Matthew R. Stitt // The Writer’s Archive

Category: Kingsboro Journal

  • Stranger

    You know about the Train, and the Engineer but inside the wooden train cars, within the think film of the spirits of the dead lay the living. Being alive in the Netherworld is not supposed to happen but it does. On the living world it was compared to a ‘dime a dozen’. In this world it is an advantage and a curse. The floor of the train car is slick with ethereal goo. The large wooden sliding doors are closed leaving only bars of early evening light. The stranger lays unconscious on the wooden floor of the train car. The thin film from the floor covering his face, arm and shoulders. It hides the dark uniform with the red sewed badges on his long arms. His attractive features, the sculpted chin and the military hair cut. Above his chin and past his sharp nose hides two beautiful blue eyes, hidden behind heavy lids.

  • Long Black Train

    The netherworld has no cows so the train has no cow catcher. The large outward grill of an earthly steam-powered train is absent but the tall round-edge box on wheels rolls past slowly as the Narcissus’s forest approaches. Above the train and into the night shoots a tall cylinder of white smoke. Behind the smoke stack sits a taller box. Within that box sits the operator. The operator stands half in and half out of this world. A faint flicker of life trapped within a steel prison. Unlike the earthly steam-powered machine this black train runs on the essence of life.  This molecular essence of every living being on the train is collected within a steel-walled tender or coal car.  This car had a set of ledges, one on top and the second two feet above the train wheels.  The ledge on the top was merely decorative but the one on the bottom was two foot wide, barely enough room to walk across.  To help the engineer aluminum hand holds were placed at body length along both sides of the car.  In the center of the car, painted on both sides, was ‘Spirit of the Dead’.  The engineer stayed in the next car, a passenger car.  The car was black, with windows gray from soot from the engine chimney.  The soot contains the remains of the evil in men’s heart.  These remains forever pushed into the atmosphere of the netherworld.  Within the gray windows and inside the passenger car sits a steel chair and upon the chair is chained the engineer.  Like Charles Dickens fabled protagonist the chairs bind the engineer to his earthly sins till his penance is paid.   Following behind the engine was hundreds of caged cars. The cars wooden planks shake in small metal slots as the train moves forward over its iron track.

  • Charlie (character study)

    Charlie was 5 foot short with brown hair down past his ears. “A haircut is what you need,” his father would of said, if he was alive. Charlie stood, his hands chilled, on a small wooden dock. Next to a man who was smiling like a woodchuck with walnuts in his mouth. This strange man’s cheeks puffed out but there was nothing in his mouth. Charlie could see between the smile. “Are you ready?” said the strange man. Charlie jumped out if his black polished dress shoes. He had prepared for this day for two years and nine months but he was nervous as all get out. His hands clammy, his knees weak but Charlie was ready to get married.

  • The Forest Behind the Pole Barn

    Right off the cuff… There was a forest behind a large pole barn. The barn belonged to my grandparents. Their house was a small one-story cottage across the street. The trees stood on the side of the street near the pole barn. My four sisters and me would spent hours out in those woods while the adults talked, watched TV or whatever adults did when children played.

    I once took my sisters out as far as I could go into those woods. To us it seemed like a 5 miles but in reality it was likely 300 yards. We dodged the trees, leapt over the broken ones and saw the edge of the forest. The light shown through the trees. We were like prisoners trekking out toward freedom. The sun got brighter as we got closer and when the tree line stood beside us we could see out across a vast field of golden corn drying in the sun. We all rushed outward from our wooded prison into the field of corn to play tag till we tired and head back through the woods, passed the pole barn, passed the cottage, crossed the front yard and dived into the lake until it was dark.

    The forest behind the pole barn was always a place to go till a frightful summer when my cousin tripped over a nest of bees within a stump. After the stories of that day I never really returned to the forest.

