Untitled - Summer 2004
Inspiration hits everyone in different ways. Sometimes what can inspire a person does not even need to pertain directly to the product of the inspiration. Poets do not necessarily write about their muse, but the muse simply arouses the poetry from within.
Over a family vacation in the summer of 2004, I listened to Evanescence's "My Immortal" and a whole story erupted in my mind. The plot was inspired by the musical composicion of the song, not necessarily its words. I envisaged the character so deeply, that I almost began to cry as I wrote the words on the page.
I have revised the piece over the years, but I do not doubt that this is not the final copy. Enjoy and leave a comment. If you would wish to listen to the song as you read, copy "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxQrPXPSVhQ" into another window to have the YouTube music video playing in the background.
Over a family vacation in the summer of 2004, I listened to Evanescence's "My Immortal" and a whole story erupted in my mind. The plot was inspired by the musical composicion of the song, not necessarily its words. I envisaged the character so deeply, that I almost began to cry as I wrote the words on the page.
I have revised the piece over the years, but I do not doubt that this is not the final copy. Enjoy and leave a comment. If you would wish to listen to the song as you read, copy "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxQrPXPSVhQ" into another window to have the YouTube music video playing in the background.
***
Untitled – Summer 2004
Laramie held Ryan in her arms. His limp body weighed her down as she sank to her knees in grief. She stared into his dark, mysterious eyes as the tears from her own crystal eyes splashed upon his pale face. As he gasped for breath, she scanned his wound. It looked like it penetrated deep into his chest.
Her soft fingers caressed Ryan’s drained and dirty face. “I’m with you. It is okay. We’re going to make it,” Laramie said as she thought the very opposite.
A darkness loomed in her heart that had been instilled from the years of endless nightmares. As her mind flashed to the recurring nightmare, she realized she was now living the nightmare she had always struggled with. The passage of woods, the pressing fear, the sound of impending danger; all these abstract remembrances flowed back into her mind and flooded all of the desperate thoughts of survival, which drowned her hope.
Ryan’s gasp of consciousness and the sound of the advancing attackers’ feet caught her attention again. She gazed into his tearing eyes as he struggled to raise his hand around her neck. Laramie’s crying turned to wretched gasps and she lowered her head next to his. From the corner of her eye she saw the attackers forming a circle around Ryan and her.
Ryan cared not for the surroundings but focused all his labor on whispering the words “I love you” into her ear. He gave the devotion of his heart the faintest kiss upon her ear. Ryan’s head then slumped back against Laramie’s arm.
Laramie’s heart lurched in her chest as she let out one sob of agony as she realized her nightmare was coming true. Now it was her time to die. She wanted to lie down and die beside her love. As she reached for Ryan’s sword that lay on the other side, something whispered in the back of her head, “This is not your destiny.” Her hand paused at the handle of her self inflicted death as a surge of sadness, anger, and strength tingled through her body. Her ring glinted in an unseen light.
Laramie’s tears continued to fall as she grasped the sword and instead of plunging it into her own heart, she rose defiantly in the center of the circle. Laramie raised the sword to the axis of her face and pierced each of the attackers’ souls with the power in her eyes. She yelled as she lunged at the nearest knight and attacked him. With unknown skill, she ably fought and killed each of the knights.
As they swung their swords, she would block each swipe before she would even know it. As her fighting continued, she glanced back to see a strange beast dragging Ryan’s body away.
The distraction kept her from blocking the next blow and it grazed across her back. She yelped with pain and came back to her senses. The anger flared in her eyes as she recognized the attacker who delivered Ryan’s fatal blow. A stare down lasted for a moment in reality, but held the strength of eternity. With a smirk of pride of his face, the last attacker readied his sword and started upon her. Laramie’s smoldering rage unleashed its fullest force upon the throat of the final combatant. The slice severed his head from his neck.
Laramie stopped dead upon the body’s spastic descend to the ground. She looked around at all the bodies strewn around her and she glanced down at her bloodied clothes. Scarlet beads of blood dripped from the white lace.
Abruptly, all her strength drained from her body and out her fingers. Ryan’s sword dropped from her hands and she fell onto her previous spot sobbing from anguish, pain, and fatigue; too tired to even clutch her own body. With a sharp pain against the back of her head, Laramie fell unconscious.
Laramie held Ryan in her arms. His limp body weighed her down as she sank to her knees in grief. She stared into his dark, mysterious eyes as the tears from her own crystal eyes splashed upon his pale face. As he gasped for breath, she scanned his wound. It looked like it penetrated deep into his chest.
