“Well, I was walking alone down my favorite road in Connemara. It's a good healthy walk, and I've often chanced it at night. I was just fine when the wind chilled down a bit and the quiet started to get the better of me. My hearing played tricks on me. I looked over my shoulder again and again, and when I finally realized I was acting an eejit, I noticed a lone tree out in a field. I stopped to admire its unusual beauty. My mind was distracted from my irrational fears while I stood and gawked at this tree. It was so...ah what's the word? Mystical!” I hesitated after glancing at Tony's twisted mug. He was hiding a laugh. Gen elbowed him in the side and urged me to continue.
“Anyway, the sky was a biteen gray still, and the tree stood out against it with a charcoal black color. I must have been standing there for quite some time because soon enough the sky was as dark as the tree, and the only way I could see it was by the stars that lit it up, but they only laid a glow down in the niches and nooks of the branches and down the sides of the trunk. I thought it was bizarre. Something about it wasn't right. A mist rose up around it, but I wasn't alarmed. Sure, the mist comes around often enough, doesn't it? But it hid the bottom of the tree, and crept up it like fingers. It reached out to me and covered my body up to my neck!” I was unconscious of my hands rubbing my neck until Tony cleared his thought. Embarrassed, I jerked my hand down and clumsily slammed it on the table knocking over my drink. Tony and I flew into a panic to save at least half of the drink, and thanks be to God, we did. I may not have been able to finish my story with such an obstacle before me. Thankfully I was able to resume.
“All I could see was the illuminated branches in the distance. It was still a class tree until I began to see little black figures crawling all over it. Well, first they were slow, reaching out tiny arms and pulling themselves further up the branches. More and more followed the lines of these little things. I don't know why I thought them frightening. It must have been they way in which they moved. It wasn't smooth like. It was jerky, like an old silent film. The black and white ones.” Tony was now listening intently with one hand holding up his head and the other gripping his pint tightly. Gen had completely neglected her drink and was squeezing Tony's arm. I was unsure if I should tell anymore, but they ate the head of me. “For feck sake! You can't leave the story hanging like that!” I refused at first. It became evident that my half of a pint was drained and I desperately needed to wet my whistle in order to continue, so Tony left and returned promptly with another pint. After I took a swallow and smacked my lips twice, I was revived enough to go on.
“Right, the little creatures filled up the branches quickly! They sat back on their haunches like miniature monkeys, but they weren't. They weren't any kind of monkey or any animal. I couldn't tell which way they were facing either! Then, when the last one had settled upon the bottom branch, they all stretched out fleshy wings as if on cue. All at the same time.” Gen gasped. Tony's free hand had moved up to cover his mouth. I never had such an appreciative audience before, so I straightened my back a little to emphasize the horror of my encounter.
“Yeah! Wings! They flapped hard, making a noise like a million, trillion birds swooping towards me. Then the screeching! For the love of God! I thought a banshee was screaming in my ear! I slapped my hands over my ears to drown out the noise but it was no use! And the mist moved at me in a whirl! Then, then...” I gasped and popped out my eyes. The memory was too fresh. Tony and Gen were holding their breath as well. When neither of them said anything for several seconds, I knew that was the perfect time to finish it off.
“The little demons came at me! Scratching, screeching, flapping. They tore at my face and deafened me with their cries! I managed to grab one and take a good look, but I couldn't believe my eyes! In my hand I was holding a wild, savage, biting faerie! It was a wee bald man about the size of my hand!” Tony spit out his mouthful of Guinness. Gen looked away. Both of them had faces as red as tomatoes. They must have been shocked with as much surprise as I had been. “I could feel the pain surging through me as their tiny claws dug into my skin. It was awful. I thought my last day had come when a bright light found me. Its brightness became more intense within a matter of seconds, and lucky I am because the little feckers abandoned me like a sinking boat! I couldn't see what the light was, but I was just as scared of it as I was of the faeries. My heart was in my throat. I fell to my knees and hid my eyes while praying as fervently as ever, but the sound of something going really fast swooshed past me and glory be to God! It was a car! Well sure, I wasn't going to wait around for the monsters to come back, so I found my legs and ran all the way here. A good four miles so it was. Lucky for me I ran into you two to keep me from going daft!”
Tony's face was hidden in his hands. His shoulders were shaking. I must have scared the living daylights out of him. Gen had a napkin up to her mouth and was, well, she was crying slightly. The poor girl is emotional after all. And in fairness my story was spine-chilling. Without a word the two just got up and left me there. They left in a hurry, still hiding their faces. They were making gagging sounds as well, as if trying to hold in their screams, I'm sure. What else would they be holding their mouths and stomachs for? The poor things. I didn't mean to run them off in fear. But they're a bit cracked if you ask me.
© Mikal Minarich
No comments:
Post a Comment