  • Life moves on whether at war or not

    Here is the thing. I am stuck. This story is just stuck in the mud. I wrote the crap out of it.. It so did not take the path I intended. I also publish at webook.com and I just re-wrote the beginning as several snippets of some of this crap I wrote. I am really not happy because I had set out an outline of events.. I did everything I was suppose to do to write a book and it fell apart because what my fingers wanted and my head wanted were two different things. I want to do two different things here. Write a story, within a new deadly world which includes some of my favorite old mythology monsters and also tell a story about a guy who lost his love and has to fight to get it back. Now I have a new problem.. well maybe not. I was going to make my character a cop but maybe I can tweak that. They are in the middle of a war with the flying creatures.. ie Banshees, Flying Icarus-winged creatures that I call angels and whatever else I can think of that may fly.. vampires? So what is this character is a soldier who is in a battle and see’s this woman that looks familiar to him. He dreams of her but is not convinced that he knows her. Maybe its because he has seen her a couple times. The complication comes it when trying to figure out how they meet… My initial idea being that this ‘cop’ investigates incidences within this strange new world and somehow runs into her. I guess it can work too because life moves on whether at war or not. I just wish it was as easy as that one story I wrote.. which by the way is sitting doing nothing.. note to self… That was like a steam train and I completed that in 30+ days.

  • Gabriel

    Ken shakes dirt from his hair and squints as the small pieces irritate his eyes.  He pushes through the roots above him till he can reach through the dirt.  He feels around, finds a durable root, and pulls himself upward, thrusts up his second hand to clear some room for his broad shoulders and then begins to breach the ground with his head.  Like a newborn child he slowly breaks through the dirt seam into a new world.  Above the ground, through the grit in his eyes Ken can see a forest of trees.  Someone offers a hand from above him and Ken takes it without thinking.  Another hand appears and then a third.  Slowly they lifted him through the dirt and help him stand upon the forest floor.  It was then that he noticed his lack of clothing but someone offered him a large shirt and pants.  Ken put on the clothing, which was loose around his waist.  He then dug the dirt from his eyes and looked upon the group standing around him.  A couple young men stood with a frown, dressed in World War II fatigues.  The fatigues were sand brown and tied underneath a pair of old black boots.  To his right stood a large man who smiled widely.  It was a frightful smile, almost perverted.  “Hi, my name is Gabriel.  Who are you?”  Gabriel’s smile dropped after the question.  It was an accusatory tone saved for a suspect in a crime.

    “My name is Ken Addison, have you seen my wife Jean?”

    “No, have you seen my brother,  John?”  Gabriel asked as he began to step toward Ken.  “Wait,” said Ken as he stepped back and against the large tree behind him.  “He doesn’t happen to be tall and have a bad attitude?”  Gabriel’s smile returned.

    “Great,” Ken thought as he searched for something positive to say but one of the men in fatigues added.  “They must of ended up going through the wrong portals, Gabriel.  It’s ok, we will find him.”

    “This is bullshit,” complained Gabriel.  “All these years and now nothing…”

    “I know Gabriel but we will find him.  The train stops in two hours.  We will climb on and head north to the next entry point.  He is probably with this man’s family.”

    “What are you talking about?”  Said Ken a little louder then he intended.  “Is my family with your brother?”

    Gabriel slapped a large hammy hand upon Ken’s shoulder and stated, “don’t worry, my brother gets along with everyone.”  Ken waited for Gabriel to laugh but he didn’t.  The group turned North and Ken followed with a great concern upon his face.

    The group walked slowly and Ken inspected this new world.  From this perspective there was little he could see outside the thick brown tree trucks and green canvas above him.  He could see little light attempting to leak through the cracks in the large canvas but it was only enough to guess that it was sometime during the day.  All he knew, it could be day all the time.

    “Can you tell me where I am,” Ken asks after several moments of quiet.

    “Your in the Forest of Narcissus,” said one of the men.

    “Narcissus?  Isn’t that a Greek story about a man in love with himself?”

    “It is,” said the shorter of the two men dressed in fatigues.  He bent down as he walked and picked up a large stick.  “Narcissus was the son of a river god named Cephissus and a nymph named Liriope.  He was a hunter renown for his beauty but he was also cruel.  When a mountain nymph was spurned by him the goddess of revenge, Nemesis, tricked him into falling in love with his reflection within a pool of water.”

