C2 Crack in the Stone (Alicia Chay)

I was relaxed. I hadn't been this relaxed in a very long time. It was the type of relaxation that felt like an extended vacation. I could tell by the way his fingers trembled that his heart was in the right place. Like he was afraid to check my vitals. I was too weak to leave. The concern that colored his lips relaxed me. I wasn't bound or gagged. I was free of chains and restraints, so those were signs that I was safe. He was worried about me. We didn’t know one another. His upper face was shaded so I couldn’t really see what he looked like.

There wasn't much light in here. Flames burned on wooden staffs along the rocky walls. The air was stuffy, but tolerable. Or maybe my eyes were half open, half closed because I didn't want to let him know that I was awake, but he did know, but he didn't seem to mind. He probably hadn't had company in ages. He looked like a loner. Hell, I was lonely by choice. I fell back asleep.

The Sandman brought more than just dreams, he taunted me with images from my past. There I was in Chad, Africa as a little girl with hazel eyes. Instead of believing I was special and worthy of Life and worthy of all the gifts waiting to unfold themselves before my young, veil-covered eyes...the lace was dreadfully snatched away the day I fell in love and gave my body to a man that was a self-proclaimed god and seducer of other women when I grew older. Of course I was young and naïve during those god-awful times. I didn’t know he slept with other women, women like me. He picked and chose them in secret and with discretion. The women Like Me were so enchanting they swore they’d remain silent and they had, discussing only amongst each other how good he was, and how deep he could go, and how many orgasms they could count.

Twenty women, all like me! From all over the Mother Land! Held their “congregation” deep in the forest, down by a huge, glimmering lake filled with fish and life and gorgeous flowers spreading for miles and as far as the eyes could see! A secret garden a few miles outside of my village, in a remote area we were warned and prohibited from seeking. And no one in the Village had broken those laws, except me, because I loved learning from the Land… One night I awakened with a start. I saw my friend’s mother, Larshaw, creeping from her hut.

There wasn’t a light source in sight, and the moon’s glow failed to reach the village that night, any other night the glow was strong enough to cast a seeing light that guided us in the remote darkness, since our village was 12 miles from Town and the Upper Market Place. Larshaw and I never really spoke to one another, because I was a teenager and she was an adult, and it was forbidden by the village to engage in chit chatter with an adult that wasn’t your parent, older brother or Elder. Elders could speak to whomever, and unfortunately they were the biggest quiet little whores in all the land. I loved my village, but the politics of it all overwhelmed me. I could hardly do a thing by myself. Even when I go to the marketplace a man of the village has to escort me.

Women were snatched along dirt roads framed with towering, hanging trees of hundreds of kinds, and disapprovingly deflowered along with their self-esteem and environmental teachings. I hear little murmurs that awakened me. I followed the sound, barefooted. I got myself and my drive, determination, arrogance and wit together, and boldly went after the gentle sound of what sounded like ecstasy or, or pleasure or whatever it was. Maybe the animals were mating, but the memory of Larshaw running into the mysterious forest contradicted the animal theory, and I treaded lightly, one foot over the other. I reached another break in the forest. The unraveled, winding path. Made of leaves and soft mulch; a path created from the number of times twenty pairs of feet followed it to where ever it lead. I paused as I came upon a life-sized cliff. I was two hundred feet above the earth.

Behind me lay the horror of a darkened forest with no light, creatures crawled, snakes slithering, rats roamed, something scarier than life itself lurked, seemingly. It danced on my sweaty, dirty skin. I followed the winding path to a large, gargantuan, made-of-the-finest wood-of-the-Forbidden-Trees-of-the-Forest bridge. It took my breath away. A real beauty, my blood rejoiced and I was wet down under. My mouth agape, I heard it, another voice. Proceed, my Curious Child, my Break the Rules Child, Cross the Bridge into Understanding. And I ran! I ran and I ran! Something was appearing over the horizon before me as the large bridge led me to an open portico made of nothing but flowers, the leaves from trees and branches and hanging Spanish moss. I slowed down and covered my mouth. It was gorgeous. Amazing. Resilient! I was caught off guard by the twenty women.

