A tree falls

Prologue

Echoing doors. Frantic, pained voices. Worlds forgotten.
Lost. The consistent beat of a mechanical heart.
Sheets tightly tucked around her body. A second skin.
The choking smell of disinfectants. Lives forgotten.

Cold steel pressed against her. Coaxing voices begging life.
Voices threatening to waken her from a timeless dream.
Familiar voices forgotten. Dark hidden eyes:                                     
Feeding paranoia.

Hands squeezed by devious demons. Tempting her awake.
She lay still: terrified that one twitch would reveal her.
Everything confused. Forgotten. Her closed eyes flickered.
Trying to remember. Trying to remember.

Movements caused ripples. A river. Relieved shouts. "Sarah!"
Sarah's eyes opened slowly. Visions of pure horror.
Black. Burning redness: an overexposed photograph.
A reflection of the past horrors she had faced alone.
A clue to a forgotten enigma.

Misplaced Trust

Chapter one


         Demonic icy breathing murdered infant chanting. Her fists clenched as tainted blood gushed from her punctured skin .  Penetrating red eyes projected dark images deep inside her clouded retinas.
A reminder of terror that could not be removed. A thousand swords and hoofs echoed, as a voice boomed.

"Ultionis est mei" "Ultionis est mei" "Revenge is mine."

         Sarah's ordeal reflected upon the trembling Earth. She fell a thousand feet to the cold, hard floor as blood burst from cracked nails that dug deep into the tarmac. A serpent burrowed down to the depths of her stomach releasing its venom. Sarah became nauseous and the source of her uncontrolled vomiting could not pass her swollen throat. Fighting back against her attacker, she stumbled to relative safety.
         The fosset's cool water cleansed all sign of the attack. Water died away till there was naught but a trickle. She felt a ghostly presence in the room that left the hairs at the back of her neck on edge.
Then bang! The door slammed behind. Silence. A voice in an unknown tongue proclaimed he was her father and the legacy could not triumph. Limbs paralyzed. Sarah couldn't move, couldn't speak. She wept salty drops of crystal gems from deep green pools as reminiscences fused with mystifying imaginings.
         Like condensation, fog from her eyes washed away with her tears, and nothing. The room was empty. What had people been concealing from her? The amnesia cloud that fogged her past was overcast by a fool's sabotage. Her existence seemed little more than a single seed amid many choking thorns. She considered herself a paranoid Hamlet amidst a crowd of hidden prying eyes. Her father; no more than a memory forgotten. A secret with no voice. A world with no inhabitants. Who was this ghostly figure whose parental claim had greatly strained a fragile mind? Shattered matter was a surgeon's vice but broken thoughts was damage not easily repaired.
         "Sarah! Sarah!" an icy cry: floating upon the back of Zeus himself. The hollow echo of an empty corridor. Her mother. Overcome by foolish pride and dispassionate eyes, the legacy could triumph still. Is this what the hollow soul had intended to slay? Not a human creature but something as cold and mechanical as a clock. The uncomplicated "tick...tock...tick...tock" resembles the beat of a heart, except no one cries for a clock. Of sympathetic tongue and tearful demeanour, mother had put this mindset at ease with present consideration. However conformation had not yet passed. Tears of glass did not trickle down her pale cheeks but sat like a raconteur utterance. Every syllable suspiciously located for greater emotional significance.
         The stale smell of failed dreams that hung in the air signified that Sarah was home. Home? Home had become just a word, a name given to the lifeless shelter that imprisoned her. Her accident had progressively titled her a fragile dunce. Trust had been on the minds of few since awakening from that endless dream. The dream Sarah would have gladly continued had she known.  Sarah threw herself down upon her bed. This soft cushion, which connected her to her dreams, the only comfort she had left. As tears welled in her dry, tired eyes; her mind raced through past events. Each vision more clear and terrifying than the last. Sarah no longer had the comfort of turning to her mother, recent events had shown her the error of her misplaced trust.
         Rain beat against the badly framed windowpane. Ancient drums of forgotten tribes reminding us of their phantom presence. Howling winds squeezed through damp cracks. Shrill notes and blunt echoes. Thunderous roars of big cats from other worlds came together in a horribly harmonious rage. Black emptiness. Silence echoing across slate tiles, choking dust disturbed after one thousand years, flying demons searching blind corners.
         A hawk made nest upon her head digging its claws into every orifice. No drop of blood escaped her pale skin in consequence. The weight of the bird was the uneasy obstacle, as pressure built to unbearable regions. No help resulted as no one could see its growing rage. Lightening crossed her tired eyes leaving its embers to dance wildly behind pained corneas.
         Vibrations of a speeding chariot raced through bound limbs. Blindly tugging at restraints, branded skin burning messages of darkness. Darkness was familiar territory, a symptom of Hades choking grasp. The punishment for all humanities crimes inflicted on this one girl. She was burned with all life’s lessons. Every blow taken courageously. A sadistic psychopath confronted her tortured soul and bleeding heart: a familiar ghostly figure yet not distinguishable. Whose face belonged to that same terror that was locked inside the labyrinth of her mind?
         Breaking herself away from the nightmare, remnants of it haunted her still. Hiding in the shadowy corners of her room, these familiar demons lay waiting for a chance to wreak havoc once more. Muffled whispers that travelled from the rooms below left a stench in the room that could no longer be ignored. Her bed creaked with the burden of Sarah's terror and confusion. Coiled horror amid each spring. Sarah's trembling palm reached out and took hold of the cold, hard, metal lock. Electric raced through her fingertips awakening a rundown clock. Heartbeats. Warnings of unknown, with individual significance gone. Just a non-descript, low-pitched hum remained. As the door creaked open, her heart leapt to her throat, to find safe exit from this unknown world. A world filled with lies and deceit.
         Sarah began to descend the staircase as silently as possible. However, this was all in vain. As she took each step, the floor screamed in pain and anguish. Why? Why her? Silently she crept back to the solace of her room to become prisoner once more. However prisoner was no longer permanent, Sarah had a key. Blindness caused prior inflictions of sabotage, unknown changes left Sarah advantaged.