    “Wow, ok,” said Ken as it sank in that these men were talking about Greek mythology from Earth.  “I thought that would be restricted to one world, like Earth.”

    “Erik, this guy over here, likes to show off his Greek history skills.  He is good to have around in a world like this.  His brother Aaron is a bit of a brute but that isn’t without it’s advantages either…”  Gabriel laughed loudly as he continued to walk forward carefully walking over small pools of water. “…as far as I know this world is a part of Earth just not quite within the same realm you are used too.  We use a lot of Greek references here.  A lot of places are appropriately named for stories from that era.”

    “Ok, so where am I?  What do you call this place we live in?”

    “No idea,” said Gabriel, “I just know that we are walking within the Forest of Narcissus and I need to pay attention to where I’m stepping.  This forest is enchanted in many ways and I prefer to not run into them.”

    “Enchantment?  Are you talking fairy tale enchantments?  Seriously?”

    “Seriously,” said Gabriel.  “Don’t step in the water.”

    Ken began to step forward but something had a hold of his booted foot.  He fell forward and tried to grab the nearest tree but was a foot short of it.  He fell to the ground and turned.  Ken’s large boot slipped from his foot and he sat staring at a muscular arm thrust up from a small pool of water.  The boot suddenly flew past him and landed behind him.

    “I told you to stay out of the water,” Gabriel stated calmly as he helped Ken to his feet.  Gabriel then smacked Ken’s chest with the large boot and left.  Ken leaned cautiously against the tree closest and slipped the boot back on his foot.  The muscular arm flailed around searching and eventually gave up and disappeared with the pool of water again.  Ken turned, barely missed another pool of water, and quickly caught up to the men walking away from him.  Gabriel turned and smiled as Ken slowed to a walk.  “Glad to see you didn’t get lost,” he said.  “It wouldn’t be much of a loss, wait till John sees him,” said Aaron.

    “What does that mean?” insisted Ken.  “Nothing,” said Aaron with a sly smile.

    “I just want to see my wife,” stated Ken, “any other business you three have is nothing compared to that goal.”

    “Our business would be over if you had gone the right direction down below.  It’s slightly weird how this has happened because usually its fairly simple.” Gabriel snorted.  “Well…” Ken began angrily when he noticed a large pool of water up ahead.  Several people, mostly naked, stood quietly within it and around it.

    “Gabriel, we can’t go around,” said Erik pointing out a large troop of red-dressed soldiers.  “Crap.”

     

  • Brain fart

    Ok, brain fart.. New way forward..new thought.. I have completed the objective for the first part of my novel.  I am now stuck at the end of that.  My new plan is to start this new section from scratch.  The beginning being ‘burst from under ground into a new world’ and the end being ‘almost reaching your lost wife before she is taken away my your worse enemy’

  • Death: Chapter 3

    Death: Chapter 3: 

    Ken walked right into the light that was farthest from him.  The light at the end of the column got brighter as Ken walked toward it.  He squint his eyes till he could barely see.  He attempted to block the light with his hand but that was useless.  As he stepped into the light he again felt warmth.  The warmth began at his toes and radiated a comforting peace upward.  Several steps within the light and the warmth began to dissipate.  Ken continued forward until the darkness began to dilute the light.  Soon the light was almost all the way gone, leaving only a small circular band radiating from mid-height.  Ken walked toward the circular band of light and looked within it.  It was a small hole, barely big enough for Ken’s shoulders to fit through.  Above the hole he could see a blue sky blurred by the green leaves of a large tree.  A large root from the tree stretched from one end of the hole to the other.  Ken grasped the root and lifted himself upward.  With nothing to put his feet upon Ken struggled to lift his body high enough to balance himself upon the top of the root.  After several attempts and a couple several minute breaks Ken managed to push himself up and over the root.  Ken climbs from the underground.  Above is the remnants of what is left of the Forest of Narcissus.  Within the forest is several small pools of water which serve as mirrors.  The pools of water reflect previous life and scenes that stay important to the one looking within it.  So important that the current world disappears from around them.