Her soft fingers caressed Ryan’s drained and dirty face. “I’m with you. It is okay. We’re going to make it,” Laramie said as she thought the very opposite.
A darkness loomed in her heart that had been instilled from the years of endless nightmares. As her mind flashed to the recurring nightmare, she realized she was now living the nightmare she had always struggled with. The passage of woods, the pressing fear, the sound of impending danger; all these abstract remembrances flowed back into her mind and flooded all of the desperate thoughts of survival, which drowned her hope.
Ryan’s gasp of consciousness and the sound of the advancing attackers’ feet caught her attention again. She gazed into his tearing eyes as he struggled to raise his hand around her neck. Laramie’s crying turned to wretched gasps and she lowered her head next to his. From the corner of her eye she saw the attackers forming a circle around Ryan and her.
Ryan cared not for the surroundings but focused all his labor on whispering the words “I love you” into her ear. He gave the devotion of his heart the faintest kiss upon her ear. Ryan’s head then slumped back against Laramie’s arm.
Laramie’s heart lurched in her chest as she let out one sob of agony as she realized her nightmare was coming true. Now it was her time to die. She wanted to lie down and die beside her love. As she reached for Ryan’s sword that lay on the other side, something whispered in the back of her head, “This is not your destiny.” Her hand paused at the handle of her self inflicted death as a surge of sadness, anger, and strength tingled through her body. Her ring glinted in an unseen light.
Laramie’s tears continued to fall as she grasped the sword and instead of plunging it into her own heart, she rose defiantly in the center of the circle. Laramie raised the sword to the axis of her face and pierced each of the attackers’ souls with the power in her eyes. She yelled as she lunged at the nearest knight and attacked him. With unknown skill, she ably fought and killed each of the knights.
As they swung their swords, she would block each swipe before she would even know it. As her fighting continued, she glanced back to see a strange beast dragging Ryan’s body away.
The distraction kept her from blocking the next blow and it grazed across her back. She yelped with pain and came back to her senses. The anger flared in her eyes as she recognized the attacker who delivered Ryan’s fatal blow. A stare down lasted for a moment in reality, but held the strength of eternity. With a smirk of pride of his face, the last attacker readied his sword and started upon her. Laramie’s smoldering rage unleashed its fullest force upon the throat of the final combatant. The slice severed his head from his neck.
Laramie stopped dead upon the body’s spastic descend to the ground. She looked around at all the bodies strewn around her and she glanced down at her bloodied clothes. Scarlet beads of blood dripped from the white lace.
Abruptly, all her strength drained from her body and out her fingers. Ryan’s sword dropped from her hands and she fell onto her previous spot sobbing from anguish, pain, and fatigue; too tired to even clutch her own body. With a sharp pain against the back of her head, Laramie fell unconscious.
---
Leave a comment...
posted by bellevoce | 12:15 AM
7 Comments:
Author, author, you have me hooked. I need to know what beast dragged away Laramie's body and the mystic power you weilded to slay all those seasoned knights.
Ach! How does it end???
Wait... wasn't it Ryan's body that was dragged away? ;)
No poet am I, but being a composer I'm rather fond of talking about my muse. Unfortunately she's been rather drowned out lately by the crazy busyness of school...
Perhaps over the break I shall learn to hear her voice again.
AJ
<><
Elisabeth, this is great. Thanks for being so intense!
May I ask do you see yourself in the Heroin? Because you are strong, proactive and caring.
Thanks for writing a tactful story. I feel like I have tried to read fiction and its difficult for me to get into it, but reading this story makes it easier.
Great job!
-Mike Morabito
ps. what fiction would you recommend to read over winter break?
Hey, Bella. I'm tagging you in a game of blog tag. If you want to play, all you need to is post five things about yourself that are not commonly known. (See my list for examples: Ovations) Then you need to tag five other bloggers to keep the game going. So there. You're it!
Oh yeah, rock star you're a good editor. It's Ryan who got dragged away, not Laramie. My brain got it right, but my fingers typed it wrong.
Whoa, Mike, speaking of intense...
Did you mean to say "do you see yourself in the heroinE?" Because that would make sense; otherwise, our good friend Marge has some serious problems.
;)
And speaking of fiction, I'd recommend some FLANNERY O'CONNOR-- :p
AJ
<><
Ok, so AJ the editor did it again. Are you SURE you're not headed into publishing? Many of my writer friends are cross talented in music.
Flannery O'Connor is one of the finest authors of the 20th century, but I wonder if our Mike would enjoy something by John Irving. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY is one of my all time favorite books.
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