A Spindle, a Darkness, a Fever, and a Necklace

"So long everything!" he shouted, then he ran next door to Margot's house.
"I'm moving," he said.
"Where?" asked Margot.
"Two weeks away," said Mitchell.
"Where is that?" asked Margot.
"It's everywhere I will be after I walk for two weeks," said Mitchell, "I have lived in the same place for a long time, it is time for me to go some place else."
"No." said Margot, "You have only lived next door for fifteen years."
"Sixteen," said Mitchell.
"Fifteen...sixteen, what's the difference?" said Margot, "I want you to stay next door forever."
"I can't," said Mitchell,"I do not want to go wake up in the same old bed and eat breakfast in the same old kitchen. Every room in my house is the same old room, because I have lived there too long. “

 The strings have been following us from the start. They keep catching onto dangers and tying around trees, tugging us right back to where we belong. And every now and then, the strings themselves pull on us.

I saw them in the moonlight some times, drifting out of my skin, glistening with tiny droplets of dew created from the tropical humidity. I tried cutting them, but the strings weren't actually there, and never were. The scissors would just cut at the air, leaving me tied to my fate.

Our ship crashed onto a forgotten island in early September. On this island, there was a small community of runners. We integrated with them, and life started to slow back down. I was finally with my love, in paradise. We danced in fields of clovers and looked into mirrors to see how beautiful we were standing together.

Too good to be true. Things were far too innocent. Things had to be broken; the mirrors had to be reversed.

Arienette changed as time went by on that island. She was, at first, always tense, nervous, and seemed to be waiting for something, constantly. Eventually, she relaxed for a while, and we settled down on that island.

The runners taught me amazing things. I've learned so many things about my enemies now, and I've learned so many things about myself through this. I understand, by a bit, just how important I really am to this War. But of course, it wasn't enough to stop the inevitable.

One night, I found Arienette on the beach, alone. She was crying, and grasping out into the thin air, towards the ocean. A locket, that she wore constantly around her neck, hung loosely and reflected bits of moonlight. I could see the Strings too at that time, but I hardly noticed.

I approached her, hugged, and asked her what was wrong. She pushed me away, and just pointed out into the ocean. "I've been here too long," she said then.

The very same locket from then sits next to my notebook as I write this down. I touch the pocketwatch with my left hand, and wonder just what secrets hide behind the clasp of it. I would never open it, even if I could.

Behind me, as I hugged her, I heard some other presence. I turned around, and saw the trees rotting away at a rapid pace as a man in a Plague Doctor costume stepping out from the shadows. No, actually, not a man; this was another Monster. It looked at me as if I was just an insect, that I just did not matter.

As soon as my eyes connected with...whatever were in the eyeholes of that mask, my body suddenly became feverish, and I began to sweat rapidly. I was weak, and fell to the sand. The Monster looked at my Arienette, and before I could say anything else, she was gone, and so was the island; so was everything. Everything turned black.

The very next morning, she was gone. She left behind a note telling me that the darkness had returned.



"And you look at me and think, same old face, same old tail, same old scale, same old walk, same old talk, same old Margot,"
"No," said Mitchell, "I like your face, tail, scale, walk, and talk.”
”I like you."
"I like you too," said Mitchell. He walked through the door.
"I must pack," he said.

When I awoke, I was in the hut of one of The Runners. Women around me were soaking my skin with cold rags. I was in a haze, and I can't remember hardly anything from the experience, but one particular lady singing the following to me:

“Don’t you do what you’ve wanted to. Yeah, don’t destroy yourself like those cowards do. And maybe the sun keeps coming up because it has gotten used to you and your constant need for proof.”

I couldn't understand why she was singing that to me. The ocean outside roared as the ringing from a gray cloud overhead watched. I drifted away again.


A week later, I was on a boat, heading back to the mainland. I was going to find her again.

I am going to find her again. It isn't like she's somewhere unreachable now.

I have the Key; I can find her, no matter what.

The problem in this situation is getting to her.

I know, I know; here we go again....

When get to her this time, I'm completely severing our stringed fates.