  • Death: A world of it’s own

    Introduction: The Wedding

    Trees lined the small ceremony on the left and right. Guests sat on large logs placed one behind the other. Six in each row with a total of two rows split in the center by satin streamers. The ceremony itself was on a small wooden deck built over a small pond. The groom stood nervously stroking his tie. The pastor of the local church stood center of the wooden deck. He smiled as the bride stepped from the small house behind the trees. She walked slowly her white dress danced as she stepped forward. A quick nudge from the pastor alerted the groom and he saw her. It was like a romantic movie. The bride walked slowly, as if slowed in time. She smiled, light spread from the small edges of her lips. The light radiated outward covering her proud father and a few wedding guest that had yet sit down. Guest turned and saw the bride stepping carefully over the long red ribbon laid on the ground between the rows of seats. The light from such a beautiful smile spread to each and every one of the guest like the spiritual Good Word. By the time the bride reached the wooden platform everyone behind her smiled and glowed. The groom stepped forward and extended a gentle hand which she took and they both joined the pastor as everyone looked over the small pond.

    The pastor spoke slowly as each and every moment seemed to take hours. The bride and groom stood hand and hand when the ceremony was near the end. The pastor happily introduced Mr. Kenneth and Mrs. Jean Addison and release them into the world as married.  The reception went off without a hitch. The couple’s marriage continued on as it had begun. It was a fairy tale within a world that barely contained its distaste for so much happiness. The honeymoon stood as an exception to any rule that the couple had established as a norm. The hotel lobby was empty when Mr. and Mrs Addison walked in. So was the front desk.

    “Funny,” said Mr. Ken Addison as he bent over the desk in an attempt to see if anyone was around the corner. “I just talked to the hotel ten minutes ago and it sounded super busy.”

    “Are you sure you called the right hotel,” Mrs. Jean Addison asked.

    “Yes, I’m sure because the person on the phone said there was a bar here named Dionysus and its sitting right there.” Ken pointed right toward a large purple sign above two swinging doors that had Dionysus written out in neon next to a flashing bunch of grapes.

    “You think they are on a tea break?” Ken said, only half joking.

    Ken and Jean walked toward the bar. Within the bar they saw some movement but it was too dark to tell what is could be.  “Hey, can someone help us at the front desk?” Shouted Ken into the darkness of the bar. Something crashed and broke then two men pushed through the swinging doors. The first man was terrified his eyes were wide and his mouth clamped shut. Behind him a taller, muscular man walked within inches of him. Both of this man’s hands were hidden behind the first man’s back.

    “I suggest you come back in the morning…” Growled the taller man then he added, “…you know what just find a room and stay here free tonight. I’m sure Henry here won’t mind.” The taller man turned his head and looked at the man in front. Henry’s eyes got bigger and his nervousness was obvious.

    “How about my wife and I just leave, “Ken offered,”Listen, we just got married and this is our first day in London. I just want to survive our first week of marriage.”

    The taller man laughed, “Believe me mate, it isn’t worth it. I’ve been married twice before. I think I just changed my mind. I want all your American dollars… Now!”   The man pointed a pistol at Ken and shoved Henry into a wall. “If you move I will kill you,” he warned him.

    Jean immediately threw her purse down at the man’s feet. Ken hesitated but then tossed over his wallet.  “Don’t move,” the man shouted as he bent down to gather up the items.  The minute the man looked down, Ken pounced on him.  Jean screamed, lost in disbelief that her husband would attempt something so brash.  The taller man was larger then Ken but was caught by surprise.  He fell backward into the swinging doors and both men disappeared into the bar.  Henry stood from where he had fallen against the wall, ran over to Jean, in an effort to direct her somewhere safe, but fell after a bullet burst through his heart and chest.  A second bullet struck Jean in the neck but didn’t kill her immediately.  She fell upon her knees then her back.  She attempted to slow the bleeding with her hand and wished her new husband was at her side.