Loving each other. Touching. I awakened with a start, pushing away the memories. Before I knew it I burst into tears and he held me tight to his body. "It's okay, young lady. I don't know what you've been through, but you're safe here." His words didn't register in my brain. They didn't even make it to my ears. I wept. I let go. I snot cried. I cried so hard my body trembled remembering who I used to be. I refused to be what I was forced to be. I hesitantly moved forward in the darkness because the further I ventured, the darker it became. I didn't know how to deal with that. How did I live my life when I lost my life? How did I make something of the other side of this life if I didn't even want to let go of who I used to be. I loved my friends; I loved my family. I would even take the betrayal I went through in the midst of my transition over actually becoming what I transition into.

Slowly, we began to kiss. His lips were eager and cautious. When he pulled away from me, tucking a few long dangling curly naps behind my ear lobes, he suddenly screamed from fright, startling me, as he pushed me down and jumped three hundred feet backward over a pit of gatorsl. He swiftly landed on a cliff a hundred feet above. It was then I understood why his face was shaded.

“Why is your entire face covered in blood?" he asked, confused.

"My face is just fine. What are you talking about?"

"Blood is all over your face. My garments have your blood as well. I don’t even know if I can wash your purity from my fabrics. And I hate the smell of blood.”

“You don’t have a nose, so how is that possible. You don’t have a forehead, you don’t even have hair. So who are you to judge. As a matter of fact you resemble the totem pole that cracked open when my body made impact. Faceless beings carved in stone."

“You set me free with that act, thank you. I’ve been sealed in this cave for years. Once the seal was cracked, the rush of fresh air inside this place rejuvenated my loins.”

I was in a cave, deep within, that was true. I did feel a strong, cool breeze. Lanterns gave off a soft, warm glow. I gasped from the simplicity of it all. He smiled when I sat up on a comfortable bed of roses by a pit of gators and snakes. Before I could stand up, something wild grabbed ahold of me. It happened after the smell of his blood entered my nose. I looked at him with crazed eyes as he smiled inwardly...

I didn't care about him bringing me to a safe place. The girl that I used to be would have thanked him for such a beautiful gesture, but I knew that girl no longer. The more I breathed in stale air, the more she was lost within until she vanished. I was a savage beast that craved blood. I hissed at the strange man, startling him. I leapt over three enormous pit of gators and rocky breaks. A few gators jumped up in the air with supernatural agility trying to pull me out of the air, but I dodged them. I didn't know what he did to me when I was out of it. What if he performed a ritual over me, or put a spell on me, or did something sexually indecent to me when I was out of it.

Men thought differently when women were unconscious. The smell of his blood was enticing, like a sweet treat. When I landed in front of him, I cut him across the neck and began to drink. I saw his life in quick spurts. I saw him approach me when I was unconscious. He picked me up gently and walked along the stream. My question was if he was locked inside The Cave, how did he get out?

Then I remembered the crack in the stone totem pole. He waved his hands and the divided stones opened and closed back magically when he entered with one pair of footprints in the sand. I saw all the other humans he has done this for. He treated them all with respect. I looked at him differently knowing that he could be trusted. And then an image entered my head through the taste of his blood as it continued to deliciously fall down my throat. He was circling my nipples with confidence in his touch. His breathing increased with an erection that'd scare me back to being a virgin, and keep my legs closed had I been awake.

He traced his fingertips down to the pubic hair of my vulva. That was when everything changed. Why out of all the people he helped I was the one he did this to? Was it because they were humans, and I was the only supernatural creature that was in his presence? I knew that smile couldn't be trusted. Anybody that didn't have eyes with a beautiful smile you needed to run away from like hell. Don't don't be a fool like me, laying on a bed of roses, looking up at a man that did unforgettable things to me when I was in a deep sleep.

That told me he wasn’t sealed in The Cave, that he could come out at will. There were hundreds of women before me and hundreds of men. He clothed every last one of them with fresh linen, but with me I remained naked. And in that was the deception. Why did he keep me in a naked state but put linen and clothing on everyone else that he’s helped. Bigger red flag was why did he lie to me altogether. I saw his family. He just had a son that was born a few years before this moment. After his son's birth he was attacked by sea of vultures that was drawn to the dying baby.

When the buzzards started circling above that was how he found out his son was dying, but his son lived. Images of his son danced in my mind as I continued to drink.

I didn't realize that all the gators and snakes rushed into his body at once and turned him into something that threw me 40 feet back and ran at me with the speed of light and chopped my hair off with one swoop, missing my scalp and the middle section of my brain by a few inches.

I was prepared to fight, even though I had no idea what was about to happen.