Pain fills my senses as I become aware of my surroundings once more. My head is sending me the message that I shouldn't have drunk so much last night. I am wet and cold and very uncomfortable.
As I untangle my limbs from the cold, muddy ground I become aware that my right shoulder really hurts when I move it. I must of got in a fight or something. I look around and immediately drop the idea that I was in a fight.
The rain coming from the sky is so polluted that it looks like blood. (I wipe my eyes to make sure it isn't me.) I am a long way from any city and it a short walk from a big, old house.
How the hell did I get out here?
I see a black sedan wrapped around an oak tree. A red corvette rolled and smashed up against the wall that surrounds the house. Part of the Corvette has somehow wrapped itself around the sedan.
I got a nasty lump in my gut, 'cause I don't think anyone else lived through this. I walk slowly over to the oak and take a look at the sedan. I lean up against the tree for support and it hits me. I didn't want to know about the oak. My head swims with information overload as I stagger away from sedan, trying real hard not to puke.
A glint of gold catches my eye. In the mud between the sedan and the road lies a golden watch. It looks familiar so I lean down to pick it up. Bad move, it slides out of my fingers. I leave my watch behind me, in the mud. Maybe an archaeologist will dig it up someday.
I go over to the corvette. What the hell was this dick thinking? The guy is still behind the wheel and he ain't moving. I don't hear breathing above the sound of the rain, either. I lean in to touch him,. See if he is alive. The guy might have been good looking once, but I think he's going to have a hard time finding a date in the morgue.
I puke by the 'vette and move over to the gate. My head is really throbbing now. I wish I could go home. No choice. I have to see if anyone is home.
A plaque by the gate says "Ebon House." It is set in a rusty ironwork fence with the speartips on top. They are kind that will cost your genitals if you slip while trying to climb over it, a nasty climb too. I guess it's about 20 feet tall. The horizontal bars that keep the fence together are designed to look like roses with the thorns.
I get to the gate and pause. I wasn't prepared for this. It's gorgeous!! A masterpiece, her face is so beautiful, so perfectly preserved by the sculptor. I reach out to touch her lips, and immediately wish I had never seen this atrocity.
I want to puke but there ain't anything left.
Her scream is finally given voice as the gate opens. It splits her face in two and rusty water gushes out of the empty sockets.
May 1, 1997
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