    Ken wrestled the gun from the taller man’s hands but not before two shots rang from the gun, just missing him.  Once the gun was clear Ken grabbed a broken chair leg and slammed it hard upon the man’s head knocking him unconscious.  He then grabbed the gun and stepped outside the bar.  Jean lay barely conscious upon the tile floor of the hotel lobby.  Blood covered the left side of her neck and shoulder.

    “Oh, my God,” Ken leapt toward his wife and fell to his knees.  His knees swam in her blood as he took off his sweater and pressed it against the wound.  He looked around for some help and saw Henry only a foot away with a gunshot in his chest.  To the right, suddenly, the front doors of the hotel burst open and several London police officers stepped in.  A bead of hope blossomed within him till he realized that Jean had passed away.  The need to stop the bleeding was gone but Ken continued as he watched the officers walk toward him.  The next couple seconds turned into long minutes as a gun battle began.  The taller man stepped out from the bar and began to fire from another pistol.  The officers scattered and then returned fire till the room dimmed, as if someone had turned the lights down.  Ken looked up to see the battle still happening but the noise had become muted.  He looked over at the taller man and he was reloading his pistol while hiding behind the front desk.  Ken looked down to see himself, his lifeless body, lying over his wife.  A bullet had entered the back of his head and killed him.

    Ken looked up to see the battle still happening but the noise had become muted.  Ken looked over at the taller man and he was reloading his pistol while hiding behind the front desk.  Once the pistol was ready the tall man stepped from behind the desk and began shooting.  It was a suicidal death march.  He stepped over Jean’s body but tripped.  Jean had died while grasping her neck.  The tall man’s large foot became caught underneath her arm.  Instead of going out like a homicidal hero the tall man died like an idiot.  The shots from the officers disappeared through Ken’s body and into the tall man’s chest and arms.  If there was any doubt that Ken was not of that world the bullets confirmed that fact but soon it was over.  The tall man fell over Jean’s body.  Ken watched as a new pool of blood flowed from the man’s chest.  He screamed as it inched closer to mix with Jean’s blood.  He attempted to stop it but it flowed right through his foot and out the other side.

    “Get your god-damn blood away from my wife’s blood!” He screamed passionately but this new world listened about as well as the old world.  The blood mingled and eventually left a large mass of crimson death upon the hotel floor.  Frustrated, Ken stepped away but then realized that Jean passed just before him.  She is no longer part of that world.  She should be a part of his new reality.  She should be if that is the way this new world worked, the world between life and death.

    Chapter 2: Through the veil

    Where do you start looking for someone that passed on to this thin veil of a world? The hotel was full of people. Police and EMTs rushed throughout the rooms before him. Ken followed one officer into the bar passing through the door like Casper the Friendly ghost. The officer flipped a light switch upon the wall to reveal the horror before them. Seven bodies lie motionless within the bar. Most lay face-first upon the tables they sat. Others lay upon the floor. Ken was thankful he didn’t notice when he fought with the tall man. He may have second thought such a deed. The thought that followed was a question. Why would this man take on such a dark, suicidal task and where was his wife? Why didn’t she wait for him like he did for her? The answers would have to wait because someone grabbed him from behind and dragged him from the hotel. The hotel wall disappeared as he slid through it. Outside the noon sun highlighted the vibrate life that still continued. The warmth from the sun was missing though. Suddenly, Ken was thrown to the right. A large trash container and trash bags stood in his way but Ken lay within them. The tall man stood above him, his anger evident in his enclosed fists and heaving chest. The tall man grasps Ken by the front of the shirt and lifted him easily. Ken struggled but the tall man was twice as strong as him. The tall man pulled back a large ham-fisted arm and was ready to strike when Ken put up his hands and pushed forward an energy that was unfamiliar to him. Caught by surprise the tall man released him and fell backward. Ken fell downward the trash container surrounding him. He then pressed his hands forward again and pushed the tall man forward into a crowd of people that didn’t notice.

