Rebecca Marriott
Days 11 - 20
Day 11
To go on a train is to enter into a world of noise and compression.
The people surrounding you seem unreal, like reflections of statues.
Everyone absorbed by their own thoughts.
Silent ghosts of the underground trapped in a perpetual journey.
You alone are real on this train. You can tell somehow.
Everyone else shimmers slightly but your hands still have that meaty
texture to them.
You ponder talking to these apparitions. What could they tell you?
Would they say nothing? Would they say too much.
These you wonder as you look up to notice a young woman sitting
opposite you staring.
She doesn’t shimmer. She too is real.
Why does this scare you more than the ghosts?
She smiles, her teeth as straight as tombstones and as white as chalk.
Day 12
They say the constant but faint ringing in your ears is a death toll.
They say you hear it when someone is going to die.
Someone is always going to die.
You may know them, they may know you.
They may be you.
You may die.
It is said that the ringing becomes unbearably loud when your time comes.
It is said the ringing stops when you die.
How loud is the ringing?
Has it stopped yet?
Have you never heard it?
Day 13
What if I told you that your shadow was alive?
What if I told you your shadow was once human?
Shadows are a form of ghost.
Stand outside, smell the fresh air and stare at your shadow.
Look for inconsistencies.
What clothes does it seem to wear?
Is your hair the same?
Walk up to a wall and stand with your shadow in front if you.
Look into your shadows eyes. See it stare back.
Take a single step forward.
Move on.
Day 14
Don’t be afraid of the sounds you hear at night, we only want to speak to you.
Don’t be afraid of our hands creeping over your windows, we only want to hold you.
Don’t be afraid of our glowing grins as you slip into sleep, we only happy to see you.
So happy
to see
you
Day 15
Some kids from class said they’d seen faces in the water.
Nobody took them seriously til the flooding came.
Worst in years, the national news said.
They didn’t talk about the faces we saw.
Cut it out of the interview clips.
Hid the danger from the public but nobody is safe now.
The hands came next.
Cold and slimy, grasping at everything near the water.
Grasping at everyone.
I reckon half of the people the "floods" claimed were dragged away by the hands.
I’m not sure what was worse.
At least the faces stayed under the water, smiling and laughing.
Finally we saw them whole.
Day 16
You are at your most vulnerable when you sleep.
You are easy prey when you’re drifting off.
Are you sure you’re alone?
Is your door closed?
Can you hear laughter?
You’re probably alone... but are you safe?
Imagine as you lay in bed unable to keep your eyes open any longer, you see a face.
Inches from your own and staring it grins down at you.
Jolting upright, it vanishes only to appear again when you squint.
Closer than before. Jaws open.
Day 17
Faces are strange.
Your mind ignored the faces of strangers around you and yet they appear in your dreams.
Your mind fixates on some faces so much that you become that face in your dreams.
You don’t even realise it.
Every being in your dreams is something you have seen in reality.
Every being.
Every monstrosity that tears you from sweet slumber with its warped features, sickly scent
and blood curdling screeches is based on something you’ve seen before.
Every friend-turned-creature is or was real.
You’ve seen them all.
Do you remember them?
They remember you.
Do you remember us?
We’ll see you tonight sweetheart.
Day 18
Look outside your windows at night.
See the shadows dancing over the light of the street lamps.
You assume its trees casting shadows but they are too circular.
They look more like rows of heads.
Heads bobbing along to some unknown beat.
Your heartbeat.
As your pulse quickens so do the heads.
They move closer.
They turn.
Day 19
In horrifying circumstances there’s rarely cause to look up.
How often do you look up?
The answer is not enough.
You have always been taught to look down.
Mistakes, mistakes.
Watch where you step. But not who’s above you.
How high up am I? We are higher still.
Look under my bed for monsters. Your room is filled with corners.
We wait for you to sleep.
LOOK UP
LOOK UP
LOOK UP
Day 20
Sometimes driving makes the journey seem longer.
Every turn in the road is an hour of your life.
Every roundabout is a step back as you gradually move towards your goal.
Night driving feels the longest.
Long empty roads where the car in front is a blinking red star in the distance
and you see no others behind or beside you.
Eventually you begin to doze off, gently drifting to sleep.
You jolt awake to find its sunrise and you’re miraculously still on the road.
Reaching your destination you find its nothing how you remember it to be.
Nothing looks the same but your navigator says you’re there.
Getting out and asking a nearby stranger they say your destination hasn’t
been there for many years.
You begin to panic, where have they gone? What’s happening?
You reach for your phone only to gasp at your wrinkled hands.
Running to the car and gazing into the mirror you see an old person staring back.
Sometimes driving makes the journey seem longer.
Sometimes things are exactly what they seem.