Lilith that she seemed to be engaging with things external to her, her mind had been completely distracted from it's usual internal vendetta's...it felt like a relief... pretty insane but a relief non the less

The day was drawing in to itself and there was a chill in the air....her internal voice suggested she return to her car, but Jhon suggested she go along with him and stay at his cottage...."it'll be dark by the time you get back to the road said Jhon and why? Lilith thought why? herself, she had nothing she wanted to go back to.

She had become so consumed by the hurt in her life...did it really matter if she was killed in the night by this madman in his top hat and spates....he could maybe be doing her a favour..Lilith took a good long hard look at Jhon and felt there was not that much likelihood of him butchering her with a kitchen knife...He just seemed to have his own gentle preoccupations and even though today had been seriously weird..Jhon had been nothing but amiable..had she actually found a friend .a particularly strange friend but maybe one she would like to to know a little better

And walking or rather Lilith walking and Jhon seeming to skate, but very badly they turned their backs to the road and walked slowly and talking comfortably into the expance beyond the river banking..the ground here was much firmer and Jhon was able to actually walk in as normal a fashion as Lilith would wish...although she still found the top hat a quandry

It's about a mile said Jhon...to my cottage he added...you see the line of trees..the first line...my cottage is just tucked behind it...it gives shelter from the winds you see..."but it's so remote, isolated "said Lilith "how on earth did you find it"...."well I rent it with my labor, we all do..it's ....like a landowner we give labor to...anyone finds the seam they get the offer you see"...."the offer" said Lilith...yes said Jhon "somewhere to be...a cottage"..."how many cottages are their then ?"asked Lilith..."fifteen I think so far ...yes 15 or so", "and you all ....you all give labor for them"....yes said Jhon...but you can see for yourself tomorrow..."what about my car' said Lilith..".if you take the offer you won't worry about it no one seems to at all...loads of them back on the road, they get rid of them when they start to rust up you see Lilith"

 

[sothatwasmylife]

"And what happens....to the errmm seam..."realizing with some astonishment that it was ,....that it had become a reality and she was now making enquires about it.
Lilith wondered if it was likely she would wake up very shortly, alone in her sterile untidy flat feeling utterly bereft of all hope as usual....but this was vivid, this felt real....Jhon walking at her side almost giving the impression his top hat was leading the way...the top hat that made a statement about stature and of course it did,

She just didn't know what the statement was and wondered if Jhon did...she looked around at her surroundings rolling grassland bathed in wedges of evening shade , a line of trees some clothed in autumnal colors, close to the river only partially muted it's heavy spate, birds Lilith thought they were crows, their wings like black tattered rags as they vied for position in the tree tops...there were areas similar to the ones she had seen previously , ungrazed and supporting a variety of plants..some very tall...but they were quite distant and in the failing light it was difficult to make out any detail..

They were far from the riverbank walkway now and the tree line Jhon had spoken of was far more defined against the sky.."Not far now" said Jhon his voice unexpectedly intruding on her thoughts.."oh good said Lilith I'm getting really tired" when was the last time she had been this tired from physical activity Lilith couldn't remember she was whacked like she could sleep for a week.
"The seam just goes, once all the marks go, washed off by the rain, it's just ground"
"and can I make the marks wh...."Jhon anticipated what she was going to say..like a conversation that was very familiar to him...."maybe one more time but I don't think so..if you stay, it's all the worry and fear that guides people to make the marks and right now Lilith you just look really tired."

 

[sothatwasmylife]

Jhon suggested they stepped up their pace, and this seemed to give Lilith a second wind and shake off some of the fatigue..marching along side by side in silence they shortly after arrived at a group of deciduous trees colored with tones of red ,purple and mottled yellow's ,they stood before a roughly hewn archway installed between two trees (which had been clear stemmed to a height of six feet or so )and formed a sort of entrance porch.
Lilith looked uncertain ,but Jhon with a cavalier wave of his hand simply ushered her forward

 

[FauxReaL]

I wrote this about my experience with a girl named Alice. It went sort of went sour. It's a hyprid of rap and poetry. Metre isn't great. Over all needs work.

Why try?
It seems existence is hi-fi --

Miramax.
It's.
Vision through a starin' glass
It's vixen induced parallax

The sly guy's mind's eye
is broken- open, goin Alcatraz

While the fly bride rides high
ropin', elopin', on slopin' sierra pass

He's caught up in dem eras past.
why elll dreadin' his epitaph

like survivals an epic task.

-
She been typin' paragraphs
trapped in a NY terrace flat.

That type to go all kerouac
hitchhikin' to fairafax.

Riding off on camel back.
nary a care or flare dispatched.

Told her beware of dat bandersnatch

The hellion snapped.
She's bellowing gasps-

Staring aghast,
as her hands detached,

guessin' advice ain't
his handicraft.

Just tryna to live his life,
so he keeps on standin back

Wearing mirrored masks
tryna to disappear from fear
in never lastin' beer and flasks

but alas it seems he, can't relax.

 

[Blue Bob]

Thanks Blue Bob.....are you going to start the next storyline ?

Ok I’ll give it a try.

The story name is

“Lilith seams to get her way”

It continues from post #31

Lilith takes an Altoid from the tin and chews it aggressively. She looks in her rear view mirror and her eyes meet John’s. “No, that’s ok.” She says, “I’m not taking any more LSD, but I do think I’m having a flash back.”
“How’s that?” asks John.
“Back in college my friend Nick gave me LSD and I was tripping all over campus. I was in the library, then the dorms, then the pool, then back in the library. I was freaking out so bad I got kicked out of college. I know it was that damn librarian’s fault and she’s the one that gave me the LSD.”
“The librarian gave you LSD? Seriously? What did it look like?” asks John.
“It was white, flat, and circular with a hole in the middle like a life saver candy.” she says. “Look, I still have some.” Lilith reaches in the glove box and pulls out a pencil bag. Through its transparent side John can see pencils, pens, paper clips and notebook paper reinforcers. “Look, I have four more” she says as she points to the reinforcers.
John says “Those look like paper reinforcers to me.”
“I believe that!” exclaims Lilith, “One side is sticky and it got stuck to the roof of my mouth and I was tripping real bad! I just now imagined that I was in a cabin and Nick was in a painting on the wall! What’s going on?” she asks.
“No Lilith” John explains “You’re not tripping on LSD. You’ve been what I call jumping. You’re a jumper like me. You can jump into the seam of time and space and travel to another place. The reinforcer is just a crutch so to speak. Like a placebo. You don’t need it. You can just borrow the will of another like you did Nick and earlier you did me. Soon you’ll be jumping on your own. Can you smell the seam?”
“I don’t smell anything, but this metallic taste in my mouth is nasty!” she says and sticks her tongue out in disgust.
Looking at John in her rear view mirror she remarks “You look tired without your hat on.” John shakes his head and replies “I haven’t worn a hat in a long time.”
John opens the car door and steps outside. Leaning back in he says “Next time you see me will be the first time I see you.” He closes the door, walks quickly to the bridge, and jumps over the side to the water below.
Lilith takes another mint from the tin and chomps on it.