    “God damn, American,” shouted the tall man who stood within the crowd. He then rushed forward but Ken stopped him with another push. The world then dissolved around them leaving only a black room, with a bright light at each end. Ken stopped pushing and they both paused to take in this new scene. The light only lit a column of darkness from which the two men stood. Outside this column was a think darkness.

    “What the hell is this?” Ken asked loudly. “How the hell am I suppose to know,” shouted the tall man.

    “I didn’t ask you,” snapped Ken. The tall man glared at him then stepped toward him again. Ken stepped back, arms outstretched.

    “Pissed would not cover my anger right now, mate,” the tall man said as he approached. “Notice, we are dead! I’m pleasantly surprised that I can still grab you and toss you around but you seem to have an advantage you didn’t have in the real world. I can still tear your limbs off, I bet.”

    Ken pushed his hands outward toward the tall man’s feet causing him to stumble but it did not stop him. The tall man leapt forward and grabbed Ken by the collar. Then tossed him to the left and laughed. “At least death isn’t going to be a waste.”

    Ken slid upon the black floor disappearing from the light and into the darkness. Fear instantly struck him and he felt the pressure of someone grasping both his ankles. Barely able to move and struck with fear he managed to stand. He pushed his hands downward toward his ankles and leap toward the direction he came from. He stood within the column of light again. The tall man stood within the center of the column. Anger overwhelmed him and Ken pushed as hard as he could. The taller man fell backward and disappeared into the darkness. Ken waited for the tall man to reappear but after several long moments he did not.

    Ken walked right into the light that was farthest from him.  The light at the end of the column got brighter as Ken walked toward it.  He squint his eyes till he could barely see.  He attempted to block the light with his hand but that was useless.  As he stepped into the light he again felt warmth.  The warmth began at his toes and radiated a comforting peace upward.  Several steps within the light and the warmth began to dissipate.  Ken continued forward until the darkness began to dilute the light.  Soon the light was almost gone, leaving only a small circular band radiating from mid-height.  Ken walked toward the circular band of light.  As he moved forward broken lines began to appear within the circle.   These lines were slowly filled in by a dark brown color.  “They looked like the roots of a tree,” Ken thought as he stared upward into the hole.  It was a small hole, barely big enough for Ken’s shoulders to fit through.  Above the brown roots he could see a blue sky blurred by the green leaves of a large tree.  The roots stretched from one end of the hole to the other.  Other then the darkness around him, the light above was the only way out.  Ken grasped the root and lifted himself upward.  With nothing to put his feet upon Ken struggled to lift his body high enough to balance himself upon the top of the root.  After several attempts Ken managed to push himself up and over the root.  He pulled up his left knee then his right.  He then climbed from the hole and into a whole new world.

  • Not the Death you would expect

    Ken looked up to see the battle still happening but the noise had become muted. Ken looked over at the taller man and he was reloading his pistol while hiding behind the front desk. Once the pistol was ready the tall man stepped from behind the desk and began shooting. It was a suicidal death march. He stepped over Jean’s body but tripped. Jean had died while grasping her neck. The tall man’s large foot became caught underneath her arm. Instead of going out like a homicidal hero the tall man died like an idiot. The shots from the officers disappeared through Ken’s body and into the tall man’s chest and arms. If there was any doubt that Ken was not of that world the bullets confirmed that fact but soon it was over. The tall man fell over Jean’s body. Ken watched as a new pool of blood flowed from the man’s chest. He screamed as it inched closer to mix with Jean’s blood. He attempted to stop it but it flowed right through his foot and out the other side.

    “Get your god-damn blood away from my wife’s blood!” He screamed passionately but this new world listened about as well as the old world. The blood mingled and eventually left a large mass of crimson death upon the hotel floor. Frustrated, Ken stepped away but then realized that Jean passed just before him. She is no longer part of that world. She should be a part of his new reality. She should be if that is the way this new world worked, the world between life and death.