Hypnos draped his woven cloth upon her breast. Sarah fell into a deep... into a deathly sleep.

*****
         Sarah found herself at the foot of an old stone staircase carved into jagged cliffs. Above, a sun of gold reflecting lustrous rainbows against a raven's wings. Clambering up the staircase towards the blushing sunset staining the ebony sky, her psyche provoked uncertainty and understanding; a post-it of a few trivial words retelling the plot of a thousand pages. The stairway never ending, but with each stride, Sarah felt nearer to reality. Did she really want to go behind the twilight sun to the gloom beyond? In her mind she knew there was an easier course to take but fear and trepidation prevented her from departing the path she had already chosen. Her surroundings changed little during her ascent and no matter how quickly she climbed the staircase, she still had the same distance to go. Looking back, to Sarah, was not an option; she knew that behind was an even greater test than what lay before her. The timeless view mocked her futile ascent. The sun was taunting her with its persistent, unchanging flames. It's shallow beauty, a mask hiding a dangerous truth.  Soon the rhetoric caused her to falter. The dusty step, like the undisturbed moon, left a clear print of her small digits; a seal that would forever mark her place. As Sarah brushed herself down she caught an unwanted glimpse of the past. To her horror, the step she was on merely succeeded the first. Everything she had accomplished was all in vain. This, the test she had expected the moment she took her first pace, but still she was left unprepared.
         Remaining seated Sarah considered her surroundings. To her incredulity, she discovered that carved into the rocky hillside, enclosing the stairs, set a narrow cavern. Low ceilings threatened to crush all that braved its empty hallways. Light within only amounted to one firefly caught in an ancient spider’s web. As she waded through dark waters glittering eyes polluted the blackness. The further in she went, the more Sarah felt her skin pale as if it had forgotten the feel of the sun’s rays forever. Cruel shouts echoed through the hollow cave. Terrifying curses and frightened screams.
         As the shouts and screams blasted her frail person. Sarah was unable to answer their calls. She didn’t know how to answer them or which way to turn. No one was around to understand or attempt to understand her confusion or how scared she was. Her secret world locked her in a fantasy that was hard for her to separate from. People don’t have to be blind to not see things. Her original obstacle had escalated into something this frightened child could no longer bare.

*****

         Sarah lay still, unable to make sense of the dream. What was it trying to tell her? Was it trying to tell her anything? Her legs ached from the memory.

         The whispers from downstairs had stopped and the silence had gripped the street outside. Sarah climbed down from her bed and felt the soft carpet beneath her feet. As she crept towards the window she felt the warm, comforting floor become damp and prickly. Jurassic serpents tied back curtains of willow branches that framed her window. Icy winds howled from all directions. The ceiling raised high above her till it was lost. The stale air became engulfed by flowery scents. Behind; the door had gone and was replaced by glistening stone columns.
         Mountains around her fell into deep caverns leading to dark passageways choked with the scent of hortensia. Trees suffocated with serpent like vines. Bark etched with the faces of screaming children. Faint pathways long since deserted seemed to lead nowhere. Ancestral laughter appeared dark and twisted next to pale guitar strumming. The memories of a past race destined to replay like a veteran’s nostalgic mutterings. Although death was the only thing that loomed in this forbidden emptiness it was nothing compared to the loneliness and solitude of her forsaken home. Even the dreams that had once been on the verge of nightmares became nothing but endless nothings.  A silence louder than any bar room brawl could be heard creeping between the reeds.
         Amongst the rushers between the ancient columns she could see the suns reflection on the still water. Smooth pebbles awaited her bare feet as she gingerly stepped in. The water only reached her knees but the reeds were high and obscured her view. Fish gently brushed against her. The lake was long and tiresome