    Chapter 2: Through the veil

    Where do you start looking for someone that passed on to this thin veil of a world? The hotel was full of people. Police and EMTs rushed throughout the rooms before him. Ken followed one officer into the bar passing through the door like Casper the Friendly ghost. The officer flipped a light switch upon the wall to reveal the horror before them. Seven bodies lie motionless within the bar. Most lay face-first upon the tables they sat. Others lay upon the floor. Ken was thankful he didn’t notice when he fought with the tall man. He may have second thought such a deed. The thought that followed was a question. Why would this man take on such a dark, suicidal task and where was his wife? Why didn’t she wait for him like he did for her? The answers would have to wait because someone grabbed him from behind and dragged him from the hotel. The hotel wall disappeared as he slid through it. Outside the noon sun highlighted the vibrate life that still continued. The warmth from the sun was missing though. Suddenly, Ken was thrown to the right. A large trash container and trash bags stood in his way but Ken lay within them. The tall man stood above him, his anger evident in his enclosed fists and heaving chest. The tall man grasps Ken by the front of the shirt and lifted him easily. Ken struggled but the tall man was twice as strong as him. The tall man pulled back a large ham-fisted arm and was ready to strike when Ken put up his hands and pushed forward an energy that was unfamiliar to him. Caught by surprise the tall man released him and fell backward. Ken fell downward the trash container surrounding him. He then pressed his hands forward again and pushed the tall man forward into a crowd of people that didn’t notice.

    “God damn, American,” shouted the tall man who stood within the crowd. He then rushed forward but Ken stopped him with another push. The world then dissolved around them leaving only a black room, with a bright light at each end. Ken stopped pushing and they both paused to take in this new scene. The light only lit a column of darkness from which the two men stood. Outside this column was a think darkness.

    “What the hell is this?” Ken asked loudly. “How the hell am I suppose to know,” shouted the tall man.

    “I didn’t ask you,” snapped Ken. The tall man glared at him then stepped toward him again. Ken stepped back, arms outstretched.

    “Pissed would not cover my anger right now, mate,” the tall man said as he approached. “Notice, we are dead! I’m pleasantly surprised that I can still grab you and toss you around but you seem to have an advantage you didn’t have in the real world. I can still tear your limbs off, I bet.”

    Ken pushed his hands outward toward the tall man’s feet causing him to stumble but it did not stop him. The tall man leapt forward and grabbed Ken by the collar. Then tossed him to the left and laughed. “At least death isn’t going to be a waste.”

    Ken slid upon the black floor disappearing from the light and into the darkness. Fear instantly struck him and he felt the pressure of someone grasping both his ankles. Barely able to move and struck with fear he managed to stand. He pushed his hands downward toward his ankles and leap toward the direction he came from. He stood within the column of light again. The tall man stood within the center of the column. Anger overwhelmed him and Ken pushed as hard as he could. The taller man fell backward and disappeared into the darkness. Ken waited for the tall man to reappear but after several long moments he did not.

    Ken walked right into the light that was farthest from him.  The light at the end of the column got brighter as Ken walked toward it.  He squint his eyes till he could barely see.  He attempted to block the light with his hand but that was useless.  As he stepped into the light he again felt warmth.  The warmth began at his toes and radiated a comforting peace upward.  Several steps within the light and the warmth began to dissipate.  Ken continued forward until the darkness began to dilute the light.  Soon the light was almost gone, leaving only a small circular band radiating from mid-height.  Ken walked toward the circular band of light.  As he moved forward broken lines began to appear within the circle.   These lines were slowly filled in by a dark brown color.  “They looked like the roots of a tree,” Ken thought as he stared upward into the hole.  It was a small hole, barely big enough for Ken’s shoulders to fit through.  Above the brown roots he could see a blue sky blurred by the green leaves of a large tree.  The roots stretched from one end of the hole to the other.  Other then the darkness around him, the light above was the only way out.  Ken grasped the root and lifted himself upward.  With nothing to put his feet upon Ken struggled to lift his body high enough to balance himself upon the top of the root.  After several attempts Ken managed to push himself up and over the root.  He pulled up his left knee then his right.  He then climbed from the hole and into a whole new world.

    Next up — Chapter 3: Upon the Forest of Eden